Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Buckles for Waist Belts, Garters, Braces and other uses.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Buckles for Waist Belts,
Garters, Braces and other uses.
I, PATRICK ALPHONSUS MARTIN, Managing Director of Martins-Birmingham
Limited, of Granville Street, in the City of Birmingham, Manufacturers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention has relation to the buckles of waist and dress belts, garters,
braces and various other uses, and has for its object principally, to provide a
flexible and soft buckle having no metal parts in their framings, and which I
propose to effect by making the framings of the said buckles from solid leather,
celluloid, ebonite or other non-metallic substance.
In carrying out one form of my invention as applied to the buckle of a waist
belt, I propose to make the framing and its centre bar by cutting out, blocking
or fashioning the same by press tools or otherwise from a solid blank of thick
leather. The leather buckle frame thereby produced may be of any suitable shape
or design and in conjunction with it I propose to employ a metal tong having a
cross piece of suitable length at the inner end, which latter lies against the middle
bar of the frame, and is there retained by the looped end of the belt embracing
in common both the centre bar and the cross end of the tong or prong which itself
extends through a piercing in the said encircling loop. By this construction.
when the belt is in use, the strain or pull is taken and borne by the cross piece
of the metal tong, which reinforces or strengthens the centre har and prevents
any actual or material stress being thrown upon the leather frame. The tong
may swivel or turn on its cross end if necessary.
.
The frame work may be fashioned in like manner from celluloid, papier-mache,
ebonite, or other non-metallic substance, and instead of having an integral centre
bar fashioned out of the same blank, I may insert or apply a separate centre bar
of metal or other material, around which the tong or tongs may turn.
Instead also of having a single loose tongue with a cross end, I may make the
same of a double, triple or other form, that us, the prongs proceeding from the
inner end may be in duplicate (in which case the fitting is of a U-figure) or
three or more, so that when applied to the centre bar and encircled by the loop
end of the belt, as before described, the whole of the tongues may work simul-
taneously and in unison.
These loose tong fittings may be applied to metal frames in which case, instead
of complete centre bars, only part bars are arranged to extend from the ends of
the frame and the loose fitting is disposed within the gap between them and
the two parts are secured to one another by the encircling loop end of the band
which embraces or includes within it both the cross bar of the tong piece and
the part centre bars of the frame.
The application of my invention to to the buckles of garters, braces and the like,

page_text: differs in no essential respect from its application to the buckles of waist belts
as herein described.
Dated this 16th day of December 1800
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Buckles for Waist Belts,
Garters, Braces and other uses.
I, PATRICK ALPHONSUS MARTIN, Managing Director of Martins-Birmingham
Limited, of Granville Street, in the City of Birmingham, Manufacturers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention has relation to the buckles of waist and dress belts, garters,
braces and various other articles and in one part has for its object principally,
to provide a flexible and soft buckle having no metal parts in their framings,
and which I propose to effect by making the framings of the said buckles prin-
cipally from leather, or from celluloid, ebonite or other slightly flexible non-
metallic substances.
In carrying out one form of this part of my invention as applied to the buckle
of a waist belt, I propose to make the framing and its centre bar by cutting out,
blocking or fashioning the same by press tools or otherwise from a solid blank
of thick leather, or from a series of layers of thinner leather cemented together.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a front elevation of a waist
or dress belt fitted or provided with a leather buckle in accordance with this
part of my invention.
Figure 2 is a top edge view of the said belt and its leather buckle, whilst
Figure represents a horizontal section of the same upon the dotted line a,
Figure 1.
Figure 4 shows an elevation of the said buckle and the end of the belt to which
it is attached, but with the loop which passes round the centre bar of the frame
in section in order to show the disposition and method of securing or coupling
the metal tong with which the said buckle is fitted.
Figure 5 represents, in elevation, the leather buckle frame and the metal
tong fitting separated from one another, whilst Figure 6 shows edge views of
both these parts.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the said Figures 1
to 6.
a is the band of the belt and b is the buckle, the frame b¹ of which is produced,
as before mentioned, by cutting out or fashioning the same from solid leather,
or cementing together a series of component layers, and is provided with an
integral centre bar 62. The buckle frame thus produced may be of any suitable
shape or design and in conjunction with it I propose to employ a metal tong c,
having a cross piece c¹, of suitable length at the inner end, which latter lies
against or upon, the middle bar 6 of the frame, and is there retained as clearly
shown in Figures 3 and 4, by the looped end a¹, of the belt embracing in com-
mon both the centre bar and the cross end of the tong or prong, which itself
extends through a piercing a³ in the said encircling loop. By this construction,

