Improvements in Garment Hooks.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 1st Apr., 1893
COME LEIM DIUITIATION.
Improvements in Garment Hooks.
I, FRANK EMMErson De Long, of 2032 North Eighteenth Street, in the City
of Philadelphia, County of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America, Manufacturer, 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 :-
My invention relates to hooks which are employed, in connection with eyes, for
fastening wearing apparel, and for kindred purposes, and especially to that class
of the same in which both the hook and the eye are intentionally made quite wide,
so as to cause them to present a broad bearing upon or with respect to, and to
prevent the puckering of, the material to which they are applied.
Hooks of this class are largely employed as fastenings for heavy garments such
as capes, circulars, and great-coats, made of fur, cloth, or other material, and
usually lined with silk or other less substantial and more perishable fabric than the
outside material or fabric.
In the use of these hooks, as in the use of the ordinary hooks and eyes, it is a
desideratum to provide as a part or member of the hook itself some device or means
to prevent accidental or too easy disengagement of the eye, and it is also important
to guard against the wear of the lining material which the bill of the hook over-
hangs, occasioned by the friction of the eye against such material in the engagement
and disengagement of the eye with respect to the hook.
It is the object of my invention to secure these desirable results more particularly
in hooks of the class mentioned, which are made from a single piece of wire bent to
the desired form, and a component of which is a tongue or member formed with a
bend, bellied portion, or so-called "hump," in it, which bears such relation to the
bill and shank portions as to partially close the eye-space between the bill and the
shank, and slightly obstruct both the engagement and the disengagement of
the eye.
With the foregoing object in view my invention comprehends a garment hook
formed of a single piece of wire bent to form a bill, a shank, and thread-eyes or
kindred means for attachment, and also bent to form a combined guard and spring-
keeper, which performs not only the function of slightly obstructing both the
engagement and the disengagement of the eye with respect to the hook, but also the
function of protecting that part of the fabric to which the hook is applied which is
overhung by the bill, from contact with and consequent injury by the eye.
In the accompanying drawings I have represented preferred forms of hooks alike
embodying my improvements, and differing only from each other in the formal
arrangement of the component wire, all of the hooks represented being hooks having
considerable breadth and of the type referred to, although it is not to be understood
that my invention is confined to wide hooks.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a top plan view, and Figure 2 a bottom plan view, of a hook
embodying my improvements in a preferred form, and of an eye engaged
therewith.
•
Figure 3 is a right hand side view of the hook as represented in Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a view in perspective of the hook represented in Figure 1 as it
appears when applied to the edge of a fabric in the ordinary mode of applying the
hook to a garment.
Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 of the same hook, representing the positions
which the parts occupy during the operation of engaging or disengaging the eye.
Figure 6 is top plan view, and Figure 7 a bottom plan view, of a hook

page_text: embodying my improvements in a slightly modified form, and of an eye engaged
therewith.
Figure 8 is a right hand side view of the hook as represented in Figure 6.
Figure 9 is a view in perspective of yet another slightly modified form of hook
embodying my improvements, and shown as applied to the edge of a fabric in the
ordinary mode of applying the hook to a garment..
Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 9 of the same hook, representing the
positions which the parts occupy during the operation of engaging or disengaging
the eye.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
Referring first to the hook represented in the first five figures of the drawings,
The bill of the hook is formed of a single piece of wire, continuous in the bill-
side-bars a a, in each direction from its apex or point, A, to the eye-engaging-
bends a' a', where upon each side it returns upon itself, so to speak, and passes back
to form the shank-side-bars a² a², which together constitute the shank portion
proper of the hook, and the wires forming which are at the rear respectively bent
to form thread-eyes a*, which may be made either in the form represented or in any
other preferred form.
