US52639A - Improvement in clasps for skirt-hoops - Google Patents

Description

Ni'rn Srnrns A'rnNr OFFICE.

GEORGE W. CHEESMAN, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND J. W. OSBORNE, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLASPS FOR SKIRT-HOOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 52,639, dated February 13, 1866.

To all whom 'it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. CHEES- MAN, of Ansonia, in the county of New Haven and State ot' Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clasps for Hoop-Skirts 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which Figure l represents a clasp made according' to my invention. Fig. 2 is a face view thereof when it is applied to a hoop. Fig. 3 is a side view thereof when it is applied to a hoop. Fig. 4 is an example of aclasp as made before my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The object of this invention is to improve the clasps which are used to secure and contne the ends of the hoops ot'hoop-skirts; and it consists in notching the ends of the clasps near its edges-that is to say, at those points on its ends which are to be bent over upon the hoops, for the purpose of making the work of bending them down more easy to be done, and also of enhancing` the probability that the ends ot' the clasps will be embedded in the ibrous covering of the hoops.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a clasp made ready to be applied to a skirt-hoop. Its sides are bent up on vertical lines at such a distance from each other as to permit a skirt-hoop to be laid llat between them upon the horizontal or back part of the clasp, the distance ot' the sides ofthe clasp apart being, of course, to be determined by the width of the hoop for which it is made.

The ordinary shape ot' hoop-clasps is seen in Fig. 4, which shows a clasp bent over upon the ends of a hoop. It will be observed that its ends are square. There is a disadvantage in this form, because a great degree of strength is required to turn down the anges fof the clasp and make them bite the hoop; and, since the work of placing them on the hoops is usually done by women, it is desirable that the degree of force required to turn them be as small as possible. Moreover, in placing the ends of a skirt-hoop in a clasp it is desirable to turn down the extremities of the anges at one end of the clasps, so as to attach the clasps to one end of the hoop for the purpose ot' holding the hoop while its other end is being adjusted in the clasp. On this account it is preferable to shape the ends of the clasps so as to call for very little strength in bending; and, besides this advantage, it gives the work-women greater facilities for doing the work'with speed and in a neat and tasteful manner.

In order to attain these advantages I have notched the ends ofthe clasp near to the edges ot' their tlanges f. The letters B designate the notches.

Vhen the clasp is made thus the workwoman can bend and turn the ends of the flanges over upon the skirt-hoop, which is laid within the clasp, with great expedition, and when the whole line ofthe tlanges is ready to be bent down they can be so bent with comparative ease, because of the start or beginning' made in the bending at the ends of the clasp.

Furthermore, when the work-Woman is completing the bending of the clasp she can make the anges lie smooth upon the hoop, since it becomes comparatively easy to remove corrugations and wrinkles from the ends ot' the clasps when they are notched.

The form ot' the clasps here shown, irrespective ot' the notches and the bend C in its center, resembles the style of the clasp formerl y used for extension-skirts-that is, skirts whose hoops were intended to be enlarged or contracted in diameter by sliding the hoops through the clasp; but in the example here shown the clasp is compressed upon the hoop, so as to hold its inclosed ends immovable, by a blow or by pressure delivered at or near the middle of the length of the clasp, whereby the clasp and the inclosed ends of the hoop which lap over each other, as indicated in dotted outline in Fig. 3, are bent out of parallelism with the ends ot' the clasp, as seen at C, and the ends ot' the hoop and the clasp become locked, so that they cannot slip past each other.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- In clasps for skirt hoops, notching their ends, substantially as and for the purposes above set forth.

GEO. W. GHEESMAN. Witnesses:

C. M. MINOR, GEORGE O'rro SOLMELLER.

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