Back in the old days a lot of men's clothing was custom tailored. There weren't many commercial patterns made for men's clothing like there were for women's. Even now patterns for men's clothing are few and far between compared to the variety available to women.
There were a lot of tailoring systems developed in the 1800s. A device like Steve's or yours would have been in good demand as a way to make men's clothing easier to make.
Rodney