US644471A - Garment-fastening. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Feb. 27, I900.

c. scnou, 1n. GARMENT FASTENING.

Application filed Dec. 8, 1899.)

(No Model.)

NITED STATES ATENT iuucE.

CARL SCHON, JR., OF CATONSVILLE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLOTTE E. NICOLAI, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

GARMENT-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,471, dated February 27, 1900. Application filed December 8, 1899. Serial No. 739,682. (No model.)

\ To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL SOHON, Jr. a citizen of the United States, residing at Catonsville, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment-Fastenings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention pertains to garment-fastenings; and it consists in an eye or loop of peculiar form and construction adapted to be attached to a garment without the aid of sewing and without any attaching means other than such as are formed with and as a part of the device itself.

In the accompanying drawings, which are on an enlarged or exaggerated scale to better show the construction, Figure 1 is an elevation of a blank suitable for the formation of the improved eye; Fig. 2, a perspective view of the device ready for application to a fabric or garment; Fig. 3, an edge view or elevation of the same; Fig. 4:, a top plan view thereof; Fig. 5, a perspective view illustrating the manner of applying the device to a fabric; Fig. 6, a perspective view of the opposite side of the fabric, showing the position and appearance of the penetrating and fastening points; Fig. 7, a perspective view showing the rear face of the fabric with the points or ends pressed down and extended diagonally across the under side of the device; Fig. 8, a similar View showing the ends turned down, but arranged parallel with the bearing or base portions of the device on the front face of the fabric; Figs. 9 and 10, face elevations of the retaining-points arranged as in Figs. 7 and 8.

Prior to this invention various devices had been contrived to secure together separable portions of garments, such as plackets, dresswaists, and the like. The common hook and eye is found inconvenient in many instances, at least as to the eye, because of the difficulty of causing the hook to properly engage therewith where the eye is located out of the range of vision. Moreover, the eye requires to be stitched in place and is undesirably noticeable, its fastening or thread-receivin g portions extending some distance backward from the bend of the hook which engages with it and requiring a comparatively-Wide projection of the hook-carrying portion to conceal it. A

cord, tape, or band stitched to the garment, but left free at intervals for the engagement therewith of books, has also been proposed; but this likewise proves unsatisfactory in many cases, being difficult to maintain in proper shape and liable to rip or become detached.

After experimenting with a great variety of forms of eye I have ascertained that sev- 6o eral features are essential or at least highly important to the attainment of the result in View. Thus there must be a relatively-broad bearing or support for the eye on the outer side of the fabric and preferably on the innor face thereof as well. So, too, the device must be fastened or held at two points sufficiently separated to prevent the eye from twisting or turning and thus getting out of proper position, such displacement materi- 7o ally increasing the difficulty of engaging a hook therein. Lastly, the fabric should be firmly clamped or held between the supporting base or surface and the retaining points or fastenings. 'lhese several results I attain in a thoroughly-satisfactory manner by the construction shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, A indicates a blank which may be cut from a metal strip, preferably a narrow fiat strip with slightly-rounded edges. Such a strip is conveniently produced by rolling and flattening a round wire. This gives to the finished article a smooth and slightlyrounded edge, which lessens the liability to cut or fray the goods or to mar the fabric where the hook-carrying portion comes in contact with the eyes. This blank A is preferably and for economys sake cut obliquely or diagonally on parallel lines at its opposite 9o ends, as in Fig. l; but the inclination may be reversed at opposite ends or the point may be formed in any other suitable shape. The blank thus produced is bent or folded about a suitable mandrel to form a loop or eye a of a size and shape to conveniently receive a. hook or like fastening, with which it is to be used. This loop is formed of that portion of the blank A occupying its mid-length,the two portions of the blank on opposite sides of the loop a being brought into common plane and carried past each other on parallel lines, as

plainly shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. At or about the point where the bends b of the loop are formed, or, in other words, at each end of the loop, blank A is turned downward at right angles, or substantially so, to form the fastening legs or points 0, Figs. 5 to 10, inclusive. This completes the eye ready for application to the garment.

