US1305307A - rhoaos - Google Patents

Description

M. E. RHOADS.

WOMAN'S WORKINGBARMENT. APPLICATION FILED AUG-5, I918.

Patented J1me 3, 1919.

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Patented June 3, 1919.

M- E. RHOADS.

v WOMAN'S WORKING GARMENT.

, 4w; @"QPQ Q" APPLICATION HLED AUG.5, 1918.

WITNESSES UNITED sratrns PATENT orrion.

MAY E. arrears. or new s me 1a. Y.

q specified-theinappropriateness of ;conven- WQMAN WQE NG-GABMELTT- Sp fication of Letter at nt- Patented June 3, 191-9.

Application filed August 5, 1918. Serial No. 248,235.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAY RHoADs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Womens Working-Garments, of which the-following is a specification.

My invention relates to womens garments and more particularly to garments which shall be especially suitable 'for women engaged in manual industrial work as distinguished from clerical work or domestic service; the improved garments of my invention may, however, beused to advantage in these last named vocations as well as in many other situations not strictly industrial.

It is the object of my invention'to provide a simply'designed, simply and inexpensively made, and durable garment for women working on the farm or in the machine-shop, running elevators, driving motor cars, serving as conductors or motormen, or, in short, laboring in anyone of the manifold capacities opened-to women by modern social and industrial conditions. The maj ority ofthese occupations have, until quite recently, been almost exclusively confined to men. 4 r In practisingcallings of the general class tional womans attire isobvious and has long been recognlzed. Flowing skirts, loose sleeves and the like, not only directly inter- Efe re with the'workers speed and eiiiciency,

butare also likely-to be caught by project'- ing parts of-Lfixtures ormachinery, thus becoming a source of actual danger to the wearer. On the other hand women-themselves have objected, from considerations of natural modesty, to donning male clothing, and practical sociologists have seen the danger of permitting them-to do so.

A suitable garment for women engaged in'occupations of the class above referred to should have the following characteristics:

First: It should provide the utmost free dom of movement while atthe same time, clinging'suificiently close to the person, so that partsof'the garment may not be caught by fiirtures or doors or by machinery, driving belting and the like.

Secondf It should be modest and womanly in design and should-render its wearer readily distinguishable from a man even at a considerable distance. I Third: It should cover the body quite completely as pdssible.

Fourth: It should be capable of being quickly and easily put on orofi and its fastenings should therefore be few and simple. Fifth: Since the workers employment is usually more or less public as Well as on a time basis, the garment should be capable of being quickly opened and closed for the performance of the necessary natural health functions with aslittle exposure of the person as possible and with a minimum consumption of time. Sixth: It should be so designed that, upon the street, while traveling to and from her place of employment, it will differentiate its wearer as little as possible from other women.

Seventh: It should comprise a minimum number of pieces and be made of a minimum amount of material and should be sodssigned as to be readily, quickly and'easily laundried. V r r The foregoing requirements, and others not specifically named, are all satisfied by the improved garment of my invention.

Briefiy and broadly described, the garment of my invention com risesthree separate parts, viz'., a pair o bloomers and a waist to be worntogether as one when actually Working; and an outer smock or combination skirt and demisblouse or shoulder so as to keep its weareras clean straps to be worn over and attached to the work clothes (bloomersand waist) for street and similar use. 7 T

The invention resides in certain special features to which attention will be particu larly drawn herein-after. I

My invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 represents the garment as it appears when worn for street or like use, as, e. 9., when the wearer is going to and from her work; Fig. 2 is a view showing the combined waist and bloomers as they appear when the wearer is engaged in actual Work; Fig. 3: is a plan view of the outer smock when removed from the remainder of the garment and flattened out, Qrtions of the smock being folded back to etter show details; Fig. 4 is a plan view, similar to Fig. .3, showing the waist; Fig. 5 is a side view showing the bloomers, in accurate detail; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5., but showingthe bloomers open .or let down behind for tiii ssat'grigtaithfunctions; Fig. 7 is a view, takenfrom the inside, of the front abdominal portion of the bloomers; Fig. 8 is a view, veryihuch" enlarged, of the top of Fig. 7 with thefasten ing tapes folded inwardly; Fig. '9 i's'a s'ecf' tiongreatly enlarged along the line 99"of showing the tapes used in'drawing in the legs of the bloomers uponthelegsof eferring to the drawings the work clothes proper comprise a waist,, 1, and a pair of, bloomers, 2. The waist is prefer I ably, fairly high in the neck, and opens down i 20 the front along one side; snap fasteners, 3, are used to keep the waistclosed but buttons or other usual fastening means may be sub stituted if preferred. 0 i The sleeves should, preferably, be full length and embrace the wrists closely. Buttons, 4, may be used to maintain-the desired closeness of fit. 1 f 1- A row of buttons, 5, is provided, on the front of the waist; these buttons begin at the shoulder and extend from one-third to one half the entire distance to the waist-line or approximately to points on a linewith the arm-pits and are disposed symmetrically; on each side of the center; t 5 V 2 Thebloomers, 2,}ar'e made to .fit snugly at the, waist line andbelow the knee but are otherwise made rather loose and roomy. 7 They are split or-divided' on each side at, .6,

