US367333A - Seamless knitted boot or shoe - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

. M. V.BBIGER & A. EBERHART.

SEAMLBSS KNITTED BOOT 0R SHOE.

No. 367,333. Patented July 26, 1887.

fwawfcoz Q i www MMA UNITED I STATES MARTIN V. BEIGER AND ADOLPHUS EBERHART, F MISHAVVAKA PATENT Ormea.

INDIANA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,333, dated July 26, 1887.

Application tiled February 2G, 18x11. Serial No. QQQIEIS. (No model.)

`tion of the same.

In this specification by the term boots7 vwe intend to be understood as referring to that particular class offfoot-covering which is provided with a long top or leg` to come up on the calf of the wearer and having sufficient inherent stiffness to stand up and maintain its shape and place on the wearers limb in contradistinction to that other class of foot-cover ing known as stockings, 7- which are limber and more or less limp.

Within the last few years boots fabricated from wool have comeinto general use as a substitute for leather boots, being warmer than leather; but they are required to have the same qualities as to stiffness in the leg.

Our invention relates to thatclass of boots which are made froma seamless fabric.

In boots made from wool the required stiffness can only be attained by the use ofa quantity of stock in theleg sufficient when shrunk and fulled to acquire thereby the desired hard ness and stiffness. Oarded bats can be made of any required thickness, and felted to desired stiffness; but felt has limited strength to resist frequent bending and soon cracks and breaks in'places where wrinkles occur inuse, whereas a knit or woven fabric has tensile strength, due to the twisted fibers or yarn, irrespective of the hardness due to shrinking or fulling. Hereftofore no one, so far as we are aware, has known how to knit or weave suficient stock into the leg and foot to secure the requisite rigidity when fulled.

We are aware seamless boots have been made from vcarded-wool bats which, after having been formed in the semblance of boot, have been felted and'finished on tree or last. We are aware, also, that a skeleton boot has been knitted or woven and covered with a layer of wool bats and afterward felted, whereby the requisite rigidity was secured by use of the carded bat and a slightly-increased cohesion attained by the knitted or woven fabric interiningled with the felt. 'Ve are also aware that stockings and other garments have been knit of large size and then reduced in size by fulling, but said stockings or garments remained flexible and unable to support themselves like a boot; but we are not aware that any one has heretofore made a stift`-1egseamless boot wholly by knitting and subsequently fulling the same to the required size.

In all stockings or other garments made by knitting woolen yarn and subsequently fulling the same, yarn of ordinary twist and size has been employed; but with such yarn it is impossible to knit in sufficient stock to render the leg as thick and stiff as is necessary for the purposes of aboot. fe discovered, therefore, that to procure a boot with sufficient stock knitted into the legit is necessary to make a loosely-twisted yarn,and much larger than any heretofore in use, and to do so it was necessary to construct carding and spinning machines larger in size than those heretofore in use. The yarn we employ is veryloose and, say, three-sixteenths or one-quarter of au inch in diameter, equivalent to fifteen to twenty-flve times the size of woolen yarn spun for any other purpose. A fabric knitted of said yarn and subjected to fulling will, by reason of its loose twist, firmly and solidly shrink together, stronger and harder than felt, either alone or in connection with a knit web.

We therefore do not clai1n,broadly,a seamless boot made from a fabric partly kni-t and partly of felt, or wholly of felt, but confine ourselves to the particularsset forth-to wit, a seamless'stitf-leg boot made wholly by knitting, or substantially so. n

All boots made with carded bats are neces sarily more or less uneven in thickness and lumpy, and they are therefore not only uncomfortable to the wearer, but, owing to their unequal exibility, they are not durable, but tend to wrinkle and break down near to the thicker portions. Itis alsoimpossible to make them with bats with accuracy as to size, so that when felted they will not require trim- 'ming There is, therefore, very considerable waste in trimming the tops and legs to sizeand shape. The cuttings must be reworked or wasted. Our knitted boots are made of uniform thickness and rigidity and so accurately IOO as to size and shape that no cutting or waste is involved.

Felted shoes have been made with soles and heels of felt integral with the uppers, and felt boots have been made with leather soles and foxings; but all fabric boots have heretofore been made without heels, and for this reason they are tiresome to the wearer, difficult to remove from the foot, aud cannot be worn with an ordinary arctic or rubber overshoe, because the latter are always made with hollow heels and are soon broken down and spoiled when worn with a heelless boot. This defect is obviated in our boots, to which we attach heels of some suitable material.

\Ve have thought it wise to make this comprehensive statement of the art in order as clearly as possible to define the object which is the subject of our invention and to distinguish it from what is old in the art.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents the mammoth boot as it comes from the loom; Fig. 2 represents the same when finished, the sizes being substantially comparative. Fig. 3 is a section showing the way of applying the heel.

In manufacturing our boots we spin the yarn exceedingly coarse-say from teu to twentyfive times the size of any yarn heretofore sp un for any other purpose-and thereby secure enough stock in the leg and foot to produce the desired stiffness when fulled. From this exceedingly coarse yarn we knit a mammoth boot, A, say thirty (30) inches in circumference and forty (40) inches long, in one scamless piece, including leg, foot, and sole and very nearly in proper forni and proportion, so that we not only get the requisite stock,but we make it uniform in thickness, and without 'waste by trimming.

our invention we do not desire to confine our- V selves as to the fabric of the boots. The heel is preferably attached wholly exterior to the boot; but we prefer to finish our boot with an interior hollow or indented heel, c, like the heel of an ordinary overshoe, designed to receive the solid heel of a boot, but not so deep, aud we fill said hollow heel with a suitable block or plate, d, which may be fastened by cement or by metallic or other fasteners, as set forth, and the external heel proper, e, is attached by fastenings, which we prefer to extend through the material of the boot into the material of the inner plate or' heel. These fastenings may consist of stitches, rivets, Snc. By this means the material of the boot is firmly secured between the external and internal parts of the heel and cannot be pulled loose.

It is well known that a kuit or woven fabric has more tensile strength than a felted fabric containing the same quantity of material, and it is therefore apparent that our all-kuit boot will be necessarily stronger than a boot having the same quantity of material wholly or partly felted.

Having described our invention, we claim as new 1. Theherein-described method of' making knitted seamless boots, which consists, essentially, first, in spinning the yarn loosely twisted and very coarse, as set forth; second, in knitting the saine looselyin aboot of man1- nioth proportions; third,inshrinkingand consolidating the same down to size by fulling; fourth, in finishing the same on tree and last, substantially as set forth.

2. A boot constructed according to the herein-described method-to wit, the foot and leg wholly formed by knitting from exceedingly-coarse yarn loosely twisted in mammoth proportions, said leg and foot being then shrunk and consolidated by fullingand finally finished on tree and last, as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a seaur less stiftleg boot made wholly of wool, consolidated and stifened by fulling, as set forth, and provided with an external heel-lift attached directly to said boot, as set forth.

et. A seamless boot of exceedingly-coarse yarn knitted in a mammoth size and reduced to desired size by fulling, provided with au internal heel or plate and an external heel-lift the fastenings whereof extend through into the internal heel or plate.

5. A new article of manufacture consisting of seamless boot constructed of woolen fabric, fullcd to size, and provided with'a heel of different material attached directly to the boot, substantially as set forth.

MARTIN V. BEIGER. ADOLPHUS EBERH ART. Witnesses:

Gno. V. Bvnxrr, E. V. BINGHAM.

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