Improvements in Knee, and Waistbands for Knickerbockers and Skirts.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Apr., 1896-4ccepted, 23rd May, 1396
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knee, and Waistbands for Knickerbockers
and Skirts.
I, JAMES ROYLE of 234, Kings Road, Reading, in the County of Berks,
Manufacturer 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 the means of fastening at the knees the legs of knicker-
bockers or knee breeches and it has for its object to relieve the cloth of the strain
which comes upon it when tabs stitched to the cloth are used and to provide a
fastening which is stronger, neater, easier to secure unfasten and renew, which can
be more readily adjusted to the size of the leg. It also relates to fastening the
waist band of a lady's skirt, to prevent slipping down of the band at the back.
The invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming part
of this Specification, as applied to knickerbockers, consists of a detachable or free
running strap a long enough to encircle the leg and. be secured by means of a
buckle or grip fastening the strap being slipped through a tubular sheath
provided for its reception in the knee band c. The leg of the breeches has the
usual side slit d and the sheath commences at the overlapping edge d' of this side slit
and extends through the knee band to a slit e cut in the outer fabric of the tubular
knee band and button hole stitched or otherwise protected against fraying, the
slit e being situated at such a distance forward of the side slit d as to allow room
for the buckle between said slit and the overlapping edge d' of the side slit, the
buckle and the adjacent portions of the strap fastened thereto lying outside of the
non-tubular underlapping part of the knee band e so as to be easily accessible to
the wearer as shewn in Figure 1.
The strap and sheath can be made of any desired width or material and when
unfastened the buckle and loose end of the strap project as shewn in Figure 2
ready to be fastened, the buckle being so much larger than the slit e that it cannot
be inadvertently drawn into the sheath whilst the strap being loose within the
sheath may be easily withdrawn and another one slipped into the sheath as shewn
in Figure 3.
These
Figure 4 illustrates a modification in which instead of a continuous sheath
formed in the knee band a number of separate loops fare stitched to the knee
band through which loops the strap is threaded as in the former case.
loops may be on the exterior of the knee band as shewn in Figure 4 in which
case the strap will be visible all round except where it passes through the loops,
or the loops may be on the inner side of the band as in Figure 5 the buckle end.
of the strap coming through a button-hole stitched slit el made completely through
the knee band so that the buckle will be outside of the band at the part between
said slit and the side slit. d as before.
In any case the action of the strap when tightened is to gather in the knee
band about the leg without putting any tension on it as when attached tabs are
used so that the cloth is not liable to be torn by unusual strain on the knee baud
consequent on flexure of the limbs or muscular effort in taking any form of
exercise, notably in pedalling.
In applying the invention to a skirt, the waistband would be made as a sheath
and a strap run through it in just the same way as described in respect of a knee
hand

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
-claim is :-
The improvement in fasteuing the knee bands of knickerbockers or breeches or
the waistband of a skirt, which consists in the combination of a free running strap
with a sheath or loops formed in or on the band, the ends of the strap passing to
the outside of the band and being there connected by a buckle or equivalent
fastening substantially as specified.
Dated this 18th day of April 1896.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.