US40285A

US40285A - Improvement in hoop-skirts

Info

Publication number: US40285A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1863-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 1880-10-13

Description

UNITED STATES LEVI S. SC'JFIELD, OF BELMONT, MASSACHUSETTS.

BMPROVEMENT INv HOOP-SKIRTS.

Speciiieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,285, dated October 13, 1863.

llo (LZ/ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI S. SooFiELD, of Belmont, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the Construction of Hoop-Skirts; and

I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawing, which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention consists in an improved manner of applying or fastening those of the vertical tapes of a skirt which support and hold in place the rear or posterior portion of the horizontal hoops or springs.

The accompanying drawing represents a rear elevation of a skirt, showing my invention as embodied thereupon.

The usual method of applying the tapes elnployed in the style of skirt shown to support the rear portion thereof, has been to run a main tape down the center of thc back ofthe hoops, and to cause to branch or diverge therefrom other tapes, which, being fastened by stitches at or near the top of the main tape, radiate therefrom, extending down to thebottom of the skirt and from the central line around to the opposite sides ofthe hoops. This application of the tapes is found to conduce to a full, easy, and graceful set77 of the skirt, with a desirable contour not otherwise easily obtained. Skirts so -made have, however, this objection: Most of the weight of the sustained skirts and dress worn comes upon and is supported by this rear portion of the hoops, causing a great drag upon the hoops and tapes. The trail of the dress, also, is very liable to be trod upon. The result is that the stitches confining the diverging tapes to the main tape soon give way, and pulling on the main tape cause it to start away from the waistband, allowing the springs to collapse and the dress to become awry in its appearance, besides soon ruining the skirt. My object has been to so fasten or apply these tapes to the central tape and waistband as to render it difficult, if not impossible, to tear or break them away in the ordinary wear to which the skirt issubjected.

In the drawings, a. denotes the waistband; b b, Src., the hoops or springs; c, the main tape, and d d, Snc., the diverging and sustaining tapes. After applying the tapes d d in the usual manner, as has been describedthat is to say, by stitching their upper ends to and upon the Lipper part of the main tape c and the adjacent part of the waistband-I apply over the whole of them, or so as to cover all the connecting parts thereof, a T-shaped strap, e, made of leather or other suitable material, and stitched iirmly through both main tape and side tn pes, thehorizontal arms ffserving to fasten the ends of the upper tapes, d, directly to the waistband, while the vertical arm g securely fastens the tops of the other tapes to the main tape c.

It will now be seen that the strain upon these side tapes, instead of coming upon the waistband and main tape c, is transferred in agreat degree to this dorsal strap g, which, being generally made of kid or other similar leather or material, serves greatly to improve the strength and wear ofthe skirt.

What l claim as my invention is- The application ofthe auxiliary' dorsal strap e, when so applied as to connect and fasten together the main tape c, diverging tapes d d, and waistband a, substantially as set forth.

L. S. SGOFIELD.

Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, Fit/mois GoULD.