Improvements in Football Boots.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1898-Accepted, 11th June, 1898
Improvements in Football Boots.
I, JAMES MILLWARD MAY, of Ross Lynne, Gerald Road, Lower Broughton, Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Lawcosts Draughtsman, 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:-
1 My invention has for its object the prevention of personal injury from kicks at
the game of football.
2 Such invention consists of a thick india rubber toe-cap, from two to three
inches in length, rounded at the tip which is hollowed inside, so as to form a kind
of cushion for kicking the ball.
3 This toe-cap is moulded in one piece and graduated in thickness both across
the top part thereof and at the bottom part thereof or sole.
4 The leather sole fits inside the toc-cap, therefore the leather sole has to be
cut proportionately shorter than an ordinary sole and slightly reduced in breadth
and thickness where the rubber fits over it so that the rubber may represent as
near as possible a continuation of the leather sole. The comparative thickness
of the rubber and size of the hollow are shewn in the accompanying sheet of
drawings in section (see Figure 3).
5 The attachment of the said toe-cap to a boot is effected by fitting the toe-cap
over the toe of the leather sole and uppers and securing same with cement-it is
then stitched to the uppers as shewn in Figure 1 and rivetted to the leather sole
(being further secured and protected from wear and tear by the leather toe-piece
and cross-bar) as shewn in Figure 2.
6 In some boots of course leather pegs have to be used instead of cross-bars.
In that case the leather toe-piece would be retained and three leather pegs would
be placed in a straight line at equal distances from each other (one in the middle
and one at each side near the edge of the sole) over the part otherwise occupied by
each of the cross bars.
7 When made up and completed the boot resembles the ordinary football boot
with the exception that the tip of the cap protrudes about half an inch beyond the
leather toe-piece, slightly varying according to the size of the boot.
S The nature of my said invention and the manner in which the same is to be
performed and carried into effect will be readily understood on reference to the
accompanying sheet of drawings and the following explanation thereof.
Figure 1 is a plan of part of the uppers of a boot with the india rubber toe-cap
affixed. A B C show the toe-cap. 2 thick dotted lines from A to C show stitches.
Thick dotted line D to E also stitches. Faint dotted line near and parallel to
the last mentioned thick dotted line shows termination of leather uppers under
the rubber. Faint dotted line from A running through F to C indicates the
leather sole inside the cap. Faint curved dotted lines from G to H indicate the
hollow at the tip of the cap.
Figure 2 is a plan of part of a sole of a boot showing the bottom of the toe cap
as affixed to the boot. C B A represent the cap. K the leather toe piece. L the
leather cross-bar. Faint dotted line from C running through F to A indicates the

page_text: leather sole inside the cap. Faint curved dotted lines from H to G the hollow at
the tip of the toe-cap.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of the toe cap attached to a boot. Line DE
indicates termination of leather uppers under the rubber. Thick dotted line near
to and parallel with the line D E denotes stitches. Thick dotted lines A, C, also
stitches. Faint dotted line parallel with the last mentioned 2 dotted lines indi-
cates termination of rubber. M shows the leather sole slightly reduced in thick-
ness. K the leather toe piece. L the leather bar. The black crescent at the toe
shows the hollow in the rubber.
I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any process with regard to the
preparation or moulding of rubber or any particular method of manufacturing
boots or anything which is old but only that which is new and the necessary com-
bination of the old and the new as constituting the above improvements in foot-
ball boots.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1 The invention of the improvements in football boots for the purposes of safety
consisting of a hollow tipped and rounded india rubber toe-cap as more particu-
larly described above and shewn in the accompanying sheet of drawings marked
Figures 1, 2, and 3" together with the attachment of the said india rubber
toe-cap to football boots in the manner described and set out in the above specifi-
cation and drawings referred to.
16
Dated this Sixteenth day of February 1898.