Improvements in Fasteners for Boots and other Articles.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 1st Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fasteners for Boots and other Articles.
A communication from abroad by JOSUÉ HEILMANN, of Cannes, Alpes Maritimi, in
the Republic of France, Gentleman.
1, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil.
Engineer, 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 :-
For fastening boots, shoes or the like, laces have been generally hitherto used.
These are passed through eyelets or under hooks. Such appliances are all fixed and
rigid, which is a drawback, and they damage the wearer's clothes more or less.
These drawbacks are avoided by means of the device forming the object of the present
application, as, when the lace is in position, the hook is turned inwards.
•
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a plan of the hook itself.
Figure 2 a similar view of the plate.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the hook in a raised position.
Figure 4 is a plan of the hook and plate, the former raised.
Figure 5 is an inverted plan of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is an elevation of the hook turned down.
Figure 7 is a plan of the device ready for attachment to a boot.
Figure 8 is an inverted plan of Figure 7.
Figures 9 and 10 represent the hooks in place and coupled by the laces L.
The device is composed of two parts :-
1st. The hook proper, Figure 1.
2nd. The plate serving to keep the hook in its place, Figure 2.
The hook proper is composed of a piece A having the curved shape shown in
Figure 1; the extremities a a are bent round at right angles and form a hinge. The
metal used for them is sufficiently hardened so that, when the two branches b are
drawn apart one from the other, they form a spring. The bent back end d serves for
engaging or hooking the laces, as shown in Figures 9 and 10; it is inclined obliquely
to right or left in order to facilitate the engagement of the lace.
The plate is composed of a piece B, which serves to keep the hook in place. It is
bent so as to form a depression or groove g in which the ends a a of the hook can
move. The plate is fixed to the leather or other material of the foot covering by
means of little curved tenons c, curved inwards. At the extremities of the groove g,
the plate has excisions ff which are sloped in such a way that the branches b b of the
hook are forced to separate, when the hook, being in an erect position, Figures 3 to 5,
is pressed down and assumes the inclined position, Figures 6 to 8. When the hook is
in the inclined position, Figures 6 to 8, and pressure is no longer exerted thereon, it
returns to its erect position, Figures 3 to 5, owing to the springy nature of the
branches b b on the incisions ff.
The foregoing explanations will suffice to enable the arrangement of this invention to
be understood. It will be seen that the tension of the lace L presses down the hook,
which then presses against the leather or other material, Figures 9 and 10, whilst it
rises of itself and releases the lace as soon as the tension no longer exists.
The hooks are arranged in pairs one opposite the other.
In place of being attached by means of clamps, the plate can be sewn on the leather
or other material.
The hook described above can be used to connect, by means of a lace, the two edges

page_text: of leather or any other material of boots and various articles of clothing or for any
other purpose for which laces are usually employed, either passing through eyelet holes
or round hooks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion 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 :-
1. In a fastener of the kind described, the combination and arrangement of a hook
composed of a strip of bent metal, Figure 1, and of a plate, Figure 2, in such a way
as to form a spring, substantially as described.
2. The herein described arrangement of parts forming the fastening device for
boots, shoes and other articles, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 15th day of September 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.