AN IMPROVED MODE OF RETAINING THE WAIST OF THE HUMAN BODY IN A DESIRABLE FORM WITHOUT PRODUCING THE INCONVENIENCE RESULTING FROM TOO TIGHT LACING OF STAYS OR CORSETS, OR BUCKLING OF BELTS, WAISTBANDS, OR GIRDLES,
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BATTYE, of Woburn Place, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, humbly represent unto Her present most.
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, that I had invented "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF RETAINING THE WAIST OF THE HUMAN BODY IN A DESIRABLE FORM WITHOUT
PRODUCING THE INCONVENIENCE RESULTING FROM TOO TIGHT LACING OF STAYS OR
CORSETS, OR BUCKLING OF BELTS, WAISTBANDS, OR GIRDLES," and Her said
Majesty being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions which
may be for the public good, was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, to give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Battye, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I or they, by myself
or themselves, or by my or their deputies, servants or agents, or such others
as I or they should agree with, and no others, during the term of fourteen years
from the date of the said Letters Patent, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of Her said Majesty's
Dominions called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, shall seem meet, and as that I or they shall enjoy the whole profit
and advantage arising by reason of my said Invention, during the said term of
fourteen years; and whereas the said Letters Patent contain a proviso

page_text: obliging me, the said Thomas Battye, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to
cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference being thereunto had) will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Battye, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in manner following, and by the aid of the Sheet of Drawing
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My improved mode of retaining the waist of the human body in a desirable
form is to apply an elastic spring of metal (such as hardened and tempered
steel) of a suitably curved form for encompassing the greater part of the
circumference of the waist when the spring is applied in the manner of a belt
or girdle around the waist, excepting that the two ends of the spring need not
meet or approach near together, or be united, as must be the case with a belt
or girdle, but the spring is made so as to have a tendency to collapse and curl up
into a smaller curvature than that of the waist around which it is to be applied;
and when it is so applied it will operate with a gentle but uniformly elastic
compression, chiefly laterally, and at opposite sides, so as to retain the waist in
a desirable form, the said elastic compressure differing materially from that
produced by lacing of stays or corsets, or buckling of belts, waistbands, or
girdles, inasmuch as that the compressure which is caused by lacing or buck-
ling must be wholly circumferential, so as to operate with tension all around the
waist, with a tendency to contract the size thereof in all directions; and such
lacing or buckling, according to the usual mode, is not elastic, or capable of
yielding in any considerable degree; whereas, according to my improved
mode, the tendency of the curved spring to collapse into a smaller curvature
may be adapted so that it will exert its pressure chiefly at the two sides of the
waist in such manner as may be most agreeable to the wearer as to the force of
pressure which it will so exert, and as to the parts of the circumference of the
waist at which it will apply the pressure, and with such different degrees of
force at different parts as may be desired, and also as to the directions in which
such force will operate at those different parts, all which will depend upon the
length of metal in the spring, and the breadth and thickness thereof at
different parts of that length, also the form of curvature into which the spring
is bended by hammering (before being hardened and tempered in case of the
metal being steel). The spring must be adapted to suit the individual who is

