Improvements in Dress Protectors.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 25th Feb.,
1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dress Protectors.
I, RUDOLPH BLANK, of No. 42/48, Oberdörnerstrasse, Barmen, Rhenish. Prussia,
Germany, 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:-
The dress protectors, that is the means which have been in use hitherto for
protecting the lower seam or lower edge of ladies dresses against wear and tear
consisted in ordinary ribbons or laces, cords or in those fabrics known as "plush
dress protectors," in which one of the edges of a lace or of a woven band is provided
with threads giving the same a velvet or a plush like character or being also formed
by a chenille worked in along the edge. The former of these known dress protect-
ing means have the disadvantage that they are very soon worn and require renew-
ing very often, the other sort, when made in good stile and of good material is
durable, but it has the great draw back that dust and mud stick thereto very
strongly and that in all cases it must project always a little beyond the edge of
the dress proper, which may not be desirable in many cases.
Both manners of dress protectors have the common disadvantage, that when
they get wet and are dried again, they shrink and the dress becomes crisp or
folded.
My new dress protector avoids the disadvantages of the articles known; it com-
bines the simplicity of the plain cords or laces with the durability of the plush
dress protectors and has none of their drawbacks.
It consists of a lace or ribbon of best quality combined with a non-hygroscopical
or impermeable, colourless material, that is with a material not absorbing water
and which in itself has no influence upon the colours of the band or lace.
In making my new dress protector a woven ribbon or a braided lace of sufficient
width is combined either for its whole width or only part of the same on one
side with a gluey material of the said character, for instance with a solution of
india rubber and spirit, in such a manner that this solution lies upon a certain width
of the band or lace and enters into the same or impregnates it to a certain depth,
but not quite through, whilst the other part is left intact as indicated by the
Figure 1 of the drawing, where A indicates the impermeable material and B the
woven fabric. Instead of preparing a certain width of the band or lace only,
the same may be treated in the prescribed manner for its whole width as indicated
by Figure 2 of the drawing: A¹, representing the impermeable material, B' the
woven band or braided lace.
A lace or ribbon thus treated or finished, presents on the one side absolutely
the character of an ordinary ribbon or lace; in that part however, which has
been combined with the said solution, the threads appear as if their fibres had
been glued together in themselves and those of one thread with those of the
other threads and hence it follows, that even if such a lace or band gets worn at
a certain point it will not tear or open any further. It will never happen that
pieces of thread will hang down from a dress as it may be the case with the
ordinary laces or ribbons used as dress protectors.

page_text: Instead of combining the braided lace or the woven ribbon with the said
unhygroscopical solution only on one side or on a part on one side only, I may also
allow the gluey solution to pass right through the whole thickness of the same
from one side to the other or lay it on to both sides. A dress protector thus
produced differs from the one just described only in this that all the fibres of the
threads stick together and are still less liable of being separated or torn asunder;
it its grip," that is to say, as it feels in the hand, when held between the fingers
this dress protector feels somewhat harder than the other one, but in every other
respect it resembles the same completely.
This new dress protector is sewn to the bottom part inside of a dress like an
ordinary lace and so gives an excellent protection against wear and tear, it may get
wet and dry repeatedly, being impermeable, it will not soak up the muddy water
nor shrink, and it will not cause the dress to get crisp and ruffled and dust or mud
will only adhere to its outside and can be brushed off easily and readily or it may
be washed off by a slightly wet sponge or in like manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
A dress protector consisting of a woven band or braided lace in combination with
a layer of an impermeable or unhygroscopic material such as a solution of india
rubber and spirit put on one side of the band or lace on its whole width or only on
a certain part of its width and entering therein to a certain depth only, or also
put on both sides of the band or lace and going right through from side to side,
said impermeable material forming, when dry, a sort of an invisible glue binding
together the fibres of the threads in themselves and also those of the adjacent
threads, preventing dust and wet mud to enter into the texture of the band or lace,
the whole as described and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 17th day of January 1899.
RUDOLPH BLANK.
Per Karl S. Mayer.
Agent.