IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIA-RUBBER OVERSHOES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bonar Guthrie, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Warehouseman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIA-RUBBER OVERSHOES."
Sealed the 31st May 1859, and dated the 11th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bonar Guthrie at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th December 1858.
I, JOHN BONAR GUTHRIE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Warehouseman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIA-RUBBER OVERSHOES," to be as
follows:-
The improvements are designed for the purpose of rendering semi-elastic
india-rubber overshoes more elastic at certain parts, and consist in the appli-
cation or introduction of gores, gussets, or pieces of elastic india-rubber, or
india-rubber webbing or fabric into such semi-elastic overshoes, which said
gores may be of any form, and may be introduced at any required part of the
overshoe, so as to produce the desired effect of increased elasticity in the over-
shoe, and thereby afford the wearer greater ease and convenience. I also
apply to india-rubber overshoes a loose elastic strap, or it may be loose at one
end only to go across the instep, for the purpose of more conveniently securing
and attaching the "golosh."

page_text: *SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Bonar Guthrie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BONAR GUTHRIE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Warehouseman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Bonar Guthrie, Her special licence that I, the said
John Bonar Guthrie, my executors; administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Bonar Guthrie, 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, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIA-RUBBER OVER-
SHOES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Bonar
Guthrie, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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
Offic: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bonar Guthrie, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The improvements are designed for the purpose of rendering semi-elastic
overshoes more elastic at certain parts, and consists in the application at
certain parts of gores, gussets, or pieces of elastic india-rubber, or india-rubber
webbing or fabric into such semi-elastic overshoes, which said gores or gussets
may be of any form, and may be introduced at any part of the overshoe, so
as to produce the desired effect of increased elasticity in the overshoe, and
thereby afford to the wearer greater ease and convenience. I also apply to
india-rubber overshoes a loose strap, or it may be loose at one end only, for
the
purpose of more conveniently securing and detaching the same.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
I take gussets cut from woven elastic fabric, such as that which is woven
with strands of india-rubber, or that which is made by cementing strands
of india-rubber between two layers of woven fabric or leather, or that which is
made by cementing sheets while on the stretch between woven fabrics or
leather, or that which is made by stitching sheets whilst on the stretch between
woven fabrics or leather, or in whatever way the elastic fabric is made. I cut
gussets of a suitable size for inserting into the instep, or the side of the over-
shoe or overboot which I am about to make, and I sometimes do this by
sewing the .gusset to the india-rubber of the overshoe or the lining, or both
the lining and the rubber, and at other times I cement the gusset or gussets
between the india-rubber and the lining, as will be well understood by any one
having a knowledge of the manufacture of india-rubber overshoes and boots.
Sometimes I prepare the overshoes or boots to receive the gussets by making
an extra lap of rubber, or rubber and cloth round about the gap in the shoe
or boot left when they are being made, to be afterwards filled up with the
gussets; this cap of rubber serves to enclose a portion of the gusset, and to
conceal the edge of it.
I claim the use of clastic gussets in the top and sides, or both, to that
description of overshoe or boot, or covering for the foot, made wholly or in
part of vulcanized india-rubber, and intended to be worn over another boot
or shoe.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bonar Guthrie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JUHN BŪNAK GUTHRIE. (L.S.