Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Filed on August 9th 1872, granted on May 20th 1873, the US utility patent US139121A, titled Improvement in fastening pocket-openings, recites the small consolidating metal rivets, added to Levi's jeans, then called “waistoveralls”, which made the 19th century, San Francisco, company famous. The inventor was Jacob Davis. A tailor located in Reno, Nevada, the heart of the California gold country, Davis assigned the patent to himself and to the Levi Strauss Company of San Francisco, the Original Riveter.
The single patent drawing is included below, together with one of the famous Levi Strauss jeans labels, depicting two horses pulling in opposite directions, on each side of a pair of jeans, with the caption: "It’s no use they can’t be ripped."
According to the patent specification, the figure drawing indexes the side seam A of a pair of “pantaloons” which could also be “a pair of pants, drawers, or other article of wearing apparel”. The side seam terminates in pockets, with rivets b, b, added to each side of the pocket. Rivets b are shown on both front pockets, on a partial view of one back pocket, and at the bottom of the fly opening.
The patent discloses that the rivets b are intended to prevent ripping, or opening of the seams, resulting essentially from repetitive placing of hands inside pockets, thereby causing excessive stress on the fabric threads. The patent further specifies that the rivets b are made of metal, each rivet b passed through a hole in the seam, and capped on the opposite end, so as to further hold together the two parts of the seam, and thereby prevent tears. The patent explicitly avoids laying claim on fastening all seams with rivets, recognizing that rivets were already in use for consolidating seams on shoes.
References
Levi Strauss & Co
https://www.levistrauss.com/
https://www.levistrauss.com/
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