Of Turkeys and Whales

I found  some more collar supporters like the ones I wrote about in this post. 

This one is from 1914 when collars were large and stood up in the back.  Following are two sizes of thread-wrapped wire from the Edwardian period.

Michigan Maid was another product of the Warren Featherbone Company.  I have featured other products from this wonderful company and have lots more, so lets look at them a little closer.  The founder, E K Warren, was Michigan-born, as was a former blog feature Jeanne Miller.  Michigan State University has a nice write up here of the Warren Featherbone Company.  Here is an article that appeared in Michigan History Magazine.  Lots of pictures of products and ads.  You will notice a product, Girdelin, for making waistbands for skirts.  I have a roll of this in brown.  It's 3-1/2 inches wide and has a bone every 4 inches.

The Warren Featherbone Company has morphed into the Warren Featherbone Foundation.  Read about it here.  There are lots of patents for this company, which you can find by going to Google Patents and typing in relevant words.  Here is a collar support somewhat like the Gladstone.  They may have crossed over the line with this one.  Here is the one for Girdelin.

A link for a wonderful 1888 informational booklet that shows the process used to make featherbone.

Here is a cloth-covered stay of either bone, celluloid, or something else.  I couldn't find anything about Invisibone on Google except some World of Warcraft stuff. ??  It certainly looks like this Warren Featherbone patent, and the illustration is in the style of their company.  There was a Warren Featherbone company here in Grand Rapids which morphed into the H H Cutler Company, a children's clothing manufacturer, which has since been bought out and moved away.  Interestingly, one of the patentees of a Warren product was Henry H Cutler.  I could not substantiate that this was the same Cutler.

And finally, something for the men.

I couldn't find anything about this company, either.