NEWLY INVENTED HALF BOOT
Year: 1792

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BURMAN, of Brackley, in the County of Northampton, Cordwainer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of April
last past, hath been graciously pleased, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
to give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Burman, my executors, admors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I,
the said Samuel Burman, my executors, adññors, and assigns, and every of them,
by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy and deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, or my executors, adñors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at times thenafter for
the term of fourteen years from the date thereof, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my "NEWLY INVENTED HALF BOOT" therein men-
tioned, and upon the terms and conditions therein also mentioned; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a provisoe that if I, the said Samuel
Burman, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one callender month
next ensuing the date thereof, that then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages thereby granted, should be void, as by the same
Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, will appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Burman, in pursuance of and
obediance to the said provisoe, do hereby acknowledge and declare that the
description and specification herein-after contained with reference to and by

page_text: the aid of the Drawings in the Schedule hereto annexed, doth particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner it
is to be perforined, that is to say :-
I do hereby acknowledge and declare that my said Newly Invented Half
Boot is made of leather, or any other material manufactured or proper to be
manufactured into boots, and consists of the sole and heel (which include the
insole, rand, welt, outsole, lifts, and top piece), the wamp, the strengthener, the
linings, the counterfeit, the watergard or preservative, the strap quarter, the
lap quarter. the upper fastner, and the under fastner. The insole, rand, welt,
outsole, lifts, top piece, linings, and counterfeit, are made in the same manner
and of the same materials as the insoles, rands, welts, outsoles, lifts, top pieces,
linings, and counterfeits of boots usually are. The vamp is cut on the strap
quarter side of the boot, directly at and from that part of the seam called the
tongue seam, where the strap quarter closed to the lower part of the vamp
meets the lap quarter closed to the upper part of the vamp, which is about
one third below the crease or middle of the vamp; and between such crease
and the sole the cut is made from thence so far down towards the toe as to
admit the foot into the boot with ease, as described in Figure 1, in the said
Schedule hereunto annexed, by the line drawn between the Letter L. Over the
bottom of this cut or opening, that is, at the part of it nearest the toe, the boot
is ornamented and strengthened by a small piece of leather, which I call the
strengthener, stabbed or sewed down to the vamp and over the bottom of the cut,
as described in the said Figure 1, in the said Schedule hereunto annexed at tho
Letter E, which piece of leather I usually make in the shape of a heart, as
there described, but which may be of a different shap, at the fancy of the
maker or wearer. The waterguard or preservative is a piece of leather
lescribed in the said Figure 1, marked with the Letter C, and is cut to a point at
the bottom, and sewed in the boot, from the end of the cut or opening in the
vamp nearest the toe, on the strap quarter side of such cut or opening, and up
the strap quarter, in the inside of, and up or near to the crease or middle of
the vamp or of the lining of the vamp, where the boot is lined, to the top of
the tongue, and may be also sewed from thence up the inside of lap quarter,
if required; this piece of leather, called the water guard or preventative, must
be of such a breadth at the top as, when sewed to the boot as before-
mentioned, may be necessary to admit the foot into the boot with case,
decreasing in breadth gradually downwards to the point before mentioned;
and the intention and utility of the said waterguard or preservative being so
placed and sewed, is the better to guard and preserve the foot, ancle, and lower
part of the leg from such water and wet as might otherwise penetrate under
the upper faster, and the lap or fold of the lap quarter of the boot. The

