IM- PROVEMENTS IN CORSETS, STAYS, AND BODICES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Bale, of No. 52, Aldermanbury, and Louis Goldberg,
of No. 9, Love Lane, both in the City of London, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN CORSETS, STAYS, AND BODICES."
Sealed the 21st August 1877, and dated the 21st February 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Bale and Louis
Goldberg at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st February
1877.
JOSEPH BALE, of No. 52, Aldermanbury, and LOUIS GOLDBERG, of No. 9, Love
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS, STAYS, AND
Lane, both in the City of London.
BODICES."
Our Invention has for its object an improved construction of corsets, stays, and
bodices, whereby these are made effectually to protect the breast of the wearer
from the uncomfortable and sometimes hurtful pressure to which it is subjected by
the tight fitting dresses now generally worn, while at the same time the corset is
made to approximate more nearly to the natural shape of the wearer than those at
present in use, thus affording her greater ease. For this purpose we provide oncor
more gores to each breast piece, and we make them of such a shape that instead of
the breast pieces increasing gradually in fullness to the top edge as in ordinary
corsets or stays, they increase in fullness only up to a certain point, above which
they gradually decrease in fullness again, so that while the breast pieces are thus
made to assume the natural convex or rounded shape of the breast, they at the
same time fit with their upper edge closely against the upper part of the breast,
The gores so
thus imparting a neater appearance to the figure of the wearer.
formed are stiffened so as to retain their convex or rounded shape, even when sub-
jected to moderate pressure, although they may not be entirely filled by the breast
of the wearer, who is thus effectually protected against any undue pressure from a
tightly fitting dress or such as is caused by a corset of ordinary construction. Such
stiffening consists by preference of ribs of whalebone, steel, or other substance
affording the requisite stiffness and elasticity, the ribs being made with a permanent
curvature conforming to that of the breast piece, and being arranged either trans-
versely across the breast, or longitudinally, or both combined; or the requisite stiff-

page_text: ness may be afforded by merely making the gores of a sufficiently stiff fabric, or of
two or more thicknesses of fabric sewn or quilted together, or by a lining or padding
of sufficient thickness.
In order further to assist in retaining the convex or rounded form of the breast
pieces we in some cases provide on the inner surface of the corset flaps or pads
attached to each side of the breast piece, and having their free edges connected to
each other by means of laces or other suitable means, whereby they may be drawn
together to any required extent, and thus made to adjust the rounded breast piece
exactly to the figure of the wearer. Such regulating pads in tying together the two
sides of the rounded breast piece effectually retain it in its convex form, and pre-
vent it from being flattened by pressure. When the corset is to be worn by a
person of full figure the lacing or fastening of the flaps can be loosened sufficiently
to allow the breast to enter and fill out the cavity of the breast piece to any re-
quired extent. The said pads may be either of any thin soft fabric, or they may be
wadded and quilted.
.
According to another modification we make such pads of a single piece extending
from side to side at the back of the breast piece so as to act as a cross tie without
any provision for adjusting the width of the breast piece, such tie being either of
elastic material or unelastic, as may be desired.
In order to give additional support to the figure of the wearer we sometimes
provide on the inner surface of the stay or corset a band of webbing or other stout
material placed at such a height as to be fastened round the chest immediately
under the breast pieces and across, the lower part of the breast of the wearer. By
means of this band the wearer is enabled to raise and so arrange the figure above
the band that it is comfortably supported thereby in case the breast should not be
sufficiently full to be supported by the breast piece of the corset.
Corsets, stays, or bodices constructed according to our Invention may be of any
form and material, and may or may not be provided with arm-holes or shoulder
straps. They may also, if desired, be padded more or less under the arms, and
instead of forming a complete corset, stay, or bodice of the usual construction they
may extend only partially round the body.
Our various before described improvements may either be all employed in
combination, or any one or more of them may be employed independently of the
rest,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Bale and Louis Goldberg in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st August 1877.
JOSEPH BALE, of No. 52, Aldermanbury, and LOUIS GOLDBERG, of No. 9,
Love Lane, both in the City of London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORSETS, STAYS,
AND BODICES."
Our Invention has for its object an improved construction of corsets, stays, and
bodices, whereby these are made effectually to protect the breast of the wearer from
the uncomfortable and sometimes hurtful pressure to which it is subjected by the
tight-fitting dresses now generally worn, while at the same time the corset is made
to approximate more nearly to the natural shape of the wearer than those at present
in use, thus affording her greater ease. For this purpose we provide one or more
gores to each breast piece, and we make them of such a shape that instead of the
breast pieces increasing gradually in fulness to the top edge, as in ordinary corsets
or stays, they increase in fulness only up to a certain point, above which they
gradually decrease in fulness again, so that while the breast pieces are thus made
to assume the natural convex or rounded shape of the breast, they at the same
time fit with their upper edge closely against the upper part of the breast, thus im-
parting a neater appearance to the figure of the wearer. The gores so formed are

