IMPROVEMENTS IN LADIES' DRESS HOLDERS OR DRESS SUSPENDERS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Hughes Cofield at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th June 1878.
JOSEPH HUGHES COFIELD, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturers' Clerk. " IMPROVEMENTS IN LADIES' DRESS HOLDERS OR DRESS
SUSPENDERS."
My Invention has reference to such ladies' dress holders or dress suspenders as
consist essentially of two curved or bow-shaped plates, the concave sides of the two
plates being presented to each other, and enclosing the portion of the dress to be
suspended, the upper ends of the plates being jointed together by a link. The front
plate is longer than the back plate, and the bottom end of the front plate is turned
up so as to form a trough, the part of the dress to be held being placed in the said
trough end and gripped by the closing of the back plate upon the front plate
between the trough of the front plate and the free bottom edge of the back plate.
My said Invention consists in making the said ladies' dress holders or dress
suspenders from flattened wire, and otherwise constructing them as herein-after.
described.
In order to make the front part of the holder I take a piece of flattened wire and
so bend it as to form a frame, having the outline of the front plate herein-before
described; and similarly I bend a second piece of flattened wire so as to form a
frame having the outline of the back and shorter plate, herein-before described.
The upper ends of both the frame-like parts are bent into eyes, and the said frame-
like back and front parts of the holder are connected or jointed together by closing
the eyes described upon the opposite bars of a link. Between the eyes of the front
part of the holder or suspender a loop is jointed by which the suspending ring of
the holder is connected to the said holder. The bar terminating the turned-up or
trough-like base of the front part and the free end of the back part constituting the
gripping edges of the holder or suspender are, by preference, covered with india-
rubber tubing, or leather, or other soft material, for the purpose of protecting the
dress, where it is gripped by the holder, from injury.
In using the holder or suspender it is opened by the turning of the back part
from the front part so as to leave the front part clear of it. The portion of the

page_text: dress to be held being placed against the concave side of the front frame-like part,
and in the trough at the base thereof, the back frame-like part is turned towards
and pressed upon the front part. As the upper jointed end of the back part
approaches the front part the link permits the said back part to descend, and its
free end passing into the trough at the base of the front part grips the dress very
tightly between itself and the said trough of the front part. By pulling outwards
the linked end of the back part of the holder the free end of the said back part is
withdrawn from the trough of the front part and the dress is released, and by
turning outwards the back part the holder is opened and the dress may be removed
from it.
The opening of the holder by pressing outwards the joint end of the back part
may be effected either directly by the hand or by the aid of a lever which is jointed
between the eye ends of the back part. The said lever however constitutes no part
of my Invention.
Instead of making both the front and back parts of the holder of flattened wire,
as described, the back part only may be made of wire, the front part being made of
a plate bent into the required shape as in the ordinary dress holder or suspender.