page_text: to wear it in all the above circumstances, not merely according to the size of
the waist, but also according to the form in which it is thought desirable
to retain the waist, which will be different in different individuals, and the
spring must be fitted so as to accommodate each individual wearer, and exert
its compressure in such manner and with such force as the wearer may find
most suitable and agreeable.
Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed is a perspective view of a steel
spring constructed in a suitable form for being applied over stays such as are
usually worn by women, but the lacing of which stays may be left unusually
slack, and the compressure of the spring when applied around the waist over
the stays will have all the effect that can be desired of retaining the waist in
form, without the inconvenience resulting from tight lacing. Figure 1 repre-
sents the spring in its collapsed state before it is applied around the waist; the
two ends A, A, of the spring approach near together when it is in that state,
but in order to apply the spring those two ends A, A, are to be drawn apart
by the two hands, so as to bend open the spring sufficiently for passing its
said two ends A, A, around the waist from behind; and when it is thus applied
in its intended place over the stays the middle part D of the spring will be
behind the back across the spine, and the two ends of the spring, when let go
by the hands, will apply with the parts A, B, and A, B, of those ends against
the stays at the two opposite sides of the waist, and somewhat beyond those
sides towards the front and towards the back, so as to exert the desired
compressure by the effort that the spring will make to return to its collapsed
state, Figure 1. The form which the spring will have when it is so applied
around the waist, and is in action of exerting its compression as aforesaid, is
represented in Figure 2, and the force of compressure which it will then exert
will be almost entirely at the places where the two ends A, B, and A, B, of the
spring apply against the stays, and very little at the middle part D of the spring
which passes round behind the back in a direction across the spine, but with-
out causing any material pressure against the back, and none against the
spine. The middle part D of the spring is made narrow for lightness, but it
might, if preferred, be of the same width as the two end parts A, B, and A, B,
which apply against the stays, and which parts are broad in order to exert
their compressure thereon with a suitable extent of surface in contact against
the stays; and for lightness the broad end parts A, B, A, B, are cut out with
openings a, b, a, b, but that is not essential, for those parts might be left solid
if preferred. The steel spring may be covered with leather or cloth of any
kind that may be preferred. The stays which are to be worn with such a
spring applied over them may be made in the usual manner of ordinary stays,

page_text: with such whalebone or steel springs (called busks) inserted into the stays, as
may best suit the wearer; and the stays may be laced in the usual manner,
but not so tightly as usual, because the compressure of the spring will have the
effect of retaining the waist in a desirable form without such tight lacing of
the stays as is usually required for that purpose. Figure 3 represents the form
that is to be given to the steel for the spring when that steel is in the state of
a flat plate or thin blade, the middle part B being cut to a narrow width, and
the two broad end parts A, B, and A, B, are cut out with the openings a, b, and
a, b, and the steel at those broad parts A, B, A, B, may be reduced in thick-
ness by grinding on a grindstone, or otherwise leaving the part D as much
thicker as will compensate in strength and elastic force for that part D being
cut narrower than the two end parts A, B, A, B. The surfaces of the steel,
Figure 3, are ground smoothly, and all the edges thereof are rounded, so that
they will not be liable to cut the covering of leather or cloth with which the
spring may be covered, as already mentioned. The straight piece of steel
Figure 3, thus prepared, is then to be curled up into the form shewn in
Figure 1, or more precisely shewn in Figure 4, where the smaller curve that is
left uncoloured represents the curve that the spring will assume in its collapsed
state, Figure 1; but the exterior or larger curve, A, B, D, A, B, which is coloured
in Figure 4, shews the curve which the spring is expected to assume (as in
Figure 2) when it is applied around the waist, and is exerting its compressure
thereon, as already explained. Figure 5 is an edge view of the spring in that
last-mentioned state, viewed from behind; and Figure 6 another edge view of
the spring in the same state, viewed sideways. Figures 5 and 6 shew the
under edge d, e, d, of the spring to be a straight line; and if the spring in its
collapsed state is laid with its under edge d, e, d, upon the surface of a flat
table, the said under edge d, e, d, will conform to the flat surface, but the dif-
ferent parts of the breadth of the blade of the spring will not all stand up at an
exact right angle to that flat surface, for the upper edge f of the back part D
may be a little more inwards towards the centre of the curve than the lower
edge e at the same part, as is shewn at D, Figure 6; and the same may be said
of the parts B, B, of the spring; but the upper edges g, g, near to the extre-
mities A, A, may, on the contrary, be a little more outwards from the centre of
the curve than their under edges d, d, and at some intermediate places in the
length of the broad parts of the spring between B and A the upper edges h, h,
will be neither more inwards nor more outwards from the said centre than the
lower edges i, i, at the same places, see Figure 5. The spring will be easily
formed in the aforesaid manner by hammering the steel in a suitable manner
when in the act of bending the steel to the required curve; but note, if the

