IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANufacture OF FASTENERS FOR CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FASTENERS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jenkin Clarke, of the Firm of J. J. and
W. Clarke, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturers, for, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANufacture
OF FASTENERS FOR CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FASTENERS,
Sealed the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 22nd April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Jenkin Clarke
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd April 1874.
I, JOHN JENKIN CLARKE, of the Firm of J. J. and W. Clarke, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FASTENERS FOR CORSETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR FASTENERS," to be
as follows:
In ordinary fasteners for corsets the studs or hooks which are fixed
on one of the steel busks or strips constituting one half of the fastener
are usually rivetted, either directly to the said busk or strip, or to

page_text: separate metal bands which are passed around and fixed at the required
distances apart on the said steel busk or strip.
My Invention consists in making the hooks and studs of the said
fasteners solid to or in one piece with the bands which are fixed around
the steel busk or strip, whereby the liability of the hooks and studs
becoming loose or detached from the busk or strip is obviated, and great
strength and durability in the fasteners obtained.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I tako a metal band of a size
proper to pass round both the front and back of the steel busk of tho
fastener, and I pierce in and raise from the middle of the said band a
hook having either a flat nose or a rounded nose. A hook solid to the
band is thus formed. The bands provided with solid hooks are secured
to the steel busk of the corset or legging fastener by closing the ends of
the said bands upon the inner side of the said steel busk, the ends of the
said band meeting in the middle of the said busk. The bands carrying
the solid hooks are thus fixed very securely to the busk. The bands in
which the cyes are made are secured to the steel busk constituting tho
other part of the fastener in a similar manner.
When studs are used in place of hooks I make the said studs solid to
or in one piece with the bands in the following way:-I take a blank
having in its middle a circular piece from which the head of the stud is
made. On either side the said head piece arc narrow parts from which
the stem of the stud is made, and beyond the said narrow parts are
bands which are closed upon the steel. busk to fix the stud to the busk.
By means of tools worked in a press the narrow parts of the blank are
folded or, doubled, under the circular or head part of the blank and.
closed upon one another. A stud solid to the band is thereby produced,
the band being fastened to the steel busk in the manner herein-before
described. Or in making a stud fastener 'the stem may be made by
being pierced and raised from the band, and the head formed of a separate
disk of metal rivetted or otherwise fixed to the stem.
::
Besides being applicable to fasteners for corsets, my Invention is also.
applicable to fasteners for belts, bands, leggings, and other articles.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Jenkin Clarke in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JENKIN CLARKE, of the Firm of J. J. and W. Clarke, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Jenkin Clarke, Her special license that I,
the said John Jenkin Clarke, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Jenkin Clarke, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FASTENERS FOR CORSETS AND OTHER SIMILAR FASTENERS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Jenkin Clarke,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Jenkin Clarke, do hereby
declare 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, that is to say :—
In ordinary fasteners for corsets the studs or hooks which are fixed on
one of the steel busks or strips constituting one half of the fastener are
usually rivetted, either directly to the said busk or strip, or to separate
metal bands, which are passed around and fixed at the required distances
anart on the said steel husk or strin

page_text: :
My Invention consists in making the hooks and studs of the said
fasteners solid to or in one piece with the bands which are fixed around
the steel busk or strip, whereby the liability of the hooks and studs
becoming loose or detached from the busk or strip is obviated, and great
strength and durability in the fasteners obtained.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I take a metal band of a size
proper to pass round the front and part of the back of the steel busk of
the fastener, and I pierce in and raise from the middle of the said band a
hook having either a flat nose or a rounded nose. A hook solid to the
band is thus formed. The bands provided with solid hooks are secured
to the steel busk of the corset fastener by closing the ends of the said
bands upon the inner side of the said steel busk, the ends of the said
band meeting at or near the middle of the said busk. The bands carrying
the solid hooks are thus fixed very securely to the busk. The bands in
which the eyes are made are secured to the steel busk constituting the
other part of the fastener in a similar manner.
When studs are used in place of hooks I make the said studs solid to
or in one piece with the bands in the following way:-I take a blank
having at its middle a circular piece from which the head of the stud is
made. On either side the said head pieco are narrow parts from which
the stem of the stud is made, and beyond the said narrow parts are
bands which are closed upon the steel busk to fix the stud to the busk.
By means of tools worked in a press the narrow parts of the blank are
folded or doubled under the circular or head part of the blank and
closed upon one another. A stud solid to the band is thereby produced,
the band being fastened to the steel busk in the manner herein-before
described. Or in making a stud fastener the stem may be made by
being pierced and raised from the band, and the head formed of a separate
disk of metal rivetted or otherwise fixed to the stem.
Besides being applicable to fasteners for corsets my Invention is also
applicable to fasteners for belts, bands, leggings, and other articles.
I will now describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation a corset fastener made according
to my Invention; Figure 1' is a back elevation of a portion of the same; 3
and Figure 2 is a cross section of the same; Figure 3 represents one of

