IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC- TURE OF STAYS. CORSETS. AND RIDING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Osborne, of 8, Castle Street, Falcon
Square, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF STAYS. CORSETS. AND RIDING Reime
Sealed the 9th August 1867, and dated the 13th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Osborne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th February 1867.
I, SAMUEL OSBORNE, of 8, Castle Street, Falcon Square, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC-
TURE OF STAYS, CORSETS, AND RIDING BELTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be
as follows:-
Hitherto the stuff or tissue of which stays, corsets, and riding belts, and
other similar articles have been formed has been cut into certain irregularly
shaped pieces and united by stitching or some other appropriate manner, the
direction of such pieces assuming a vertical or nearly vertical direction.
My improvements consist in forming stays, corsets, riding belts, or other
such articles of one piece only, and in order to produce the requisite amount
of slack to adapt the stay, corset, and riding belt to the different protuberances
of the breast and other parts of the body without the insertion of gussets or
other pieces, I cut the cloth in a vertical direction from 2 to 4 inches from

page_text: the top, and from 2 to 3 inches from the bottom. I pass steels or walebones
from the points thus cut at the top to the corresponding points at the bottom
to give support, and I so place them that the web collapses or expand to fit
the greater or lesser fulness of the bosom and other parts of the body, and thus
obtain perfect ease and freedom. I can connect the joints of the joints of the
cloth by pieces of elastic passing transversely from one piece of cloth thus cut to
the other piece which will expand and collapses, and give such ease and
freedom as cannot be obtained by any other stay, corset, or belt hitherto made.
I can open the stay, corse, or riding belt in the front, and by the action of a
spring it can be instautly put.on or taken off the body, the pieces cut at the
top and bottom edges of the cloth to accommodate the fulness of the bosom
and other parts of the body can be put as indispensable pieces, but I prefer to
cut them in the one piece, thus preventing the necessity of a seam or joint in
the stay, corset, or riding belt,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Osborne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
OSBORNE, of No. 8, Castle Street, Falcon Square, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, or Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Osborne, Her special licence that J, the said Samuel Osborne,
my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Osborne, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STAYS, CORSETS, AND RIDING BELTS, AND OTHER
SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Osborne, 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

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Osborne, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
Hitherto the stuff or tissue of which stays, corsets, riding belts, and other
similar articles have been formed has been cut into certain irregular shaped
pieces and united by stitching or some other appropriate manner, the direction
of such pieces assuming a vertical or nearly a vertical direction.
My improvement consists in forming stays, corsets, riding belts, and other
similar articles by one piece only, and in order to produce the requisite
amount of slack to adopt the stays, corsets, and riding belts to the different
protuberance of the breast and other parts of the body without the insertion
of certain irregular pieces called gussets or other pieces, I cut the cloth in
a vertical direction from two to four inches down from the top, and from two
to three inches up from the bottom, as shewn in Figure 1. I pass steel,
whalebone, or any similar material from the points A, A, thus cut at the
top to the corresponding points at the bottom to give support, and I so
place them that the points at the top and bottom collapse or expand to fit the
greater or lesser fulness of the bosom and other parts of the body, and thus
obtain perfect ease and freedom. I connect the points of the cloth which
are cut at the top and bottom by pieces of elastic B, B, passing trans-
versely from one point of the cloth thus cut to the corresponding point, as
shewn in Figure 2, which will expand and collapse, and give such ease and
freedom to the heart and organs of respiration as cannot be obtained by any
other stay, corset, or riding belt.
What I claim as my Invention or improvement and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,-
First, to make the stay, corset, or riding belt of one piece, as shewn in
Figure 1.
Secondly, I cut this one piece of cloth at the top and bottom, as in Figure 1,
to give the necessary slack.
Thirdly, I connect the pieces of cloth thus cut by strips of elastic B, B,
or other such materials, as in Figure 2.
Fourthly, I pass whalebone or other suitable material from the points at
the top to the corresponding points at the bottom A, A, as also shewn in
Figure 2, and by this arrangement I give the necessary support, and avoid
the injurious and fatal pressure on the heart and lungs caused by wearing

page_text: stays, corsets, &c. made up of different pieces, and stitched together, as stays,
corsets, &c. have hitherto been made.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Osborne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
S. OSBORNE. (L.8.)