US658970A - Rubber or cushion heel for boots or shoes. - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

' Patented Oct. 2, I900. F'. W. WHITCHEB.

BUBB EB 0R CUSHION HEEL FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

(Application filed Feb. 6, 1899.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK W. WHITOHER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK W. WHITOHER & 00., OF SAME PLACE.

RUBBER OR CUSHION HEEL FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,970, dated October 2, 1900.

Application filed February 6, 1899- Serial No. 704,619. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK W. WHITOHER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusettahave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber or Cushion Heels for Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to elastic or cushion heels, such as those which are frequently applied to boots and shoes for the purpose of affording relief to the wearer from the jars and concussion that are incident to the fall I 5 of the foot upon the ground in Walking.

These heels ordinarily are formed of moderately-soft vulcanized india-rubber or caoutchouc, and in securing them in place upon the boots or shoes use is made of nails or tacks. These are driven partly through the material of the rubber heel into the leather of the boot or shoe, and the headed ends thereof remain embedded in the rubber heel. The nature of the rubber is such that provision must be made for preventing the headed ends of the nails or tacks from tearing through the rubber heel under the usage that occurs while the said heel is being worn. Otherwise this accident will occur and the nails or tacks will thenceforth be of little or no efficiency in keeping the heel in place.

My invention consists in a cushion-heel composed of rubber or other yielding or elastic material molded into shape and having 5 embedded therein the novel and improved form of means for preventing the securing nails or tacks from pulling or tearing through the said heel, which is hereinafter described, and particularly defined in the claims.

The aims of my invention are in general to provide an improved and novel form of holding means, to facilitate and expedite the application of the holding means in the desired place in the cushion-heel as the latter is being made, and thereby to increase the rate of production and correspondingly effect an economy in the manufacture of such heels,

lines.

and to provide a form of holding means which shall not act to lessen the elasticity and flexibility of the cushion-heel.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated one embodiment thereof. 7

In the said drawings, Figure l is a bottom View of a rubber heel, the wearing-surface thereof being represented. Fig. 2 is a top view thereof, the sheet-metal strip that is embodied therein being represented in dotted Fig. 3 is a view in vertical section on the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. dis a view of the sheet-metal strip detached.

1 designates the heel in its entirety. 2 is the wearing-surface thereof for contact with the surface Walked on. 3 3 designate a series of holes formed in the said wearing-surface and extending inward from the latter more or less completely through the substance of the heel. In practice I preferably cause the said holes to extend substantially through the thickness of the heel, a very slight thickness of material being left at the inner ends of the holes. This facilitates the operation of placing and driving the nails or tacks and obviates bulgingof the heel around its edge or on the surface thereof in consequence of the displacement of material of the heel by the nails or tacks when driven. The extent to which the said holes 3 3 penetrate the body of the heel l is not material so far as the present invention is concerned. The ordinary requirements of use will be met if the holes extend into the body of the heel as far as the metallic strip about to be described.

5 designates the metallic strip aforesaid.

It is formed of thin metal and is comparatively narrow. Usually in practice it is made of sheet metalsuch, for instance, as steelit being cut or formed therefrom in any well-known manner, as by stamping or punching it out in the shape shown. lts thinness prevents it from taking the place of any perceptible amount of the ru bber or other material of which the heel is composed, and

