IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' HOOPED SKIRTS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts.
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES'
HOOPED SKIRTS." -A communication from abroad by William Sparks
Thomson, of New York, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 6th March 1860, and dated the 7th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1859.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES'
HOOPED SKIRTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of ladies' hooped
skirts, the object being to facilitate the graduating of the size of the hoops,
and to ensure their taking the required "set" when connected together and
formed into a skirt. To this end a skeleton pattern frame made of curved
vertical bars secured at their ends by inserting into discs or otherwise,. the
whole corresponding in profile to the most approved form of skirt. Upon this
frame, which for convenience may be mounted on a central stand, the skirt is
built up, the steel strips or bands being lapped round the frame at proper

page_text: distances apart, and their ends secured together. These hoops are connected
with each other by bands or tapes crossing each other diagonally and inter-
locking on opposite sides of the hoops at the crossings. The connection of the
tapes with the hoops is by metal clasps. Or the tapes may follow a zig-zag
line between the hoops, and be connected at the angles by the metal clips.
Or in lieu of using the metal clips or ordinary sewing, the hoops may be
passed between touble tapes cemented together by the application of india-
rubber or other cement to their inner surfaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' HOOPED SKIRTS," being a
communication from abroad, by William Sparks Thomson, of New York, in
the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates, firstly, to a mode of facilitating the graduation of the size of the hoops
of ladies' skirts, and of ensuring their taking the required "set" when con-
nected together and formed into a skirt. In order to attain this end, a
skeleton pattern frame is provided on which to build up the skirt. This frame.
is made of curved vertical bars, secured at their ends by, insertion into discs or
otherwise, the whole corresponding in profile to the most approved form
of skirt.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews this skeleton pattern frame in
side elevation. a, a, is a stand, the vertical stem 6 of which forms the centre
of support of the frame; c, c, are rigid ribs of wood or metal, secured at their
lower ends to a disc or wheel d, and at their upper ends to a disc or wheel e,
which discs or wheels are mounted loosely on the central stem b. The pattern
frame, shaped in profile to correspond to the pattern skirt desired to be made,
is used as a base upon which to build up the skirt. For this purpose the
tapes which are to support the hoops, having been secured together by a waist
band, are drawn down over the ribs of the frame, and the steel strips or bands
are lapped round the frame at proper distances apart, and secured to the tapes
by any of the known means of attachment, and their ends are then connected
together by metal clasps or otherwise, in order to form them into hoops. By
thus building up skirts upon a rigid frame of the shape of the skirt to be
made, it will be readily understood that the relative adjustment of the hoops
to secure a good "set" of skirt will be effectually secured at the time of
effecting their attachment to the tapes.
The Invention relates, secondly, to certain novel modes of connecting the
hoops of skirts together. Thus, instead of disposing the tapes so that they
will run from the top to the bottom of the skirt, it is proposed to run them in
a diagonal direction, as shewn at Figures 2 and 3.
In Fig. 2 it will be seen that the tapes cross each other diagonally, and
interlock on opposite sides of the hoops at the crossings. The connection of
the tapes with the hoops it is preferred to make by means of metal clasps,
which will bind the tapes to the hoops.
Fig. 3 shews another mode of disposing the tapes. In this example the
tapes each follow a zig-zag line between two adjacent hoops, and they are
connected at the angles of the zig-zag by metal clips. In lieu of using metal
clips or ordinary sewing for the purpose of attaching the hoops to the sus-
pending tapes, it is proposed to pass the hoops through loops made by

page_text: attaching two tapes together by the application of india-rubber or other
cement to their inner surfaces. This part of the Invention will be most
applicable when the tapes run lengthwise of the skirt, whether diagonally or
at right angles to the hoops.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in the
Manufacture of Ladies' Hooped Skirts," as communicated to me from abroad,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First, the use of a pattern frame on which to manufacture hooped skirts, as
above described.
And, secondly, the means above described for suspending the hoops in
position.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
T. NOLAN,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)