page_text: the eyes of the fastener detached; and Figure 4 represents one of tho
hooks of the fastener detached.
a, a, are the hooks of the fastener; and a², a², are the hook plates or
bands;
and b, b, are the eyes; and ², 6%, the eye plates or bands. The
hooks and hook plates a, a², arc fixed to one of the steel busks c of the
fastener, and the eyes and eyc plates or bands b, 2, to the other steel
busk d of the fastener. The hooks a are made solid to the metal
bands a², which metal bands are fastened to the busk c by closing their
ends a³, a³, upon the back or inuer side of the said busk, as seen in
Figures 1 and 2. The eyes are pierced from the metal bands ², the
lips or connecting pieces ³, 3 of the bands being closed upon the back
or inner side of the steel busk d of the fastener.
In making the hook part a, a³, a³, of the fastener I take a band or
blank of metal, Figure 5, and by means of piercing and raising tools I
picrco the blank, and raise from the pierced metal a tongue piccef, as
seen in Figure 6, from which tongue piece the hook is to be made. The
nose of the tongue piece ƒ is next cupped, as seen in Figure 7, and the
neck I
of the hook part next bent at right angles to the band a² from
which it is made, as seen in Figure 8. The ends a³, a³, of the band a²
are next bent at right angles to the said band, as seen in Figure 9. The
hook part of a corset fastener with the hook solid to the band is thus
made, the ends a³, a³, of the band being ready to be closed upon the
steel busk to secure it to the said busk.
Instead of giving the nose of the hook a rounded or convex figure the
said nose may be flat, as represented in Figure 10. The said flat-nosed
look is made as described with respect to a hook with a rounded nose,
excepting that the cupping operation is omitted.
The cye part b, b², b³, of the fastener is made by taking a band or
blank of the kind represented in Figure 11, piercing it at h, and bending
the pierced part at right angles, as seen in Figure 12. The end i of the
blank is also bent at right angles, the parts h, i, constituting the lips or
attachment pieces by which the eye part is fixed to the busk by closing
the said attachment pieces upon the inner side of the said busk, as
represented in Figure 2. The eye part is completed by piercing in or
cutting out of the band b² a longer opening for the hook a to ongago
with. The completed eye part is represented in Figure 13.

page_text: By constructing and fixing the fastener as described, great strength
and durability in the parts are obtained, and as no rivetting is employed;
either to connect the hook to the hook plate or to secure the hook and
eye plates or bands to the steel busks, there is little or no liability of the
parts becoming detached.
In making the fastener with studs solid to the band, instead of hooks
as before described I prefer to make them in the manner illustrated in
Figures 14 and 15, that is to say, I take a blank having the shape repre-
sented in Figure 14, the said blank having at its middle a circular piece k,
and on either side the middle piece narrow parts 7, 1, from which the stem
of the stud is made. Beyond the said narrow parts are bands m, m,
which are closed upon the steel busk. By means of press tools the
narrow parts 1, 1, are folded or doubled under the head part k, and the
folded parts are closed upon one another, as represented in Figure 15.
A stud solid to the band m is thereby formed. The ends of the band
parts m, m, are next bent at right angles, ready to be closed upon the
steel busk, as seen in Figure 15. Or the stud with a separate head may
be made from a blank similar to that from which the hook is made. In
this case I take the blank, Figure 16, pierce it at 1, and raise a portion
of the pierced metal so as to form the stem p of the stud, as represented
in Figure 17. I next take a separate head q, as represented in
Figure 18, and rivet it to the stem p, as seen in Figure 19. The stem
of the stud is thus solid to the band, the said band being closed upon
the steel busk, as hercin-before described.
In applying my Invention to fasteners for belts, bands, leggings, and
other articles, I make the hook or stud parts and oyo parts, and when
necessary fasten the said parts to steel busks or strips, substantially as
described with respect to a corset fastener.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention, the improvements, in the manufacture of
fasteners for corsets and other similar fasteners herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making
the hooks and studs of the said fasteners solid to or in one piece with
the bands which are fixed to the steel busk or strip, or belt, band, or

page_text: article of dress, substantially as described and illustrated in Figures 1
to 15, both inclusive, of the Drawing.
Also the modification described and represented in Figures 16, 17, 18,
and 19, in which the head of the stud is made of a separate piece,
rivetted to a stem made solid to or in one piece with the band.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jenkin Clarke, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
▸ Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN JENKIN CLARKE. (L.S.)