AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND COMBINING STRIPS OR BANDS OF STEEL FOR CRINOLINE OR CRINOLINE SKIRTS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Alfred Carpenter, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer; for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND COMBINING STRIPS OR BANDS OF STEEL FOR
CRINOLINE OR CRINOLINE SKIRTS."
Sealed the 29th April 1862, and dated the 27th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th January 1862.
I, SAMUEL ALFRED CARPENTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND COMBINING STRIPS OR BANDS
OF STEEL FOR CRINOLINE OR CRINOLINE SKIRTS," to be as follows:-
The strips or bands of which crinoline is ordinarily made consist of thin
sheet steel covered separately with fibrous material by means of a braiding
machine or a machine having an action essentially like that of a braiding
machine.
My Invention consists in covering and combining strips or bands of steel
for crinoline or crinoline skirts by means of a fabric into which two or more
of the said strips or bands are woven side by side. The strips or bands,
covered and combined according to my Invention, resemble the elastic webbing
used for braces and for other purposes, excepting that in place of threads or
D

page_text: strands of india-rubber the said strips or bands of steel are substituted. Any
number of the said strips or bands of steel may be woven in the fabric side by
side so as to form crinoline of any width. The strips or bands of steel may
be separated by any desired width of the woven fabric, and a narrow edge of
fabric may be made on one or both edges of the crinoline for the purpose of
attaching it to the article of dress: A sufficient number of the strips or bands
of steel may be covered and combined in a fabric of sufficient width for
crinoline skirts. The looms which I employ'for combining and covering the
said strips or bands are looms of the kind commonly employed for making
elastic webbing, the working of the said looms being carried on in the same
way as for making elastic webbing, excepting that the said strips or bands of
steel are substituted for the strands of india-rubber. The advantages possessed
by strips or bands of steel for crinoline and crinoline skirts, covered and com-
bined according to my Invention, over those ordinarily employed, are lightness,
pliability, and economy.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ALFRED CARPENTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eighthundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Alfred Carpenter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, 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 makė, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING AND COMBINING
STRIPS OR BANDS OF STEEL FOR CRINOLINE OR CRINOLINE SKIRTS," upon
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samúel Alfred Carpenter, 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

page_text: 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 Samuel Alfred Carpenter, 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:-
The strips or bands of which crinoline is ordinarily made consist of thin
sheet steel covered separately with fibrous material by means of a braiding
machine, or a machine having an action essentially like that of a braiding
machine.
My Invention consists in covering and combining strips or bands of steel
for crinoline or crinoline skirts by means of a fabric into which two or more
of the said strips or bands are woven side by side. The strips or bands,
covered and combined according to my Invention, resemble elastic webbing,
excepting that in place of threads or strands of india-rubber the said strips or
bands of steel are substituted. Any number of the said strips or bands of
steel may be woven in the fabric side by side so as to form crinoline of any
width. The strips or bands of steel may be separated by any desired width of
the woven fabric, and a narrow edge of fabric may be made on one or both
edges of the crinoline for the purpose of attaching it to the article of dress.
A sufficient number of the strips or bands of steel may be covered and com-
bined in a fabric of the width proper for crinoline skirts.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in plan a piece of crino-
line made according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an edge view of the same;
and Figure 3 is a cross section of the same; Figure 4 is a cross section of
the same on a larger scale.
The strips or bands of steel a, a, a, are woven into the fabric b, side by side,
the strips or bands a, a, a, being separated from each other by longitudinal
threads at c,c, the said longitudinal threads combined with the transverse ones
forming a number of casings in the fabric, in each of which a strip or band a
is enveloped. These longitudinal threads may also be used at the edges, thus
making a border for sewing the crinoline on to the garment. The piece of
crinoline, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, resembles elastic webbing, excepting that the
flat strips or bands of steel a, a, a, are substituted for the india-rubber threads
or strands used in the said webbing, as will be readily understood by an exami-
nation of the Drawing.
Instead of covering the strips of steel by the transverse threads only, as

page_text: described and represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, the said strips of steel
may also be covered by the longitudinal threads, as represented in Figure 5;
but I do not limit myself to any particular method or methods of combining
the steel with or weaving it into the fabric. Instead of flat strips or bands of
steel a, a, cylindrical or semi-cylindrical wires may be employed. Instead of
inserting a strip or wire of steel in each of the casings made in the fabric,
some of the said casings may be filled with cotton, thread, or other fibrous
substance, the strips a, a, being in this case separated to a greater distance
from each other. The looms which I employ for combining and covering the
said strips or bands or wires are looms of the kind commonly employed for
making elastic webbing, the working of the said looms being carried on in the
same way as for making elastic webbing, excepting that strips or bands or
wires of steel are substituted for strands of india-rubber. The advantages
possessed by strips or bands or wires of steel for crinoline and crinoline skirts,
covered and combined according to my Invention, over those ordinarily
employed, are lightness, pliability, and economy.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention the improvement or improvements in covering and combining strips
or bands of steel for crinoline or crinoline skirts herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, covering and com-
bining a series oftwo or more strips or bands of steel for crinoline and crinoline
skirts by means of a fabric into which the said strips or bands are woven
parallel to one another, the said woven fabric also separating the said stripsor
bands from one another.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Alfred Carpenter, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
SAMUEL ALFRED CARPENTER. (L.s.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.