Improvements in Undergarments.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1891-Accepted, 20th Feb., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by CHARLES AMBROSE BROWN, of 155, River
Street, Troy, New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Undergarments.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haselting, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
The special objects of my invention are to reduce the shrinkage of inter-air
space undergarments having inner and outer wool surfaces, to increase their
durability and cheapen their construction.
My invention consists of an undergarment composed throughout of two plies of
two-thread fabric superimposed one upon the other, each ply having a smooth
wool surface on one side formed by one of the threads, and approximately free
from knots, burrs and other extraneous matter, and a cotton surface on the other
side formed by the other thread composed of cotton or other substance which can
be laundered without material shrinkage, the cotton surfaces being concealed
between such superimposed plies.
My invention relates particularly to that class of undergarments shown and
described in U.S. Letters Patent No. 429,310, issued June 3, 1890, to W. A. Harder
and C. A. Brown, for improvements in undergarments.
It is well known that an all-wool garment is subject to considerable shrinkage
each time it is laundered unless more than ordinary care is bestowed upon the
operation. After an extended experience in the manufacture of inter-air-space
undergarments composed throughout of two plies, it has been ascertained that the
fineness of the thread required to produce a fabric sufficiently light to be doubled
throughout the garment requires the best material and most skilled treatment to
provide a woollen thread sufficiently strong to be knitted or woven without
breaking at frequent intervals.
With the best material obtainable, breakage causes a large loss of stock and
time, and the necessary tension upon the thread weakens the fabric at points
where the thread does not actually break.
By introducing a fine, closely-spun cotton thread alongside of the woollen
thread, I am able to carry the woollen thread through the fabric-forming process and
relieve it of a great part of the tensional strain which it would sustain if unaided.
When a weak point in the woollen thread is reached it stretches sufficiently to
enable the cotton thread to carry it along into the fabric without break or
material injury, whereby finer and more loosely spun woollen thread can be
employed and without waste or loss of time. It is well known to those skilled in
the manufacture of fabrics that a mixture of cotton with woollen fibres will reduce
the shrinkage of the latter. By feeding the cotton thread to the needles of a
knitting machine above or inside of the woollen thread, the woollen thread is made to
appear upon one side of the fabric, and the cotton upon the other side; or any
method of knitting or weaving may be employed to cause the woollen to appear
upon one side and the cotton upon the other side of the fabric. Approximately
all the knots, and other extraneous matter can be forced to one side of the fabric.
I force them to the cotton side leaving the woollen side smooth and approxi-
mately free from such extraneous matter.
I then superimpose one ply of such fabric upon another so that the cotton and
rough side of each is concealed between the plies and make in any known manner,
undergarments of the desired pattern which are composed throughout of such

page_text: superimposed plies of fabric. I have shown a preferred manner of making one of
my improved undergarments in the accompanying drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a flattened tubular web of fabric having an interior wool
surface and an exterior cotton surface, a portion of the web being broken away to
show the wool surface.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the tubular web folded by drawing one end over the
other so as to superimpose one ply upon another and enclose and conceal the
cotton surfaces between the superimposed plies, a portion of one of the outer
superimposed plies being broken away to show the inner cotton surface of the
other ply.
Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of such superimposed plies taken on the
broken line, 33, in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of the finished shirt.
The drawings represent an undershirt made from knitted fabric. The flattened
tube, A, is knitted from two threads, one cotton and the other woollen, with the
cotton thread forced to the outer side of the tube to form the cotton surface, A',
and the wool thread forced to the inner side to form the wool-surface, A.
One half of the tube is drawn over the other half so as to practically form a
tube composed throughout of two plies or thicknesses of fabric, superimposed
one upon another, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the cotton surfaces being concealed
between the plies, the smooth wool-surface being exposed both interiorly and
exteriorly of the tube. In Fig. 2 a portion of the outer ply is broken away to
show the cotton surface of the inner ply.
The tube can then be made into an undergarment in any known manner. By
closing one end of the flattened tube with a line of stitching, B, cutting a neck-
opening indicated by dotted lines, B', in Fig. 2, and sleeve openings along dotted
lines, 132, and securing sleeves, B³, in such openings, I am able to make an under
shirt of a cotton-and-wool-thread fabric having a smooth wool surface both
interiorly and exteriorly, with the cotton surfaces concealed between the super-
imposed plies. I do not wish to be limited to exactly two threads, as other
threads may be added when desired.
By the term cotton I include any vegetable fibre adapted to be spun into thread
or yarn.
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 correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
As an improved article of manufacture, an undergarment composed throughout
of two plies of two-thread fabric superimposed one upon the other, each ply
having a smooth wool-surface on one side formed by one of the threads, and a
cotton surface on the other side formed by the other thread, the cotton surfaces
being concealed between such superimposed plies, substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.