IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sussex Place,
Loughborough Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES."-A
communication.
Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 13th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1855.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES " to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object the employment of lasts or forms cast to
the exact form of the feet of the persons who are to wear the boots and shoes."
For this purpose, in place of cutting out a last of wood more or less like a
foot, a cast mould is taken, by means of plaster of Paris, or suitable plastic
substance, and in this mould is cast or formed an exact model of the foot in
gutta percha, or it may be of lead, or other substance capable of being cast in
such mould; and these forms of the feet in gutta percha or other substance,
when the plaster moulds have been removed therefrom, are used as lasts in
making boots and shoes, in like manner to that in which ordinary lasts of wood
have heretofore been employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES," (a communication.)
upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
The new anatomical last (by the use of which in the manufacture of boots
and shoes greater accuracy of fit is-obtained) is distinguished by the precision
with which it reproduces the form of all the parts of the foot, whether in its
natural state, or deformed by the use of mis-shapen boots. The anatomical
last differs essentially from the ordinary wooden lasts, inasmuch as, instead of
making it from measurements, which do not determine the exact position
of all the parts of the foot from the toes to the heel, I reproduce exactly the
form of the foot itself.
I commence by covering the foot with a sort of gaiter, that I lace together,

page_text: so as to give it the natural shape of the foot, and so that no inconvenience
arises from it.
The second operation consists in running plaster all round and over the foot,
in order to obtain from it a mould identically conformable to the model, and
in which all the parts of the foot are identically represented, an advantage
which it is impossible to obtain with the wooden last, however skilful the
workman may be.
The third operation is to pour into the plaster mould melted gutta percha,
which, when solid, produces a last as hard as wood, and represents the foot in
all its parts with perfect accuracy. I then add to this shape gutta percha, to
lengthen its point sufficient to allow the toes room to stretch at their case.
Lastly, I cut the last into two parts for shoes and into three parts for boots.
These pieces are kept in their place by means of a screw, which holds them
together or releases them at pleasure, so as to aid boot-makers in the use of
the anatomical last.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, or to the materials employed for making the
mould and last; but what I claim is, the manner of making lasts herein
described, by making a mould from the foot and casting the last therein.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
5 Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)