IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Drucker, Manufacturer, of 13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS
CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Sealed the 25th May 1866, and dated the 28th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Drucker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
November 1865.
I, EDWARD DRUCKER, Manufacturer, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF STAYS, CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
Hitherto the stuff or tissue of which stays,corsets, and other similar articles
have been formed, has been cut into certain irregularly shaped pieces, and
united by stitching or any other appropriate manner, the direction of such
pieces assuming a vertical or nearly vertical direction.
My improvements consist in forming stays, corsets, or other similar articles
by means of three or more pieces, which when united follow a longitudinal or
nearly longitudinal direction; and in order to produce the requisite amount of
slack to adapt the corset to the different protuberances of the breast without
Priss 8d.]

page_text: the insertion of gussets or other additional pieces, I give to the edges of the
said pieces such a curved or irregular form that after being stitched or other-
wise united they present at the top as well as at the bottom of the stays the
requisite bulge or fulness, which is otherwise obtained by the insertion of
gussets or other additional pieces as pieces as aforesaid.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is intended to convey an idea of the
relative directions, shapes, and sizes of the pieces composing my corset, the
said corset being spread out or developed. a, a, are the central pieces, and
b,b, and c,c, the upper and lower pieces respectively. Figure 2 represents the
approximate forms of these three component parts, as cut out and laying flat
before being united.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Drucker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
DRUCKER, Manufacturer, of 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Drucker, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Drucker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the
said Edward Drucker, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS, CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Drucker, 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 Edward Drucker, do hereby declare

page_text: the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
Hitherto the stuff or tissue of which stays, corsets, and other similar articles
have been formed has been cut into certain irregularly shaped pieces, and
united by stitching or any other appropriate manner, the direction of such
pieces assuming a vertical or nearly vertical direction.
My improvements consist in forming stays, corsets, or other similar articles
by means of three or more pieces, which when united follow a longitudinal or
nearly longitudinal direction; and in order to produce the requisite amount of
slack to adapt the corset to the different protuberances of the bust without
the insertion of gussets or other additional pieces, I give to the edges of thesaid
pieces such a curved or irregular form that after being stitched or otherwise
united they present at the top as well as at the bottom of the stays the
requisite bulge or fulness which is usually obtained by the insertion of gussets
or other additional pieces as aforesaid.
I will now, with the assistance of the seven Figures in the accompanying
Drawing, proceed to give a detailed description ofthe manufacture of my new
corset.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of one of my stays or corsets closed; Fig. 2, the
same open or developed; Fig. 3, the compound pieces of stuff as cut out
and laid flat before being united together; and, Figs. 4 to 7, different details
of sewing. As it will be seen in these three first Figures, each half of the
corset is composed of three pieces or bands of tissue following a longitudinal
or nearly longitudinal direction. a, a, are the central pieces; b, b, the upper
pieces; and c, c, the lower idem, idem, which I unite in any appropriate
manner, and garnish with whalebones, or such other flexible material adapted
for the purpose.
Fig. 3 represents the parts a, b, and c, detached from one another, and
just as they are cut out from the stuff, and their peculiar form, as thus
seen when lying flat is necessary for producing the requisite curves,fulness, or
undulations both at the top and at the bottom of the corset, and it will be
remarked that the under edge of b is the exact counterpart of the upper edge
of a, whilst the upper edge of c is the counterpart of the under edge of a.
I can sew these different pieces together in many different manners. I confine
myself to mentioning the two following:-In the first (see Figs. 4 and 5) I unite
them by a single line of sewing, the two pieces being laid one on the other in
such a manner that their curved edges coincide exactly, see Fig. 4. I then
open them flat, as seen in Fig. 5. In the second, Figs. 6 and 7, I first turn

page_text: down the edges of the two pieces, see Fig. 6, and baste them lightly together
by means of a thread, indicated in blue, run through the centre of the turned-
down part. I afterwards unite them solidly by means of a double row of
stitches d, d, see Fig. 7.
MyInvention, as above described, consists essentiallyinthe mannerofforming
stays, corsets, or other analagous articles by uniting their component pieces of
stuffin a longitudinal or nearlylongitudinal direction, the cut given to the pieces
when flat being such that after being united they are forced to assume at their
upper and lower extremities a curved or undulated shape, such as is required for
adapting itself to the protuberances of the bust, and it will be easily under-
stood that by modifying the relative lengths, shapes, and curves of the said
pieces, more or less fulness can be obtained at the requisite parts, and for this
end without the insertion of gussets or other additional pieces usually
employed. I also if requisite modify the curves of the said pieces to such an
extent that their opposite edges do not, as it has been mentioned above, form
an exact counterpart of one of the other before uniting, and although I have
described my stays or corsets as being made of only three pieces, I do not
confine myself to this number, as they can be increased or even diminished
to two component parts only, without departing from the principle of my
improvements.
.
What I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,
is,―
Firstly, the manufacture of stays, corsets, or other analagous articles by
means of pieces cut out and united in a longitudinal or nearly longitudinal
direction.
Secondly, the peculiar shape of the pieces when cut, whereby when
united they form a corset with the requisite amount of fulness at the proper
parts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Drucker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
DDWA DIY INRICK ER
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Witness,
A. H. BRANDON.
DOW ADIY
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