AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR INTRODUCING ELASTIC SUBSTANCES INTO ARTICLES OP WEARING APPAREL, AND THE ADAPTATION THEREOP TO THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN USEFUL GARMENTS IN WHICH ELASTICITY IS REQUIRED
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crawford Wilson, residing at No. 11, Soley
Terrace, Pentonville, and in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR INTRODUCING ELASTIC SUBSTANCES INTO ARTICLES
OP WEARING APPAREL, AND THE ADAPTATION THEREOP TO THE MANUFACTURE
OF CERTAIN USEFUL GARMENTS IN WHICH ELASTICITY IS REQUIRED."
Sealed the 22nd September 1858, and dated the 24th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Crawford Wilson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March 1858.
I, JOHN CRAWFORD WILSON, residing at No. 11, Soley Terrace, Pentonville, and
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR INTRODUCING ELASTIC SUBSTANCES INTO ARTICLES OF
WEARING APPAREL, AND THE ADAPTATION THEREOP TO THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN
USEFUL GARMENTS IN WHICH ELASTICITY IS REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed for the introduction of elastic substances, such as
india-rubber or india-rubber web, or any other expanding or contracting material
into various garments, such as ladies' riding habits, house jackets, out-door
jackets, jacket cloaks, spencers, bodices of dresses, gentlemen's coats, waist-

page_text: coats, and all articles of wearing apparel in which a perfect fit is required,
without having recourse to the usual process of measurement.
This Invention is further designed when applied to jackets and the before
mentioned garments for ladies' wear, to be especially adapted to the require-
ments of invalids, pregnant women, deformed figures, growing young people,
children, and all persons who may be injured or inconvenienced by any undue
pressure; the chief property of this Invention being the adaptation of the
article of dress, into which it has been inserted, to every portion of the body
with which it is brought into contact, without pressing upon any enlargement,
excrescence, or tender part; and it is furthermore intended to preserve the
symmetry of the bust, to strengthen and support the spine, to afford every
facility for the action of the lungs, to prevent stooping by upholding the chest,
and to expand with the growth of all portions of the bust, waist, and loins.
This Invention is further designed to act as a substitute for stays, corsets,
and tight lacing articles of a similar nature, and will be found when applied to
possess all their advantages without the possibility of entailing upon the wearer
any of their injurious consequences.
To obtain in any of the before mentioned garments the properties herein
quoted, I proceed as follows:-Having cut out the material of which the
jacket, bodice, or such article is to be made of a moderate size, leaving a
fulness in the portions intended for the chest, I insert upon the shoulders and
between the back and chest pieces [A to B], and again beneath the arm from
the arm-pit to the waist, close to hip, elastic substances of from three to five
inches in length [i. e., from A to B, and from E to FJ, and from six to nine
inches in width [i. e., from C to D, and from G to H], either folding in small
plaits and at regular intervals the external material intended for the garment
upon the said elastic substance when partially distended, or corrugating the
material by cementing it to the fully distended india-rubber tapes or threads by
the process of heated rollers, or any other method of adhesion, so that in every
part of the garment in which the elastic substance is inserted an equal expan-
sion or contraction may be obtained, varying as required by the wearer from
the lengths inserted at A to B, and E to F, to twice or thrice their extent,
thus securing a fit free from wrincles or tightness, the corrugated or folded
material adding to its qualities of expansion a decided degree of ornament.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Crawford Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JoпN
CRAWFORD WILSON, residing at No. 11, Soley Terrace, Pentonville, and in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Crawford Wilson, Her special licence that I, the
said John Crawford Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Crawford Wilson, 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 law-
fully 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR INTRODUCING ELASTIC SUBSTANCES INTO ARTICLES OP
WEARING APPAREL, AND THE ADAPTATION THEREOF TO THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN
USEFUL GARMENTS IN WHICH ELASTICITY IS REQUIRED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Crawford Wilson, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 John Crawford Wilson, do hereby declare
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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, & to the letters & figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention has for its object the introduction of elastic substances, such
as india-rubber or india-rubber web, or any other expanding and contracting
material into various garments, such as ladies' riding habits, house jackets, out-
door jackets, jacket cloaks, spencers, bodices of dresses, gentlemen's coats;
waistcoats, and all articles of wearing apparel in such manner that a perfect
fit may be obtained without having recourse to exact measurements.
Garments formed according to my Invention, in consequence of the expand-
:

