Improvements in Boot or Shoe Stretchers or Trees.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1890-Accepted, 1st Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boot or Shoe Stretchers or Trees.
I DAVID THORPE LEE of Hogarth House Maidenhead in the County of Berkshire
Artist do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be perforined to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of this invention is to construct a cheap and effective device for stretching
boots or shoes or for keeping the same in shape.
Reference being made to the annexed sheet of drawings,
Fig. 1 is a plan of one form of boot or shoe stretcher and
Fig. 2 is a side elevation and
Fig. 3 a plan of a modified form of stretcher the latter serving also as a tree for
holding the boot or shoe in shape and affording a convenient handle thereto for
cleaning or blacking.
The improved stretcher consists of two corresponding halves or pieces A A which
may be continued rearwards to form handles B B or may terminate without such
handles and be pivoted by a pin passing through them, to a lever handle of the nature
hereinafter described. The two parts A A are fixed together at a suitable distance
apart by the connecting spring C which in the stretcher shown in Fig. 1 is coiled
tight and fitted with the ends into two cavities made to receive the ends in the
opposite faces of the parts A A. These cavities are preferably sunk obliquely so that
the tension of the spring caused by the setting of the ends in such oblique holes
tends to press the ends of the parts A A together so far as they are not restrained by
the slotted plate D and thumb screw E engaging in the slot thereof or an equivalent
device by which the stretcher is fixed with the parts A A apart when inserted in the
shoe or boot. The slotted plate D is pivoted to the one handle B and the thumb
screw is fastened into the other handle. After releasing the thumb screw the stretcher
may be pushed into the toe of the boot or shoe to be stretched and the handles pressed
firmly together so far as may be desired and firmly fixed by screwing down said thumb
screw.
In the modified stretcher shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the two parts A A are pressed
apart by a spring F of suitable strength, a piece G may be inserted between them
as a filling piece H is the lever handle, it is made preferably of the shape as shown
but especially with the eccentric heel piece or projection H2 and handle H' so
relatively located that when the handle is bent down forward the stretcher may be
easily inserted into the boot and when the handle is thereafter moved upward the heel
piece may press into the heel of the boot, and drive the toe pieces A A forward into
the toe by pressure against the inside of the back of the boot. H³ is a lifting
projection resting and abutting on the sole of the boot when the handle H' is pressed
down. The lever piece H may be provided with several holes H* for the passage of
the pin H so that this stretcher may be adjusted for different lengths of boots or
shoes. J are holes for receiving corn knobs in the known manner.
The improved stretchers may be made of wood or any suitable material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be described, I declare that what
1 claim is.
In a boot or shoe stretcher.
1. The combination of the two spring pivoted or hinged parts A. A with the rear-
wardly extended handles B B and the fixing device consisting of the slotted plate D
and the thumb screw E or an equivalent fastening device for connecting and
fastening said handles.

page_text: 2. The combination with the toe stretching piece consisting of two parts A and A
with or without the filling piece G of the lever H having the handle H' and heel
piece H2 relatively located as set forth said lever being pivoted to said toe piece for
use in the manner described.
3. A stretcher having two parts connected by a tight coiled spring at a suitable
interval apart, the ends of said spring being set in oblique pits or recesses in said
parts for causing them to assume a certain relative position suitable for their insertion
substantially as described.
Dated this 1st day of October 1800.
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents to Applicant.