IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENDERS AND BRACES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of the Firm of Herbert and
Company, Solicitors of Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUSPENDERS AND
BRACES." A communication from abroad by Thomas Otis Potter, of Boston,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Haddan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th October 1880.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Solicitors of
Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN SUSPENDERS AND BRACES." A communication from abroad by Thomas Otis
Potter, of Boston, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention consists in pantaloon suspenders constructed as follows:-
The two shoulder straps or webs are provided at their ends with pulleys secured
in metallic housings, and serving to suspend two independent cords, the ends of
which are fastened into or provided with button holes. The button holes may be
formed by retaining the ends of the cord and securing them in place against the
body of the same by a splice or by a metallic clasp adapted to surround the cord,
and provided with barbs to penetrate the same, the clasp being preferably mado of
a single piece of sheet metal and secured in place around the cord by any suitable
hand or other press, so that the barbs will penetrate the cord and so hold the same
in place in addition to the binding force of the surrounding metal.
The metallic housing for the pulleys is preferably stamped of a single piece of
sheet metal so as to form two parallel slots at the ends and two holes for the axle
of the pulley, the sheet being afterwards bent round so as to place the two slots
together to receive the end of the shoulder strap while the two holes for the pulley
axle are placed opposite each other.
The axle of the pulley may be made hollow and in eyelet form, and instead of
passing the shoulder strap through a slot of the metallic housing the latter may
form a hook attached to a ring, or the housing may be made of two pieces of sheet
metal supporting the pulley between them.
Each pulley may have a separate cord looped at each end for holding a button,
or one cord may pass over two pulleys and hold a button at each end, while an
intermediate cord having a pulley at the top is suspended with the latter from the
main cord at a point between the two main pulleys (that is to say, the pulleys at
the ends of the shoulder straps) and holds with the lower end an intermediate
button.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Herbert John Haddan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
April 1881.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Solicitors of
Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SUSPENDERS AND BRACES." A communication from abroad by Thomas Otis
Potter, of Boston, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
The first part of this Invention consists in the combination with the two shoulder
straps or webs, provided at their ends with pulleys secured in metallic housings, of
two independent cords, the ends of which are fashioned into or provided with
button holes. The second part of my Invention consists in forming the button
holes by "returning" the ends of the cord and securing them in place against the
body of the same by a splice or metallic clasp. The third part of this Invention
consists in the metallic clasp for securing the end of the cord to form the button
hole, adapted to surround the cord and provided with "hooks" to penetrate the
same. The fourth part of this Invention consists in the peculiar formation of the
metallic housing for securing the pulleys to the ends of the shoulder straps from a
single piece of sheet metal. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the upper portion of
a pair of pantaloons with my improved suspenders secured in position thereto;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the metallic housing by means of which the pulleys are
secured in position to the ends of the webs; Figs. 3, 4, and 5 represent the front
and rear ends respectively of the suspenders, showing modified ways of securing
button hole loops to the ends of the web; Fig. 6 is a detail plan view of the
manner of forming and attaching the independent intermediate button holes shown
at Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a longitudinal central section of the metallic housing, pulley,
cord, a portion of the end of the webbing, showing the manner in which the
parts are secured in their proper relative positions; Fig. 8 is a similar view of a
modification of the same, showing the axis of the pulley in eyelet form and the loop
ends of the housing bound together by a split tube or an antifriction cylinder;
Fig. 9 is a modification in section of the housing with its upper end double and
fashioned into a hook; Fig. 10, a similar view in plan, showing the housing formed
of two pieces riveted together and the hook formed single; Figs. 11 and 12 are
perspective and cross section views respectively of the metallic clasp by which, the
"returned" ends of the cords are secured in position to form the button holes, and
Fig. 13 comprehends a series of detail views showing the several ways in which the
ends of the cords may be secured in position. A, A, are the shoulder straps or
webs, the ends of which are passed through the slots a or loop ends of the metallic
housing B, as will be presently more fully explained; C, C, are two independent
cords, their ends being fashioned into or provided with button holes adapted to
fasten to suitable buttons on the pantaloons; these cords C, C, are each passed
through the housings and over the pulleys on the front and back ends respectively
of the shoulder straps or webbing. The pulleys b are secured in place by bending
the metallic housing B so that the two slots a will come together and coincide, the
pulley being journalled by an axis c, preferably hollow or eyelet form, the upsetting
of the ends of said eyelet serving to secure the same in place. The housing is
stamped out of a single piece, as clearly shown at Fig. 2, with slots a, a, and
holes d, d, for the pulley axis. This housing is secured to the webbing by passing
the end of the latter through the two slots a and securing it to any well known
adjustable slide D; the web passing through the two slots in the ends of the
housing serves to hold them together properly; E, E, are intermediate button
holes, shown in detail at Fig. G; the cord forming these button holes is secured to
the loop of a metallic housing, at and between the upper ends of which is secured

page_text: a pulley under which the cord C freely renders. Instead of rising the two cords C, C, .
it may sometimes be desirable to attach a simple button hole loop, as shown at
Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and the housings for the pulleys may be permanently secured in
position, as already explained, or the upper end may be provided with a suitablo
opening to receive a hook secured to the end of the web, as seen at Fig. 3, or the
upper end of the housing may be formed into a hook and a suitable slot formed in
a metallic loop on the end of the web, as shown at Fig. 5. While these changes may
be made I prefer the arrangement shown at Fig. 1, with or without the intermediate
button-holes, but preferably with them. From this arrangement it will be seen
that the webbing may be non-elastic, and that, as the cords C, C, are free to render
through the pulleys on the ends of said webbing the greatest freedom of motion is
allowed the wearer without undue strain upon the straps and cords or buttons.
While I prefer to use the intermediate button holes the cords C, C, may be provided
with two button holes on the front end and one on the rear. As the mode of
forming the button holes is one of the novel features of this Invention I will explain
it in detail. The end of the cord is returned to form a loop of any desirable size,
and then it is laid against the body of the cord and there secured by a splice or
metallic clasp of any desired form, but preferably such as I have shown at Figs. 11
and 12, formed at the meeting edges with "barbs " 1, 1, and at the end with similar
barbs 2, 2, the whole thing being struck up in one piece from sheet metal and
secured in place around the cord by any suitable hand or other press so that the
barbs 1, 1, and 2, 2, will penetrate the cord and so hold the same in place in addition
to the binding force of the surrounding metal.
What I claim is,-
1. The combination of the shoulder straps or webbing A, A, provided at their ends
with pulleys, with the independent cords C, C, provided with button holes, and
adapted to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2d. Forming the button holes by returning the ends of the cord and securing it
in position against the body of said cord by a splice or metallic clasp, substantially
as and for the purpose set forth.
3. The metallic clasp for securing the end of the cord in position to form a
button hole, consisting of a single piece of sheet metal, provided with penetrating
barbs, and adapted to be secured in position, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
4. The metallic housing for the pulleys formed of a single piece of sheet metal,
and provided with the slots a for securing it to the web, and having suitable holes
for the reception of the pulley axis, and adapted to be bent and secured substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert John Haddan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, A.D. 1881.