IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BELTS." A communication from abroad by Henri Dollier, of Paris.
Sealed the 22nd January 1861, and dated the 27th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1860.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS," (communicated to me from abroad by Henri Dollier,
of Paris,) to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, primarily, to belts for supporting trousers, drawers,
vests, and other like articles of apparel, and is characterized by the following
novel features:-
First, the employment in the manufacture of belts, both of an elastic and an
inelastic fabric or material as the principal parts of the same.
Secondly, the method of attaching the belt to the sides of the trousers or
other article by means of clasps, hooks, buttons, or otherwise, when the belt
only partially embraces the body, or of attaching it to the front of the article
when it completely embraces the body.
Thirdly, the employment of a regulating clasp, either at the back or the
front of the belt, or at both, for the purpose of varying the length of the belt,
and therefore its tension when in use.
Fourthly, belts formed according to this Invention may be used indepen-
dently of trousers, and are adapted to them only as substitutes for braces.

page_text: Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of being attached
to trousers, drawers, or vests, consist of two short pieces of elastic fabric or
material, including between them two inelastic pieces, to which they are
severally connected by means of fixed buckles or couplings. The inner ends
of the inelastic pieces are attached the one to the bar of a hinged or jointed
buckle, and the other to a clasp or "tirette," by means of which the length and
tension of the belt may be adjusted. The outer ends of the elastic pieces carry
eyes or holes intended to embrace hooks or buttons on the sides of the drawers
or trousers, or are provided with other suitable means of attachment.
Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of embracing the
body, are formed similarly to the foregoing, but have elastic pieces of greater
length, and are furnished with a second hinged buckle and a second clasp or
"tirette," like those before mentioned, for the purpose of rendering the belt
adjustable either at front or back. Its ends are furnished the one with a kind
of hook and the other with a corresponding eye. so that the belt may be put
on or off without interfering with the buckles.
Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of fastening vests
consist each of two elastic bands or pieces furnished with buttons specially
adapted for fastening the belts to the vest (or other article), and furnished like-
wise with a hinged or jointed buckle and a clasp or "tirette," as before
explained. The buttons just mentioned are sometimes used with the belts
before described.
Belts formed as before described may be employed as waist belts apart from
the articles of apparel before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman. Her special licence that I the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such

page_text: others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administra-
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS." (communicated to me from abroad by
Henri Dollier, of Paris.) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under his, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention relates, primarily, to belts for supporting trousers, drawers,
vests, and other like articles of apparel, and is characterized by the following
novel features:-
First, the employment in the manufacture of belts both of an elastic and
an inelastic fabric or material, as the principal parts of the same.
Secondly, the method of attaching the belt to the sides of the trousers or
other article by means of clasps, hooks, buttons, or otherwise when the belt
only partially embraces the body, or of attaching it to the front of the article
when it completely embraces the body.
Thirdly the employment of a regulating clasp, either at the back or the
front of the belt, or at both, for the purpose of varying the length of the belt,
and therefore its tension when in use.
Fourthly, belts formed according to this Invention may be used indepen-
dently of trousers, and are adapted to them only as substitutes for braces.
Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of being attached
to trousers, drawers, or vests, consist of two short pieces, of elastic fabric or
material, including between them two inelastic pieces, to which they are severally
connected by means of fixed buckles or couplings. The inner ends of the
inelastic pieces are attached the one to the bar of a hinged or jointed buckle,
and the other to a clasp or "tirette," by means of which the length and tension
of the belt may be adjusted. The outer ends of the elastic pieces carry eyes or

page_text: holes intended to embrace hooks or buttons on the sides of the drawers or
trousers, or are provided with other suitable means of attachment.
Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of embracing the
body, are formed similarly to the foregoing, but have elastic pieces of greater
length, and are furnished with a second hinged buckle and a second clasp or
"tirette," like those before mentioned, for the purpose of rendering the belt
adjustable either at front or back. Its ends are furnished the one with a kind
of hook and the other with a corresponding eye, so that the belt may be put
on or off without interfering with the buckles.
Belts formed according to this Invention for the purpose of fastening vests
consist each of two elastic bands or pieces furnished with buttons specially
adapted for fastening the belts to the vest (or other article), and furnished
likewise with a hinged or jointed buckle and a clasp or "tirette," as before
explained. The buttons just mentioned are sometimes used with the belts
before described.
Belts formed as before described may be employed as waist belts apart from
the articles of apparel before mentioned.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings show in plan and edge
views respectively a helt made according to the first part of the foregoing
description, being suitable for trousers, drawers, and other articles to which
belts are applied. The side pieces marked a, a', of the belt are made of an
elastic material; the central pieces b, b', are made of a non-elastic material;
that part marked b' is fastened at one end to the bar of the central movable
buckle c, and at the other end to the bar of the fixed buckle d; the other part,
videlicit, that marked b, is fastened at one end to the bar of the fixed buckle d',
and the other end is free to slide in the central buckle c; e is a finger and
thumbpicce for regulating and adjusting the length of the belt. Each of the
parts a, a', is held respectively at one end, one to the fixed buckle d', and the
other to the fixed buckle d; they each carry at the other end a kind of hook
1. f, or a button or buttons, or other contrivance, by which the belt may be
attached to a pair of trousers or other garment; by hooking the hooks f, f, to
buttons on the trousers, and by drawing more or less the finger piece e of the
central part marked b, the length of the belt is increased or diminished, and
consequently the trousers regulated to suit the waist of the wearer, and this
equally applies to other garments. By increasing the length of the pieces a, a,
and b, b', the belt can be made long enough to surround the whole body; in
this case the hooks f. f', are dispensed with, and a clasp or other fastening of
any known kind fitted thereto. If desired, a buckle, similar to the one marked
is fitted to the ends of the parts a, a', instead of the hooks f, f. by which
C,

page_text: means the belt can be drawn in or let out at the front as well as at the back.
g. g. are studs or buttons for buttoning to the trousers or other garment, and
preventing the belt. when attached. as before described. from getting out
of place.
Figures 4 and 5 show in plan and edge view a belt made according to this
Invention, but of a somewhat modified construction to that just described.
The side pieces h. h'. are sewn to, for example, a waistcoat; the free ends of
each of these pieces are introduced into the tongue buckles 1, 1. one end of
each of the elastic bands m, m'. is attached to these buckles 1, 1'; the other
end of the band m' is fixed to the movable buckle c, while the end of the band
m passes through the buckle e, and terminates in a finger piece e. by which the
length of the band is regulated, in a similar manner to the arrangement first
described.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the improve-
ments in belts,- -
First. the employment in the manufacture of belts both of an elastic and an
inclastic fabric or material, as herein-before described.
Second, the method of attaching belts to the sides of trousers or other
articles by means of clasps, hooks. buttons, or otherwise, when the belt only
partially embraces the body, or of attaching it to the front of the article when
it completely embraces the body, as herein-before described.
Third, the employment of a regulating clasp either at the back or front of
the belt. or at both. for the purpose of varying the length of the belt, and
therefore its tension when in use. as herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
Fourth, the employment of belts made in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated at Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings, for waist
belts and all other purposes for which belts are used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)