IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Buxton Hilliard, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Cutler and Surgical Instrument Maker, for
STLING NE STATY ΤΟ ΠΟΙΟΑΙΙΤ ΑΠΟ
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Buxton Hilliard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th March 1867.
I, WILLIAM BUXTON HILLIARD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Cutler and Surgical Instrument Maker, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES," to be as follows,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the fixing of skates on the feet in a secure
manner, and with more convenience and comfort to the wearer than has
hitherto been experienced, and the feature of novelty is the employing of
transverse screws, partly right handed and partly left handed, to act upon
clamps applied to the sides or upon straps passing transversely over the ankle
and foot. The screws are right handed at one side and left handed at the
other side, and are held in fittings fixed either to the under side of the metal
sole plate or in the wooden stock, accordingly as the skate is made with one or
the other. The outer ends of the screws are squared or otherwise shaped to

page_text: be easily turned by a key. If clamps are used they are formed so as to catch
against or clip the sides of the boot or shoe, and with parts projecting in
underneath and acted on by the screws, which are tapped into them. The
screws adjust the clamps equally in or out on both sides, and thereby hold the
skate centrally on the foot, whilst the action of unscrewing not merely loosens
but opens the clamps. When straps are used buckles are dispensed with, the
ends of the straps being fixed to pieces of metal into which the screws are
tapped, and when the screws are turned to move the tapped pieces inwards
they draw the straps tightly down upon the foot, the reverse movement of the
screws slackening-them.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by. the said William Buxton
Hilliard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BUXTON HILLIARD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Cutler and Surgical Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Buxton Hilliard, Her special licence that 'I, -the said William Buxton
Hilliard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Buxton Hilliard, 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
SKATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Buxton
Hilliard, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Buxton Hilliard, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention has for its object the fixing of skates on the feet in a secure
manner, and with more convenience and comfort to the wearer than has
hitherto been experienced, and the feature of novelty is the employing of
transverse screws, partly right handed and partly left handed, to act upon
clamps applied to the sides (see Drawing No. 1 herewith) or upon straps
passing transversely over the ankle and foot. The screws are right handed at
one side and left handed at the other side, and are held in fittings fixed either
to the under side of the metal sole plate (see Drawing No. 3 herewith) or in
the wooden stock, according as the stock is made with one or the other. The
outer ends of the screws are squared or otherwise shaped to be easily turned
by a key. If clamps are used they are formed so as to catch against or clip
the sides of the boot or shoe, and with parts projecting in underneath and
acted on by the screws, which are tapped into them. The screws adjust the
clamps equally in or out on both sides, and thereby hold the skate centrally on
the foot, whilst the action of unscrewing not merely loosens but opens the
clamps. When straps are used buckles are dispensed with, the ends of the
straps being fixed to pieces of metal into which the screws are tapped,
and when the screws are turned to move the tapped pieces inwards they draw
the straps tightly down upon the foot, the reverse movement of the screws
slackening them.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Buxton Hilliard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM BUXTON HILLIARD. (L.B.)