Year: 1895

page_text: A communication by OTTO Voss, of 15 Louisenstrasse, Breslau, in the Empire of
Germany, Technologist.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6 Bank Street,
Manchester both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in
the County of Warwick and 31 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, 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 :-
Tailors have hitherto employed pins when trying on articles of clothing which
have been cut out and tacked together, with which pins they fastened together the
pieces of cloth placed one over the other, in such a way that they could determine
the right place for the rows of buttons and the seams necessary for producing a
correct fit of the garment. The use of such primitive means involves however
numerous drawbacks which are avoided by the use of the improved safety pin or
clasp forming the object of this invention. Articles held together by ordinary
pins in the manner formerly employed are very easily displaced or distorted, so
that without some trouble it is not possible to assign a correct place to the row of
buttons. Further, it is almost impossible to fasten together thick materials by
means of ordinary pins, quite apart from the fact that it is very easy more
particularly when fitting on ladies' clothing to injure the body when inserting
the pins.
This improved safety pin or clasp is shown on the accompanying drawing, and
consists of two parts.
Figure 1 shows a side view of the improved pin or clasp in a closed condition,
and Figure 2 the same when open;
Figure 3 is a side view of two pieces of cloth connected by means of the pin
or clasp;
Figure 4 is a plan view thereof;
Figure 5 is a plan and elevation of one part of the pin ;
Figure 6 plan and elevation of the lever arrangement.
One part a, Figure 5, of this improved pin is a spring clamp, which has points b
at the end of one of its shanks, which points when the clamp is pressed down, grip
the material and reliably hold the same, but when the clip is opened allow this
clamp to be easily removed from the material without damaging it.
This clamp a is brought into connection with the piece of material a¹ in the
manner shown in Figure 3. The second part c of the pin or clasp is movably
connected with the part a. This second part consists of an elbow plate o and a
hook-shaped pin d attached thereto.
The parts & and c are connected with one another in such a way that by pressing
down the elbow lever, and thereby causing the passage of the hook-shaped pin d
through the material, a compression of the clamp a and an attachment of the same
to the overlapping material a' takes place. The pin d then engages as shown in
Figure 3 through the under piece of material c', the shape of the needle being so
arranged that any scratching of the body during use is prevented.

page_text: To use the pin it is pushed in an open condition with the clamp a over and under
the overlapping piece of material a, and this material together with the pin is
then drawn over the under piece of material c' up to a suitable point for ensuring
the correct fit of the article of clothing, the pin being still in an open condition.
When the two pieces of material which are to be connected have reached their
proper position, the elbow plate c is pressed down and the piu or clasp is fastened,
that is to say, the clamp a is closed and the hook-shaped pin d is forced through
the underneath piece of material. In this way the two pieces of material a¹ and c
which are to be connected, are fastened together in a convenient reliable and
practical way. If it be desired to release the clamp from the material nothing
more is necessary than to press back the elbow plate c, whereupon the spring
clamp a opens automatically and the material which was held together is released.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
An improved clasp or safety pin consisting of a spring clamp (a) for the
overlapping piece of material (a) in combination with an elbow lever (c) carrying
a hook-shaped pin (d) for the under piece of material, whereby, on operating the
lever there takes place simultaneously a closing of the clamp (a) and a passing of
the pin (d) through the material substantially as described and shown on the
accompanying drawing.
Dated this 13th day of February 1895.