IM- PROVEMENTS IN CORSETS OR STAYS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, &
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of " IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CORSETS OR STAYS." A communication from abroad by
Samuel Weldon Geery and George Arthur Seaver, both of Newark, New
Jersey, United States of America.
Sealed the 18th October 1878, and dated the 7th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th August 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS OR STAYS." [A
communication from abroad by Samuel Weldon Geery and George Arthur Seaver,
both of Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to improvements in corsets or stays, and consists in
combining therewith the volta-electric principle whereby they are made to conduce
to and promote the health of the wearer.
This Invention consists in providing either or both sides of a corset with a series
of steel springs or stays, which are alternately covered or plated with zinc and
platinum copper or other metals, electro-positive and electro-negative to each other,
and connected by wires, bands, or other good conductor, thereby imparting to a
corset a volta galvanic element, which renders it highly therapeutic in character
without detracting from the ordinary uses and advantages of the corset.
By means of this Invention medical applications and remedies may be readily
and advantageously introduced into the system, as will be readily understood.
The said springs or stays may be arranged singly side by side, or each stay made
be double or composed of two plates, one of which is coated with zinc, and the other

page_text: !
with platinum, or copper, or other metals, so that they will be alternately electro-
positive and electro-negative, or so that each stay forms an independent battery.
The said plates may be perforated for the purpose of admitting the connecting
copper wires, straps, or conducting medium; or the latter may be wrapped around
the said plates.
The object of electro-plating the steel springs is to obtain the elasticity and
support so important, though it is not my intention to limit myself to steel plates.
If preferred the cloth itself may be woven of wire and silk or other fibrous
materials, that is to say, it may be of copper wire, copper wire coated with zinc and
silk alternately, the wires being electro positive and negative and very fine..
The object of using silk is to render the cloth highly flexible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
February 1879.
A
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS OR STAYS."
communication from abroad by Samuel Weldon Geery and George Arthur Seaver,
both of Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
This Invention relates to improvements in corsets or stays, which consists in
combining therewith or with the cloth of which such articles are made the volta
electric principle, whereby they are made to conduce to and promote the health of
the wearer.
In the accompanying Drawing I have illustrated the manufacture of a corset
according to this Invention.
Figure 1 represents one side or half of the said corset; Figure 2 represents
springs (detached from the corset) and the wires which connect them; and Figures
3, 4, and 5 shew modifications of the same.
Similar letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the Drawing.
I provide either side or both sides of a corset with a series of steel springs or
plates a, which are alternately covered or plated with zinc and platinum, or copper,
or other metals electro-positive and electro-negative to each other, and connected
by wire bands or other good conductor, thereby imparting to the corset a volta
galvanic element which renders it highly therapeutic in character without detracting
from the ordinary uses and advantages of the corset.
By means of this Invention medical applications and remedies may be readily
and advantageously introduced into the system.
The said springs a may be arranged singly side by side as indicated in Figures
1 and 2, or each spring may be double or composed of two plates as indicated in
Figures 3 or 5, one of which is coated with zinc and the other with platinum, or
copper, or other metals, so that they will be alternately electro-positive and electro-
negative, or so that each spring forms an independent battery.