The combined fabric-guard and spring-keeper,-which, as explained, serves both
to prevent the accidental or too easy disengagement of the eye from the hook, and
to protect the fabric which the bill of the hook overhangs from the wearing action
of the eye in its engagement and disengagement with respect to the hook,-is
formed from and as a continuation of the wire which likewise forms the bill, the
shank, and the thread-eyes, of the hook, and it is composite of two basal or shank
members a³ a³, which spring from the thread-eyes at the rear, extend forward to a
point inside of the eye-engaging bends of the hook, and are then bent upward and
backward to form the eye-retaining bends a' a', and are then continued backward
in the form of two upwardly-bellied spring bars a' a' which face toward the bill,
extend beyond its apex, and there, to complete the structure of the combined guard
and spring-keeper as an entirety, merge into each other in the form of a cross bar
or other connection a, integral with and connective of said "humped
lateral spring-bars.
"
or bellied
In the application of the eye B to the hook, the eye makes contact first with
that portion of the guard which extends beyond the apex of the bill of the hook
and rests upon the fabric, and, riding over the bellied spring-bars of the same in
its passage beneath the bill, occasions the depression of the guard as an
entirety by
its contact between the bellied portions of said guard and the under surfaces of the
bill-bars, and then, when it has finally passed to its final engagement with the eye-
engaging bends a¹ of the hook, is retained against accidental displacement by its
contact with the eye-retaining bends at of the guard, which resist its backward
movement except under such force or pressure as will occasion the depression of
the guard as an entirety, and permit the disengagement of the hook.
The entire hook and guard being, as explained, made of a continuous piece of
wire, it is immaterial what form the thread eyes are caused to assume, and they
may be conveniently of that represented in Figures 1 and 2, or they may, for
instance, he arranged as represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8, in which three
independent thread eyes are formed.
In practice I prefer to form the guard within the lateral confines of the shank-
side-bars and bill-side-bars of the hook, as shown in Figures 1 to 5, but it may,
without departure from the invention, be arranged outside of said bars, as shown in
Figures 9 and 10.
Such being a description of a hook made from a single piece of wire and
embodying my improvements, it will be apparent that its breadth will be dependent
upon the distance apart of the side-bars, and may be varied according to the lateral
extent or breadth of bearing which it is desired that the hook as an entirety shall
possess. Thus, the distance may be less or greater than that represented in the
drawings.

page_text: The distinguishing characteristic of the hook is the provision in integral relation-
ship with the hook, of the combined fabric-guard and spring-keeper described,
which is formed of the wire of which the hook proper is formed, and which is so
locally disposed relatively to the bill and shank of the hook as to not only guard
the fabric from the wear incident to the engagement or disengagement of the eye,
but also to prevent the too easy or the accidental displacement of the eye from
engagement with the hook.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A hook formed, substantially as set forth, of a single piece of wire bent to
form a bill a shank and means for attachment to a garment, and a member con-
tinuous of said wire, lying between the shank and bill, and forming a keeper for
the eye and a guard for the fabric, substantially as set forth.
2. A hook provided with a member constituting a fabric-guard, a portion of
which member is extended from the region of the eye-engaging bends in the
direction of the apex of the bill and in a plane intermediate of the planes occupied
by the shank and bill members and below the path traversed by the eye, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. A hook provided with a member constituting a fabric-guard, a portion of
which is extended from the region of the eye-engaging bends in the direction of
the apex of the bill in a plane intermediate of the planes occupied by the shank
and bill members and below the path traversed by the eye, and which is bellied
towards the bill, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
4. A hook provided with a member constituting a combined fabric-guard and
spring-keeper, a portion of which member is extended from the region of the eye-
engaging bends in the direction of the apex of the bill and in a plane intermediate
of the planes occupied by the shank and bill members and below the path traversed
by the eye, and which is extended beyond the apex of the bill, substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
5. A. hook provided with a member constituting a combined fabric-guard and
spring-keeper, which extends in the form of bars along the shank, which embodies
return bends in the vicinity of the eye-engaging bends, and which is extended
in a plane intermediate of the planes of the shank and bill and is bellied outward
toward said bill, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 20th day of January A.D. 1893.