US55188A - Improvement in boots and shoes - Google Patents

Description

raras ATENT FFICE HENRY WIGHT, CF EAST CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. d, dated May 29, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY WIGHT, of East Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Wooden-Soled Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention rrelates to boots and shoes which are made with a iexible vamp or upper and with a solid wooden sole, or with a solid sole of any suitable composition into which nails or pegs can be driven, and which offers nearly the same resistance to wear and penetration by moisture that is found in wood, and which composition may be formed in molds to the desired shape.

In the practice of my invention I secure the vamps to the edge of a single sole, and not between layers, on in and out soles; and my invention in part consists in the formation which I give the edge of the sole, in conjunction with the manner in which the material of the vamp is arranged with reference to the said formation of the edge of the sole.

It further consists in the employment of fastenings of a staple form, or form substantially similar, by which the angles and edges incident to nail-heads are avoided, and by which the vamp is secured in its place around the edge of the sole, when used in connection with the described formation of the edge of the sole and the described arrangement of the vamp with reference to the peculiar formation of the sole herein shown and described.

In the aforesaid drawings, Figure l represents a perspective view of a finished shoe with my improved fastening as seen along the length of the shoe, directly above the sole B. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the shoe on the line D E, looking toward G, Fig. 1, showing the peculiar form of the groove H H H H on the sole B and the way the upper A is formed into the groove and is confined therein by the fastening C. Fig. 3 represents the fastening used in confining the upper to the sole.

The boot or shoe consists of the upper A, the sole B, and the fastening C, and I form and connect these parts together in the following manner: I provide the sole B, Figs. l and 2, which may have any general desired form or curvature, with a groove in its upper edge, as seen at H H H H, Fig. 2, and, after placing it on a last, I take the upper A, which may be of any of the known forms and materials used for boot and shoe vamps, and draw it over the last and edge of the sole, temporarily confining it below the groove to the lower part of the edge of the sole by lasting-tacks,77 and when properly lasted inthis manner I proceed to rub or force with any suitable instrument the upper A into the groove in the sole B, at the same time inserting sufficient of the fastenin gs C along the groove to confine the upper in place. When, or before, I remove the last'- ing-tacks which have held the upper to the sole, I then insert intermediate fastenings, C, sufficient to confine the upper strong and tight to the sole 5 then with a knife I remove the edge of the upper which protrudes beyond the sole. This, it will be obvious, leaves the edge of the vamp turned outward but finished Hush with the edge of the sole. v

The fastening C, Fig. 3, for confining the upper A to the wood sole B, consists of a bent wire formed with two sharpened or pointed ends. The span or connection between the ends may be of greater or less length than that shown.

The advantages of this fastening consists in that its confining part or span or connection has no protruding head with angles or corners like nail-heads, which would cut the vamp. The span or connection being of a wirelike formation, it may be inserted through the upper into the sole, with thespan or connection extending along and in the closest groove, without injury to the leather.

The groove H in the sole B, Fig.y 2, is peculiarly adapted to receive the upper A, it being of a round or oval shape at its base or inner extremity, gradually opening toward the mouth or entrance to the groove, as seen at H H H H, Fig. 2. Said mouth or opening may be greater or less to admit easily different thicknesses of vamp, while the joint of the vamp and sole thus formed is perfectly tight and secure.

I am aware that soles have had a plain rabbet cut back from all around the upper part of the edge, upon which rabbet the vamp has been nailed. This method I do not claim nor practice. My invention has over this construction last mentioned the advantage that the fastenin gs, though not driven very 'near the upper or inner surface of the sole, are yet sufficiently far from the edge of the vamp to avoid the tendency to tear out which exists in the plainly rabbeted construction just alluded to. It will be seen, also, by reference to Fig. 2 that upward strain upon the vamp will not cause the joint around the sole to open, but will rather render it tighter by drawing the vamp close to and around the upper part of the sole projecting over and forming part of the groove.

I claim- I 1. The Within-described construction of a boot or shoe, consisting of the peculiar forma- HENRY WIGHT. Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, ALFRED STONE.

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