US652589A - Garment-stretcher. - Google Patents

Description

No. 652,589. Patented lune 26, |900.

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GARMENT STRETCHER.

(Application filed Oct. 17, 1899,)

(No Model.)

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RUFUS V. BROOKS, OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA.

GARVIENTMS'IRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 652,589, dated June 26, 1900. Application tiled October 1'7, 1899. Serial No. 733,864. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern..-

Be it known that I, RUFUS XV. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portsmouth, county ofV Norfolk, and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Form-Restorers for Pantaloons; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to devices for facilitating the work ot' skilled tailors in causing bagged or distorted pantaloons to reassume the form of new garments, creased or not, as may be desired, and for enabling persons wholly without the tailors skill to secure thelike results easily and with certainty. So far as I am aware there has been heretofore no satisfactory appliance for this purpose. It has been common to stretch the whole garment as a means for restoringr the bagged part to proper shape or rendering it inconspicuous by distorting the parts which needed no stretching, common to crease the garment while distorted, and common to combine the stretching and pressing in various proportions, always stretching parts which should not be stretched.

My simple devices provide forgently stretclr ing the whole garment, so that it may be smooth, clamping the whole garment flat, and then applying tension to such part only as may need it, al1 with or without the general or local application of heat or moisture, or both.

In the drawings, Figure l isa side view of one form of the apparatus as it appears in use. Figs. 2 and 3 are right and left edge views, re spectively, of the same devices. 5 are sections on the lines t 4 and 5 5, respectively, of the same devices seen in Fig. 1.

In the views, A B are similar superposed frames of keystone-like outline connected at one side by hinges O and provided with hooks D at the opposite side, so that they may be opened,vclosed, and secured like a book provided wtha clasp. Between these two frames, whose plane surfaces normally meet or closely approach each other, the garments to be loperated upon are pressed and allowed to remain as long as may be deemcdnecessary.

Figs. t andV As shown, each frame consists of two side hars E, permanently united near one end by crossbars F F and, it desired, by a third cross-bar F3 near the other end. Between the cross-bar F' and the cross-bar F3, if the latter is used, are cross-bars G F2, which slide bodily, always parallel to the other cross-bars, along the side bars E, which are grooved to receive their ends. Plates .I are secured to the fixed cross-bars F F', and analogous plates K are Iixed to the sliding cross-bars Gr F2. Between the latter is a rod I, revolubly mounted in the side bars E and having at each end a ratchetwheel L', whose rotation in one direction may be prevented by a pawl I2. Cords I-I, winding upon this rod, are attached to the cross-bar G, while oppositely-wound cords I-I' are connected in like manner to the cross-bar F2, so that as one set of cords is wound by rotation of the rod the other set is unwound11 and the cross-bars and the attached plate K are thus forcibly carried along the side bars E. Between the plates J I( is a series of independent clamps made up of slats L, which slide freely along the side bars E, in grooves formed in the latter, with their inner faces Hush with both the plates J K and the side bars. The upper broad plates press and hold practically without strain the whole thigh portion of the garment. The contiguous pairs of slats press the knee portion, while by their narrowness and separability permitting longitudinal stretching, and the broad lower plates hold the entire lower leg portion pressed in plane form, but not under tension. rlhe plates and slats, as a whole, form two approximatelycontinuous plane surfaces, between which a garment may be compressed. Preferably a cloth layer M is placed over each of these surfaces, but without being attached to any sliding part, and each layer may be of two parts overlapping centrally between the ends of the frame.

In use the apparatus is laid upon its side, the hooks are disengaged, and it is then opened book-like. A cloth M, if not secured to the frame, is then spread smoothly over the slats and plates,and upon it the garmentis smoothed out in the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l. A similar cloth is then laid over the garment, and the frame is closed and secured by the hooks, the arrangement being such that the garment is pressed with a considerable degree of force. In proceeding thus far the cloths are first well moistened, if a crease is desired,but otherwise are only slightly dampened to impart freshness to the goods or are used without moisture. The distorted portions of the garment, usually the knees, are well moistened, however, while the frame is still open. The garment being clamped as described, its lower part is held between the fixed plates J, its upper portion between the sliding plates K, and the intermediate or knee portion is held in a series of narrow closelyadjacent separable clamps. If now the rod be rotated in the proper direction, the cords H unwind and the cords II wind, drawing upward the plates K and that portion of the garment clamped between them. Thus without strain upon the upper and lower portions of the garment the knee portion is subjected to any desired tension, and as it stretches the narrow slats separate slightly, leaving a narrow space between adjacent clamps or pairs of slats. In thus moving with the goods these clamps continue to exert all the pressure that is practically needed, but not enough to prevent the narrowing of the garment in each clamp. This slight separation has no eiect upon the appearance of the garment when removed from the apparatus, for the angles of the slats, as well as of all other parts pressing the cloth, are rounded, so as to leave no imprint.

The cords winding upon the rod I are connected with the sliding cross-bars of one frame only, and to insure the simultaneous movement of the corresponding parts in the other frame removable pins N may be passed through both sets of plates KK. Vhen the garment is to be released, the pawls are disengaged, and it the rod be then rotated in the contrary direction the cords H are unwound, while the cords II are wound, thus positively drawing the upper clamp downward to initial position.

Heat may be applied to the plates or slats over any part, if desired, and to increase shrinkage heat and cold may alternate.

It is obvious that the means for stretching may be varied in many ways and that in other respects the construction chosen for illustration need not be closely followed, and I do not therefore wish to limit myself to such construction, but desire to claim my invention broadly as Well as specifically.

What I claim isl. In a trousers-stretcher, means for clamping the garment at one end and means for clamping the garment at the other end, means for adjusting one of said clamping members with respect to the other, combined with a series of readily-separable narrow clamps, said series being intermediate the clamping members, and having their pressingffaces normally forming a practically-continuous surface, as set forth;

2. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with means for rigidly clamping the entire thigh portion of a pair of pantaloons at once creasing the same and preventing stretching thereof, means for similarly clamping the entire lower leg portion, means for forcibly increasing the distance between the two portions so clamped, to stretch the knee portion only, and a series of narrow clamps arranged to hold said knee portion flat while permitting its stretching whereby the top and bottom portions of the garment are creased and held flat, while the knee portion only is stretched and creased.

,3. The combination with a pair of broad pressing-plates to cover the entire thigh portion of a pair of pantaloons, of a second pair of plates to similarly press the entire lower leg portion, a series of contiguous, separable pairs of transverse slats approximately filling the space between .the pairs of plates, means for locking all the plates and slats together in pairs and in garment-pressing position, and means for then forcibly increasing the distance between the two pairsof plates.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

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Witnesses:

GEO. T; TILLEY, WM. H. L. GARLETT.

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