US757679A - Lacing-loop. - Google Patents

Description

No.757,679. PATENTED APR.1 9',1904. G. W. PRENTIGE.

LAGING LOOP.

APPLICATION FILED 13150.21, 1903.'

K0 MODEL.

. INVE NTEIR: @Emspa .Ere nfice 'NITED STATES .Patented April 19, 1904.

PATENT Orricn- LAClNG-LOOP.

SPECIFICATION forming We of Letters Application filed Qeceniber 21,1903;

To all 1072,0111, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PRENTIGE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lacing-Loops, of which the following is a specification.

My invention herewith relates to shoe-lacing devices; and it consists of a closed lacingloop, formed from a single sheet-metal blank, having a table member provided witha pair of laterally-separated downwardly-bent attaching-prongs and an elongated oppositelydisposed member bent to form a closed loop above the table and extending downwardly thereunder between said prongs and terminating in an attaching-prong, all as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In former shoe-lacing devices, or lacinghooks, as they are termed, it has been usual to provide them with eyeleted shanks and open eyes or hooks for the reception of the shoe-laces. Lacing-hooks of such former type are comparatively expensive to manufacture from the fact that special stock or material is required for their production, while the operations of treating and shaping the blanks are comparatively slow processes.

My improved lacing-loops may be produced from commercial sheet-metal stock in an expeditious and inexpensive manner. They possess a table or base of comparatively large area and may be readily attached to the shoe mechanically or by hand implements substantially the same as used for securing pronged button-fasteners to shoes. It is obvious, too, that the shoe-lace cannot become accidentally detached from the lacing-loop when in use.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, in enlarged scale, illustrating my improved sheet-metal pronged lacing-loop before being secured to a shoe. Fig. 2 is a corresponding side or end view. Fig. 3 is a side view showing the lacing-loop attached to a piece of leather or other pliable material as in use; Fig. 4 is a corresponding horizontal or sectional plan view taken on line a: a: of Fig. 3, the leather being omitted; and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the sheet-metal Patent No..757,67 9, dated April 19, 1904.

Serial No. 185,991. (No model.)

blank from which the closed lacing-loop is formed.

As just stated, m, Fig. 5, designates the sheet-metal blank capable of being shaped or bent to produce my improved or novel onepiece lacing-loop a. The blank has a comparatively large flat portion 6, from which extend the two parallel sharpened members Z) 75, separated by the open space or recess /2.. From the Opposite side or end of the part t extends an elongated sharpened central member 6, the sides or edges of the latter being bent, as shown at c, contiguous to the part t, all as clearly shown. In order to transform said blank into the lacing-loop [0, Figs. 1 and 2,

the part c is bent upwardly and around to form the closed loop 0, the other part of said member being passed between the side members Z2 and underneath the'flat base or table if and finally bent downwardly to form the attaching-prong Z2. The said two side members are also bent downwardly and constitute attachingprongs Z). I prefer to have the pronged members extend slightly beyond the ends of the loop proper, substantially as represented in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, thereby increasing the holding capacity of the device.

The manner of securing or attaching the improved lacing-loop a to shoes, &c., is or may be substantially the same as that employed in attaching other types of pronged fasteners to shoes-as, for example, pronged button-fasteners. Fig. 3 represents the lacing-looprigidly secured to a flexible or pli able materials, as leather,-the several prongs having been forced therethrough and clenched thereunder. In this arrangement the shank of the central pronged member becomes practically embedded in the surface'of the leather and is protected by the table a;

I would add that the central member 5, or rather the corresponding part c of the loop, may bear against the bottom n of the recess a, Fig. 4, thereby when in use equalizing or distributing the strain or pull imparted to the lacing-loop through the lace Z. I prefer to make the eye or tie 0 of the loop curved or round cross-sectionally, thereby presenting a better holding for the lace and preventing excessive wear.

I do not claim, broadly, a fastening device made of sheet metal arranged to form an eye or loop wherein one member thereof is bent and disposed under the upper or table member, as a button-fastening device embodying to some extent the feature just described was issued to me September 19, 1882, in United States Patent No. 264,842.

I claim as my invention As an improved article of manufacture the one-piece sheet-metal lacing-loop, substantially as hereinbefore described, the same comprising a forked base or table member having attaching -prongs depending therefrom, and an elongated narrower member bent to form a closed arch or loop, its lower portion passing through the forked part of the base and extending thereunder and terminat- GEO. W. PRENTICE.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. REMINGTON, CALVIN H. BROWN.

Images