improvements in Boots, Shoes, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 21st Oct., 1393-Accepted, 10th Dec., 1893
improvements in Boots, Shoes, and the like.
I, JOSEPH NEWTON, of 35, Belgrave Road, Dresden, in the County of Stafford,
Earthenware Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention relates to boots, shoes, and similar articles of foot-wearing
apparel, and has for its object chiefly to facilitate and cheapen the repairing of
such articles and, in addition, to considerably lengthen the life of same.
In constructing boots and shoes according to my invention I hollow out or
cut from the leather of the sole and heel portions, before being attached to the
uppers of the shoes and boots, central recessed portions; the same being of any
suitable depth and at a convenient distance from the boundary edges of the
leather, and conforming to shape of same. If necessary I may make these recess
portions of irregular depth, a greater depth obtaining at the sides than at the
centre of the sole and heel portions, or vice-versa. These recessed portions are
formed for the purpose of taking a channelled-shaped web piece of leather,
rubber, or other suitable durable material, the same being thin at its body or
middle part and thickening out at either end. This web piece or strip stands
out some little distance from the sole and heel portions proper, and the thickened
parts of same constitute the actual tread parts or blocks to the boot or shoe.
A small clamping plate preferably of wood or leather is placed against the body
or middle part of the web piece or strip, and the whole is then rigidly secured
to the sole and heel portions proper of the boot or shoe by screws, or any suit-
able fastening means.
When the inserted web piece or strip of rubber or leather has become worn it
is an easy matter and only the work of a few minutes for the wearer to take
the same out and replace it by a duplicate; the sole and heel portions of the boot
or shoe proper remaining unworn.
Further by my invention only a limited area of wearing material is presented
to the wet or, it may be, the heat, and this is an important desideratum where
foot wear is concerned.
I may make my tread blocks separate, that is to say, without any middle or
body part, and affix them in position within any convenient part or parts of the
sole and heel portions proper of the boot or shoe by suitable recesses made to
receive them; suitable fastening means being employed if found necessary.
My invention is applicable to slippers, clogs, and the like, and, in the former
case, it will be found advantageous for indoor wear to use insertions or strips of
felt, especially in the case of sickness, and, where clogs are worn, insertions or
strips of wood will be found suitable.

page_text: Improvements in Boots, Shoes, and the like.
I, JOSEPH NEWTON, of 35, Belgrave Road, Dresden, in the County of Stafford,
Earthenware Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:―
This invention relates to boots, shoes, and similar articles of foot wearing
apparel, and has for its object to provide them with outer sole and heel portions
of rubber, gutta-percha, or compositions thereof, of a particular construction
and application. These outer rubber sole and heel portions constitute the treads
proper to the boot or shoe, and are fixed or fastened to the ordinary leather sole
and heel or to the leather undersole and heel so that they form rigid parts there-
with.
The purpose of this invention is to obtain a non-absorbent tread, which has
very little surface and a hollow middle part, so that a more even temperature and
greater resistance to cold and heat to the feet of the wearer is obtained, and a
large increase of comfort in walking. Moreover boots and shoes fitted with
treads constructed according to this invention are non-slipping in frosty weather,
non-conductors of electricity, and noiseless of tread; the latter being of great
importance in hospitals and sick rooms.
The invention will be described in connection with the annexed sheet of draw-
ings, in which an elevation of a shoe with a tread constructed according to this
invention is shown in Fig. 1, an underside plan of the same in Fig. 2, a trans-
verse vertical section in Fig. 3, taken on the dotted line F, Fig. 2. Figs. 4, 5.
and 6 show various forms of construction and affixment.
The shoe a has fitted to its upper, a², in the ordinary manner, a leather sole
and heel a³, at. To the bottom of this leather sole and heel are attached corre-
spondingly sized rubber sole and heel portions c, c², of a particular construction,
the said portions to constitute treads. These rubber sole and heel portions are
constructed or moulded with outstanding boundary rib portions c³, c4, and with
set back or hollowed-out middles, e, and edges 6, so that there is no part of
the middles of the rubber treads in contact with the ground in walking, but a
free and well defined air passage or space. This construction of the rubber
treads viz. boundary ribs and hollowed-out middle parts, is of importance in
a boot or shoe constructed according to this invention, as also is the leather
undersole and heel parts, as without this combination the advantages herein-
before enumerated could not be obtained. For instance, practical tests show
that leather is the healthiest material to be in contact with the foot, and with-
out its intervention between the rubber treads and the foot the comfort desired
in walking could not be obtained. Further, by hollowing-out or setting-back
the middle parts of the rubber treads and having only a boundary contact with
the ground and an intervening rubber webbing w between the said boundary rib
parts and the leather under sole, the shock due to an uneven tread, as stepping
upon a projecting stone, &c., is taken and cushioned evenly along the boot or
shoe by means of this intervening webbing.
In Fig. 4 the rubber heel tread is shown of a studded construction, the set-
back portions in this case only being at the extreme edges. This construction
of heel tread may be used with advantage in some instances, as the heel part of
the shoe is not so sensitive to the foot of the wearer as the sole part.
These sole and heel rubber portions with their outstanding rib parts are, as
regards each portion, moulded in one piece in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, and rigidly
cemented to the outer surfaces of the leather under sole and heel of the shoe.

page_text: In Fig. 5 is shown a section of a shoe in which the leather of the undersole
is cut away at its middle as for the reception of the rubber sole portion or tread,
the latter being dove-tailed into the said cut-away part and held therein as a
secondary affixing means by nails or screws f", f. In this case the outer rubber
tread is easily renewable when worn, as the same can be detached from the dove-
tailed recess and another one substituted, and this without any skilled assistance.
In Fig. 6 another method of fixing the rubber tread c to the leather under
sole is shown. Metal plates m, m, are in this case fitted round the extreme
boundary of the rubber tread, and form the means, through suitable screws, for
securely clamping the rubber treads in position. In this case the rubber tread
need not be cemented to the leather undersole but the said clamping plate may
form a secondary means to the cementing for the tread's affixment.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
First. In boots, shoes, and the like, the combination with a leather or other
suitable upper a³ and leather sole and heel portions proper or undersole por-
tions a³, a, of rubber sole and heel tread portions c, c², attached to the por-
tions a, a, and which have boundary ribs c³, et, standing out from their surfaces,
and set back portions or hollowings,, at their middles and sides, sub-
stantially as described and set forth."
Second. In boots, shoes, and the like, the combination of a leather or suitable
upper a fitted with leather sole and heel portions proper, or undersole and heel
portions a, a, rubber sole and heel tread portion's c, c², corresponding in size to
the feather portions a³, 4, and forming facings thereto; said portions cc, having
forming in one piece with them boundary ribs 3, 4, which stand out from their
surface, set back portions or hollowings c, c, at their middles and sides, and an.
intervening rubber web which forms the base of the tread, and which comes
between the ribs and hollowings and the leather undersole and heel portions,
substantially as set forth.
Third. In boots, shoes, and the like, as claimed in the first claim, the methods
of attaching the rubber treads to the under soles as described in Figs. 5 and 6.
Dated this 19th .. of Databa
1808
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
11, Burlington Chambers, New Street, Birmingham,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.