US507249A - Shoe-fastening - Google Patents

Description

G. A. WELD. SHOE FASTENING.

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GEORGE A. WELD, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 507,249, dated October 24, 1893. Application filed February 4, 1893. Serial No. 460,967. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: Be it known that I, GEORGE A. WELD, of

Winchester, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Shoe-Clasps, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

My invention relates to a clasp or buckle of the kind commonly used upon arctics or over-shoes, to fasten together the sides or corners of the quarter of the shoe over the instep of the wearer. Clasps of this kind have been made, composed of two members one connected with one, and the other with the other of the parts to be fastened together by the clasp, one of said members being a plate having an opening, or usuallya number of openings, to receive a tongue or lever which is the main operative part of the other member of the fastening. The first of these membersis commonly called the catch plate, and the present invention relates especially to the construction of the other member which is provided with the tongue or lever that engages with the catch plate. As usually constructed the tongue member is pivoted upon a frame piece called the tongue plate which is itself attached to the quarter of the shoe or other part to be fastened by the buckle, and the movement of the tongue on its pivot or fulcrum in the tongue plate is controlled by a spring which tends to hold the tongue either in open or closed position and affords a yielding resistance to the movement of the tongue from one position to the other. The tongue plate usually affords a bearing or seat for the catch plate when the clasp is fastened, and the tongue is held by its spring folded down over the tongue plate so as to securely confine the catch plate until the clasp is unfastened by the operator turning the tongue on its pivot against the resistance of the spring.

In the present invention the tongue is fulcrumed upon or pivotally connected with a frame piece preferably composed of a piece of stout spring wire bent to form a loop for attachment to the shoe and provided at its ends with lateral outwardly projecting fingers which enter lugs at the sides of a recess formed in the tongue piece near the base thereof and thus afford the pivotal connection between the said tongue and base piece, while the spring action is provided by lateral pressure between the sides of the recess in the base of the tongue piece and the portion of the base piece or attaching part that enters the said recess. 3 The base portion of the tongue is widened so as to afford a bearing for the catch plate at each side of the part that engages pivotally with the frame piece or attaching part. Thus an extremely simple and inexpensive and durable clasp is produced the tongue member of which comprises only two pieces, namely, the tongue itself, and the connecting piece upon which it is fulcrumed.

- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a clasp embodying this invention; Fig. 2 a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 an under side view; Fig. at a side elevation of the tongue member detached; Fig. 5 a longitudinal section thereof; Fig. 6 a transverse section on line x ,Fig. 4.; Fig. 7 an end elevation of the tongue detached Fig.8 a plan of the flat blank from which the tongue is formed; Fig. 9 a plan view of the attaching part of the tongue member detached,and Fig. 10 an under side view showinga modification in which the frame piece or attaching part is made of sheet metal instead of wire as shown in the other views.

The catch plate member a, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, may be of any suitable or usual construction and of itself forms no part of the present invention, the said catch plate being provided with the usual opening a to co-operate with Y the tongue b of the other member of the fastening. The said tongue I) is fulcrumed or pivotall y connected at b with the frame piece or attaching portion 0 of the tongue member which is provided with a loop 0 best shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 9, for attachment to the shoe or article to be fastened, in the usual manner. The tongue portion 1) is made from a flat blank of the shape shown in Fig. 8, the said tongue itself being of a width to enter the opening of the catch plate, and having a wide base portion 12 having a longitudinal and transverse recess b 19 thus forming two wings or projections 17' which contain the fulcrum openings 6 and are bent up nearly at right angles to the adjacent portion of the base b in line with the ends of the recess b as best shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, thus bringing the fulcrum openings 12 opposite and in line with one another, at the opposite sides of a recess in the base portion of the tongue piece as clearly shown in Fig 6. The lugs b are bent to slightly divergent position as shown in Fig. 6, so that the corners or angles between the said lugs and the adjacent portion of the base of the tongue project inward across the said recess as best shown at N, Fig. 6, thus forming a contracted throat or passage through which the corresponding part of the connecting piece 0 has to pass when the tongue is turned from the dotted to full line position, Fig. 5. The said connecting part c is preferably made from stout springwire as shown in Fig. 9, bent to form the attaching loop c 'and' a shank or connecting part c terinitiating in laterally outward projecting fingers c which enter the fulcrum openings b in the lugs b of the tongue piece the said shank portion 0 extending into the recess in t'he-bas'e'of thetongue piece between said lugs. The saidattaching piece is so shaped, as best shown in Fig. 5, that when thetongue is foldeddown to engage'with and fasten the catch plate the'shan-lr portion 0 isabove the inwardly proje'cting corners b and said attaching piece is also so formed as to be under a slight elastic strain when interposed between the lugs of the tongue piece so that the arms 0 press outwardly against said lugs as shown in Fig. 6. Asa consequence of this construction when the tongue is turned from the dotted to the fun line" position Fig. 5 or the' reverse, the

arms c are crowded inward somewhat as the projecting. portions bpass them and their outward elastic pressure tends to throw the said projections from between them the moment that the point of nearest approach of said pro jections passes the said arms. Thusa spring action isproduced tending to throw the tongue toward one or the other of its extreme positions and tending to retain the tongue in en treme position until moved therefrom by the operator.

The wide portion 11 of the tongue piece near the base thereof forms a seat or support for the catch plate as will be readily understood from Figs. 2, 6, and 7, and the shoulder b at the end of the recess in which the fastening piece is pivoted constitutes a stop which by its engagement with the fastening piece limits the outward or opening movement of the lcshould be' made of wire.

tongue as shown in dotted lines Fig. 5.

It is not essential that the attaching piece It might if required, be made of sheet metal as indicated in Fig. 10, the construction and mode of operation being otherwise the same except that the elasticity, for widening the throat may be atforded by the outward yielding of the portions b of the tongue at each side of the recess, in-

stead of the inward yielding of the shank of Q the connecting piece, although thelatter might git desired he made of sheet metal and still be made inwardly yielding by slotting the same as indicated by dotted lines at 0 Fig. I0. I clain1 I 1. The tongue or lever 11 having a widened 1 base portion as b recessed and provided with l upwardly turned fulcrum lugs at the sides of said recess, combined with the attaching piece ihaving a shank passing into said recess, and provided with outwardly turned fingers enigaged with the said fulcrum-lugs, substan- 3 ti'ally as and, for the purpose described.

2. The tongueor lever Zr having a widened base portion as b recessed andprovided with upwardly turned fulcrum lugsat the sides of said recess combined with the attaching piece having a shank passingintd said recess, and

provided with outwardly turned fingersen gaged with the said fulcru m-lugs, the shoulder at the end ot the recess in the tongue being adapted to engage with said attaching piece to constitute a stop forthe pivotal movement ot the tongue; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. A. WELD.

Witnesses:

Joe. P. Ltv'ERMoR-E, M. E. HILL.

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