US172941A - Improvement in dress-shields - Google Patents

Description

carry the moisture between'the overlapped cemented seam in the center ofthe shild,\ v which seam comes in contact with the person,

`above-described constructions and to that end tector, formed from a web of rubber cloth cutv PATENT OEEIoE.

FREDERICK WITTRAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN DRESS-SHIELDS.

Specification forming part of 'Letters Patent No. 72,941, dated February 1, 1876; application iledl Novemb'er 23, 1875. n

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WITTRAM, of the city and county of New York, State of New York, have invented and made a new and useful Improvementin Dress-Shields, and the following is declared to be a correct description thereof. l

Dress shields or'protectors adapted to be inserted Within the dress and beneath` the arms to prevent perspiration from passing into the fabric of the dress, or other garment,- and thereby injuring` the same, have p heretofore been made of india-rubber, oil-silk, and other repellents of water.

These shields have been usually made of two or more pieces of rubber cloth` cut into crescent-shaped pieces sewed together, or having their concaveedges united by overlapping and cementing one tothe other.

The first of -these constructions al'ords, in the threads composing the seam uniting the parts,. a sure means of early destruction, since the threads, by capillary attraction, soon parts, causing it to penetrate the fabric forming the article, the result' being that it soon.

rots and becomes useless.

The secon d construction necessitates a heavy and-is cumbersome and annoying' to the wearer. lt-has been essayed to make a dress-shield from an oval piece of linen, muslim-or such fabric, simply folded together without any seam, the mode being to press the fabric into shape with a heated ironyhutsuch device fails to retain a 'proper shape, and lis practically valueless. n a

It is the object -of my invention. to overcome the objections inherent in all of the it consists in a seamless' dressshield or proon the bias and stretched andv folded upon itself,thus providing an articlewith a concave fold, which, Whilel pliable and soft, will retain its shape and t the arm-pit Without buckling.

vIn the manufacture of v my .improved article I take cloth coatedv on one side with gum, (rubber,) and cut from it pieces of elliptical form, Fig. 3, care'being taken that the Warp and Woof run at considerable angles to the` longitudinal and transverse centers of the pieces. These pieces are then soaked in Water until the threads composing the cloth are rendered soft and pliable. In this state they vare doubled or folded into the form shown in Figs. 4.and 2, and the fold thus formed, stretched, or'crimped into the concave shape shown in Fig. 1` the operation being analogous to the blocking of and crimping of boots, the elasticity or stretch necessary to form the concave seam being afforded by the angularposition of the threads of the fabric, with respect to the fold, and the result being that the said threads, instead of being stretched in the direction of their length, simply change their relative positions 'from crossing each other at right'angles to those which vary more or less therefrom. l The operation of' crimping or stretching may be accomplished by hand, or by mechan- A- ism, a suitable shaping mold and stretching devices being alone requisite for the purpose.

'I usually crimp one piece of the cloth With the gummed surface on the outside, and auother piecepWith the gummed surface on the inside, and then place the two together, so that their gummed-surfaces will adhere. One v piecefmay be of plaiircloth, causedto'adhere to the gummed side of a companion piece.

The pieces of cloth may be crimped before they are united, as before explained, or cloth having rubber in it, or upon one or both surfaces, or two pieces unitedfby rubber, may be crimped into proper form, and several such pieces may be crimped at one time. What I claim isi A dress-shield, formed 'of a seamless bias piece of rubber cloth, substantially as herein described and shown'.

FREDERICK WITTRAM.

Witnesses:l

* CLARK F. WHITTEMORE, G. W. DAVENPORT.

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