page_text: stiffened so as to retain their convex or rounded shape even when subjected to
moderate pressure, although they may not be entirely filled by the breast of the
wearer, who is thus effectually protected against any undue pressure from a tightly
fitting dress or such as is caused by a corset of ordinary construction. Such stiffen-
ing consists by preference of ribs of whalebone, steel, or other substance affording
the requisite stiffness and elasticity, the ribs being made with a permanent cur-
vature conforming to that of the breast piece and being arranged either transversely
across the breast or longitudinally, or both combined; or the requisite stiffness may
be afforded by merely making the gores of a sufficiently stiff fabric, or of two or
more thicknesses of fabric sewn or quilted together, or by a lining or padding of
sufficient thickness.
In order further to assist in retaining the convex or rounded form of the breast
piece we in some cases provide on the inner surface of the corset, flaps or pads
attached to each side of tlie breast piece, and having their free edges connected to
each other by means of laces or other suitable means, whereby they may be drawn
together to any required extent, and thus made to adjust the rounded breast piece
exactly to the figure of the wearer. Such regulating pads, in tying together the
two sides of the rounded breast piece, effectually retain it in its convex form and
prevent it from being flattened by pressure. When the corset is to be worn by
a person of full figure the lacing or fastening of the flaps can be loosened
sufficiently to allow the breast to enter and fill out the cavity of the breast piece
to any required extent. The said pads may be either of any thin soft fabric, or they
may be wadded and quilted.
According to another modification we make such pads of a single piece extending
from side to side at the back of the breast piece so as to act as a cross-tie, without
any provision for adjusting the width of the breast piece, such tie being either of
elastic material or unelastic, as may be desired.
In order to give additional support to the figure of the wearer we sometimes pro-
vide on the inner surface of the stay or corset a band of webbing or other stout
material placed at such a height as to be fastened round the corset immediately
under the breast pieces and across the lower part of the breast of the wearer. By
means of this band the wearer is enabled to raise and so arrange the figure above
the band that it is comfortably supported thereby in case the breast should not be
sufficiently full to be supported by the breast piece of the corset.
Corsets, stays, or bodices constructed according to our Invention may be of any
form and material, and may or may not be provided with arm-holes or shoulder
straps. They may also if desired be padded more or less under the arms, and in-
stead of forming a complete corset, stay, or bodice of the usual construction, they
may extend only partially round the body.
The accompanying Drawings show a corset constructed according to our before-
described Invention.
Fig. 1 shews a front view of the corset, Fig. 2 shews a plan, and Fig. 3 shews an
inside view of the corset opened out to a smaller scale.
The breast pieces A, A, increase gradually in fulness to about the point X, X,
beyond which they decrease in fulness again to the top edge, thus presenting a
convex or rounded, or cup-shaped form, as shewn, thus approximating very closely
to the figure of the wearer against whose breast the upper edge fits. These breast
pieces are stiffened firstly by vertical ribs B of whalebone, steel, or other substance
affording the requisite stiffness and elasticity, and secondly, by other similar ribs C
arranged transversely across the breast, such ribs being made with a permanent
curvature conforming to that of the breast piece; or in place of such two sets of
ribs, only the one or the other may be employed, or the requisite stiffness may be
imparted without ribs by making the breast pieces of a sufficiently stiff fabric, or of
two or more thicknesses of fabric sewn or quilted together, or by a lining or padding
of sufficient thickness; also, instead of raising the tops of the breast pieces above the
top edge of the other part of the corset as shewn they may stop short at the level
of such edge while retaining the convex form described. To each side of the breast

page_text: pieces on the inner side thereof is fixed a regulating flap D, the free edges of which
flaps have eyelet holes through which are passed laces, as shewn, by means of which
the flaps may be drawn together to any required extent, thus tying together the
two sides of the rounded breast piece, adjusting it to the figure of the wearer, and
effectually retaining it in its convex form and preventing it from being flattened by
pressure. Fig. 2 shews the two flaps drawn close together, as would be the case
with a person having a very small breast, while at Fig. 3 the laces are shewn
loosened sufficiently to allow the breast of the wearer to enter and fill out the cavity
of the breast piece to any required extent. The flaps may either be placed the
whole way up as shewn, or they may be only partly laced, leaving the upper part
open if desired. The said pads may be either of any thin soft fabric, or they may be
wadded and quilted. As before stated, such pads might consist of a single piece of
fabric, which may or may not be elastic, extending from side to side of the breast
piece so as to act as a cross-tie. E is the supporting band or belt passed through
loops on the inside of the stays so as to maintain it in a position corresponding with
the lower part of the breast of the wearer, which may thus be raised and supported
thereby as previously described. It may be conveniently secured in front by a
buckle, as shewn, or by any other fastening. This belt may also serve to tighten
the waist of the wearer and to keep the corset in its place before fastening, and two
or more sets of loops may be provided on the corset for holding the belt at any
height that may be most convenient to the wearer.
Although we have shewn and described our several improvements in combination,
yet we wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to such combination,
as according to our Invention the cup-shaped breast gores may be employed in
combination either with regulating flaps alone or with the supporting band alone,
and either of these may be employed separately without the cup-shaped gores.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, we claim in respect of stays, corsets, or bodices,—
First. The use of cup-shaped or rounded breast gores, in combination either with
regulating flaps or with a supporting band, or with both, substantially as herein
described.
Second. Providing on the inner side of the breast gores adjusting flaps or pads
arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein described.
Third. Providing on the inner side of corsets, stays, or bodices a supporting band
or belt for raising and supporting the breast of the wearer, or for tightening the
waist and keeping the corset in its proper place before fastening, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Bale and Louis Goldberg, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.