IMPROVEMENTS IN BUSKS FOR STAYS AND BODICES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas, of Nos. 128 and 129, Cheapside,
in the Oity of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUSKS
FOR STAYS AND BODICES."
Sealed the 28th October 1878, and dated the 2nd September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd September 1878.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS, of Nos. 128 and 129, Cheapside, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN BUSKS FOR STAYS AND BODICES," to be as follows:-
In the Specification to Letters Patent granted to me on the 29th
November, 1871, No. 8222, I described an improved construction of busk,
wherein two or more steel plates of varying length were fixed together
at their lower ends so as to produce a busk decreasing in strength from
the lower end towards the upper end, whereby the liability of such busks
to fracture through bending was greatly diminished.

page_text: According to my present Invention I attain the same end by con-
structing the busk of a single plate of steel gradually reduced in thick-
ness from the lower end towards the upper end.
I produce such busks of tapering thickness either by grinding or filing
down a plate of steel of equal thickness throughout, or by rolling the
metal of tapering thickness by passing it through excentric rolls.
Such busks of tapering thickness may either be made of parallel width,
or by preference I make then taper in width from the lower end towards
the upper end, as described in the Spefcation to my before-mentioned
Patent.
I employ such busks of tapering thickness either as a single busk
with a narrow fastening slip at the side thereof for carrying the hasps,
or by preference I employ them as a double busk, that is, two such busks
of equal strength fastening together in the middle of the stay or bodice.
In order to prevent the busk from snapping at the middle fastening
or fastenings, as sometimes occurs with steel busks of ordinary construc-
tion, I in some cases fix such fastening upon a separate short taper steel
plate, which I then fix to the before described busk.
filed by the said William Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 28th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS, of Nos. 128 and 129, Cheapside, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Thomas, Her special
license that I, the said William Thomas, my executors, administrators, 8
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thomas, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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
› BUSKS FOR STAYS AND BODICES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Thomas, 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 William Thomas, do hereby declaro
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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say-
In the Specification to Letters Patent granted to me on the 29th
November, 1871, No. 3222, I described an improved construction of
busk, wherein two or more steel plates of varying length were fixed
together at the lower ends so as to produce a busk decreasing in
strength from the lower end towards the upper end, whereby the
liability of such busks to fracture through bending was greatly
diminished.
According to my present Invention I attain the same end by con.
structing the busk of a single plate of steel gradually reduced in thick-
ness from the lower end towards the upper end.
I produce such busks of tapering thickness either by grinding or filing
down a plate of steel of equal thickness throughout, or by rolling the
metal of tapering thickness by passing it through eccentric rollers.
Such busks of tapering thickness may either be made of parallel
width, or, by preference, I make them taper in width from the lower
end towards the upper end, as described in the Specification to my before
3 mentioned Patent.
I employ such busks of tapering thickness either as a single busk
with a narrow fastening slip at the side thereof for carrying the Hasps,
:

page_text: or, by preference, I employ them as a double busk, that is, two such
busks of equal strength fastening together in the middle of the stay or
bodice.
In order to prevent the busk from snapping at the middle fastening
or fastenings, as sometimes occurs with steel busks of ordinary con- 5
struction, I in some cases fix such fastening upon a separate short taper
steel plate, which I then fix to the before described busk.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a double busk constructed according to my Invention,
the steel plates a being gradually reduced in thickness from the lower to 1
the upper end; the plates are also, by preference, made of tapering
width, as shown, so as still further to increase the flexibility of the
upper end..
Fig. 2 shews a similar construction of busks, in which the middle
fastening instead of being rivetted to the busk itself is fixed to a 1
separate short steel plate 6, which is rivetted to the busk at c; by this
means the busk is strengthened against snapping at the middle fastening,
while the plate 6 being fixed to the busk only at its middle and left free
at the ends does not interfere with the flexibility of the busk.
Figure 3 shows an arrangement in which two such short plates are 20
employed, one over the other, the lower one d (shewn in dotted lines)
being by preference rather shorter than the upper one b; both plates
are rivetted to the busk at c, c, and the fastenings are rivetted to the
upper plate b only; or the two plates b, d, may be arranged as at
Figure 4, where the plate 6 carrying the one fastening is rivetted to the 2
busk at c, and overlaps the plate & carrying the other fastening, and
rivetted to the busk at e."
b
These arrangements of separate short plates carrying the middle
fastening or fastenings may also be used with ordinary steel busks that
are not made tapering in thickness.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The use of busks made of plates of steel gradually reduced in
thickness from the lower end to the upper end, substantially as herein
described.
30
3

page_text: Second. The use for busks of short tapering steel plates which carry
the middle fastening or fastenings, and which are rivetted to the busk at
or about the middle of their length, their ends being left free so as not
to. interfere with the flexibility of the busk, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.