US577265A

US577265A - Boot-lacing

Info

Publication number: US577265A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1897-02-16
Anticipated expiration: 1914-02-16

Description

(No Model.)

W. G. OBRIEN. BOOT LAGING.

No. 577,265. Patented Feb. 16, 189 7.

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM C. OBRIEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOOT-LACING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,265, dated February 16, 1897. Application filed May 18,1896. Serial No. 592,026. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM C. OBRIEN, of Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot-Lacings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a convenient means for lacing high-top shoes or boots, and the invention is particularly ap plicable to ladies riding or bicycle boots.

The invention is also applicable to leggings and to gloves and to other articles wherein two edges are to be brought into adjusted position and there held by a lacing-cord.

My invention consists in a closed loop or runner through which the lacingcord is passed, and which is preferably provided with a small grooved roller or sheave on which the lacing-cord runs. A series of these devices being attached to the margins of the parts to be laced or held in contact, lacing-cords are run through them, crossing from one side to the other in the usual manner, the free or loose ends projecting, which being grasped the edges may be drawn tightly together from top to bottom by simply pulling upon the lacing-cords at their free ends.

My invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a ladys bicycle-boot having my lacing devices applied thereto. Figs. 2, 3, 4-, and 5 are detail views showing the closed loop or runner, in which Fig. 2 is a top or plan view showing the small roller in dotted lines, Fig. 3 is a side View of the same, Fig. 4 is a plan view of a slot-ted plate or disk forming a part of the holder, and Fig. 5 shows a slightly-modified construction.

The holder may be made from a single piece of metal, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, consisting of a strip of sheet-metal a, bent into substantially rectangular form to provide a closed loop or holder and having integral prongs b. A small grooved roller 0 is mounted within the loop on the pin cl. The holder is attached to the margin of the boot or other article to be laced by setting the prongs in the leather in the usual manner.

In the construction shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 the strip of metal 6 is bent to provide the rounded open body, the strip being narrowed to provide the prongs b. A disk or Washerf, having slits g to pass over the prongs, is then slipped up until it comes to rest against the under side of the rounded body, and the curved roller is then mounted upon a pin or stud secured at one end to the disk and at the other end to the top of the body. The form of the holder may be otherwise varied. That shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is preferred because of the economy of construction. A series of these devices being applied to a boot, as shown in Fig. 1 the lacing-cords H are threaded through these holders from one margin to the other of the article to be laced, the upper ends of the lacing-cords being left free while the article is being put on. Then by taking hold of the lacing-cords and pulling on both, the margins will be brought together and the article laced very quickly and very evenly.

An advantage of the construction resides in the fact that the lacing-cords are always supported in position and do not have to be separately engaged, as is the case with lacing hooks or studs.

While I have shown double cords, the invention of course is applicable to a single lacing-cord as well, and, as before stated, it may be applied to other articles than boots.

The details of construction may be considerably varied, as, for example, the grooved roller, while preferred, because it facilitates the rapid lacing and reduces the friction and wear on the cord in lacing, may be omitted and the cords drawn through the closed loops or holders, whose surfaces with which the cords come in contact will be suitably formed to prevent abrasion thereof and to reduce as far as possible friction.

My invention in its broadest form comprises a lacing device or holder for a lacing-cord which is closed, so as to retain at all times the cord, and which holder is secured to the surface or upon the outside of the article to be laced, so that the lacing-cord does not have to pass under the edge or margin of the article to be laced,which results in binding and drawing it into contact with the limb in the case of a boot or shoe or with the wrist in the case of gloves. The cords, it will be seen, draw across the joint, but out of contact with the adj ustin g-surfaces, and therefore the friction is so much reduced as to enable the edges to be drawn tightly together by pulling upon the cord from one end only.

\Vithout therefore limiting myself to pre- 5 cise details of construction, I o1aim- Alacing device consisting of a holder formed from a strip of metal, an intermediate portion of which forms a base and one extremity there of a closed loop, said base portion having integral prongs and a curved roller journaled 10 in the opening of the loop, substantially as described.

WILLIAM C. OBRIEN. lVitnesses:

FREDERICK O. Goonwm, E. L. HUBER.