page_text: lower edge d, e, d, Figure 3, of the flat blade of steel is cut with a suitable
curvature upwards in the middle part D, less of such forming by hammering
will be required. The thickness of the steel plate, Figure 3, after being
prepared by grinding, as already mentioned, may be from one sixteenth to one
thirty-second part of an inch at the different parts of the spring. The spring
after being formed in manner aforesaid, is then to be hardened and tempered
in the usual and well-known manner of treating steel springs for trusses, so as
to obtain what is termed a good spring temper of the steel; and lastly, the
spring being covered with leather or cloth, it will be fit for use. And note, it
is after the spring is hardened and tempered that its curvature when in the
collapsed state should be that of the interior curve, left uncoloured in Figure 4.
The size, strength, and form of the spring must be varied in each case to suit
the individual who is to wear it, as well as the stays over which it is to be
applied. In general the whole length of the spring when straight, as in
Figure 3, will be from two thirds to three fourths of the girt or circumference
of the waist measured round the stays over which the spring is to be applied,
but no determinate rule can be given for the precise size, form, or strength of
the spring, except that it is to be such as will produce that kind and degree of
compressure which will be most agreeable to the wearer, in the same manner
as is the usual practice respecting stays. And the proper course will be for the
maker to provide a number of differently formed springs of different sizes and
strengths, and by trial of one after another of those springs, some one amongst
them may be found which will so far suit each particular case as to serve by
And note, if pre-
way of pattern for making a spring suitable for that case.
ferred, two thin plates of metal may be fastened by sewing or otherwise to the
stays at each side of the waist, and the two ends of the spring may be applied
against those plates so as to exert its compressure on the stays through their
intervention. Each end of the spring should in such case have a small stud
fastened into it and projecting towards the inside of the curvature of the
spring suitably for entering into corresponding holes in the said two metal
plates in order that the spring may be thereby retained in its intended place,
and there may be different holes in each of the plates so as to admit of the
studs being inserted into any of the holes at the pleasure of the wearer; and
as the compressing action of the spring will be transmitted through the two
studs alone, that action may be rendered chiefly operative on such parts of the
waist at each side thereof as may be desired, according to the places of the
holes into which the studs are at the time inserted, whether farther forwards
towards the front, or backwards towards the back, or higher up, or lower
down. The plates, as well as the stays on which they are fastened, will have

page_text: the effect of distributing the force of compressure over such part of the waist
as to avoid too much action at the precise places where the studs operate upon
the plates. No other part of the spring, except its two studs, are required to
touch the stays or the plates, and particularly the middle part of the spring
which passes round behind the back need not touch. As the the said plates
perform the office of the broad end parts A, B, A, B, of the spring, Figure 1,
the spring which is to have studs in its ends for being used with those plates
will not require to have any such broad ends; but the spring may be made of
uniform width, or may be widest at the middle part of its length, and gradually
diminishing in width to each end where the studs are fastened into it. Each
of the plates may be stamped as to have a groove along it for the reception of
the studs, and the aforesaid holes being in the bottom of the grooves they will
serve to guide the studs into the holes in removing the studs from one hole to
another. The said grooves may be horizontal or nearly so in the direction
around the waist when the plates are fastened in their places on the stays, but
the grooves may be in an inclining or vertical direction, according as the plates
are fastened on the stays, the plates being in all cases curved to conformity
with the stays.
Figure 7 is a sketch on a small scale of a spring A, A, D, having the studs
in the ends A, A; F, F, are the plates which are to be fastened to the stays;
Figure 8 shews one of the plates F drawn full size; Figure 9 is another
sketch shewing how the spring may be made in three pieces, namely, a middle
part B, D, B, and two end parts B, A, B, A, the latter being jointed to the
former at B, B, by revitting so as to permit of the middle part B, D, B,
being inclined downwards when the end parts B, A, B, A, continue horizontal,
or these ends may be inclined with the ends A, A, downwards, according as the
wearer may prefer. The parts which are jointed at B and B are applied with
their flat surfaces in close contact laterally, and the revit pins for each joint
passing through both parts retains them firmly together, so that the elastic
action of the whole spring A, D, A, will be nearly the same as if it were
made in one piece, but the joints at B, B, which (may move very stiffly)
permit of bending the spring edgeways, as shewn in Figure 9, with more or
less of such bending as may be required. The jointed ends B, A, B, A,
Figure 9, are represented broad ends, such as Figures 1 to 6, adapted to
apply against the stays, but those jointed ends might be narrow and have a s
stud at the end A, A, of each, to be used with plates fastened against the stays
in the manner of the spring Figure 7 if preferred. And note, although the
spring, Figures 1 to 6, is drawn (and has been described) as having its under
edgo d, e, d, conformable to a plane surface when the spring in its collapsed

