IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas, of Cheapside, in the City of London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS."
Sealed the 25th March 1854, and dated the 18th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
January 1854.
age's
**
I, WILLIAM THOMAS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of stays which open at front, and
according to these improvements there are lacing holes up part of the back, in
which the lace or laces are constantly threaded, and by which, when the stays
are on the person, the stays may be tightened or relieved, the ends of the
laces passing round the person. The stays are made to fasten in front by
means of the busk having formed in it a series of openings to receive the
heads of studs, such openings having slits or slots for the stems of the studs,
some of such slits or slots being in one direction and the others in another
direction, and by preference they are made vertical and horizontal, by which,
when the two parts of the busk are brought together, they will be retained
securely by reason of the different directions in which the slits or slots in the
busk are made; and in order to protect the fabric where the openings are made
in the busks, shields are fixed over the fabric and round the openings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said William Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Thomas, Her special licence that I, the said William Thomas,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Thomas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Thomas, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thomas, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to that class of stays which open at front, and
according to these improvements there are lacing holes up part of the back in
which the lace or laces are constantly threaded, and by which, when the stays
are on the person, the stays may be tightened or relieved, the ends of the
laces passing round the person. The stays are made to fasten in front by
means of the busk having formed in it a series of openings to receive the
heads of studs, such openings having slits or slots for the stems of the studs,
some of such slits or slots being in one direction and the others in another
direction, and by preference they are made vertical and horizontal, by which
when the two parts of the busk are brought together, they will be retained
securely by reason of the different directions in which the slits or slots in the

page_text: busk are made; and in order to protect the fabric where the openings are made
in the busk, shields are fixed over the fabric and round the openings.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and also the manner in
which the same is performed, I will proceed to describe the accompanying
Drawing, in which all the Figures have like parts indicated. with .similar
letters.
Figures 1 and 2 show respectively a front view of the two parts composing
the busk, as constructed and arranged according to my Invention; Figure 3
represents the same parts when placed together; Figure 4 shows an edge view
in section of the same; and Figures 5 and 6 show front views of the two
parts of the busk separately, the cloth being removed therefrom the better to
exhihit their formation; Figure 7 shows a back view of the stays having my
improvements applied thereto. a and b represent the two parts or portions of
the busk; the part a is provided with slits, slots, or openings a', through which
the heads of the studs 61 of the part b of the busk pass; at the upper part of
the busk a there is a slot or opening a, which, instead of being formed hori-
zontally (as in those marked a³, a¹,) it is formed vertically, or so that the slot or
opening is in the direction of the length of the part a of the busk, and at right
angles to those marked a', a', just referred to. There are other smaller
openings a³, as, in the part a of the busk, through which the parts c', c', of the
shields c pass, as herein-after described. The parts a and b are both enclosed
within the cloth of which the stays are composed, as shewn at Figures 1 and 2,
and the shield c, which also have slotted openings formed therein corresponding
with those marked a', a', a², are next placed, their ends c', c', being passed
through the cloth and through the smaller openings a³, a³; and the ends c¹, c¹,
are then to be bent back as shewn in the section, Figure 4; the seam to finally
enclose the part a of the busk is then to be made, and the parts will be ready
to put together and appear as represented at Figures 3 and 4. The stud b¹
opposite the opening a² is first to be placed, and by sliding up the part as far
as the opening a will allow the neck of the stud ₁ to pass, the other studs
b', b', may readily be placed, and the elastic material d in the back of the stays
will, when on the person, ensure the necks of the studs 6', 6', entering the
slotted portions of the openings a¹, a¹; and the parts thus placed together will
remain so without any risk of becoming displaced excepting by the desire of
the wearer, which is readily done by the separating, first, the studs b', 6', from
the openings a', a', then by drawing downwards the part 6, the other stud may
readily be withdrawn from the opening a².
Having thus described my Invention, and also the manner in which the

page_text: same is carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to
limit myself to the precise details given, so long as the peculiar character of
my Invention,, be, retained; but what I claim is, the peculiar, means herein
described in the manufacture of stays.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
FRED HARRIS:
W. THOMAS. (L.S.)