Patent Drawing for J. W. Davis's Fastening Pocket-Openings
5/20/1873
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In Reno, Nevada, in January 1871, the wife of a laborer asked Latvian-born tailor Jacob W. Davis to create a pair of cheap durable pants for her ill husband. Her husband was a large man sick with dropsy and could not get a pair of pants to fit him.
She paid Davis three dollars and asked for strong pants as he generally tore his clothes while laboring. This made Davis think of a new technique based on the work he had previously used for horse blankets and covers – the rivet. Instead of sewing at the pant's weak points, he used copper rivets to fasten them together.
After making a handful here and there, larger orders began to come in as other laborers noticed the quality of the pants. The cloth for the pants came from a supply store in San Francisco and its owner, Levi Strauss, was the first person that Davis told about his new invention. Strauss and Davis decided to partner and patented the invention for "fastening pocket-openings" under both of their names.
She paid Davis three dollars and asked for strong pants as he generally tore his clothes while laboring. This made Davis think of a new technique based on the work he had previously used for horse blankets and covers – the rivet. Instead of sewing at the pant's weak points, he used copper rivets to fasten them together.
After making a handful here and there, larger orders began to come in as other laborers noticed the quality of the pants. The cloth for the pants came from a supply store in San Francisco and its owner, Levi Strauss, was the first person that Davis told about his new invention. Strauss and Davis decided to partner and patented the invention for "fastening pocket-openings" under both of their names.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Patent and Trademark Office.
National Archives Identifier: 5928292
Full Citation: Patent Drawing for J. W. Davis's Fastening Pocket-Openings; 5/20/1873; Patent Number 139,121; Utility Patent Drawings, 1837 - 1911; Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, Record Group 241; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/patent-fastening-pocket-openings, September 7, 2024]Activities that use this document
- Patent Analysis: J.W. Davis and Levi Strauss's Fastening Pocket Openings
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