page_text: state is laid upon such a surface, nevertheless it might be made with the
middle part D inclining downwards in respect to the two end parts B, A, B, A,
so as to be similar to Figure 9 as to the edgeway bend of the spring, although
made of one piece of steel without joints; and a jointed spring, such as
Figure 9, may be used for trial, and when it is found what degree of bend-
ing edgeways at its joints will render it most agreeable to the wearer, it
will serve as a pattern for making a spring in one piece of steel with a
similar edgeway bend in its form; and similar springs to those herein-before
described, and of suitable size, strength, and form, may be applied around the
waist over a belt or girdle of leather or other suitable substance, or a sash or
waistband, which is buckled or otherwise fastened in front of the wearer, but
which, as already stated (respecting stays), will not require to be buckled or
fastened so tightly as usual. When such springs are applied according to my
improved mode, and in case of the buckling or other fastening being in front,
the spring may, if preferred, be fastened to the belt, girdle, waistband, or sash,
by sewing or otherwise, and the covering of the spring may be so attached to
the belt, girdle, waistband, or sash, as that the spring will be concealed therein.
And the same may be said respecting stays: if they were to be made to lace in
the front instead of at the back, the spring might then be inserted into the
stays in the same manner as the steel springs called busks or the strips of
whalebone are usually inserted into stays, except as to the direction in which
the spring is to be applied, according to my improved mode being in all cases
around or partly around the waist, which direction is crossways to the direction
in which busks or whalebone have been hitherto applied in stays. And for giving
support to the back, if desired, a spring similar to Figures 1 to 6 may have
two short springs fastened crossways by revitting or otherwise to the middle
part of the spring near D, in the manner shewn by dotted lines Q, Q, Figures
5 and 6, those cross springs Q, Q, standing endways upwards and downwards,
and being made of suitable form for applying with their upper and lower ends
to the back of the wearer, or to the stays at each side of the spine, in order to
sustain the back; such cross springs may be used when the spring is fastened
to a belt, girdle, waistband, or sash which fastens in front, as herein-before
described. And note, similar cross springs may, if desired, be fastened by
revitting or otherwise to the ends A, A, or to the end parts A, B, A, B, of a
spring similar to Figures 1 to 6, such cross springs standing endways upwards
and downwards, or they may be inclining, and there may be several of them,
but in every case each one must be bended conformably to the shape of the
waist, or of the stays, or the belt, girdle, waistband, or sash, at the part
thereof to which each spring does apply; and such cross springs will operate

page_text: in the same manner as the broad open ends A, B, A, B, of the spring are
intended to operate, as herein-before explained, but over a greater extent of
surface of the waist in a direction upwards and downwards than those broad
ends can do. And note, when such cross springs are used at the end parts
A, B, A, B, of the spring, it may be made narrower at those end parts, or
only of such breadth at those parts as is suitable for strength.
Having now described my said improved mode, I, the said Thomas Battye,
do hereby declare that the new Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted
to me by the said Letters Patent, consists in the application, in manner herein-
before described, of elastic springs to encompass the waist, or the greater part
of the circumference thereof, for the purpose of retaining the waist in a
desirable form, without necessity for too tight lacing of stays or corsets, or
buckling of belts, waistbands, or girdles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Battye, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, One thousand eight hundred