Improvements in Insoles for Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in Insoles for Boots and Shoes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co,. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is the production of an insole, which, when intro-
duced into the shoe, will have sufficient substance to admit of the upper being
firmly secured to it; and which, after the shoe has been worn for a time, will
increase, in lightness and flexibility, especially throughout the central portions
thereof. The said invention consists of a sole constructed of two or, more layers of
a character and in the manner hereinafter set forth.
•
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved insole.
Figure 2 is a section on line x, x Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a sectional view of a modified form of my invention.
The upper layer A is preferably of a good quality of leather, and to one side of
this layer I secure, by cement or otherwise, a layer B, which consists of a material
composed chiefly of paper-stock and tar, which is known as "sheathing felt," and
is used largely as a sheathing paper or felt under the metallic sheathing of the
hulls of vessels. It is not desirable or necessary to secure the layer of sheathing-
felt to the leather layer very firmly, but only so that the two layers may be handled
as one piece while the sole is being prepared and until it is secured in the boot or
shoe. By the use of this peculiar material for the layer B, which forms the lower
or inside layer when the sole is in the shoe, I find that an insole is produced which
retains substantially its normal thickness around the edges, where it is stitched or
fastened; but which, after being worn a comparatively short time becomes much
thinner and more flexible throughout the central portions, due to the shrinkage,
cracking and disintegrating of the layer B throughout these central portions when
the sole is dry, and subjected to the pressure and friction resulting from the wear
of the shoe and the movement of the insole relatively to the outsole and adjoining

page_text: parts. When by this action the layer B has become disintegrated and has practically
disappeared, the leather layer A is left, forming a very light, flexible and strong
insole.
The handling of the shoe in the process of manufacture after the insole has
been secured to the upper has the effect of breaking up the felt layer B, so that it
offers but little resistance to the flexibility of the sole, and the wear of the shoe,
even to a slight extent, is sufficient to complete the breaking up of this layer B in
such a manner as to cause any resistance which it might present to the flexibility.
of the sole to practically disappear. Continued wear of the shoe completes the.
disintegration of the layer B until the layer of leather alone is left in the central
portion of the shoe.
--
I have shewn at Figure 3 of the drawings a section of a modified form of my
invention, in which the central layer A of tarred material is enclosed between
layers a, b of cloth, or equivalent thin substance, of sufficient strength to form a
durable insole when the central layer has become cracked and disintegrated by
wear, or by the manipulation of the shoe in its manufacture.
I am aware that insoles constructed of two or more layers are not new, broadly,
and I do not claim the saine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
:
First. An insole for boots and shoes having an upper layer of leather, or
equivalent material, and an under layer of sheathing-felt composed chiefly of paper-
stock and tar, substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
Second. An insole for boots or shoes having an intermediate layer of tarred
material enclosed between layers of cloth, or equivalent material, in the manner
and substantially as set forth.
Dated thin and 1