Year: 1888

page_text: A communication from abroad by THE DETROIT STAY COMPANY, of Detroit, County
of Wayne, State of Michigan, United States of America.
I, GEORGE CECIL DYMOND M. Inst. M.E. of the Agency for Foreign Patent
Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street Manchester both in the
County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex Patent
Agent, 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 :-
This invention relates to new and improved features in the construction of garment
stays or stiffenings for ladies' dress waists, etcetera.
Referring to the accompanying drawings :-
Figure 1 shows one of the improved stays in use on the seam of a garment.
Figure 2 shows one of the stays opened up at one end illustrating the lower fabric
with an adhesive coating or sheet of rubber upon it, and showing the wire resting
thereon.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of one of the stays, showing how the fabrics
adhere to each other between the crimps of the wire.
Figure 4 shows one of the crimped wires with the ends bent into loop form.
Figure 5 shows how the stay may yield laterally or edgewise.
Figure 6 shows the relation of the fabric, the wire, and the adhesive material or
rubber tissue.
A is a dress seam. B is the stay. C shows a line of stitches which cross back
and forth over the wire, and illustrate how a narrow stay may be fastened to the
garment.
D shows stitches at the sides for fastening it to the garment.
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page_text: .
E is the upper fabric, and E¹ the lower fabric of the stay.
F is a surface coating of adhesive material or a sheet of gutta percha tissue,
G is the crimped wire, and g shows its bent end.
The stiffening strand which is employed in the construction of the invention,
consists of a small wire strand, preferably spring wire or steel, or it may be of brass
or other metal. So also the wire is preferably round in section, but may be square
or other sectional form.
This wire is corrugated or crimped to give it a broadened bearing or surface on
two sides, and make it still capable of its lateral flexibility. The end crimps.or
corrugations of the strand are preferably continued or bent around until the ends of
the wire meet the body portion of the strand, thus shielding the sharp ends of the
wire and forming rounded surfaces at the ends of the strands. The strands thus
formed are provided with a covering of textile fabric, which is secured thereto by
coating the inner face of one of the covering fabrics only, with a suitably flexible
cement, or by means of an interposed sheet of gutta-percha tissue, which shall lie
between the strand and one of the fabrics, the other fabric being placed over the
strand and coated surface of the opposite fabric, when the parts are subjected to either
heat and pressure, or pressure alone, whereby the fabrics are brought in contact with
each other between the crimps of the metallic strand, and by the cement or gutta-
percha tissue become united. The ends of the sheet of fabric on which the gutta-
percha tissue or cement is applied may, if desired, be folded over the rounded ends
of the strand, and secured to the back face of the opposite covering of textile fabric,
thus more securely protecting the ends of the strand, which, by this manner of con-
struction, would have no possible tendency to work through its covering and puncture
the garment to which it is attached. The covering fabrics being securely united
between the crimps or corrugations of the strand, it will be effectually prevented. from-
any end movement and as the wire of itself is round and the ends on which the strain
would naturally be brought are also usually bent around, as described, any wear from
friction brought on said ends would have less tendency to cause them to penetrate the
substance with which they are in contact. So. also, since the strand is capable of
lateral as well as transverse flexibility, it will readily yield in all directions, and relieve
the strain on the ends.
My correspondents are aware that the use of gutta-percha tissue as a means of
cementing or uniting textile fabrics: for various purposes; is: old, and that steel or
metallic blades have been covered with cloth rendered waterproof by flexible impervious
cements, and also that such blades have been covered with.cloth having, sheets of
rubber or gutta-percha tissue lying on each side of the blade, and that such blades
have been covered in various ways with such material;, but they are.. not. aware that
strands of crimped spring wire have been employed as a stiffening strand and fastened
rigidly in place between adhesive surfaces of fabric, that is to say, so that a fabric
above it and another fabric below it may be caused to adhere together; either directly
or upon an interposed sheet of gutta-percha tissue and be caused to embrace the
crimped wire, not only outside of its outer edges, but between its crimps, thereby not
only deriving the advantage of the strength and elasticity of the crimped wire, which
enables the stay to flex in all directions, but giving to the wire the stiffness; and
support which are afforded by the flat adhering surfaces between the bends of the
crimps and beyond the crimps at the sides of the strand, and this construction is the
thing which constitutes the essential feature of the invention.
My correspondents are aware that crimped wires have been introduced into tapes
and pockets wherein the wire has been left free within the said tape or pockets but
the fabrics on the opposite sides of the wire, not being brought together and caused
to adhere to each other did not afford 'as in this device a strong stiffening web:
This stay may have the fabrics project at the sides to facilitate sewing to the
garment in the usual way, but the material between the corrugations or crimps
furnishes sufficient fabric through which stitches may be passed, and so the stay. may
be made very narrow, and less fabric be employed in its construction than is possible
with stays having flat strips or strands of metal.

page_text: Of course, the device is not limited strictly to dress stays, for it is equally applicable
to corsets and garments of every character or for other uses where like stays may be
employed, and they may be employed singly, or a series of strands may be employed
side by side in a single broad stay or surface.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A universally flexible stay consisting of a crimped wire bent at its ends and
interposed with a sheet of gutta-percha tissue between two surfaces of fabric, the
whole pressed together, whereby the fabrics are caused to adhere both at the edges
and in the spaces between the crimps, substantially as and for the purposes described.
2. A universally flexible stay consisting of a crimped wire interposed with an
adhesive substance between two. sheets of fabric, one of said fabrics with the adhesive
substance folded over one or both ends of the stay onto the back of the other fabric,
and the whole united by pressure, substantially as described.
3. A garment stay consisting of a crimped strand of spring wire, in combination with
two embracing surfaces of fabric and an interposed adhesive material, the whole united
and made integral by pressure, said fabric brought together between the crimps and
beyond its edges, and constituting a stiffening web to stiffen the stay against too great
lateral flexibility, substantially as described.
noted this 23rd day of November 1888.
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