US2205073A - Metal protector for footwear - Google Patents

Description

June 18, 1940. w rr 2,205,073

METAL PROTECTOR FOR FOOTWEAR Filed Feb. 24, 1938 '1 r 1 "wanna I, I

Eve/11271".

\A/ILLIFIM SMIT Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFECE William Smit, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa Application February 24, 1938, Serial No. 192,218 In South Africa March 16, 1937 1 Claim.

This invention relates to metal protectors for heavy boots such as those worn by men working in mines or on rough ground.

When such protectors are formed of steel they frequently become polished due to wear and to that extent may be dangerous in use. A protector made of some other metal may be softer and therefore not so slippery in use but is likely to be heavy. When made in metal of low spelu cific gravity and the weight thereby reduced, the armouring is inclined to be soft and to wear away too rapidly.

It is the object of the present invention to improve boot protectors made of light and some- 151 what soft metal by hardening the studs, bars or other projections forming the tread and wearing surfaces of the protecting armour.

Armouring according to this invention may be formed in any convenient manner but usually and as described and illustrated in this specification it is cast in an aluminium alloy, and some or all of the studs or bars on the tread are reinforced with a core or cores of harder material such as iron or steel.

The invention is illustrated in accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the complete armouring for a boot, which latter is shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the upturned sole of a boot fitted with armour according to this invention.

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but viewed from the top.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section on 4-4 Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section on 5--5 Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a cross section on 6-6 Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section on line 1-! Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-section of one of 4 the studs, showing the reinforcing, and

Fig. 9 is a similar View to Fig. 8 but in which the reinforcing of the stud is made from a tube or ring.

In the drawing the armour is shown in three parts, Ill, H, l2; Ill being the front piece slipped over the sole from the front. As shown in the drawing the parts are each provided with box like channels l3 adapted to fit over the sole Id of the boot, the shoulders l5 engaging the upper surface of the sole. The toe cap I 6 is cast integral with the body 10.

II is a plate slipped over the waist 11 of the boot and pushed up against the armouring I 0, as shown; whilst I2 is the heel armour. The heel itself l5 may be part of the boot or a packing-piece fitted into the armouring l2. The heel armour I2 embodies the heel protector IS.

The armourings may be secured in position by rivets or screws 20. The studs 2| and bars 22 are, according to this invention, reinforced by cores 23.

The armourings may be strengthened as by bridges 24 between projections 2!. When desired said bridges between projections may be multiplied until the tread takes a form somewhat resembling a honeycomb.

In the drawing the cores are shown as short pieces of iron or steel cylinders 23 around which the aluminium alloy metal has been cast.

In the course of manufacture these reinforcing pieces 23 may be held in the moulds, when casting, in any desired manner.

For instance they may be formed from bars nicked or turned down at the necessary distances to allow them to be broken off near to the casting after they have been cast in place; or they may be solid cylinders magnetised so as to hold together to form a bar, or they may be held in place in the mould by magnetic attraction. Again they may be steel tubes or rings 25, of the desired dimensions and hardness, which may be held in place in the mould by suitable projections traversing or entering into the core of the tube.

In another form the reinforcing may be accomplished by inserting the hard cores by tapping and screwing them in position or by driving the cores as pegs into cored or drilled holes in the armour.

Again the projections may be provided with holes filled with any suitable hard plastic or cement-like material; or in some cases the holes may be left open so that the sand and stone walked upon may be picked up in the holes to form the desired reinforcing.

In some cases the hardening material may be provided simultaneously with the original casting by first pouring into the mould a material of the required hardness to act as the wearing surface and thereafter casting the body of the armour over the first poured metal to unite with the same.

In certain parts of the armour, where execs sive wear is apt to take place, the reinforcing materials may take the form of steel specially hardened.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

As an article of manufacture, an over-sole for boots comprising a box-like shape of lightweight metal adapted to fit over the sole of the boot and having side pieces protecting the sides 01' the sole and an inwardly projecting flange for engaging the top edge of the sole, the oversole being divided transversely of its length and the forward end provided with a toe-cap, and a rearward portion shaped to fit the heel of the boot, the bottom surface of all the parts being provided with projections forming a wearing surface said projections having metal cores of harder metal than the body of the armouring and the projections thereon, such metal cores being flush with the wearing surface of the projections.

WILLIAM SMIT.

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