US2082482A - Shoe protector - Google Patents

Description

June 1, 1937. B. J. coHEN 2,

SHOE PROTECTOR Filed April 18, 1936 INVENTOR Patented June 1, 1937 UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFlCE SHOE PROTECTOR Application April 18, 1936, Serial No. 75,097

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a protector for shoes and more especially to a cover for protecting shoes against soiling or damage during the manufacture thereof.

It is the common practice, during the manufacture of shoes having uppers of light colors or of delicate or expensive fabrics and skins, to protect the uppers against soiling or disfiguretion, through contact with the hands of workmen. Paper or fabric covers are made up as near as is practical to the shapes of the uppers, the covers serving as envelopes in which the shoes are placed after lasting. In order to facilitate the handling of the covered shoes the covers are first lasted over the uppers and then temporarily embodied in the shoe structures as parts thereof. In the case of a Goodyear welt shoe the cover is held on the shoe by the inseam which secures the welt to the upper and insole. w The inseam may then be trimmed, and succeeding operations carried out, without danger of the cover being displaced. Whatever the type of shoe to which the cover is attached, the latter remains on the shoe until the shoe is finished as whereupon the cover is removed by tearing or cutting it at its front and back and then either pulling or cutting it away from the inseam.

The usual cover is provided with a flare toe formed by a continuous curved edge having suflicient material therein that this portion of the cover may be gathered over the toe of the shoe. An operation similar to lasting is required which means two separate and distinct lasting operations in making the shoe. The shoe with the cover applied and side tacked must be taken a second time tothe bed lasting machine where the flare toe of the cover is gathered in over the toe of the shoe, the excess material being first wiped in and then tacked or wired in place.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to simplify the process of manufacturing shoes requiring the use of covers as a protection against soiling and more especially to cheapen the cost of applying such covers to the lasted shoes.

Another object of the invention is to bring about a form of cover for a shoe which may be applied to a shoe in a single and simple operation avoiding the necessity of returning the shoe to the bed lasting machine for a second toe lasting.

A feature of the invention resides in a form of cover for a shoe in which that portion of the cover depended on to protect the toe of the upper is so shaped or arranged as to receive the toe and adjacent parts of the shoe bottom in a sufficiently close fit so that no toe lasting of the cover is required, at the same time facilitating sewing the inseam about the toe.

In order that they may have the approximate shape of the lasted shoe, shoe covers have been made with a vamp and quarter. The quarter has 5 been folded at the instep and stitched at the heel. The vamp has been folded in continuation of the quarter fold to embrace the opposite sides of the toe. The rear edge of the vamp has been lap-seamed to the forward edge of the quarter. It has been found that a seam at the inner face of the cover will rub and injure the more delicate upper materials. This invention avoids the use of internally exposed stitching. The vamp and quarter are connected by an unlapped seam thus providing for a smooth internal surface and eliminating any rubbing or abrasion of the upper by connecting seams.

To the accomplishment of these and other ends, the invention comprises novel features and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a cover for a shoe, constructed in accordance with the invention;

- Fig. 2 is a planview of the toe portion of the improved cover, showing the vamp at an intermediate stage of its construction;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the improved cover assembled on the toe end of a lasted shoe.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing l0 indicates the complete cover which, in accordance with usual practice, is made in two parts which, for the sake of convenience, may be termed the quarter II and vamp l2. The two parts of the cover are shaped to fit against and completely cover the corresponding parts of the upper of a lasted shoe, as well as providing edge portions for lasting allowance.

In accordance with the usual practice the vamp I2 is made of one piece of material folded to form two sides and connected at its rear edge 13 to the forward edge I 4, of the quarter H, by butting the out-turned edges and stitching at l5 across the base of the butt. The quarter II is also folded along its instep to form side portions having their rear ends I 6 and i1 stitched together by a through and through seam as at [8. By the use of such seams a smooth internal surface is provided andrubbing or abrasion of the shoe uppers by rough seams or stitches is avoided.