To attach the device to a fabric, I make use of a mandrel B, which may be simply a piece of rolled or flattened wire slightly pointed at the end to facilitate its introduction into the eye or loop a and of a cross-section to fit and fill said eye or loop. This mandrel being in serted into the loop a serves asa handle to hold the eye and as a lever by which to force its points 0 through the fabric or garment, as

1 will be readily understood upon referring to Fig. 5, the points passing through the fabric and protruding beyond the face thereof, as shown in Fig. 6. The mandrel B is not at once withdrawn from the loop or eye a, but is allowed to remain therein while the points 0 are bent or flattened down upon the under face of the fabric, as shown in Figs. '7 to 10, inclusive, the mandrel thus serving to prevent the flattening down or closing of the loop or eye through the pressure applied or the blow given to the points 0 to properly fold them down upon the fabric.

In practice I find it expedient to strike the points 0 a light but sharp blow with a small hammer, though I may use pincers or a like implement thus to set them or may press them down with any convenient tool. The sharp blow, however, serves better to set the points, and by tapping the extreme points slightly they may be turned inward into or against the fabric, so as to prevent their catching into or being caught by any fabric which may lie next to them in use.

The points 0 may be laid parallel with the folds (l and e, of which they respectively form prolongations, after the manner illustrated in Figs. 8 and 10, or, as is preferred, they may be carried obliquely across the two folds d and e in the manner illustrated in .Figs. 7 and 9. The latter arrangement is preferred, for the reason that it gives to the device as a whole a better support on the illner or rear face of the fabric than does the parallel arrangement. In other words, each point when arranged obliquely not only reaches across the under side of its own upper fold d or 6, but also across the companion fold, and thus each fold (Z or e gains a support reaching across its width and across that of its companion, whereas under the parallel arrangement each fold gets from its own point a support across its own width alone.

It will be seen that under the construction above set forth the loop a, which may be quite narrow, gets a relatively-broad support on the upper or outer face of the fabric-that is to say, a support twice its own width-and it is held to the fabric by two separate legs passing through the fabric at somewhat widely separated points, so that the device cannot twist or turn out of place. The broad bearing above the fabric produced by the folds (Z 0 serves to protect said fabric against wear or abrasion by the hook or other fastening which engages the eye, thus overcoming a difficulty incident to the use of common eyes, cords, and the like. Lastly, the fabric is firmly clamped and held between the bearing-face formed by the folds d and e of the device and the legs or fastening-points 0 thereof. As a consequence the eye or loop a once properly set upon the fabric will always maintain its proper relation thereto and standing up away from the face of the fabric will enable the hook or other fastening to be readily and certainly engaged therein, and this may be done even though the user be unable to see the eye and the hook when effecting their engagement.

While I have stated that rolled wire is preferred for the production of these eyes, it is to be understood that I do not at all restrict myself thereto, but may use wire of any cross-section, sheet metal, or thin metal in any form suited to their production. The choice of metal or of alloy will depend upon the particular use and the desired color. The devices may be made of any required size and may be plated, enameled, or colored in any well-known way, as circumstances may require.

I am aware that eyes, clips, and fastenings have been made in a great variety of forms, both of sheet metal and of wire, and that under some constructions an eye has been formed to project above one face of a sheet or package of sheets, while legs pass through the same and are flattened upon the back to retain the eye in position. I am not aware, however, that any one has ever before produced an open and unobstructed eye and carried the two ends of the metal in opposite directions past each other in a common plane to produce a bearing and protecting surface to rest upon the outer face of the fabric, sheet, or body and with fastening-legs to pass through and be flattened down upon said body on its rear or under face, so as to clamp said body firmly between the outer bearing-surface and the inturned or folded legs, nor am I aware that it has ever before been proposed to carry the fastening-legs of such an eye obliquely across the under or rear face of the supporting-base of the device. These features I mean to claim broadly and without restriction to the specific form of the points, the cross-section, or the character of the material or the size or the special use of the device.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. An eye or fastener member, consisting of a piece of metal bent or folded to form an open and unobstructed loop or eye, the two ITO end portions of the blank being carried in common plane past each other to form a bearing-surface for such loop or eye, and thence turned downward to form fastening legs or points.

2. The herein-described eye or fastener, comprising the open and unobstructed loop a, bearing portions 01 and e, and legs 0-.

3. A loop or eye for dress-fas'tenings and the like, comprising the base or bearing por tion d, e; the open and unobstructed loop or eye at extending obliquely across said bearing-face; and legs or fastening-points 0 extending downward from the under face of the bearing portion d, e.

4. In combination with afabric, an eye comprising an open and unobstructed loop a, bearing-surface d, e, and points 0, the latter passing through the fabric and bent down upon OARI SOHON, JR.

Witnesses:

CHARLES E. EOKER, ROBERT Booos, WM. H. J ONES.

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