IMPROVE- MENTS IN COVERINGS FOR THE FEET OF BIPEDS OR QUADRUPEDS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pidding, of the Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COVERINGS FOR THE FEET OF BIPEDS OR QUADRUPEDS."
Sealed the 20th August 1858, and dated the 21st February 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pidding at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st February 1858.
I, WILLIAM PIDDING, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERINGS FOR THE FEET OF BIPEDS OR
QUADRUPEDS" to be as follows:—
I propose to make boots, shoes, sandals, or other covering for the
feet of men or animals, the soles of which have to be of India-rubber
filled with oleaginous or aqueous liquid, as may be found best in practice,
or with air. I sew throughout the soles of the shoes with threads of
the same material to preserve shape, and coat over all with a solution
of caoutchouc so often as to render them air and water tight; I also,
when desirable, sew with catgut, silk, or thread. In use these soles,

page_text: say a shoe, will press equally throughout, and no perceptible difference
will be felt by the foot, whether walking on carpet or gravel. I keep
the soles of a shoe in its right position during the operation of sewing
in the threads before filling in as aforesaid in various ways; as, for
example, I leave a hole in the casing of the sole about to be filled up,
into which I pour melted wax or tallow, taking care while cooling, and
when cool, the proper form of the sole is preserved. I then sew through
the whole material, the threads cutting the yielding wax; I then get
rid of the tallow, and introduce oil, air, or water, secure the threads in
the right position, and apply the solution as aforesaid. For forming
the casing I have a mould composed of several pieces, which, when
fitted together, represent the shape I require; such pieces to be drawn
out one by one when the covering is complete, either at the toe or
heel end thereof. I make the casing by several layers of caoutchouc
tape or ribbon till complete, and then boil in water, having previously
secured the end of the tape by common tape or other fastening. I
make the uppers (commonly called upper leathers) of a material in the
manufacture of which I claim as a patent right in a separate Provi-
sional Specification, and which will therein be found sufficiently
described. But I do not confine myself to making uppers of the said
material, as I use these soles with any uppers whatever, attaching
them to the sole by India-rubber solution or other convenient method.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Pidding, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 20th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM PIDDING, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said William Pidding, Her special licence
that I, the said William Pidding, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Pidding, 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, my "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COVERINGS FOR THE FEET OF BIPEDS OR QUADRUPEDS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said William Pidding, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Pidding, 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 :-
My Invention relates to a novel species of shoe or boot, or other
covering to the feet, and its purpose is to render the same elastic or
yielding to the sole of the foot, and, when desired, highly ornamented
in a novel style on the upper portions of such coverings.
I make boots and shoes for bipeds and quadrupeds as follows:-
Instead of solid soles, I make them hollow, and of India-rubber or
gutta percha, filled with liquid (of the liquid, I prefer oil, because it is
of light weight); and in order to increase such lightness, when required
of very light weight and slightly elastic, I fill the sole-casing with air.
The following is the mode I prefer to adopt in making these soles :-
I cause the India-rubber sole-casing to retain always (except when
in use, and when resting on uneven surfaces, such as gravel, stones, &c.)
its shape by sewing throughout its surfaces numerous India-rubber
threads; and to prevent the oil or other liquid or air escaping where
the India-rubber threads have been sewn, I give both top and bottom

page_text: of the soles numerous coatings of a solution of India-rubber, gutta
percha, or compound thereof, allowing each coating of such solution to
dry before another is placed over or on to it. When completed, a section
of the sole will appear as shown at Figure 1, of the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
It may sometimes be advisable to have the threads, instead of straight,
slanting both ways in the sole, which may be found better adapted for
keeping the said soles in their right position when the wearer may be
walking on a very slanting path or road. The sides may also be
strengthened by threads from A, to G, G, and from B, to E, D; the
ends at A, and B, may also be strengthened with catgut, silk, thread,
or cloth. The result to the feet will be, that the pressure will be always
equally felt throughout the surface; so that when a person may be
walking on pebbles he will feel as if he were walking on a carpet; and,
instead of a weight of about 160 lbs. to the square inch when the soles
of shoes, as now usually made, rest on one inch surface of sharp flints
and pebbles, as the pressure will always be equal on the sole as I
form and fill it it will average but about 7 lbs. to the square inch;
and, from various experiments I have tried, I find that ten times such
pressure does not produce the slightest effect on India-rubber, gutta
percha, or compound; so that the soles will last a very long period of
time. Although these soles are thicker in bulk, they will be about
one tenth the weight of ordinary soles. The upper portion of tho
covering or shoe I form principally of a material patented by me, but
I do not confine myself thereto, as I may use leather, cloth, or any
suitable substance therefore. I keep the sole of a shoe in its right
position during the operation of sewing in the threads before filling in
as aforesaid in various ways; as, for example, I leave a hole in the
casing of the sole (about to be filled up), into which I pour melted
wax or tallow, taking great care while the wax or tallow is cooling:
when cool, the proper form of the sole is preserved. I then sew
through the whole material, the threads cutting the yielding wax:
I then get rid of the wax or tallow, and introduce oil, air, or water in
its place, secure the threads in the right position, and apply the solution
aforesaid. For forming the casing I have a mould composed of several

page_text: picces, which, when fitted together, represents the shape required; such
pieces are to be drawn out one by one when the casing is complete,
either at the toe or heel end thereof. I make the casing by several
layers of tape or ribbon, made from caoutchouc, till it is completely
formed, then boil it in water, having previously secured the end of the
caoutchouc tape used by common tape or other fastening.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the mode or
means by which it is carried into effect, I now proceed to claim as of
my Invention, and I do claim, soles of shoes, boots, or other coverings
for the feet of bipeds or quadrupeds, prepared, made, or completed in
the mode or modes or manner herein-before described, whether such
soles may be attached to uppers of the material patented by me, or
whether such uppers be made of cloth, leather, or any material what-
soever.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, have hereunto
affixed my hand and seal the sixteenth day of August One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness, JAMES PIDDING,
8, Crown-court, Threadneedle-street.
W. PIDDING. (LS.)