IMPROVED ELASTIC STAYS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AND ALSO TO GIVE RELIEF TO WOMEN IN A STATE OF PREGNANCY
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MILLS, of Holywell Street and Saint Clement's Church Yard, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Stay and Corset Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of
March, in the fifty-fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
John Mills, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said John Mills, my exors, admors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention, of "IMPROVED ELASTIC STAYS FOR
WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AND ALSO TO GIVE RELIEF TO WOMEN IN A STATE OF
PREGNANCY;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso,
that if I,the said John Mills, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause

page_text: the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsover thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereuntohad, may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Mills, do hereby declare that the nature of mysaid Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to beperformed, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner following (that is to say):-
My improvement of Elastic Stays for Women and Children, and also to
give Relief to Women in a State of Pregnancy, consists of the introduction
of a flexable or elastic portion in those parts of the stays best calculated to
give relief to the wearer, and at the same time preserving that stabilityand
support usually given to the body by the common adoption of whalebone, steel,
and other hard or inflexible materials. The improved stays are of different
constructions, as seen in the Drawings hereunto annexed, and may be prin-
cipally reduced into three kinds (viz') stays of the first construction, Figure 1,
calculated for young growingpersons, or for adults; of the second construction,
Figure Two, calculated for women in a state of pregnancy; and of the third
construction, Figure 3, for women in a more advanced state of pregnancy.
Figure 1 is a representation of a stay of thefirst construction, composed of
the same materials as common stays, with the introduction of an elastic or
expansive portion or slip down the middle, which will dilateor expand by a
more than ordinary pressure or force being exerted, as in the case of breathing
or exercise of the arms. This flexable portion is composed of springs, either
of brass, copper, or iron wire, or of any other matter or thing capable of pro-
ducing sufficient elasticity; but that which I recommend is small brass wire
worm springs, which extend by a small degree of force. These I place close
together in runnersorspaces stitched in between two pieces or laying of silk,
satin, or other fit material puckered or quilted loosely to give room for
expansion; the ends of the springs, and their covering of silk, satin, or other
matter on them, sewed or otherwise fastened to and between the two half
pieces of the stay previously made of the usual materials, such as jean or
other cotton, linen, silk, woollen, or leather, with the proper busksor necessary
portionsofsteel, whalebone, or other substance commonly adopted, calculated
to distendthestay and brace and support the body; the busk may be varied in
substance, width, or direction, according to the will ornecessity of the wearer.
The stays when worn will befound to produce all the necessary firmness and

page_text: bracing to the body, at the same time admitting of a smaller degree of
extension in the front, in order to relieve the breathing, and enable the chest
to expand itself.
The Drawing, Figure2, exhibits stays of thesecond construction, calculated
for women in a state of pregnancy; these stays have a large portion of the
front rendered elastic in order to admit of and give ease to the naturally-
expanded state of the belly in the time of gestation. This elastic portion
is composed of dilating springs, as before expressed, either of copper,
brass, iron, or other matter, but brass wire worm springs I prefer covered
as before described. In this elastic portion the springs need not be placed
so close together, as in Figure 1, and it will be found necessary to place
stronger springs at the top and bottom than in the middle, the latter being
intended to yield very readily, the former to help, support, and brace the
body, with busks, of a slighter kind than usually adopted in common stays,
placed down the stay in order to distend it, as seen in the Drawings; on the
sides of the stays are openings with lacings, calculated to enlarge the stays
if required, with linings to prevent the wearer receiving cold through the
opening.
The third construction, represented in the Drawing Figure 3,is intended
for women in a still further advanced state of pregnancy, and consists, in
addition to the last described, of expansive or elastic portions placed in the sides
as seen in the Drawing, of the same materials (viz), dilating or elastic springs,
as the frontelastic part. There are likewise buttonsand loops crossing these
portions to prevent too great a degree of expansion when not required; these
stays have also an opening slip in the side with lacings, to allow of being
enlarged, and a flap lining or covering under the same to prevent cold from
passing to the wearer when the lacings are open.
The manufacture of these patent stays is not confined to form or shape,
neither to the use of any particular article or material of which tomake the
same, but adopt such as custom or propriety dictate,adhering to the principle
of inserting elastic portionsinto the stays, of such forms, agreeable to the fore-
going principle, as underall circumstances may be found most eligible, and best
calculated to afford that relief for which the Patent is granted.
In witness whereof Thure honounterets

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1815, the aforesaid John Mills came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified,in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifteen.