AN IMPROVED COMBINATION GARMENT
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Wentworth Brewster, of: Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Patentee of The "Kredemnon" life-saving Garments
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Wentworth Brewster
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st June 1882.
FRANCIS WENTWORTH BREWSTER, of Westminster in the County of Middlesex,
Patentee of the "Kredemnon" life-saving Garments, “ AN IMPROVED COMBINATION
GARMENT,"
"
The object of this Invention, which relates to the manufacture of an improved
combination garment intended to surround, cover, fit, or conform to the whole
person or figure of the wearer, is to provide such a garment as shall be serviceable
as an entire outer garment suitable for ordinary wear and general use such as
sleeping in, bivouacking or camping out, walking in, and of especial use for boating,
yachting, seafaring, and such like purposes, and as a bathing dress and swimming
garment of especial service to ladies and to others learning to swim, or incapable of
swimming, but desirous of bathing, as a generally serviceable garment and at all
times available means of floating or keeping the wearer from sinking in case she
or he should get accidentally or otherwise immersed in water, or out of their depth
if in the water.
The Invention consists in the combination with an entire outer and generally
serviceable garment, of suitable means of flotation principally disposed about the
body portion, so that the wearer should have about her or him in and as a part of
such a garment, a means of keeping afloat should she or he purposely go into the
water, or accidentally get immersed in the water.
The garment is made to surround cover, fit, or conform to the whole person or
figure of the wearer, being made with an upper cape serviceable for some purposes
such as sleeping in as a hood without alteration of fitting being simply turned up.
to cover the head, and with a lower part united thereto by stitching or otherwise
intended to surround the body, this part being made at its lower part as with a

page_text: waist-belt, a continuation of the body part depending as a flounce or skirt below
the belt to give an appearance when worn as of a French-blouse, or of an ordinary
body part and skirt, or being made without such a continuation:-the body part
being also provided with arms, with buttoned up or other cuffs for closure at the
ends, and being further fitted with inner and outer pockets; and being continued
or depending from under the belt as trousers, drawers, or knicker-bockers for
covering the legs, this part being also provided with suitable pockets, and with
straps or equivalent means at the waist for drawing in.
The front of the body part, from the neck to the separation of the trouser part
of the garment, is made continuously open, so that the garment as a whole can be
readily put on or off, and the opening parts are made or provided with buttons.and
button holes or other ready or usual means of closing the garment about the figure
of the wearer.
The rear bottom part at or about the seat of the garment is or may be made
with a suitable provision or letting-down part or flap for the relief or convenience
of the user and to avoid the necessity of removing the entire garment.
The garment may be made of any suitable fabric or material, and either plain or
suitably trimmed.
The means of flotation for the purpose of rendering such garment sufficiently
floatable to support the wearer in water, may consist of cork, or air vessels, or of
other suitable or equivalent buoyant means, and which may be applied in any
suitable condition or form, and in any suitable or convenient manner, either as a
lining, or otherwise; for instance, the cork 'may be used as separately enclosed
and connected pieces or otherwise, and quite irrespective of their size and shape, or
in compartments or divisions separated or formed by quilting or otherwise; or the
cork may be granulated, or in the form of powder, or may be carbonised and used
as cork-soot or in any other way, or the garment may be combined or fitted with
a buoyant lining of separately enclosed and flexibly connected corks or buoyant air
vessels according to the method described in the Specification and illustrated in
the drawings filed in pursuance of the provisions contained in the Letters Patent
No. 2127 81 dated 16th May. A.D. 1881. and granted to me in respect of my
'Invention relating to Improvements in life-saving garments, and which method
permits of freedom of ventilation and perspiration.
It will of course be understood that various means of flotation may be used in
combination with such a garment as I have hereinbefore described, to render the
same floatable, and in the development of the principle of my present Invention I
do not limit myself in any way to the use of any particular means of rendering
the combined garment together with the wearer and his other apparel floatable as
so very many means are equally available and applicable.
The said garment may be combined with its means of flotation by stitching, or
by metal eyelets, or by any other suitable means of connection; and when thus
manufactured as a complete article, the combined garment attains the objects and
advantages sought to be accomplished and hereinbefore in part referred to in a
thoroughly efficient manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Francis Wentworth Brewster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st December 1882.
