US1087992A - Garment-fitting device. - Google Patents

Description

zwawm G. H. SMOOT.

GARMENT FITTING DEVICE. APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 26, 1909.

1,087,992. I Patented Feb.'24, 1914.

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WITNESSES CHARLES 1-]. 5114057 $1 I By ATTORNE Y8 CHARLES H. SMOOT, or new YORK, n. Y., assrenon T0 RUTH BATTU, or new YORK, N. Y.

GARMENT-FITTING DEVICE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1914.

Application filed March 26, 1909. Serial No. 486,031.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES HEAD SMOOT, a citizen of the United States, and residentof the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garment-Fitting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for facilitating the accurate fitting of garments.

In principle, my appliance comprises a series of flexible members readily adjustable to different positions so as to fit the persons figure, and removable from the person without changing their adjustment. These flexible members are of a peculiar construction enabling'them to be used as clamps or holders for the fabric, so that the same device which has been adjusted to the persons figure, serves to determine the shape of the pieces of fabric composing the garment.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- I Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating the use of my invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of one of the flexible members, drawn upon a larger scale; Fig. 3 shows a portion of the two front members and the bands or tapes connected therewith; Fig. 4: shows how the appliance is used in connection with the fabric; Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is a cross section on line 66 of Fig. 2.

Each of the flexible members comprises two flat pieces or strips A of metal or other flexible but practically inextensible material, the strips diverging at least at one end (see particularly Figs. 4 and 6) but preferably at both ends, as indicated at A. The two strips are connected and pressed strongly toward each other by means of suitable springs, which I prefer to construct of triangular shape, with one member B in the plane of the strips A, a second member B at an acute angle thereto, and the third member B approximately perpendicular to said plane. The coiled portion B which gives the spring its chief strength, is located at one of the corners, preferably at the junction of the members B, B It will be seen that the members B lie in the continuation of one of the flat strips A (to which strip they are secured) and will bear against the garment of the person who-m it 1S desired to uisite flat position. secured to the companion strips A. Thus fit; the strips will thus be held in the req- The members B are the two strips of each flexible member may be separated when desired, yet are pressed toward each other with considerable force so that they form a strong clamp.

Two of the flexible members (which I may call the front members since they are generally used'at the front) are provided with detachable connecting means, which may be ordinary corset fasteners as indicated at C, C.

The several flexible members are connected adjustably by means of transverse flexible but inextensible bands D which may he graduated tapes of the kind used as tape measures. These tapes are fastened permanently to the rear central longitudinal clamping member and are graduated both right and left from such member toward the front (see Fig. 3). These bands or tapes will generally be arranged at three different heights or levels. To hold the tapes adjustably on the flexible members A, A, suitable clamps or retaining members E are provided on said members, the tapes sliding lengthwise and being locked when adjusted, by throwing the clamp levers down.

The number and length of the flexible members will vary with the character of the garment to be produced, each flexible member being intended to be placed where a seam occurs in the garment.

In using my invention, the clamps E are loosened so that the flexible members may be brought to the proper distances from each other, and the entire appliance is placed on the person in the manner illustrated by Fig. 1. The two front members are hooked together, and the other members shifted to right or left, lengthwise of the bands D, until they occupy positions corresponding to the intended location of the seams. Then the clamps are operated to hold the bands and flexible members in their adjusted positions. By unhooking the two front members, the appliance can be released from the persons body without disturbing the adjustment of the parts, that is, the distance between the members connected by the bands I). The appliance is then loaded with the fabric F (which may be the main fabric of the garment or only the lining), the quantity of fabric held between adjacent seamholders being determined by the length indicated by the longest of the three graduated tape lines.

In loading each of the flexible members or seam-holders, the material may be forced in with a knife by hand, or preferably by drawing the fabric over the edge of the bar G (Figs. l and 5), which is secured to a board ll, or other suitable support. in this case one of the flexible members, or seam-holders is forced down over the fabric and the edge of the bar G thus drawing into the jaws of the seam-holder a fold of the fabric. The diverging ends A facilitate this operation.