' from-the waist-line down to a-point about on a line with the crotch. Thesedivided portions are held in closedposition by snap astene'rs,'7, and byohooks, 8, and eyes, 9', at-

' tached to the ends of the waist band, 10.

The bloomer-legs are also split, fromthe bottom up, on the outside of each to a point above the knee, the-divided portions being arranged to be held together by buttons, 11. The lower part of the leg, from a point just below the knee to the bottom, is fitted'closely to the person, as previously stated.-

The bottom portion of each bloomer le is 7 also provided with-an elastic tape, 12, which 7 runs around the leg, the ends being respectively sewed fast on'the two sidesjof the dividing line and other points of the tape being fastened ata point, 13, diametrally opposite thedividing line and also at points, 14: on the front and back. of the leg.

. Flastic tapes, 15, are respectively sewed fast to the inner side and near the ends of the front section of waist band, 10. The

free ends of these tapes are respectively .provided with a hook, 16, and eye, 17, by

whichxthey may be fastenedtogether be- -hind' the back (Fig. 6),. This enables-the ,ing thereof. 1

easily and quickly laundried. i

: feat 0 be opened away fromthe front section and let down for the performance of necessary natu- Talhalth functions quite independently,

of the front section'which will remain in place thus completely avoiding any necessary exposure of the person.

The'wa'ist' band of the bloomers should --lie outside ofand cover the waist band of the waist.

Pockets, 18, preferablydofthe ifpatch? type,,-are provided on each side of the bloomers and readily accessible through the split,6. -.r

The-smock, 19, comprises two substan-;

tially identical, .and preferably integral,

front and back sections, 20,21, arranged to buttontogether along the lateral edges,

fit the neck, and are provided with shoulder straps adapted to be fastened together by r snap fasteners, 28. These .top portions are much narrower than the, Width of the torso and are, indeed, only wide- BIIOUgh tQ'jUSt extend beyon'dthe buttons, 5, on the waist,

1. -;Button. holes,;29, are provided on the lateral edges of the 'top'portions and are adapted to be engaged-withthefbuttons, 5,

thus fastening the upper portion of the smock in place and preventing-any twist- From this it will be seen that the lateral portions ofthe waist, 1, of thework'clothes comblne withrthe central upper" portions,

25, 26, of'the smock, l9,'to'constitute-the Waist for the skirt of the smock.

, The smock, being made, up of two flat sections, front and back, of simple outlinev and readily separable from one another, may be With the smock in place over the waist and bloomers, as shown inFig. 1,. it is obvious that thejwearer presents a neat and refined appearance and will attract no undue attention upon the street by reason of any peculiarities of dress, Reaching her place of work shecan, in an, instant,throw ofi the smock and be ready for work while the smock may be rolled up in small compass and laid to one side. When she has finished her days work she can, just as readily. and quickly, again beready for the street. And

it is obvious that no spacious and elaborate dressing rooms are needed for these changes; indeed no dressing rooms at all are needed for this purpose as it is clear that no trace of immodesty is attached to the making of these changes in the open. Should the wearernot desire to remove the smock or outer garment but prefer to be outwardly conventionally attired, the advantages secured through the elimination of petticoats and the substitution of bloomers therefor are apparent, as previously pointed out. When thus attired, the necessary natural health functions may be readily and easily performed by disengaging the buttons 24 at one side of the outer garment and wholly or partially moving the portion 21 to one side permitting ready access to the back portion of the bloomers.

Changes and variations of detail may obviously be made in the garment as described and shown without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. In an improved garment for women, the combination of an inner garment and an outer garment, the latter having a skirt portion and portions extending from the top of the skirt in front and back and over the shoulders, said top portions being narrower than the inner garment and said front top 1 Copies of this patent may be obtained for front and back sections the lower portions of which are adapted to be joined together at their lateral edges so as to constitute a skirt while the upper portions are narrower than the body of the wearer and adapted to be detachably connected together at at least one shoulder and supported from the shoulders of the wearer.

3. In an improved garment for women, the combination of an outer garment having a skirt portion comprising front and back members detachably connected at their side edges, and of an inner garment having a drop seat.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name this 3rd day of August, 1918.

MAY E. RI-IOADS.

five cents each, by addressing the"0ommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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