The toe end it of the vamp l2 differs in marked respect from the usual rounded flare toe of the prior types of covers. As shown in Fig. 2, the material of the vamp is shaped to provide two adjoining convex toe end portions 20 and 2| arranged at either side of the longitudinal fore part fold line of the vamp. When the vamp is folded one rounded edge portion overlies the other. The .curved edges of the double toe of the vamp are stitched together by a through and through seam 22. This produces a closed toe end on the cover corresponding in shape to the curvature over the toe end of the shoe which may easily be slipped or hooked over the toe of the lasted shoe'in applying the cover thereto. Because of its pocket-like toe end the improved cover is called a hooked toe cover in contradistinction to the usual flare toe cover.

A lasted shoe 24 may be readily inserted into the cover through the bottom opening 25, the toe of the shoe being inserted first so that it may pass into the pocket of the hooked toe and thus permit the rear part of the cover to be slipped over the counter portion of the shoe. It will be apparent that the sides of the cover will be spread apart by the shoe as it enters and fllls the cover, however, as the lower edges of the cover adjacent the toe seam 22 are held by the seam against spreading movement, these edge portions are drawn inwardly across and against the bottom of the shoe. The improved form of shoe cover fits so well over the toe of a lasted shoe that no lasting of the cover at the toe of the shoe is required. This eliminates the second lasting operation involving a wiring down or tacking down of the excess material present in a shoe cover having a flare toe. The shoe goes through all of its subsequent operations more rapidly as it is not necessary to return the shoe to the bed laster after applying the cover with the consequent saving of time and expense.

It will be understood that the cover is tacked to the shoe along the sides of the cover to conform it to the shoe these lasting operations following the usual practices. After the cover has been assembled on the lasted shoe the usual operations incident to the completion of the shoe may be carried out, the hooked toe rendering it much easier to sew the welt about the toe because of the elimination of bunched or gathered cover material in the angle outside of the insole sewing rib.

It will be noted that a cover made in accordance with the invention provides for a minimum amount of cover material to be embodied in the inseam or other part of the shoe structure. As a result the cover may be readily separated from the shoe when the latter is completed. Furthermore the cover may be embodied in the shoe with: out any sacriflce of qualitfy in the finished shoe.

The most usual material for shoe covers is paper but this invention, while well adapted for embodiment in paper covers, may be embodied in shoe covers made of textiles or analogous flexible material suitable for the purpose.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the same is'not to be limited to the features shown but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. What is claimed as new, is:-

1. A shoe upper protecting cover adapted to conform approximately to the shape of a shoe on a last, said cover having a continuous open bottom and excess marginal edge portions forming free lasting allowance, and having a pocket at the extreme toe end of the cover co-operating with the lasting allowance adjoining said pocket to draw the latter into contact with the shoe bottom upon stretching the cover over the heel end of the shoe.

2. A paper shoe upper protecting cover having an open bottom shaped to slip over the upper while on a last and having excess side material at the edge of its open bottom forming free lasting allowance for lasting-in with the upper, each of its two sides having its toe end rounded, and the rounded perimeters of said toe ends being stitched together by a through and through seam that closes the extreme forward end of said open bottom and forms a shoe toe receiving pocket shaped to overlap the bottom of the shoe with its central seamed portion when the toe end of the shoe is enveloped by said pocket, thereby drawing the adjoining free lasting allowance at each side over the shoe bottom in substantially unpuckered condition.

3. A shoe upper protecting cover sized for last ing-in with an upper consisting of two flexible side portions depending from a fold defining the medial line of the instep and forepart, each side having a separate rounded toe end and said two overlaid toe ends being stitched together by a seam starting at the forward end of the fold then following the contour of said toe ends and terminating at a 'point approximately below its starting point thus leaving the bottom of the cover open except for a shallow pocket at its forward end adapted to receive merely the extreme toe end of the shoe to be protectd.

BERNARD J. COHEN.

Images