AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP SKIRTS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP SKIRTS."-A communication from
abroad by Oliver Rogers Burnham, of New York City, in the State of
New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 26th July 1864, and dated the 25th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1864.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP SKIRTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the construction of skirt hoops, each of two or
more narrow strips of steel or other metal, arranged edge to edge, and united
so as to form one band or hoop by braiding or weaving them together with
cotton or other fibrous material.
It also consists in the combination in a skirt of a series of hoops, such as
those above mentioned, with a series of suspending straps or tapes woven
double in the portions where the hoops are connected, and single between
those portions, and having the hoops inserted through the double portions.

page_text: A series of metallic clasps are also made to pass through the hoops, as well
as through the tapes or straps, for the purpose of securing the several parts
together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1. WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send-greeting
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
-Patent, bearing-date-the-Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I; the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN HOOP SKIRTS," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in the construction of skirt hoops, each of two or
more narrow strips of steel or other metal, arranged edge to edge, and united
so as to form one band or hoop by braiding or weaving them together with
cotton or other fibrous material, by which construction several important

page_text: advantages are obtained, to wit: first, facility is afforded for inserting the clasps
through the hoop; second, the hoops are rendered more uniformly clastic and
less liable to get out of shape, for any soft place in one of the strips will
be strengthened by the adjacent parts of the other or others, it being very
improbable that soft portions of two strips will be presented at the same part
of a hoop; third, the hoops, while being stiff and elastic in a horizontal direc-
tion, are less stiff in a vertical direction, and therefore are less liable to stick
up when the wearer sits down.
It also consists in the combination in a skirt of a series of hoops, such as
those above mentioned, with a series of suspending straps or tapes woven
double in the portions where the hoops are connected, and single between
those portions, and having the hoops inserted through the double portions.
A series of metallic clasps are also made to pass through the hoops as well
as through the tapes or straps for the purpose of securing the several parts
together.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a side view of a skirt constructed
according to the improvements just referred to; Fig. 2 is a vertical section
taken at the insertion of one of the hoops and suspending tapes, the parts being
shewn larger than the natural size; Fig. 3 is a face view of a portion of one of
the hoops on a scale corresponding with Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view
of one of the metallic clasps for securing the hoops to the suspending tapes.
A, A, are the hoops, which are represented as each composed of three
narrow strips a, a, a, of flat steel set edge to edge, and secured together by a
covering of cotton or other fibrous material, which may be woven thereon in
a loom, or braided thereon in a braiding machine, but preferably braided.
The boops thus made need not be wider than the steel hoops commonly used.
Three strips a, a, a, are by preference used for the convenience of inserting
through them the two prongs b, b, of the clasps B, B, which are employed to
secure the hoops to the tapes or straps C, C. The prongs b, b, are inserted
through the hoops between the middle and the two outer strips a, a, a, in the
manner shewn in Fig. 2. The clasps B, B, are made of tin plate or other
sheet metal with pointed prongs, which pass easily through the suspending
tapes or straps, and through the fibrous covering of the strips a, a, a, and are
afterwards bent towards cach other over the middle strip, as shewn in Fig. 2.
The suspending tapes or straps should be woven double, and open in those
parts of it where the hoops are to be attached, so that the hoops may be
inserted through them in the manner shewn in Fig. 2, but the suspending
tapes may be woven single between those parts. The prongs of the clasps B
pass through the tapes or straps on both sides of the hoops.
b

page_text: Elaving now described this Invention of improvements in skirt hoops, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, constructing skirt hoops
of two or more strips of steel or other metal, arranged edge to edge, and woven
or braided together with fibrous material, as herein specified.
Second, I claim the combination in a skirt of the tapes or straps C, C,
woven double in the portions where the hoops are connected, and single
between those portions, with hoops composed of two or more strips of steel
united by weaving or braiding, as described. and inserted through the double
portions of the tapes or straps, the several parts being secured by metallic
clasps passed through both the tapes or straps and the hoops, as herein
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (LS.)