A NEW OR IMPROVED DRESS FASTENING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Organ, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, and George Pitt, of Birmingham, aforesaid,
Machinist for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED DRESS FASTENING."
Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 21st February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Organ and
George Pitt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st February 1855.
We, THOMAS ORGAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, and GEORGE PITT, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Machinist, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED DRESS
FASTENING" to be as follows:-
Our said fastening consists of two strips of thin sheet steel or other metal.
On one edge of each strip a row of holes is made, whereby the strip is attached
to the garment to be fastened, a lady's dress, for example. On the other edge
of one strip a series of hooks are made at equidistant points, and on the other
strip a series of eyes are made at distances equalling those at which the hooks
are placed. When one part of our fastening is sewn in the edge of a lady's
dress, and the other part into the edge of the dress to be fastened to the former,
our said fastening presents a series of hooks at one edge of the dress and a
series of eyes at the other, which may be fastened after the manner of ordi-
hooks and eyes. The said strips of metal having hooks or eyes on their
edge may be made of any length, and cut out of sheet metal, and the hooks
bent by any of the processes used for cutting and shaping metals.
nary

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ORGAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, and GEORGE
PITT, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt, Her special licence that we,
the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt,
our 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED DRESS
FASTENING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas
Organ and George Pitt, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt,
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, that is to say:-
Our said Invention consists of a dress fastening, constructed in the manner
hercin-after described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing. The same
letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures.
Our fastening consists of two parts, one of which is shown in Figure 1 and
the other in Figure 2; the two parts secured together are shewn in back view
in Figure 3, and front view in Figure 4. Figure 5 represents on a large scale
a section of the two parts unconnected, and Figure 6 shews a section of the
two parts connected.
Our said Invention consists of two strips of thin sheet steel or other metal

page_text: or alloy. The strips are marked a, b, in the several Figures. On one side of
each of the strips a row of small holes c are made, whereby the strips of metal
are attached by sewing to a lady's dress or other garment. On the other edge
of the strip a, a series of eyes or loops, marked d, are formed, the said eyes or
loops being situated at equidistant points on the edge of the strip; and on the
other edge of the strip b, a series of hooks e are made, the said hooks being
situated at equidistant points, the intervals between the said hooks being the
same as those between the eyes or loops d. The strip a is attached by sewing
or otherwise to one of the two edges of a lady's dress to be fastened together,
and the strip 6 is attached to the other of the said edges; our said fastening
thus presenting a series of hooks at one edge of the dress and a series of eyes
or loops at the other. By inserting the hooks into the eyes, as will be under-
stood by reference to Figures 3, 4, and 6, the fastening of the dress will be
effected. The strips of metal a, b, having hooks or eyes on their edge, may
be made of any length. The said strips of metal are made by preference by
cutting out with a press. We prefer to press the eyes d, d, so as to make them
convex on one side and concave on the other; the said eyes are thereby
strengthened. The hooks may be bent by any of the well-known and commonly
practised processes of bending metal.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not limit
ourselves to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of our said Invention; but we claim as our
Invention a new or improved dress fastening, constructed in the manner
herein described, and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing; that is to say,
a fastening consisting of two strips of metal, one of the said strips having a
series of eyes or loops formed on its edge, and the other of the said strips
having a series of hooks formed on its edge; the said strips being so connected
with the two edges of the article of dress to be fastened together that the hooks
on one strip shall be opposed to the eyes or loops on the other.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Organ and George Pitt, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS ORGAN. (L.S.)
GEORGE PITT.
(L.S.)