Improved Means of Supporting Trousers and other Garments.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means of Supporting Trousers and other Garments.
I, GEORGE VAN DUZER, of No. 118 East 27th Street, in the City County and
State of New York, United States of America, Inventor, 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 :-
My Invention relates to belts adapted to suspend trousers or other garments from
the waist or hips, and has for its object to provide a simple inexpensive and efficient
belt of this character which will securely support the garment without exposing
buttons at the outside and will allow the garment to be most quickly loosened or
readjusted and will permit the greatest freedom of movement of the wearer.
The Invention consists in certain novel features of construction of the suspender
belt and in its combination with the garment which it supports, all as hereinafter
described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specifi-
cation, in which figure 1 is a front perspective view of the improved suspender belt, as
applied to use on a pair of trousers. Figure 2 is an enlarged outside face view of a
portion of the belt, with one of its button catches or clasps. Figure 3 is an enlarged
detail vertical sectional view of the belt and trousers, taken on line x-x, figure 1;
and figure 4 is a face view of part of a belt having a modified form of button catch
or clasp. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the
figures.
The main body portion or band A of the belt may be made of leather or of thin
metal or of any woven fabric, such as silk, worsted, linen, cotton, or other material,
and the ends of the belt which will be at the front may be provided with any ordinary
or approved buckle or clasp fastening device a which may be quickly engaged or
disengaged when adjusting the trousers or garment to which the belt is applied and
which the belt supports from the body. of the wearer at or above the hips. Buttons
and button holes may also be used as an end fastening for the belt.
The chief peculiarity in the construction of my suspender belt and in its combi-
nation with trousers or other garment which it supports, is that I attach to the outer
face of the belt band A a series of button clasps or catches which engage buttons
secured on the inner face of the waist band of the garment. The clasps are preferably
made as shewn in figures 1, 2, and 3, of the drawing, or with a main plate portion B
provided with marginal holes e preferably near the corners to receive threads, rivets,
or other devices, by which it may be securely fastenod to the outer face of the belt
band A. In and along its contre portion the catch plate is provided with a longthwise
slot 6 which receives the shank of a trousers or garment button and the plate also
preferably has a short transverse slot or notch b¹ which opens downward into the
longitudinal slot and provides for more easy engagement of the button with the clasp,
as heroinafter more fully explained. This clasp plate B may be made of metal, leather,
rubber, celluloid, or any other suitable material and in so far as operativeness is con-
cerned it may be made of a wire B¹ bent into the form shewn in figure 4 of the drawing
so as to provide a slot 6 and notch 6 substantially like those of the preferred form
of button catch shewn in the other views. This modified form of button clasp will
preferably be attached by stitching it fast to the belt band.
The advantage the clasp plate B has over the plate B¹ is that its upper portion, wherein
the notch 6 is formed, affords a substantial bearing or support for a latch sleeve C
which may be slid along to one side of the notch b', as shewn in figure 2, until the
clasp is engaged with a button D sewed or otherwise attached to the inner side or face
of the waistband e of a trousers or other nether garment E and when the button head

page_text: .
has fully passed through the clasp plate and between it and the belt band and when the
button shank or stem rests in the plate slot b, the sleeve C will be slid back until
it covers the clasp notch 61 to prevent the button shank passing into the notch
and thus securely latching or locking the button in the clasp or locking the clasp to
the button to prevent their accidental disengagement, although the button would be
easily engaged and not easily disengaged were the notch and latch O dispensed
with.
The operation of the invention will be fully understood from figure 1 of the
drawing which shews that while all the buttons D on the inside face of the garment
waist-band are engaged with a corresponding number of clasp devices A, B, C, on
the outer face of the belt band, the clasps on the belt and the buttons on the garment
are all entirely concealed from view and the belt band may also be wholly concealed
inside the garment waist band if desired by attaching the hutton clasps to the belt band
closer to the upper edge of the band than shown, the clasps being intentionally shewn
nearer the lower edge of the band, to illustrate how the band may be caused to
shew as a narrow strip or girdle extending slightly above the garment waist band as
may be most desirable at times with silk or colored belts worn with fancy costumes
by tennis players and others.
It is obvious that when a pair of trousers is suspended by means of my improved
belt, it is only necessary to open or disengage the front buttons e¹ and quickly unclasp
the belt fastening a and the garment is loose and free without the trouble attending
the separate unfastening of six or more buttons from suspenders passing over the
shoulders, and the garment may be as quickly readjusted by simply clasping the belt
buckle or fastening a and engaging the front buttons e¹. It will also be noticed that
the shanks of the garment buttons are free to slip along the slots 6 of the belt clasps,
one inch more or less, which gives the greatest freedom of movement to the wearer of
the belt and garment.
I wish it to be understood that I may or may not use the latch Con the button
clasps of the belt and when the latch is used I may make the notch 61 of the clasp
plate large enough to allow the head of the inside button D on the garment to pass
directly through it flatwise prior to slipping the latch over the notch. My improve-
ment is evidently designed more especially for use with buttons D having metal self-
attaching shanks or those buttons long in use which are made in separate parts and
are put on without the use of sewing thread, so that the strain on the buttons at the
clasp plate slots will come on the metal button shanks and not on button attaching
threads, but thread-fastened buttons may be used if desired.
It requires but a few moments to detach the belt from one garment and connect
it to the inside buttons D on another garment and if preferred the belt may be
fastened around the waist prior to putting on the garment which when on may be
easily connected to the belt, as will readily be understood.
I am not limited to the use of buttons as fasteners at the inner face of a nether
garment, as fasteners of any suitable character such as safety pins, or hooks or claps,
may be employed within the scope of my invention which in its broadest signification
includes the combination with a nether garment having any suitable button or other
fasteners at its inner face, of a suspender belt placed inside the garment and adapted
to engage the fasteners.
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. The combination, with a nether garment having fasteners on its inner face said
fasteners being invisible from the outer side of the garment, of a suspender belt
placed inside the garment and provided on its outer face with a series of complemental
fasteners, substantially as set forth.
2. The combination, with a nether garment of a suspender belt placed inside the
garment at the waist band and complemental series of fastenings secured respectively

page_text: at the outer face of the belt and inner face of the waist band, each fastener having a
sliding connection with its complementary fastener in the direction of the length of
the belt, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination, with a nether garment having a series of buttons on the inside
of the waistband and invisible from the outside thereof of a suspender belt having a
series of longitudinally-slotted complemental clasps on its outer face, substantially as
set forth.
4. In a suspender belt for nether garments the band A having end fastenings and
a series of button clasps on its outer face provided with longitudinally-extending
slots b, the lower walls of which present unbroken surfaces through their lengths for
the button shanks and the upper walls having notches b¹ for the entrance of the
button heads, substantially as set forth.
5. A button clasp for suspender belts, consisting of a body having a longitudinal
slot and a notch at the top of the slot and opening into it, the lower wall of the
slot presenting an unbroken surface throughout its length, substantially as set forth.
6. The combination in a suspender belt of a band A having an end fastening
and clasp plates B held to the outer face of the band and provided with a slot ba
notch and a latch device adapted to close said notch, substantially as herein set forth.
7. A button clasp for susponder belts, consisting of a plate having a slot band
a notch b' and a latch sleeve C adapted to close said notch, substantially as herein
set forth.
Патол TRIS
LACAmnar INAY
GEORGE VAN DUZER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.