CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES OF DRESS
Year: 1852

page_text: SAILLANT'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDRE
JULES SAILLANT, Jun', of Rue Vivienne, Paris, Tailor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexandre
Jules Saillant, Jun', my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Alexandre Jules
Saillant, Jun', my exors, adñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said Alexandre Jules Saillant, Jun, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES OF
DRESS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Alexandre Jules Saillant, Jun', shall cause a particular description of
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, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: 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
Alexandre Jules Saillant, Jun', do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:
My Invention consists in applying to certain parts of men's garments, such
as coats, waistcoats, trousers, &c., &c., &c., an elastic tissue, which, besides
having the appearance of cloth, or the material of which the garment is made,
allows of the fitting in a most perfect manner, and at the same time dispensing
with the use of straps, braces, laces, or any other contrivance usually employed
for retaining articles of clothing in their proper position. When I apply my
Invention to trousers, I sew from the back or hinder part of that garment up
to the part where the tags begin, a band made of any elastic tissue or material,
by which means the seat of the trousers naturally yields to every movement,
and when that movement ceases, the tissue returns to its usual state without
destroying the fit or shape; the waistband, or the part round the body, is made
of a band of the above said elastic tissue or material, and by that means the
trousers are held tight round the waist, facilitating all the movements without
using braces or straps, so prejudicial to the development of the form in the
time of youth, detrimental to the action of the chest, and generally injurious to
health; the same end is likewise obtained in the making of trousers by placing
on each side, just above the gusset, the same elastic tissue or material, by
which means the trousers are kept comfortably fixed to the body. For the
waistcoat, I obtain the required elasticity by placing a band of the elastic tissue
or material on each side of the front where the lining is sewn, or I put a band
in the middle of the lining, and I plait on each side the lining, in order to
obtain the required width of the body when it increases. By the herein-before
described means the waitscoat always preserves a convenient shape, remaining
close to the body, notwithstanding any movement of the body, to which it yields
with the greatest ease and facility. I apply my Invention to coats by placing
a gusset of elastic tissue or material under the arm-pits, where the sleeves are
joined to the body of the coat, by that means any movement of the arm can
take place with the greatest freedom, and without the the coat being torn or
unsewn as it now frequently happens. In paletots, I apply the elastic tissue or
material in the seams of the sleeve or those of the back, which facilitates to a
very great extent the putting on or pulling off of that garment, and gives it the
means of yielding with ease and confort to every movement of the body and

page_text: arms, either when riding or driving. And having now described the nature
of my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-before
described, as long as the several features of the arrangements are retained for
carrying out the said improvements; but what I claim as my Invention, and
intended to be protected by the said Letters Patent, is,―
Firstly, the superseding of braces, straps, laces, or any other contrivance
employed for retaining men's garments in a proper position, as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the applying to men's garments an elastic tissue for securing their
shape without impeding the movements of the body, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexandre Jules Saillant, Jun", have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.