Improvements in Stays for Dresses, Corsets, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 10th Feb., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stays for Dresses, Corsets, and the like.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323 High Holborn, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN STAYS FOR DRESSES, CORSETS, ETC., communicated to me
by Julius Janowitz of 135 Grand Street, New York City, N.Y. U.S.A.,
Manufacturer, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in the following statement :--
This invention relates to that class of stays which are covered with rubber
or other suitable compound, and is designed to provide an improvement thereon to
prevent their breaking when in use, or rusting after washing or from the perspiration
of the wearer. To this end the invention consists in the peculiar construction
hereinafter more particularly described and then definitely claimed.
In the accompanying drawings, in which this improvement is shown on an
enlarged scale-
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a stay constructed according to this
improvement.
Figure 2 is a cross section on the line, Fig. 1.
Figure 3 is a similar section on the line yy, Fig. 1.
Figure 4 is a similar section showing a wire of different form.
Heretofore it has been proposed to cover single steel stays with rubber, but such
stays cannot be sewed through as is required in making dresses of the better class,
unless the steels are perforated, and when perforated they are so weakened at the
point of perforation as to be almost sure to break under the strain to which they are
subjected. To remedy this it has been proposed to use double or "twin" stays
and cover them with textile material sewed onto the stays. This, however, is also
objectionable as the steels rust under perspiration and after washing, and this
destroys the stitching, so that they not only iron-mould the clothing of the wearer
but they become loose and annoying besides. To overcome these difficulties is the
object of this invention, which I do by embedding duplex or twin steels in a
suitable composition, such as rubber or similar compounds.
Referring now to the details of the drawing-A represents two steel wires of any
approved cross-section but preferably either flat as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 or
corrugated as shown in Figure 4. These are united at the ends by metal tips B
clasping the ends at top and bottom and the whole is covered with a suitable
compound such as rubber C, or other suitable material which when it has been
vulcanized or hardened not only forms a hard elastic coating, but also fills in, or
partially so, the space between the two wires, and firmly unites them along their
entire length so as to make them practically one piece.
If preferred, the ends of the stays may be formed with cushioned ends by
attaching soft rubber composition thereto.
The rubber is preferably perforated at several places along the centre between
the steels as shown at D; or the material between the steels may be solid, but
owing to the absence of steel in the middle, it can be sewed through with a needle
in the same manner as thin whalebone or horn, and to facilitate this there may be a
slight channel in the covering between the steels as shown in Figure 4.
Although I show the rubber perforated, I do not limit myself to this, for the
coating may be left imperforate, as it may be very readily perforated by the
seamstress, especially as the compound used is easily penetrated, although it is very
strong and elastic.

page_text: I prefer to make the stays as above described, but it is evident that said stays
can be made of a single spring having a slit cut through its centre, thus avoiding
the necessity of using the clasps; and where in the following claims the term
"twin wire stay
is used, I mean to cover this stay in any of the forms herein
described.
"
I do not limit myself to the making of short stays with metal clasps as shown, as
I may make them in long lengths without clasps so that dress and corset makers
may cut them up into short stays to suit themselves.
It will be observed that in this construction there is added to the twin stay
another substance that has a resiliency of its own, and thus tends to reinforce the
steel portion of the material, and moreover the rubber or other composition firmly
holds the twin steels in the same position relative to each other, as it is firmly
united thereto, thus forming a stiffer spring with the same weight of steel
independent of the elasticity of the rubber or composition covering.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A twin wire stay having a hard, resilient coating, covering the two members
of the stay on all sides, and forming a filling connecting the two contiguous edges
of said members, substantially as described.
2. A twin wire stay covered with vulcanized rubber having a filling of the same
between the wires, firmly uniting their inner edges, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
3. A twin wire stay covered with vulcanized rubber having a channelled filling
of the same between the wires, firmly uniting their inner edges, substantially as and
for the purpose specified.
4. A stay composed of a spring metal enclosed in a hard resilient coating and
perforated through the coating material only, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of January 1893.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.