page_text: strap quarter is described in the said Figure 1, in the Schedule hereunto
annexed, and marked with the Letter A, and has a lap or fold and strap in the
front, which strap is there marked with the Letter i, which I make of such
proportionable form and size as there described, or nearly so, but which is not
necessary of that particular form or size, but may be varied, yet only so as
that it still answer the purpose hereafter mentioned. This lap or fold is lapped or
folded upon the leg, and the strap thereof is put through a slit or hole, as described
in the said Figure 1, at the Letter k, made in the lap quarter to receive it, in
order that such strap may be buckled or fastned to a buckle or other fastning
to be fixed at the extremity of the lap or fold of the lap quarter, as herein-
after mentioned. The lap quarter is described in the said Figure 1, and marked
with the Letter B, and has also a lap or fold larger than the lap or fold of the
strap quarter, which passes round the leg, over the waterguard and strap
quarter, and has at the extremity thereof, as described in the said Figure 1, at the
Letter k, a buckle or other fastening, in order that the strap of the strap quarter
may be buckled or fastened to it, where such such strap passes through the
said slit or hole in the lap quarter. The parts of the strap quarter and lap quarter,
which are attached together by the seam commonly called the back seam, are
cut in manner following: namely, that part of the lap quarter which is attached
to the strap quarter by the said scam called the back seam is cut more full than
the strap quarter, slopingly from the bend of the heel to the top of the boot,
in order that such seam may not be awry on the leg, which it otherwise would
be, as the lap quarter draws the boot more forcibly round the leg at the top
than the strap quarter does; and, on account of the lap quarter so drawing
more forceably, a small piece must be cut or taken out of the lap quarter from
near the center of the tongue of the vamp of the lower part of the lap
quarter, where it joins the upper fastener, to make the lap quarter fit close
over the instep. The upper fastner is either a welt or a strap or straps
sewed to the vamp on the upper side of the cut or opening, and if required, to
part of the lap quarter in order to cover the waterguard, and to fasten the upper.
part of the vamp and the lower part of the lap quarter to the lower fastner. This
fastner is described in the said Figure 1, as a strap between the Letters F and
M, and, whether a welt or a strap or straps, is fixed at the part there marked
with the line between those letters; on this upper fastner, where it is a welt,
is fixed or fastened either the whole or a part of one or more clasp or
clasps, spring or springs, or other fastening or fastenings, to fasten the upper
part of the vamp and the lower part of the lap quarter, as aforesaid, over the
instept of the foot to the button or buttons, buckle or buckles, clasp or clasps,
spring or springs, or other fastening or fastenings, fixed or fastened to the
under fastener as herein-after described; and where the upper fastener is a strap

page_text: or straps, then the same is or are to be buckled or fastened to a buckle or
buckles, or button or buttons, or other proper fastening, fixed or fastened to
the under fastener. The under fastener is a welt or piece of leather sewed on
the vamp below the upper fastener, at or about the part marked in the said
Figure 1 with the snid Letter g, and as thero described; on this under fastner is
fixed or fastened either the whole or part of one or more button or buttons,
buckle or buckles, clasp or clasps, spring or springs, or other fastening or
fastenings to which the upper fastener, or the clasp or clasps, spring or springs,
or other fastening or fastenings, fixed or fastened to the upper fastener, is or
are buttoned, buckled, clasped, or fastened by means of which the upper part
of the vamp and lower part of the lap quarter are united to the lower part of
the vamp. Instead of the under fastner as described above, tho welt may be
omitted, and the buckle, button, or other proper fastning may be put through
a slit or hole to be in that case made in the same part of the vamps, a piece
of leather being sewed or stabbed under the same slit or hole all round it to
the inside of the vamp, as well to prevent the water or wet froin penetrating
through the same, as to prevent the button or buttons, buckle or buckles,
clasp or clasps, spring or springs, or other fastning or fastnings, from
hurting the foot; and the bottom or buttons, buckle or buckle, clasp or
clasps, spring or springs, or other fastning or fastnings, will then be
buttoned, buckled, clasped, or otherwise fastened to the upper fastener, in
manner before mentioned. Instead of the upper and under fasteners as above
described, a strap may be sewed or fixed on each side of the vamp, like the
strap of a shoe, and buckled over the instep in the manner that a shoo is
buckled; a small strap may be also sewed, when desired, in the place of the
upper fastener, and may be drawn through the buckle, the tongue of the buckle
passing through it, together with the strap fixed on the strap quarter side of
the vamp. This boot is to be closed, stitched, and sewed together in the same
manner and with the samo materials as boots commonly are, except that it
will be found most convenient for the workmen, first, to close the lap quarter
to the vamp round the tongue to the opening on the other side, and then to
close the strap quarter to the vamp to such opening, then to close the back
seam, then, where the vame is lined, to whip or sow in such lining, then to
close in the waterguard, then to close or stab the upper fastener, then to put
in the counterfeit and linings, then to close or stab the under fastener, and then
to stab the boot where required.
The boot may be also lined throughout, and bound or ornamented with
leather or other binding, or may be seamed or stitched round the quarters, and
the slit in the lap quarter if required; the parts and particulars of the boot
which are new, and which I claim as my new Invention, are the above cut or

page_text: opening on the one side, and the manner of placing and fixing the waterguard
to the vamp and lap quarters, in the manner before described; the cut or
opening admits the foot easily into the boot; the manner of placing and fixing
the waterguard effectually keeps out the water and wet, as above mentioned,
which drains through the laced and other boots with openings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Burman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of May, in the thirty-second year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &c.,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-