Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Lacing Studs for Shoes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1890-Accepted, 4th Oct., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Manufacture of Lacing Studs
for Shoes.
I, WILLIAM HENRY SMIDT a citizen of the United States, residing at No. 121 Liberty
Street, in the City and State of New York, Gentleman, 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 :-
My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the manufacture of
shoe lacing studs and has for its object to provide a simple, durable and economical
stud and at the same time to so shape the latter that the operation of setting it within
a shoe upper will be greatly facilitated.
In the accompanying drawing,-
Figure 1, is an elevation of the blank from which my stud is formed.
Figure 2, a similar view showing the shape of the blank after the first operation.
Figure 3, an elevation of the completed stud prior to covering the head.
Figure 4, a central vertical section of the stud shown at Figure 3.
Figure 5, an elevation similar to Fig. 3, but showing the head of the stud covered
with a suitable pyroxyline material, and
Figure 6, a central vertical section of the stud shown at Fig. 5.
Similar letters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing.
Heretofore it has been the common practice to make these studs by turning up from
a solid rod and then bending the head into position; also, a similar article called a
lacing hook has been made from a flat sheet metal blank by bending up into the
desired shape, the tubular setting eyelet being drawn from the stock of the blank. It
has furthermore been essayed to make a lacing hook from a tubular blank closed at
one end by offsetting said blank and then bending the head into shape, but this last
construction lacks the all-important feature of a circumferential flange at the top of
the eyelet without which the hook cannot be properly "set" within a shoe upper.
My improved stud is made from a short tubular shell open at both ends, such shell
being denoted by A at Fig. 1. The stock of this shell is first thrown up at or about
the centre part after the manner of swagging so as to present a flange B as shown at
Fig. 2. The stock above the flange is then compressed circumferentially so as to form
the diminished neck C and overhanging head D (see Fig. 3). The stud thus formed
is tubular with a hollow open head as will be understood by reference to Fig. 4. The
stud is completed by forcing within and over the edges of said head a mass of
pyroxyline material denoted by E in Figs. 5 and 6.
The lower end of the shell beneath the flange forms the setting eyelet F by means
of which the stud is secured within the shoe upper.
It will be readily seen that by making the studs from open-ended shells, I am
enabled not only to provide the setting eyelet F, but also to afford a head which is
admirably adapted to receive and retain the covering of pyroxyline material.
Also, although I use thin shells in the manufacture of this stud, the inward circum-
ferential compression of the upper end of the shell affords great strength to the
neck C.
In setting my improved stud, it is not necessary to preserve a particular position
within the shoe upper, as is the case with the hooks and studs generally used wherein
the necks are eccentric with respect to the heads, for in my studs the necks and heads
are concentric and the shoe lace can be caught by the head at any point circum-
ferentially beneath the same.
However, this last named peculiarity of my improved stud is not deemed to be
important as far as novelty is concerned, since the neck may be formed eccentric with
respect to the head, the gist of my invention resting in the broad idea of a stud having

page_text: an eyelet, a setting flange, a neck and an open head, all formed from a single tubular
shell
open at both ends.
I wish to be distinctly understood that this stud is made open at the head for the
express purpose of receiving and retaining an enveloping mass of pyroxyline material,
the advantages of the latter being to present a finished surface and to prevent the
unsightly appearance of the metallic head, and I therefore do not wish to be under-
stood as claiming a metallic hook or stud wherein the head is closed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A shoe lacing stud having a tubular setting eyelet and a hollow open head, both
formed from a tubular shell open at both ends, substantially as set forth.
2. A shoe lacing stud having a tubular setting eyelet, a circumferential flange at
the top of said eyelet, a diminished neck, and a head surrounding said neck, all formed
from a tubular shell open at both ends, substantially as shown and described.
3. A lacing stud formed from a tubular shell open at both ends, and having a
tubular setting eyelet, a flange extending circumferentially around the latter, a
diminished neck, and an overbanging head, substantially as set forth.
4. The method of making shoe lacing studs from tubular sheet metal shells open at
both ends, consisting in first swaging said shells at or about the centre whereby a
circumferential flange is formed, and then compressing the .shell immediately above
said flange, whereby a diminished neck and an overhanging head are formed, substan-
tially as set forth.
5. The method of making shoe lacing studs from tubular sheet metal blanks,
consisting in first forming a flange circumferentially around the blank and subse-
quently shaping the upper part of the blank to afford a diminished neck and an
overhanging head, substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 26th day of August 1900.
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.