page_text: ing & contracting properties they possess, are particularly applicable to the
requirements of invalids, pregnant women, deformed figures, growing young
people, children, and all persons who may be injured or inconvenienced by
any undue pressure; the chief feature of this Invention being that the articles
of dress to which it is applied, adapt themselves to every portion of the body,
& this without pressing unduly upon any enlargement, excrescence, or
tender part; and furthermore, they serve to preserve the symmetry of the
bust, to strengthen and support the spine, to afford free play for the action of
the lungs, to prevent stooping by upholding the chest, & to expand with
the growth of all portions of the bust or other parts of the body.
An article made according to this Invention is further intended to act as a
substitute for stays, corsets, and tight lacing articles of a similar nature, and
will be found, when applied, to possess all their advantages, without the possi-
bility of entailing upon the wearer any of the injurious consequences of laced
articles.
To obtain in garments the properties herein-above mentioned, I proceed as.
follows: I cut out the material of which the jacket, bodice, or other article
is to be made, of a moderate size, leaving a fulness in the parts intended for
the chest. I insert upon the shoulders, between the back and chest pieces,
beneath the arms as far down as the hips, and if requisite at the waist in
front, elastic substances of any suitable length and breadth, either folding in
small plaits and at regular intervals the external material intended for the
garment upon them, or corrugating the latter by cementing it to the extended"
elastic material, tapes, or threads, by means of heated rollers, or adopting any
other convenient process of adhesion, so that in every part of the garment in
which the elastic substance is inserted an equal expansion or contraction may
be obtained, varying as may be required by the figure, according to the lengths.
or breadths of elastic material inserted, to twice or thrice the extent of such
lengths or breadths, thus ensuring a fit free from wrinkles, (except where
produced by the elastic material,) or undue tightness; the corrugated or
plaited material, besides its qualities of expansion and contraction, offering
a certain degree of ornamentation.

page_text: Fig. 4 represents the same view as Fig. 2, but showing the elastic material in
its extended state, with the cloth or other fabric b, b, also extended to the
utmost.
In Fig. 1, c, d, & e represent the parts where I introduce the elastic:
material in the garment represented, as before mentioned; I cut out parts of
the fabric of which the garment is composed of suitable shapes, allowing suffi-
cient fulness at the parts where the elastic material is to be applied, so that they
may be gathered in a series of parallel plaits; when so carefully and uniformly
gathered, I apply by preference a piece of ordinary woven elastic material in
its contracted state, and sew or otherwise secure it to the cloth in parallel
rows or lines, so as to preserve the plaits before mentioned, and at the same
time secure the elastic material firmly thereto; the cloth may then be extended
more or less to its fullest limits; but I prefer that in the garment it should
not be stretched more than one-third of its limits when in use, so as to preserve
the perfect character of the plaits; I attach the elastic material in the same
manner on the shoulder at e, and at the waist at c, which insures sufficient
elasticity in all close fitting parts of the jacket to cause it to collapse on the
figure, to produce a perfect fit, and at the same time insuring every freedom
as well as all absence of injurious pressure on the figure. The same garment
so made is suitable for fitting closely and exactly figures of considerable
difference in size. Instead of sewing the woven elastic material on the fabric
of which the garment is made, I sometimes apply sheet india-rubber, in a
distended state on the cloth or other material, also in a distended state, securing
the india-rubber to the cloth by suitable cement; when the india-rubber is
allowed to collapse, it will pucker up the cloth by its contraction, although
not perhaps in such regular order as the plaits obtained by sewing the elastic
to the cloth. Instead of cementing over the entire surface of the cloth, the
india-rubber may be cemented thereto by applying the cement in parallel lines
in the manner of the stitching before described; this being done in a distended
state will have the effect of gathering up the plaits in a series of parallel lines
as before.
In this manner elastic materials may be applied to any articles of dress
where a fit is required, introducing it at such parts as will afford the desired
expansion & contraction, and insure the closeness of fit required, and this
with any degree of pressure desired.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same,
I wish it to be understood that I am aware india-rubber and other
elastic materials have been applied to articles of dress heretofore, I therefore
do not claim generally the application of elastic materials or the resiliency

page_text: affored thereby in articles of dress; but that what I claim as my Invention,
to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the
application of elastic substances to articles of wearing apparel or garments, as
and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Crawford Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOHN CRAWFORD WILSON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM CLARK, Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lane, London.