Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 1st Mar., 1887
I, JAMES ALFORD HOUSE, residing at Bridgeport in the County of Fairfield, and State
of Connecticut, one of the United States of America, gentleman 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 certain new and useful improvements in Corsets, and has
for its object to furnish means for the tightening or loosening thereof, which shall be
of great simplicity and whereby the trouble of adjusting laces and the wear upon the
latter incident to such adjusting may be done away with, and with this end in view my
invention consist in the details of construction hereinafter fully explained and then recited
in the claims.
In order that such as are skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may
fully understand my improvements, I will describe the same in detail, referring by
letter to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification which shows
a plan view of a corset constructed in accordance with my improvement.
A, B, are the two sections of the corset provided at their front meeting edges with any
ordinary fastenings or clasps, a.
C, D, are strips whose length is substantially the height of the sections, A, B,
Steels extending longitudinal of said strips, are preferably inserted therein for the
purpose of stiffening them. E, F, are two sets of short straps, one set connecting
the section, A, and strip, D, and the other set connecting the section, B, to
strip, C. Said short strips alternate and cross as shown in the drawings. G, are
waist bands. They are secured at their rear ends to the strips, C, D, and are provided
in front with a buckle, H, or other suitable fastening.
In using my improved corset, the wearer fastens it in front by the clasps, and then by
the waist bands and buckle draws the strips apart at the back, thereby pulling the rear
edges of the corset sections together and tightening it upon the person as would be
accomplished by lacing.
The corset is perfectly adjustable by means of the waist band and may be instantly
eased off or loosed by merely unbuckling said band at the front,

page_text: I am aware that slight changes in construction may be made and still a corset
produced which may be adjusted as I have described. I do not therefore wish to be
confined to the precise arrangement of parts herein set forth since the gist of my
invention rests in the crossed and alternating straps and the waist band, whereby
through said straps the corset sections may be drawn together.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A corset wherein the sections are independently connected to an adjustable waist
band, whereby the rear edges of said corset may be adapted to and from each other
and there retained, substantially as specified.
2. The combination with the two sections of a corset, of vertical strips at the back
thereof, crossed and alternating connections from the sections to said strips, and waist
bands provided with a suitable fastening connected to said strips and adapted to be
secured at the front of the corset, substantially as specified.
3. The combination with the corset, sections of a pair of vertical strips at the back
thereof, short straps connecting each section with the diagonally opposite vertical
strip, and waist bands secured to said strips and adapted to draw and hold the same
apart, whereby the rear edges of the corset sections are drawn and held together,
substantially as shown and described.
4. The combination with the two sections of a corset of a pair of stiffened vertical
strips at the back thereof, crossed and alternating straps connecting each section to
the opposite strip, bails secured upon the edges of the strips, and waist bands attached
to said bails by a sliding connection and provided at their forward ends with a buckle
or other suitable fastening, substantially as set forth.