FRANCIS WENTWORTH BREWSTER of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex,
Patentee of the "Kredemnon" Life saving garments AN IMPROVED COMBINATION
GARMENT
The object of this Invention which relates to the manufacture of an improved
combination garment intended to surround, cover, fit, or conform to the whole
person or figure of the wearer, is to provide such a garment as shall be serviceable
as an entire outer garment suitable for ordinary wear and general use, such as
sleeping in, bivouacking or camping out, walking in, and of especial use for
boating, yachting, seafaring, and such like uses, and as a bathing dress and
swimming garment of especial service to ladies and to others learning to swim, or
incapable of swimming but desirous of bathing, as a generally serviceable garment
and at all times available means of floating or keeping the wearer from sinking in
case she or he should get accidentally or otherwise immersed in water, or out of
depth, or otherwise in danger if in the water
The novelty of the invention consists in the combination with an entire outer
and generally serviceable garment of any suitable means of floatation disposed
about the upper or body portion with the especial purpose of utility that the
wearer of such a garment should have about her or him in and as a part of the
garment a sufficient amount of buoyant means which will effect the intended
purposes of the garment.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the buoyant combination garment forming
the subject of my present invention-Fig: 1 illustrates a front view, the right
hand half of which shows the exterior, and the left hand half of which shows parts
thereof displaced so as partly to disclose the interior and shows one method of
disposition or arrangement of the means of flotation for the purpose of rendering
the improved garment buoyant. Fig 2 illustrates a corresponding back view the
left hand half of which is also partly displaced as hereinafter further referred to―
Figs 3 to 6 illustrate various suitable arrangements of or methods of disposing the
means of flotation and will also be hereinafter more particularly referred to.
The entire garment is made to surround cover fit or conform to the whole
person or figure of the wearer, being made with an upper cape 1 serviceable for
some purposes such as sleeping in as a hood without alteration of fitting being
then turned up as dotted in Fig: 1 to cover the head, and with a lower part 2
united at the collar to the hood by stitching or otherwise this part is intended to
surround the body and is made at its lower part as with a waist belt, 3 and with
a continuation depending as a flounce or skirt 4 below the belt to give an
appearance when worn as of a French blouse, or of an ordinary body part and
skirt the body part may however be made without such a depending skirt-The
part is also provided with sleeves 5 of any suitable length or shape and having
buttoned up or other cuffs 6 for closure at the ends and is or may be further fitted
with inner or outer pockets 7 The part 2 is also provided with a continuation
from under the belt, as trousers 8 drawers knickerbockers. for covering the legs,
this part being also provided with suitable pockets 9 and with straps or equivalent
means at the waist for drawing in the garment or for securing it in position by
being passed under the crutch.-The improved buoyant garment possesses the
advantage of being kept in position not by binding it tightly to the body but by a
direct strain upon that part of the dress immediately between the legs or crutch.

page_text: The front of the body part 2 from the neck or collar 10 to the separation 11 of
the trouser part of the garment is made continuously open as shewn in Fig: 1. so
that the garment as a whole can be readily put on or off, and the opening parts
are made or provided with buttons and button holes 12 or other ready or usual
means of closing the garment about the figure of the wearer.
The rear bottom part at or about the seat of the garment is or may be made
with a suitable provision or letting down part or flap 13 shown partly lowered in
figure 2 and which may button or otherwise fasten up to a rear band 14 This
provision is afforded for the relief or convenience of the wearer and to avoid the
necessity of removing the entire garment. The parts 2. and 8 may however be so
connected as to allow of their detachment should they be so required.
The garment as made in substantial accordance with the description herein before
given may be made of any desired or suitable materials depending upon its
intended principal use and may be made either plain as represented on the annexed
drawings or it may be trimmed to suit any particular fancy.
The means of flotation for the purpose of rendering such garment sufficiently
flotable to support the wearer in water may consist of cork or of air vessels or of
any other known buoyant means.
I desire it should be understood that I neither limit myself to the use of any
particular means of rendering the improved combined garment flotable and
sufficiently so to support the wearer and his other apparel, nor to any particular
method of adapting applying or combining any such means to or with the
_garment, because so very many known buoyant means, and so very many methods
of applying the same are equally available and applicable.
