US299125A - Heel-stiffener for boots or shoes - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

G. A. FULLERTON.

HEEL STIFFENER FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

No. 299,125; Patented May 27, 1 884.

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GEORGE A. FULLERTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HEEL-STIFFENER FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,125, dated May 27, 18847:.

Application filed December 20, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. FULLERTON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Heel-Stiffenerfor Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying draw ings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of a heel-stiffener ready for lasting. Fig. 2 is a cross-section enlarged of the same, on line 00 w, illustrating the construction. Fig. 3 is Fig. 1 lasted independ ently of the upper.

Heel stiffeners are made, principally, of leather and leather board, although a variety of other sheet material has been used, and is now used to some extent. The best stiffeners are made of leather, because that possesses the requisite toughness and flexibility, while at the same time it is sufficiently stiff or inflexible. Leather-board stiffeners are much cheaper, but also inferior, because they are too rigid and also too brittle when skived down as thin as is desirable in some parts.

My stiffener is made of felt or like fibrous material in sheet form, the fibers being cemented together; and my invention consists in a heel-stiffener for boots or shoes, composed of fibers arranged in sheet form and of the proper outline, and having the fibers so cemented together as to give the desired stiffness and toughness; also the proper flexibility.

The best mode of manufacturing the cheaper grades of my stiffeners is to die them out from felt of the proper thickness, then saturate them with a solution of glue, and pass them through wringer-rolls to expel the surplus solution, and then mold them to shape over the heel part of a last, which should be of metal, to prevent the glue from sticking to it. This cheaper grade is objectionable, because of the sticky character of the glue, and the higher grades have therefore a covering or lining, or both, of thin cotton cloth, as is illustrated in Fig. 2, where (6 represents the body of felt saturated with a solution of glue,- 1), the covering of drilling, and (Z the lining, also of drilling. By using this covering and lining b (Z, and having its edges drawings, the stiffener is made thin at the parts indicated by f, and skiving therefore is project, as at f in the unnecessary; but in the cheaper grade the stiffened felt is, in all except the cheapest quality of shoes, skived off around the upper edge of the stiffener; and this is best done on a sand-paper roll, rapidly revolving, such as is used in buffing soles. The cloth for the covering or lining is best made water-proof in the well-known manner, in order that the glue in the felt may not become too much softened when the shoes are in use. The waterproofing may be done either before or after the lining and covering are applied to the felt.

It will be obvious that the felt may be fed from a roll through the solution of glue, and between layers of cotton cloth, and then died out; but I esteem it better to die out the stiffeners from the sheet of felt, and after saturating them in the solution of glue to place one of the felt blanks a between a covering-blank, b, 70 and alining-blank, d, and then mold the still moist and soft stiffener over a metal form, (the heel portion of a metal last,) and clamp it in place by a plate applied to the sole portion of the heel-form, and dry it while so clamped, thus making the article shown in Fig. 3. Stiffeners thus made very much resemble leather stiffeners in all material respects, and are very much cheaper. Without either a cloth lining or covering the stiffeners, when molded and dried, are as good as those with both lining or covering, except in two respects-first, the additional expense of skiving them properly, and, secondly, that the moisture from sweat or from wearing the shoe in wet weather tends to soften the stiffener, and the lining of the shoe is hardly stout enough by itself to prevent the glue from getting onto the stocking. Consequently, the stiffener must be either lined with cloth or else made water-proof when a soluble glue is used.

A stiffener made of firm felt saturated with a solution of glue, and shaped and dried,when dipped in a waterproofing compound, (including suitable kinds of paint,) will be found practically free from objection for use as a heel-stiffener, and, if properly skived,will be practically equal to the best leather stifi'eners.

The main function of the cloth covering 1) and lining d is to enable a very cheap quality of felt to be nsed-that is, a felt which has very little tensile strength, and is very absorbentthe felt most desirable, not only because of its cheapness, but also because it is readily penetrated by the solution of glue, has so little tensile strength as to be practically worthless without covering 1) or lining d,- and if a firmer or more expensive quality of felt be used, it is very difficult to distribute the glue properly through it.

By felt I intend to include soft thick paper, as well as the cheaper shoddy cloths, which, although woven, are made thick with shoddy; in fact, all fibrous sheet material in which the fibers are so laid upon one another as to make a soft absorbent sheet.

By glue I intend to include any of the known cements suitable for the purpose, whether soluble in water or not. It will be clear that when a cement is used not soluble in water-for example, rubber dissolved in naphtha-the subsequent waterproofing is unnecessary; but, practically, I prefer glue to any other cement.

The apparatus for molding and clamping the stiffeners over the heel-form, above referred to, will form the subject of another ap- 2 5 plication.

The fabric above briefly described as made from felt between layers of cotton cloth will also form the subject of another application.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The heel-stiffener above described, composed of felt, the fibers of which are cemented together.

2. The stiffener above described, composed of the fibrous sheet at, having its fibers cement- 3 5 ed together, and'also cemented to the coveringb or lining 11, either or both, substantially as described.

GEORGE A. FULLERTON.

Witnesses:

J. R. SNOW, J. E. MAYNADIER.

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