IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE TOE PIECES OR TIPS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Barber, of Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE
TOE PIECES OR TIPS."
Sealed the 18th July 1873, and dated the 28th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Barber
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th March 1873.
I, WILLIAM JOHN BARBER, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BOOT AND SHOE TOE PIECES OR TIPS" (to be as follows) :—
This Invention relates to the manufacture of that class of metal tips
which are intended to protect the front or toe part of the upper leather
of boots and shoes, the object being to produce a toe piece that shall be

page_text: capable of being used with and secured to a sewn boot by the one
process of sewing the sole to the
leather.
upper
For this purpose and
in a toe piece swaged or raised and shaped with a curved flange in the
front I form a grating in the metal or plate which is placed between the
upper leather and the bottom sole, the transverse pieces of metal or bars
forming the grating, being rounded or sharpened on the under side.
When the boot or shoe (made up and prepared) is being sewn by a
boot or shoe sole sewing machine or by hand the needle with the thread
will pass through the leather and between the interstices of the grating
formed in the toe plate and secure the toe piece upon the boot or shoe,
for should it happen that the needle strikes on one of the bars forming
the grating it will glide off to the right or left as the case may be in
consequence of the rounded or sharpened sides of the said transverse
bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William John Barber in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHN BARBER, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William John Barber, Her special
licence that I, the said William John Barber, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William John
Barber, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 BOOT AND SHOE TOE PIECES OR TIPS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William John Barber, my execu-
tors 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent...
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William John Barber, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of that class of metal tips
which are intended to protect the front or toe part of the upper leather
of boots and shoes, the object being to produce a toe piece that shall be
capable of being used with and secured to a sewn boot by the one
process of sewing the sole to the upper leather. For this purpose and
in a toe piece swaged or raised and shaped with a curved flange in the
front I form a grating in the metal or plate which is placed between the
upper leather and the bottom sole, the transverse pieces of metal or bars
forming the grating being rounded or sharpened on the under side.
When the boot or shoe (made up and prepared) is being sewn by a
boot or shoe sole sewing machine or by hand the needle with the thread
will pass through the leather and between the interstices of the grating
formed in the toe plate and secure the toe piece upon the boot or shoe,
for should it happen that the needle strikes on one of the bars forming
the grating it will glide off to the right or left as the case may be in
consequence of the rounded or sharpened sides of the said transverse
bars.

page_text: Having thus described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
I claim the Improvements in Boot and Shoe Toe Pieces or Tips," sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Barber, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, 5
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.