thus the full cushioning effect of the latter is retained unaltered. Its weight is not noticeable. It may be made highly pliable and yielding and will then add no perceptible degree of inflexibility or stiffness to the heel. This is in some respects a very important desideratum and directly affects the salability of the heel, since dealers and users of the heel frequently test its qualities before purchasing by bending or doubling it over upon itself and otherwise handling or manipulating it to test its flexibility, yielding qualities, and springiness. When made of tempered spring metal, the strip 5 will add to the liveliness with which the heel will flatten out after being flexed, while the softness of the heel will not be lessened at all by its presence. A stiff and inflexible rubber heel is deemed unsuitable and undesirable by many persons. Being embedded in the heel adjacent the outer edge thereof the strip 5 has no effect what-ever upon the central portion of the heel. My improved heel may be doubled over upon itself or twisted without this being prevented in the least by the presence of the strip 5. It is possible by varying the thickness and stiffness of the strip to secure any desired degree of flexibility, and thus the heel may be rendered as stiff as may be deemed proper in order to meet special requirements. On account of its location in the heel adjacent to the edge thereof the strip 5 will act with a tendency to prevent the said edge from springing away at any place from the surface to which the heel is applied, and thus opening a crack between the said surface and the heel. Preferably the strip 5 will correspond in outside or edge contour with the edge contour of the heel, and in its entirety will have a U shape, as shown. It is narrow, since only a slight width is required to be possessed by the same in order to enable it to perform its function of holding the nail-heads or tackheads from pulling through the heel, and in order to dispose of excess of material, lighten the strip, and increase its flexibility portions of the said strip may be punched out, as at 6 6, intermediate the places where the nails or tacks pass through the strip. 7 7 designate the holes in strip 5, through which the bodies of the nails or tacks pass, the said holes 7 7 registering with the holes 3 3 in the material of the heel.

The holes 3 3 are formed in the body of the heel by the aid of pins projecting into the interior of the hollow mold in which the heel is formed. In making the heel one or more layers of unvulcanized and soft rubber will be introduced and pressed down into the mold, this layer or layers making a part only of the thickness of the completed heel. The strip 5 next is introduced into the mold, being laid upon the said pins, so as to receive the ends of the latter within the holes 7 7. This admits of being quickly and readily performed and effects a very considerable saving when compared with the operation of placing a series of detached washers separately one by one upon the ends of the respective pins of the mold, as has been the general practice for many years past in the manufacture of rubber heels for the market. Among the se-. rious disadvantages which are incident to the use of washers is the liability of failure to place one or more washers upon the corresponding pins, in which event such Washer or washers become displaced in the heel. Sometimes after the washers have all been carefully placed upon the ends of the pins the expansion of the rubber beneath the same or some other cause effects a dislodgement of one or more of the same. Thus displacement of a washer is of comparatively-frequent occurrence. This displacement may result in so positioning the washer that the hole thereof will be out of line with the corresponding hole 3 in the body of the heel, in which event it will be impossible to drive the nail or tack through the washer. The point of the nail or tack will at such time strike the imperforate portion of the washer, if, in fact, it engages with the washer at all. The displacement of the washer in some cases causes it to appear at the surface of the heel, either on the top or at the edge, which necessitates discarding the heel as imperfect and unsalable. When as a consequence of misplacement a Washer becomes located at the top surface of the heel, it loses its value as ameans of assisting in securing the rubber heel to a boot or shoe. A good many heels are discarded in the course of manufacture as imperfect on account of misplacement of the washers therein, with resulting loss to the manufacturer.

After the strip has been introduced in proper position, as aforesaid, the filling of the mold with rubber is completed and then pressure and heat are applied.

I claim as my invention 1. The solid-rubber or cushion heel having the nail or tack receiving holes 3, 3, formed therein, and also having embedded in the material thereof adjacent its outer edge the thin, narrow, flexible U-shaped metal strip 5 corresponding in outline substantially to the contour of the heel and having the holes 7, 7, registering with holes 3, 3, the said strip preventing the securing nails or tacks from drawing through the heel.

2. The solid-rubber or cushion heel having the nail or tack receiving holes 3 3 formed therein, and also having embedded in the material thereof adjacent its outer edge the thin, narrow, flexible and resilient U -shaped metal strip 5, corresponding in outline substantially to the contour of the heel and having the holes 7 7 registering with the holes 3 3, the said strip preventing the securing nails or tacks from drawing through the heel.

IIO

3. lhe solid=rubber 0i' c'ushi0n heel having curing nails or tacks from drawing through the nail or tack receiving holes formed therethe heel. mo in, and also having embedded in the material In testimony whereof I affix my signature thereof adjacent its outer edge, the thin, narin presence of 'two WliDBSSOS.

5 row, flexible metal strip corresponding in out- FRANK W. VVHITOHER.

line substaniially to the contour of the heel Witnesses: and having holes registering with the holes CHAS. F. RANDALL,

in the heel, the said strip preventing the se- WM. A. MAOLEOD.

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