After all of the flexible members, or seamholders, have been filled with a fold of the fabric, the apparatus is again placed on the figure (person or form) to be fitted, the two front members hooked together, and with the fingers all surplus materialis drawn into the triangular clearance of the seamholders until between each two adjacent seam-holders the fabric lies close to the figure to be fitted and all wrinkles or other distortions have been removed. When this process has been completed and the seams extending along the shoulders have been pinned together in a proper location for a shoulder scam, I obtain a perfectly fitting garment, in which the sewed seams are replaced by the flexible seam-holders, which hold the cloth together.

After the above manipulation has been completed and the material molded to fit the figure, the apparatus is removed as a jacket, by unhooking the front members. This material may be pinned along the length of the edge of each of these holders. The seamholders are then removed and the material is sewed together along the lines originally determined by the seam-holders and located by the pins. The garment is then completed in so far as this appliance is concerned, for a perfectly fitting garment has been obtained and from here on it can be finished by ordinary methods well known to the art.

It will be seen that the spirit of my invention lies in providing a mechanical holder to act in place of a sewed seam, allowing adjustments and alteration in the position of the seam and also in the quantity of the fabric held by the mechanical means. These mechanical means have as their function to hold the cloth after adjustment to a given position and at the same time allow ready alteration of this position. It is obvious that these mechanical means may take many other forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The strips A form means for connecting and keepin in alinement, a series of clamps or springs, and the strips may therefore be termed alinement members.

sections 1 refer not only to sections which may be separate and distinct but to sections of fabric before they are cut apart.

Vx hile my method of fitting garments will generally be utilized by first cutting the fabric according to patterns of the usual type and approximately to size, I may, witlr out departing from the spirit of my invention, apply the method to an integral fabric not cut into sections. That is to say, I may conform the fabric to the body and shape it to the shape of a fitted garment without passing through the usual intermediate step of cutting the fabric into separate sections according to any pattern.

I claim:

1. in a garment fitting device, a plurality of elongated clamps arranged lengthwise of the body and adapted to be conformed thereto said clamps being further adapted to hold garment sections adjustably, and transverse flexible tapes uniting said clamps.

2. In a garment fitting device, a plurality of elongated, clamps arranged lengthwise of the body and adapted to be conformed there to said clamps being further adapted to hold garment section-s adjustably, and transverse flexible tapes adjustably attached to and uniting said clamps.

3. In a garment fitting device, an elongated clamp of inextensible but flexible material adapted to grasp a length of fabric and be conformed to body lines said clamp comprising two faced flexible members in connection with means for pressing said members together.

4.. In a garment fitting device, an elongated clamp of inextensible but flexible ma terial adapted to grasp a length of fabric and conform to body lines said clamp comprising two faced flexible members and a.

plurality of spaced springs for pressing said members together.

5. A garment fitting device adapted to shape and size garment sections upon the body said device comprising elongated clamps adapted to adjustably hold the sections at each vertical seam one of said seams being provided with two clamps lying side by side removably locked together, and transverse flexible tapes adjustably attached to and uniting said clamps.

(3. In a garment fitting device, a plurality of elongated clamps arranged lengthwise of the body and adapted to hold garment sections adjustably, each of said clamps being flexible in but a single plane and unyielding in all other planes, and transverse flexible tapes uniting said clamps.

7. In a garment fitting device, a plurality of elongated clamps comprising flat strips of inextensible material adapted to grasp a length of fabric said strips being flexible in Nhere in the claims I have used fabric 1 a plane normal to their surface and unyielding in all other planes, and transverse flexible tapes adjustably attached to and uniting said clamps.

8. A garment fitting device comprising a plurality of inextensible elongated clamps each consisting of two faced strips held to gether by spring means and each being flexible in a plane normal to its surface but unyielding in all other planes, transverse flexible tapes for uniting said clamps, and retaining members attached to said clamps for adjustably holding said tapes.

9. A garment fitting device comprising a plurality of inextensible elongated clamps each consisting of two faced strips held together by spring means and each being flexible in a plane normal to its surface but unyielding in all other planes, a plurality of transverse tapes at difierent levels for uniting said clamps, and retaining members attached to said clamps for adjustably holding said tapes.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. SMOOT.

Witnesses JOHN LOTKA, JOHN A. KEHLENBEOK.

' Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents.

Washington, D. C."

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