US823853A - Boot-tree and the like. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTBD JUNE 19, 1906;

I. VON ESSEN. BOOT TREE AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAB.2, 1905.

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. BOOT-TREE AND 'THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent; Application fil d March a, 1905. sesame. 248,026.

Patented. June 19, 1906-.

'To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Fnrrz voiv EssEN, a sub ect of the King of Sweden, and a resident of Gardhem, Skofde, in the Kingdom of Sweden, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boot-Trees and the Like, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a formor tree for keeping boot tops or legs expanded so that no wrinkles or creases may be produced in the patent-leather when the said boot-legs are subjected to pressure or blows, Forms of wood as hitherto employed for the said purpose are very impracticable owing to their weight and clumsiness According to this invention the forms cons1st of a piece of carton' of any suitable thickness rolled up into slightly conical shape, which by a special treatment has been made so hard and at the same time so elastic or resilient that the form can keep the boot-leg expanded when inserted in the same. A kind of carton known under the name of Unica has been found very suitable for the forms in question; but the mode of manufacturing the carton itself or the material may obviously be varied. The form may, if desired, be provided With an inner expanding device consisting of two springs, for instance, to assist in keeping the form expanded. For the contracting of the form handles are fixed 'in the same, which can be grasped by the hand and moved toward each other.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate the invention, Figure 1 is a side view of the form; Fi 2, a section of the same on the line A B in ig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top view of the spring device, partly in section; and Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the said device at line C D, Fig. 3.

As mentioned above, the form 1 consists of a piece of stiff carton or any other similar suitable material in a thin stiff sheet, which by suitable treatment, such as hot-rolling, is wrought into the shape shown in the drawings and resembling a split tube with nonoverlapping longitudinal edges. When left to itself, the form or tube which tapers somewhat toward one of its ends, assumes a width somewhat greater than the inner width of the boot-leg. The form is provided at each longitudinal edge made by the split therein with an inner handle 2 of leather and preferably in the shape of a loop. By pressing the handles so that thewidth of the form is reduced the same can easily be kept in the contracted condition and inserted into the boot-leg, and if the handlesare thenreleased the form becomes wider and expands the boot-leg. When the form is to be taken out from the boot-leg,

it is also contracted by means of the handles.

The expanding power of the form may, if desired, be increased by means of two springs of the helical shape shown in Fig. 3. The spring 3 is mounted in a U member 4, arranged transversely and corresponding to the inner circumference of the form, the said member being fixed at one end to one edge of the conical form and sliding loosely against the other edge of the form when the same is contracted or expanded. End abutments 5, fixed to the form and between which the springs extend, permit the springs to have an expanding effect upon the form, and the U-shaped members cause them to conform to the curve of the conical form. Obviously, however, the inner expanding device described may be executed in many other ways.

Owing to the lightness, cheapness, and the efliciency of the form described, it is obviously much to be preferred to ordinary forms of wood, which are heavy and uncomfortable, and a form constructed in accordance with this invention may also be employed for other purposes similar to that stated herein.

I claim as my invention 1. An expander for boot-legs and the like, comprising a slightly conical form of resilient material split longitudinally, the edges formed by the split being separated by a gap and handles secured centrally to the inner,

surface of the said conical form and adjacent to the edges made by the split therein where by the said form may be contracted for insertion in a boot-le or the like.

2. An expander or boot-legs and the like,

comprising a longitudinally-split slightly conical form of resilient material adapted to be placed within a boot-leg, the'edges of the longitudinal split being separated by a gap, handles secured to the inner surface of the said conica 'form adjacent to the separated longitudinal edges made by the longitudinal split therein, and means interiorly of the said form for expanding the same 3. An expander for boot-legs and the like,

too

comprising a split sli htly conical form of resilient material the edges formed by the s lit being separated by a gap, abutments fixe in the said conical form and springs extending between the said abutments and across the gap between the said edges, and means transversely placed for causing those parts of the springs which extend between the said edges 0 conform to the curve of the said cylindrical orm.

4. An expander for boot-legs and the like, comprising a split slightly conical form of resilient material, the edges formed by the split being separated by a gap, U-shaped guides fixed at one end Within the said conical form I 5 witnesses. FRITZ VON ESSEN.

Witnesses:

WOLDEMAR SENBERG, FABTsoN UREDE.

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