IMPROVEMENTS IN CRINOLINES AND CRINOLINE FASTENINGS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elizabeth Collier, of High Street, Leicester, in the
County of Leicester, Milliner and Crinoline Manufacturer, for the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elizabeth Collier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the 2nd
September 1863.
I, ELIZABETH COLLIER, of High Street, Leicester, in the County of
Leicester, Milliner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CRINOLINES AND CRINOLINE FASTENINGS," to be as follows:-
The purpose of my Invention is to provide means whereby the incon-
veniences found in wearing large crinolines may be avoided. These
inconveniences I propose to obviate by constructing crinolines capable of
contraction or expansion at the will of the wearer.
In carrying this Invention into practical effect, firstly, I make as many
rows of crinoline steel as may be found convenient in two pieces connected by
an hinged joint of any desirable form, in such manner that one hinge will
open outwards and the other inwards, forming a fold. The joints may either
be formed in the steel itself, or any ordinary crinoline fastener may be cut in
two pieces and jointed to effect the same object, and for the purpose of
keeping the crinoline in the position in which it may be placed, I use a
spring attached to one side of the hinge passing through an orifice on the

page_text: other in such a manner that it will hold the hinge in position whether open
or shut.
Secondly, in attaching the ends of crinoline steel to each other I obviate
the use of any separate fastener by forming a longitudinal slot at one end of
the steel, and a corresponding projection at the other, or I form indentations
across the steel at each end whereby they may be easily and firmly united.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Elizabeth Collier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIZABETH
COLLIER, of High Street, Leicester, in the. County of Leicester, Milliner
and Crinoline Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eit hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Elizant Collier, Her special licence that I, the said
Elizabeth Collier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Elizabeth Collier, 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 Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CRINOLINES AND CRINOLINE FASTENINGS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Elizabeth Collier, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 Elizabeth Collier, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is, first, to remedy the inconveniences found in

page_text: wearing extensive crinolines. These inconveniences are more particularly felt
in entering vehicles or railway carriages, theatres, churches, and other crowded
places of public resort, and I propose to remedy them by constructing
crinolines in such manner that they may be contracted or expanded at the
will of the wearer. And in carrying this my Invention into practical effect I
construct the hoops, of which such crinolines are made, of two or more pieces
connected by two hinge joints, one opening outwards and the other inwards,
and as it is necessary that the crinoline when folded should remain so until
again required to be expanded, or when expanded it should remain firm and
circular in its expanded form, I apply a spring to one part of each hinge
and so as to press on the other part thereof in such manner that the pressure
of such spring exercises a pressure on the parts of the hinge whether the
hinge be open or shut, and with a tendency to keep it in either relation.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 show a side view, a sectional view, and an edge view of
one arrangement of hinge for connecting the parts of a crinoline hoop according
to my Invention. The parts a, a¹, which receive the ends of part of a crinoline
hoop are connected together by the hinge joint b, and there is a spring c
connected at c¹ to the part a', and pressing on the other part a with a tendency
to keep those parts a, a', in the position in relation to each other indicated by
Figures 1, 2, and 3. Figure 4 shows an edge view of the parts a, a¹, of a
hinge constructed as in Figures 2 and 3, but showing the relation of the parts
when the crinoline is folded. In this case the outer end of the spring c has
been caused to pass through the hole a³ in the plate a, and that end of the
spring is now pressing on the opposite side of that part a with a tendency to
keep the two parts a, a', closed together, as indicated by this Figure 4.
b
Figure 5 shows a crinoline hoop with hinges; according to my Invention,
in its extended state, a, a, being the hinges, which are connected to the hoop
dat d', d, so as to be capable of turning on their hinge joints 6 alternately
in opposite directions. Figure 6 shows the same hoop reduced in its dimen-
sions by one pair of the hinges being folded, as indicated by Figure 4, so that
two of the parts d of the hoop lie within the other parts. The form of the
knuckle or other parts of the hinge may be varied. I do not, however,
confine myself to the precise details shown, so long as the hinges employed in
connecting parts of crinoline hoops are formed to be acted upon by springs
with a tendency to keep them in either a collapsed or extended state, as may
be for a time desired.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 show another form of the hinge, in which the spring c
is formed of one part of the hinge, and its outer end acts upon the enlarged
part of the knuckle a of the part a when the binge is open or closed, with a

page_text: tendency to retain it in either position. Figures 10 and 11 show the two
opposite sides and a section of each of the two parts of this linge. separately.
It will be obvious that the hinges may be made in or so as to form part of the
steel of which the hoops are made.
Secondly, the improvements relate to means by which the ends of crinoline
steel may be easily and firmly united together. For this purpose I make
transverse indentations in the steel so as to form at each end thereof a serrated
surface, which when placed together and bound round.will form a firm and
lasting joint; or in some cases I make at one end a longitudinal slot and at
the other a corresponding projection, whereby such parts may be securely
fastened.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elizabeth Collier, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ELIZABETH COLLIER. (L.S.)