page_text: when the belt is in use, the strain or pull is taken and borne by the cross piece
of the metal tong, which both reinforces or strengthens and stiffens the centre
bar and prevents any actual or material stress being thrown upon the leather
frame.
The frame may be fashioned in like manner from celluloid, papier-mache,
ebonite, or other non-metallic and flexible or slightly-flexible substance.
Instead of the tong and its cross bar being formed in one piece which turns
bodily when the prong is raised, I may form them in two separate parts, with
the prong itself being jointed or swivelly-connected to the middle of the cross
piece. A leather or like buckle frame so provided is represented in Figure 7
in elevation, with the loop end of the band in section, and in Figure 8 in
horizontal section upon the dotted line x².
6' is the leather or other flexible frame having an integral middle bar 62; c is
the tong and c¹ the cross piece, which stiffens and reinforces the said middle bar,
and is flattened to lie close upon the same, the two parts being kept together by
the loop end a¹ of the band a, whilst the tong itself has an eyed inner end c³,
encircling and swivelling around the necked middle of the cross piece c¹.
A
Instead of the leather or like buckle frames having integral centre bars
fashioned out of the same blank or blanks, I may insert or apply a separate centre
bar of metal or other material, around which the tong or tongs may turn.
buckle frame so provided is represented in elevation in Figure 9 and in horizontal
section upon the dotted line in Figure 10, 61 being the said frame and 62 the
metal cross bar, the flattened and pierced ends 63, of which are inserted into the
material of the frame and secured there by rivets or cross pins, although I wish
it to be understood that I do not confine myself to this particular method of
affixing the metal bar, as the same may be applied and secured in any suitable
way. is the prong which is jointed to, and swivels around the middle part of
the said bar 62.
Instead of having a single loose tongue with a cross end, I may make the
same of a double triple or other form, this is, the prongs proceeding from the
cross-end may be in duplicate (in which case the fitting is of a U figure) or three
or more, so that when applied to the centre bar and encircled by the loop end of
the belt, as before described, the whole of the tongues may work simultaneously
and in unison.
According to another part of my invention, such loose tong fittings may, as
represented in Figure 11, be applied to metal frames in which case, instead of
complete centre bars, only part bars 62 are arranged to extend from the ends 63
of the frame 61 (which is shown separately in Figure 12) and the loose tong
fitting c, (shown separately in Figure 13) is disposed within the gap 64 between
them and the two parts are secured to one another by the encircling loop end a¹
of the band a, which embraces or includes within it both the cross bar c¹ of the
tong piece and the part centre bars of the frame, whilst the prongs c³, extend
through piercings a³, in the said loop end of the band.
The application of my invention to the buckles of garters, braces and the like,
differs in no essential respect from its application to the buckles of waist belts
as herein described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
:
First In buckles, making the frames from leather, celluloid, ebonite or
other flexible non-metallic substance, and stiffening and reinforcing the centre
bar by a loose metallic tong-fitting, which is secured or coupled to the said centre
bar by the encircling loop end of the band or equivalent to which the buckle
is applied, substantially as herein described and also as set forth in Figures 1
to 8 of the accompanying drawings.
Secondly: A buckle, having a frame made from leather, celluloid, ebonite or

page_text: other flexible non-metallic substance, with a rigid metal centre-bar, substantially
as herein described and also as set forth in Figures 9 and 10.
Thirdly A metallic buckle comprising a frame having part centre bars, and
a loose prong fitting, which is coupled to the said frame within the space between
the said part bars, by the encircling loop end of the band to which the buckle is
applied, substantially as herein described and also as set forth in Figures 11, 12
and 13.