AN IMPROVEMENT IN STAYS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to Harriett Adlam, of Battersea Park, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
STAYS."
Sealed the 9th July 1872, and dated the 22nd March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Harriett Adlam at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
22nd March 1872.
[
I, HARRIETT ADLAM, of Battersea Park, in the County of Surrey,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN STAYS," to be as follows:-
:-
My Invention consists in joining the two parts of a pair of stays
together at the back by a strip of elastic fabric, whereby increased
comfort and warmth to the back of the wearer are obtained, and a more
perfect fit is ensured as the elastic fabric allows the stay to adapt itself
readily to the shape and motions of the body. I dispense with the stay

page_text: laces and lace holes or eyelets, and unite the parts to the elastic strip by
sewing. The elastic fabric may consist of india-rubber webbing, or its
clasticity may be derived from small spiral springs inserted in the
fabric.
meu by the sa
on the 21st September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HARRIETT
ADLAM, of Battersea Park, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Harriett Adlam, Her special
licence that I, the said Harriett Adlam, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Harriett Adlam, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN STAYS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Harriett Adlam,
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.
L
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Harriett Adlam, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
1
hal and ascontained in and hy the

page_text: Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
My Invention consists in joining the two parts of a pair of stays
together at the back by a strip of elastic fabric, whereby greater
picomfort, warmth, and a more perfect fit are obtained, the elastic: fabric
allowing the stay to adapt itself readily to the shape and movements
of the body, whilst giving adequate support combined with greater
freedom of action to the. respiratory organs than when laces are used.
I dispense with stay laces and lace holes or eyelets, and unite the parts
> to the elastic strip by sewing. The elastic fabric may consist of india-
rubber webbing, but I prefer to employ small spiral 'springs inserted in
the fabric as being more durable.
Figure 1 shows the back of a corset provided with the elastic fabric,
and Figure 2 is a full-size view of a portion of the same when metallic
springs are employed, partly laid open to show the method of making
and attaching the same to the stays.
A, A, are the two halves or parts of the stay or corset, and B is the
elastic fabric by which the two parts A, A, are united at the back.
The elastic fabric, if of india-rubber webbing, is inserted and retained in
a similar manner to the side springs of boots.
-
When metallic springs are employed I insert them in the following
manner: The inner and outer covering fabric a, a, Figure 2, are first
united together by a series of parallel stitches b, b, to form channels to
receive the springs, and the fabric is then reeved upon wires which are
withdrawn to enable the springs to be inserted.
I may here observe that the springs are of brass wire, and are the
same as those employed for garters and belts which are covered in a
similar manner to that above described. The ends of the springs are
next secured by sewing to a strip of webbing c, which is then inserted
and sewed in the edges of the parts A, A, of the stay or corset.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent is, Uniting the two parts A, A, of a stay or corset by an
elastic fabric, as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Harriett Adlam, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.