IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' SKIRTS OR PETTICOATS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crosbie Aitken Henderson, of Hart Street,
Cheapside, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' SKIRTS OR PETTICOATS."
Sealed the 30th May 1873, and dated the 5th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Crosbie Aitken
Henderson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 5th December 1872.
I, JOHN CROSBIE AITKEN HENDERSON, of Hart Street, Cheapside, in
the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' SKIRTS OR PETTICOATS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing ladies' skirts or petticoats in
the following manner :-First, as regards one description of ladies' skirts
called demies, the improvement consists in dispensing with the apron or
loose straps in the front of such said skirts as now made, thus rendering

page_text: the skirt more sightly, the weight of the front of the skirt is also borne
by the sides of the skirt instead of the front thereof, and further, skirts
thus made are more compact, and afford the same freedom to the wearer
as skirts made with straps or whole fronts.
The above method of manufacturing ladies' skirts applies also to what i
are called covered skirts of whatever material they may be made, also
back skirts or crinolettes, and skeleton or other like skirts or petticoats.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Crosbie Aitken Henderson in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 5th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CROSBIE AITKEN HENDERSON, of Hart Street, Cheapside, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Crosbie Aitken Henderson,
Her special licence that I, the said John Crosbie Aitken Henderson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Crosbie Aitken Henderson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LADIES' SKIRTS OR
PETTICOATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, 'the 'said
John Crosbie Aitken Henderson, 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..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Crosbie Aitken Henderson,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say :—
This Invention consists in manufacturing ladies' skirts or petticoats in
the following manner :-First, as regards one description of ladies' skirts
called demies the improvement consists in dispensing with the apron or
loose straps in the front of such said skirts as now made, thus rendering
the skirt more sightly, the weight of the front of the skirt is also borne
by the sides of the skirt instead of the front thereof, and further, skirts
thus made are more compact, and afford the same freedom to the wearer
as skirts made with straps or or whole fronts.
The above method of manufacturing ladies' skirts applies also to what
are called covered skirts, of whatever material they may be made, also
back skirts or crinolettes and skeleton or other like skirts or petticoats.
And in order to explain my [said Invention more completely I will
now proceed to describe the means by which it may be effected, reference
being had to the illustrative Drawing accompanying these Presents, and
to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon, respect-
ively as follows :
C
tured according to my said Invention; Figure 2, a side elevation of the
skirt or petticoat. At each of these Figures similar letters of reference
are employed to denote corresponding parts.
A marks woven material which is kept distended to the desired shape
by steels B (shewn by dotted lines) in the ordinary way; O is the band
of the skirt or petticoat connected to the lower part by the skeleton
pieces of woven material A². The parts D, D, of my improved skirt or
petticoat, instead of being made with straps for whole fronts are so cut
as to leave space at the front of the skirt or petticoat so as to dispense
with the apron or loose skirt heretofore commonly employed in the
manufacture of skirts or petticoats. E are steels fixed to the upper parts
of the skirt to give the desired shape at such parts, and more par-
ticularly to leave the front part flat, for which purpose the steels E are
not made circular, but are fixed by their ends to the parts D, as repre-

page_text: sented by the Drawing, and the weight of the front and lower part of
the skirt is borne by the pieces D, D.
Having now described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "Improvements in the Manufacture of Ladies' Skirts or
Petticoats," and the means by which it may be effected, I would remark 5
in conclusion that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I
claim, manufacturing skirts or petticoats in the manner above-described
and represented by the Drawing, thereby dispensing with the apron or
loose front commonly employed in such manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Crosbie Aitken Henderson 1
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
JOHN C. A. HENDERSON. (L.S.)