I will however herein after describe certain means which from extensive experi-
ments I have found especially available for the purpose of obtaining the requisite
buoyancy, and also certain methods of adapting applying or combining the same
to or with the said garments, and which are also especially serviceable for the
intended purpose.
The most suitable means of rendering the garment sufficiently buoyant for its
intended purpose, which combine the advantages of being comparatively light in
weight, and of not interfering with the freedom of movement of the wearer, consist
of air vessels or tubes, and of cork which has been carbonized in any way or
subjected to combustion or incineration in order to reduce it to the form of cinder
ash or soot, and which may be used alone or in combination with the carbonized
residue of wood or of other buoyant means, or the cork may be granulated or
used in the form of powder or in any other condition, and such cinder, asb, soot,
carbonized residue, powder or other buoyant means may be rendered non absorbent
by any known means of so doing, or cork may be used in its natural condition
cut into pieces of any suitable form.
The air vessels, or the cork in whatever condition it may be used, or the other
buoyant means used, may be adapted to or combined with the garment in any
suitable manner. The air vessels consist of air enclosed in any suitable light
waterproof texture, and one example of their application is delineated in Fig. 3
where 15 represents the air tubes, and 16 binding material, and 17 eyelets
uniting the air vessels and binding in any desired conformation, not necessarily
that shown.
Fig. 4 represents another suitable method of applying the air vessels, and is
herein after further referred to. The air vessels may however be united by sewing
or otherwise, and the buoyant contrivance thus made, whatever its form, may be
similarly combined with the garment by eyelets, sewing, or otherwise. These
figures also represent correspondentting methods of applying the cork in a solid
or any other form to the garment, that is cylindrical or other shaped pieces of
cork, or a quantity of the granulated or burned cork may be similarly inclosed
in waterproof or other casings united by the binding material and by eyelets or
sewing. The air vessels or cork receptacles may be of any other suitable confor-
mation than those shown for instance there may be applied air to the garment or

page_text: surrounding belt consisting of a continuous chamber or receptacle which may be
inflated or filled with air or with cork powder or other such buoyant means as are
herein referred to
The buoyant means may be disposed as a lining to the garment secured between
two thicknesses of its fabric, or may be independently made, examples of which
are shown in Figs 3 to 6, and secured thereto, or otherwise adapted in external
formations-The cork may be used in separately enclosed and connected pieces or
otherwise or in compartments or divisions separated or formed by quilting or other-
wise as shewn in Figs 5 and 6 to prevent shifting or the garment may be combined
and fitted with a buoyant lining of separately enclosed and flexibly connected corks
or air vessels according to the method described in the specification and illustrated
in the drawings filed in pursuance of the provisions contained in the Letters Patent
No 21271 dated 16 May A.D. 1881 and granted to me in respect of my invention
relating to "Improvements in life saving garments" and which method is in part
illustrated on Fig. 4 of the annexed drawings and permits of freedom of perspiration
and ventilation.
Or the corks may be put together in such a way as to keep each in its intended
position by being simply threaded or strung together upon string cord or wire
upon small beads 18 of wood or cork being used between each cork in such a way
as to keep the several corks in their places and at the desired distances from each
other and at the same time to render the entire fabric perfectly flexible. This
modification is illustrated in Figs 7 and 8.
The same garment may be combined with its means of flotation by stitching or
by metal eyelets or by any other suitable means of connection, and when thus
manufactured as a complete article the combined garment attains the objects and
advantages sought to be accomplished and herein before in part referred to in a
thoroughly efficient manner.
Having now described the nature and object of my said invention together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect I would remark in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original and as secured to me under the herein before in part recited Letters
Patent is
The combination with an entire outer and generally serviceable garment made
in substantial accordance with the description herein before given, of any suitable
means of flotation but preferably of air vessels, or of cork, treated as herein before
referred to, the said buoyant means being disposed about the upper or body
portion of the garment in any suitable manner so that the improved combination
garment thus manufactured shall combine the advantages of a generally service-
able outer garment and of an at all times available means of keeping the wearer
afloat in any emergency.
In witness whereof I the said Francis Wentworth Brewster have hereunto
set my hand and seal this first day of December in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and eighty two
F. W. BREWSTER (L.S.)
5 Witness.
CHARLES AUBREY DAY
Office for Patents, Trade Marks and Designs,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.