Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd June, 1886
Complete Left, 3rd Mar., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 20th May, 1887
I JOHN THOM of 101 Leadenhall Street in the City of London Merchant do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention to be as follows:-
A
My Invention has for its object to so construct Corsets that whilst affording great
firmness and support to the body and graceful appearance to the person wearing
them they admit of absolute freedom of motion of the body without undue pressuro
and consists in the application of spiral springs in place of the metal or other supports
at present employed.
In carrying out my invention I provide the back portion of the Corset with a spiral
spring or spiral springs from which radiate in a horizontal or angular direction a
number of other similar springs extending to or towards the front portion of the
corset where they are or may be connected to other springs similar to those at the
back portion. These horizontal springs constitute a number of spring ribs which
when the corset is in use surround and afford great support to the body of the wearer
whilst the other or vertically arranged springs admit of the wearer stooping or
otherwise moving the body without inconvenience and without undue pressure on any
part of the body. Any desired number of horizontal springs may be employed
extending from top to bottom of the corset or they may extend from top towards the
bottom for a short distance only the lower portion being provided with similar springs
arranged at an angle to the horizontal springs. Or the horizontal springs may be
arranged at such distances apart as to admit of other similar springs being arranged
vertically or at an angle between them and they may be made to extend either
entirely or only partly round the Corset.
Instead of arranging the springs horizontally as hereinbefore described they may
all be arranged vertically or angularly either wholly or only partly round the Corset
and they may extend from the top to the bottom of the Corset. These spiral springs
may be of any suitable shape and are by preference broader in or near the middle
than at their ends and made to taper towards the two opposite ends. The springs
may be secured to the fabric of which the Corset is made by sewing or otherwise and
the portions of the fabric between the springs may be cut away for the purpose of
ventilation.
Dated this 3rd day of June 1886.
J. HENRY JOHNSON,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the said John Thom.

page_text: I JOHN THOM of 101 Leadenhall Street in the City of London Merchant do
horoby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention has for its object to so construct corsets that whilst affording great
firmness and support to the body of the wearer and a graceful appearance they admit
of great freedom of motion without objectionable pressure on the person.
My Invention consists in the application of springs as hereinafter described and
Illustrated by the examples shewn on the accompanying drawings. In carrying my
Invention into practice I may provide the back portion of the corset with a spiral
spring or spiral springs (as shewn in Fig. 1 at a) from which radiate in a horizontal
or angular direction a number of other similar springs b extending to or towards the
front portion of the corset where they are or may be connected to other springs a²
similar to those at the back portion. These horizontal springs b constitute spring ribs
which when the corset is in use surround or partly surround the body of the wearer
and afford great support thereto whilst the other or vertically arranged springs a a²
admit of the wearer stooping or otherwise moving the body without inconvenience or
objectionable pressure on any part of the body. Any desired number of horizontal or
inclined springs may be employed extending in series one over the other throughout
or partly throughout the length of the corset and entirely or partly there around for
instance as shewn in Figure 2 there may be horizontal springs b in the upper part of
the corset and vertical or inclined springs in the lower part thereof, as in Figure 2
shew vertical springs in the lower part. Or the horizontal or inclined springs may be
at such a distance apart as to accommodate other springs in a vertical or inclined
position between them. The Invention is not limited to these particular arrangements
of the springs as they may be either all vertical or all horizontal or all angularly
disposed or in any combination of two or all of these throughout all or any part of
the body of the corset. Figure 3 shews an arrangement with two horizontal springs b
at the waist and vertical springs a in the other parts. Figure 4 shews an arrangement
where all the springs a are vertical and extend into the upper and lower parts of the
corset. Figure 5 shews an arrangement with vertical springs only at the front and
back and sidos. The springs may be spiral as mentioned of round flat square oval or
any suitable section but they may be of other equivalent shape such as springs bent
backwards and forwards or upwards and downwards in a zig zag manner or twisted
into any required form and several may be twisted or otherwise attached together to
make a compound spring. Figure 6 shows five suitable forms. They may be the
same size throughout or of different size at different parts and of any desired thickness
for instance they may be made broad in the mid-portion tapering towards each end. The
springs may be secured to or enclosed in the fabric of the corset in any convenient
way by sewing or otherwise and they may if desired be sheathed or covered in cloth,

page_text: IC
leather paper, India rubber, Gutta Percha or other suitable substance or composition.
Parts of the body of the corset may if so desired be perforated or cut away between
the springs for the purpose of ventilation as shewn by the dotted lines and 2 in the
several figures. The edges of these perforations or openings may be button holed
or protected by metal, cloth, leather, parchment or other suitable substance or
composition.
my
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The combination with corsets of springs arranged in the corsets substantially
as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by the examples given in
the accompanying drawings.
Second. In corsets springs as claimed in the preceding claiming clause in combina-
tion with openings for ventilation through the material of the corset substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.