Improvements in Fasteners for Garments, applicable also Holding-down Device for Carpets, Rugs, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 24th May, 1898-Accepted, 9th July, 1898
Improvements in Fasteners for Garments, applicable also
Holding-down Device for Carpets, Rugs, and the like.
as a
[Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM STREETER RICHARDSON, of Boston, in the
County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Gentleman.]
I, HENRY HAKRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, 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 improved fastener comprises two members, the first consists of a ball or
male member rising from a flange or base, which provides means by which it may
be attached, the flange preferably having holes through which fastenings may be
driven or securing stitches taken. The second or female member of the fastener
has an attaching flange which is preferably flat about its outer edge and is, near the
centre, formed to extend first inwardly and then outwardly to the socket entrance
on a line with the under side of the flange or slightly below it. The flange of the
second member is preferably also provided with holes by which it may be attached
by fastenings or by threads sewed through the holes. The engaging property of
the fastener may reside in the ball or in the socket; that is, the ball may bo an
unyielding ball and the socket yielding, or the socket may have an unyielding ⚫
entrance, and the ball be provided with the yielding function.
In the accompanying drawing;
Figure 1 represents my invention as used in fastening a rug or carpet to a floor
and the socket member is shown as attached to an up-turned corner of the rug or
carpet and the ball member as secured to the floor by fastenings, driven through
perforations in its flange.
Figure 2 is a view in vertical section enlarged taken through the carpet or rug,
socket member, ball member and a part of the floor representing the corner of
the rug as turned down and attached to the floor by the engagement of the socket
member with the ball member.
Figure 3 is a view in plan of a socket member.
Figure 4 is a view in section of one form of ball member.
Figure 5 is a view in plan of a ball member adapted to co-operate with the
socket member of Figure 3.
Figure 6 represents the invention as applied to a garment, the two ball members
being represented as sewed to one side of a placket opening in a dress skirt and
upon its outer surface, and the co-operating socket members being represented as
sewed to the inner surfaces of the other side of the placket opening, the portion of
the skirt bearing the sockets being turned back and representing them detached
from the ball members.
Figure 7 is a view principally in section representing the placket opening as
closed by the engagement of the socket member of one side with the ball member
of the other side.

page_text: Figure 8 is a view in perspective of a non-resilient socket member.
Figure 9 is a view in perspective of a resilient ball member.
The members of the fastener vary in size according to the use to which they
are put. Fasteners of a size for securing rugs or carpets should be larger and
stronger than those used in and about garments and gloves.
The members are held together by the resiliency of one of them. Normally or
when out of engagement the socket entrance is slightly smaller than the largest
diameter of the ball. In making engagement either the socket entrance is
temporarily enlarged or the ball head slightly reduced. After the engagement is
made the socket entrance resumes its original size or the ball head its original size.
This insures that the two parts shall be held together.
In Figures 1, 2 and 3 the socket entrance of the socket member is resilient and
the ball member is not.
In Figures 7, 8 and 9 the ball member is resilient while the socket member is
not.
A is the ball or male member. It is made of thin flat metal and has the flange a
in which are holes a¹. In Figure 2 I have shown this member as attached to the
floor by tacks 2, the shanks passing through the holes of the flange into the floor
and the heads resting upon the upper surface of the flange.
B is the socket or female member. It has the flange or flange section 6 in which
are holes b¹, and the raised section or wall 62 made by forming inward and outward
a portion of the blank from which the member is made, and a socket entrance 6³,
upon a line with or slightly without the under surface of the flange b¹.
The portion of the raised section 62 which is struck or formed inwardly I have
İ
lettered c and the portion of which is bent or turned outwardly in a reverse
direction and which extends to the socket entrance I have lettered c'. It will be
seen that these two sections c, c¹ are much like a frustum of a hollow cone, the
upper part of which is folded or turned inward and backward into the cavity thereof.
This construction surrounds the socket entrance with an inward extending wall or
border which provides a ball holding cavity, holds the material to which the socket
is attached from the socket entrance, protects the socket entrance and shields or
protects the ball from being disfigured or having its shape changed.
In Figs. 1 and 2 I have represented the socket member as secured to the under
surface of a rug or carpet by stitches passed through the holes in the flange and
into the rug or carpet. And in Figure 2 I have shown a section of a rug or
carpet as attached to a floor by this fastener.
While the two members are represented as having a circular shape I would not
be understood as limiting them to such a shape, as they may be rectangular or of
any other desired form, and each member may have struck up from its flange, if
desired, prongs by which it may be attached.
It will be observed that the fastener as a whole consists of two parts, each of
which is made from a single piece of flat metal, that one piece, the socket member,
has a socket entrance which is substantially in line with its attaching flange, thus
securing to the complete fastener means for proper draft; also that it has a raised
section which not only protects the ball member and gives increased resiliency to
the spring of the socket entrance when said spring resides in the socket member
of the fastener, but also acts as a means by which the socket member may be more
readily pressed by the thumb or finger upon the ball member.
The socket entrance may be made resilient in any desired way. I have shown it
in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 as obtained by means of the slit 6' which is represented as
extending from the socket entrance through the wall and outer flange. It is
not necessary, however, that this slit extend through the flange, and more than one
slit extending from the socket opening may be used.
In Figs. 7, 8 and 9 I have shown the ball member as provided with resiliency
by a slit extending across it, but I may use any other means for providing it with
resiliency without departing from the spirit of the invention. I would further
say that the device may be employed wherever it is desired to secure two parts or

page_text: things together; and it is especially useful as a substitute for button and button-
holes, hooks and eyes and pins in and about garments.
It is obvious that the invention is cheap to make, easily attached and does not
require the use of caps or appliances upon the opposite side of the garment or
material to which it is secured for the purpose of finishing it or fastening it
thereto, and is when applied very thin and does not require or take up room
enough to cause any appreciable difference in the thickness of the parts which it
unites.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my 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 :-
1. The fastener for garments and other uses herein described, having engaging
sections and means for attachment to a garment or other article of the character
specified.
2. A fastener consisting of a ball member having a supporting and attaching
flange and a socket member having a supporting and attaching flange, a socket
entrance substantially in line with said flange, and an interposed raised section or
wall integral with the flange, the said ball member and socket member being
arranged to engage each other resiliently.
3. A socket member of a fastener made from a single piece of metal having
an exterior attaching flange, a socket entrance substantially in line with said flange
and a wall or raised section surrounding said socket entrance.
4. A socket member of a fastener made from one piece of metal, having an
attaching flange, a socket entrance substantially in line therewith, a raised section
about said socket entrance and a slit extending from the socket entrance to or
through the raised section.
5. A socket member of a fastener having a flange provided with perforations, a
socket entrance and an interposed raised section or wall.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.