page_text: The said plates may be perforated, as shown at c or e, in Figure 2, for the pur-
pose of admitting the connecting copper wires, straps, or conductors b, or the latter
may be wrapped around the said plates a, as indicated at d, Figures 2 and 4.
If preferred, the cloth of which the corsets or other articles are made may be
woven of wire and fibrous materials so as to embody the electro-galvanic principle,
that is to say, it may be of copper wire and wire coated with zinc and fibrous
material combined therewith, the wires being very fine, and so arranged as to be.
electro-positive and electro-negative alternately. In some instances the fibrous
portion of the said cloth may be silk, which will render the said cloth highly
flexible.
The following are some of the methods of manufacturing the said cloth or fabric:-
It may consist of fine spun or drawn wires of copper and zinc or other metals,
electro-positive and electro-negative, together with cotton or other suitable material
which are spun together and form the strands or yarns for weaving, the zinc and
cotton threads being spun together so as to complete one strand, and the copper and
cotton or other fibre the other. The strands or yarns thus formed are electro-
positive and electro-negative, and may be arranged for weaving, so that the warp
may consist of the positive yarn, and the woof the negative; or the fabric may be
woven so that the warp or the woof, or both, may consist of the positive and
negative yarns or strands alternately; or the warp may be entirely of fibrous
material, and the woof be composed of the electrodes, or vice versa.
It may also be found advantageous in manufacturing the voltaic fabric to weave
the metal strands separately, that is, the warp to consist of the negative wire and
cotton or other fibrous thread alternately, and the woof to be composed of the
positive wire and cotton alternately, the wires forming distinct threads of them-
selves, and the cotton fibre also, so that in weaving the same the voltaic element
may be proportioned, and the electrical effect be graduated as required.
The fabric is woven in sheets or breadths as in ordinary cloths suitable for corsets
and stays, that is to say, for such articles of underclothing as are, used to stay or
support any part of the body as the texture may be made light or heavy, and as soft
and flexible as may be required; and as such the Invention is particularly valuable
in that the use of the ordinary electro-metallic plates or appliances to produce an
electric effect, which are more or less cumbersome and uncomfortable, are entirely
dispensed with, and the electric current is uniformly distributed.
I do not limit myself however to the aforesaid method only of producing an
electric fabric for underclothing, as I may use an electro-metallurgic preparation
composed of zinc and copper filings held in solution by the use of lac, which I prefer
to other glutinous substances, as it is a better conductor, though other substance
may be used if desired.
By these means other ordinary fabrics may be made highly voltaic by
thoroughly saturating the same with the metallurgic preparation and by subjecting
the fabric to a rubbing, pressing, or similar operation, the goods partake freely
of the voltaic elements, which are equally and thoroughly diffused in and through
the fabric; the lac at the same time firmly holds and retains the metallic particles
to and in the cloth; or, if preferred, the yarn or thread may be first saturated with
the metallurgic preparation, and subsequently woven into fabric.
Another mode of producing it is by employing small beads made of zinc and
copper, and stringing each upon a cotton or other thread, and arranging them
substantially in the same manner as above described, thus constituting the negative
and positive poles.
The beaded yarns or strands thus prepared may be woven with cotton or other
fibre interspersed alternately between said yarns, or said beaded yarns or strands
may form the warp or woof with or without the addition of cotton or other
fibre.
I may also find it advantageous to employ electro-plated metal wires to be woven
or knit into cloth or fabric, or an ordinary knit or woven fabric or other pliable
material such as leather may be made highly volta-electric by plating the same

page_text: with electro-positive and electro-negative metals; the electrodes or poles being
obtained from sheets of the required metals prepared for the purpose are very
light, being about the consistency of gold leaf or tin foil, as the occasion may
require, and are cut into strips of the required width and length, and secured firmly
to the fabric alternately electro-positive and electro-negative by means of lac or
other suitable substance. In applying such strips to the fabric their edges may
join or lap over each other, as may be preferred, thus producing a flexible and
durable electric cloth.
Another method is the electro-plating of any woven or knitted fabric or cloth
or other pliable substance alternately with electro-positive and electro-negative
metals by means of a battery and bath in the usual manner, thus secure as thin or
thick a coating of the metals as may be deemed necessary, and at the same time
imparting to the manufactured goods the volta-electric principle to the same extent
as in the other cases.
Another very essential and important advantage in connection with this electro-
galvanic fabric is in the saving of expense in its production as compared with other
electrical appliances.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim the improvements in the manufacture of corsets or stays,
and of the cloth or fabric for the same, whereby the electro-galvanic principle is
embodied or combined therewith, in the manner and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.