IMPROVED MEANS OF DISTENDING ARTICLES OF DRESS AND PRESERVING THE FORM OR SHAPE THEREOF
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clothide Amet, of Tavistock Street, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF DISTENDING ARTICLES
OF DRESS AND PRESERVING THE FORM OR SHAPE THEREOF."-A communication
from RC Milliet of Bésancon France
Sealed the 16th December 1856, and dated the 22nd July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clothide Amet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
22nd July 1856.
I, CLOTHIDE AMET, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MEANS OF DISTENDING ARTICLES OF DRESS AND PRESERVING THE
SHAPE OR FORM THEREOF," communicated by R. C. Milliet, of Besançon,
France, to be as follows:-
To make a form for a petticoat, I take a sufficient number of lengths of
steel spring (such as is used by watchmakers), and having formed them into
circles or hoops, by attaching their ends in any convenient manner, I proceed
to sew them to pieces of tape or riband in such wise, that when the upper
ends of these tapes are fastened to a band (of any elastic material) and such
band is fastened round the waist, the whole shall fall into or form the shape of
a full under petticoat, the tapes or ribands assuming a nearly vertical position.
The steel circles or hoops are made of such circumference (the lower one
having the greatest) that when the band is placed round the body the whole

page_text: structure shall assume a conical appearance. The advantage to be derived
from the Invention is, that ladies will possess a sous-juppe.or under petticoat
incapable of being put out of shape, but so flexible as to yield to every move-
ment or pressure.
SPECIFICATION, in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clothide Amet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLOTHIDE
AMET, of Tavistock Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her. reign,
did, for. Herself, Her heirs. and successors, give. and grant unto me, the said
Clothide Amet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Clothide Amet, 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 lawfully 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 "IM-
PROVED MEANS OF DISTENDING ARTICLES OF DRESS AND PRESERVING, THE FORM
OR SHAPE THEREOF," the said Invention being a communication to me from
R. C. Milliet, of Besançon, in the Empire of France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Clothide Amet, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, 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 Clothide Amet, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention,. and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
and to the Diagrams and letters of reference placed thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object the distension and keeping in form a lady's
dress, and is usually-worn underneath the robe or gown, or otherwise, as con-
venience or pleasure may dictate; it is composed of a sufficient number.

page_text: of hoops or half hoops; made of that steel usually denominated watch-
spring steel, as used by watchmakers, suspended at intervals from each other
and terminating at the top, or above the topmost hook, by an elastic band' of
any suitable material: When the form, which I term "Jupe Milliet," is to
be worn, it is usually placed over the-head- and passed on the figure as far as
the waist, where it is attached by the elastic band aforesaid; each hoop then
drops down as far as the suspenders will allow it, and, thus takes the+form
shown in the Drawing-at-Figure 1. When- so arranged, it adapts itself to
the movements of the wearer, and however-tumbled or disarranged; it always
reassumes its' pristine form when the wearer stands upright. Instead of
hoops, spiral or helical springs of steel may be used; but as no description-of
spring has been found to answer so well as the seperate loop, I do not deem
it necessary to further allude thereto, or give any Drawing or Diagram
thereof..
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents a female figure with the Invention' in
its proper-position; Figure 2 is a detached portion of the material used' (here-
after referred to). By reference to Figure I it will be seen that I form-hoops
from a number of steel-springs a, a, covering each spring with calico-or other
suitable material. Strong pieces of tape (double or single, b, b; are fastened
at intervals to the bottom circle or hoop, or circle made by two half hoops';
these tapes are also at intervals-secured to the other circles or hoops as they
the tapes (in consequence of the decrease in the diameter of each hoop used);
converge towards the waist of the wearer, where they are all secured at their
ends to a band of elastic material c, on the ends of which are placed hooks
and eyes (or one of each), to secure, the said band at the.. front, or; back (as
may be preferred) of the waist., Any other, suitable fastening, may be used
in lieu of the hook and eye if preferred. Above the lowermost of the circles
other circles or part circles (usually about eleven, but I do not confine myself
to any exact number,) are also fastened to and suspended by the tapes b, b, at
convenient distances, the lowermost being suspended nearer to each other than
the uppermost. By making the skeleton, frame as before directed, and putting
the skirt of a robe or dress over the jupe or skeleton petticoat, it will be filled
out to an agreable form; but to permit of the enlargement or contraction of
the said jupe or skeleton petticoat, I make or-form the springs-a, a, either-in
two pieces (half hoops or circles), the ends overlapping each other both before
and behind, or as an entire circle or hoop, with its ends overlapping either in
front or behind, thus allowing the diameter of the circles to be increased or
diminished at the pleasure or for the convenience of the wearer. The first
one, two, or even three of the springs-(those nearest the waist) are not secured

page_text: at their ends by overlapping, but are allowed to remain loose and seperate at
either front or back, and are provided with strings for the purpose of fastening
the ends in positions the most convenient to the wearer.
Figure 2 shews a portion of the material used in the making up of the
skeleton petticoat before described, overlapped and secured near the ends.
When it is desired that the suspending tapes should allow the steel circles to
play freely in them, eyelet holes (into which eyelets are inserted) are pierced
or made above and below in that portion of the tapes where the said circles
are suspended, which then rest between said eyelets and the tapes, and by
these, means the circles obtain play. Any sort of steel may be used for
making the circles or half hoops, but I prefer that steel used by watchmakers
for watch springs to all other.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the means by
which it is carried into practical effect, I would here observe that I do not
confine myself in making the skeleton petticoat (the subject of this Invention)
to any number of circles or half hoops, or the exact positions of said circles,
or to the number of tapes or bands used in their suspension, or to the size of
the jupe or petticoat, as they may be made of size suitable to the bulk or
height of any wearer; but what I do claim as of the Invention communicated
to me as aforesaid is, the exclusive use of steel springs in combination with
suspending tapes or bands made or manufactured as herein-before described,
and forming when so made or manufactured a skeleton petticoat or "Im-
proved Means of Distending Articles of Dress and Preserving the Form or
Shape thereof."
In witness whereof, I, the said Clothide Amet, have hereunto affixed
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
CLOTHIDE AMET. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE, Patent Agent,
4, Wellington Street South, Strand.
London.