CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING SHOES AND BOOTS
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARC
ISAMBARD BRUNEL, of Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of August,"
in the fiftieth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Marc
Isambard Brunel, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole priviledges and authority, that I, the said Mark Isambard Brunel,
my exors, adiiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term
of years therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
MACHINERY FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING SHOES AND BOOTS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Mark Isambard Brunel, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Marc Isambard Brunel, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are described and

page_text: ascertained by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following description
thereof, that is to say:-
I do declare that my Invention for making shoes and boots is intended
chiefly for manufacturing a certain description of shoes and boots, the soles of
which are fastened to the upper leather or closing by means of metallic pins or
nails. Fig. 1, 2, 3, represent an apparatus intended for pressing, and also for
cutting the soles to their proper form, although the cutting out of the soles
and heels to their proper form, and likewise the boring of the holes for the
nails or pins, might have been done at one or two operations by the assistance
of a press with stamping instruments, yet, from the accidents to which such
complicated instruments are liable, and, at the same time, from the difficulty
attending the keeping of them in proper working repair, I have given the
preference to this apparatus, which by its simplicity will obviate all incon-
veniences.
The piece or pieces of leather intended to be used for the sole of shoes or
boots is laid, as seen at A (Fig. 1 and 2), between the plates B and C; the
upper one B opens at pleasure; the leather thus laid is pressed as strongly as
may be required, by the assistance of a screw and nut D, Fig. 1 and 2, and
when in that state it is to be cut all round by means of a common knife to
the form of the plate B, Fig. 3. The leather thus shaped is ready to be
applied to and united with the upper leather or closing.
The machine represented by the Figs. 4, 5, and 6, is intended for uniting
the sole with the upper leather or closing; the upper leather or closing having
been previously prepared, as far as is usually done, is laid and well stretched in
the usual way upon a last of cast iron, see A, Fig. 5, and in that state held fast
close to the last by means of metal clamps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Fig. 6, or
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, Fig. 5. These clamps are kept steady to their respective
places by means of pauls G, G, Fig. 4 and 5, acting upon joints and butting
against clamps. The piece of leather denominated the inner sole (the section
of which is seen at full size at D, Fig. 9) is then laid upon the last, and the
projecting edges F, F, of the closing G, G, are flattened down, and when in that
state they are ready to receive the sole. The sole is to be placed carefully
upon the last, then pressed down and held fast by the assistance of a clamp
B, Fig. 4, 5, 6, and kept steady in its place with a link H, Fig. 5 and 6.
The next operations relate to the letting in and driving the metallic nails or
pins, which I propose to have done as follows:-The rod D, Fig. 4 and 5, is
intended to drive in the nails or pins, and to open, at one and the same time,
the holes through the leather. This rod is to act in such a manner that for
every nail or pin forced down by the assistance of the rod a hole is bored by

page_text: means of the point K, Fig. 5, for the reception of the contiguous nail, see
Fig. 11 (at full size). A represents the lower end of the rod; B represents a
point acting as an awl to open the holes; C represents a pin or nail ready to
be forced down by the rod A; this rod, represented at D, Fig. 4, is suspended
to the extremity of a short lever L, by which it can be moved up and down;
but as some degree of force is requisite to drive the nails or pins, the lever Mis
intended to strike on the top of the rod; this lever is put in action by the assistance
of the treadle N. The clamp B, Fig. 4, 5, and 6, is by about one half of an inch
smaller (all round) than the sole, and its sides from a guide against which the
lower end of the rod D, Fig. 4 and 5, is kept during the operation of driving
in the nails or pins, except that both extremities of the sole, which are left to
be finished without the assistance of the clamp. The bed D, Fig. 4, 5, and 6,
is fixed upon an horizontal slide F, Fig. 4 and 6, which is intended to carry
or move at pleasure, by means of the lever E, Fig. 6, the last from right to
left, in order that the rod may work as near as possible under its perpendicular
line. The bed D, Fig. 4, 5, and 6, has a circular horizontal motion upon the
slide F, Fig. 4 and 6, for the same purpose. Figs. 7 and 8 represents a clamp
of a different construction, intended to press down and hold the solo in its
place before the nails or pins are driven in; a section of this clamp is seen at
full size at B, Fig. 9; above it there is a plate C fixed upon the clamp; this
plate Cat Fig. 8 is cut all round its edge with as many notches as there are
pins to be driven in the sole, and forms a more complete guide than the one
before described, as it determines the place and distance to be observed in
putting the nails or pins. The projecting angle, A, Fig. 10, which corresponds
with the awl A, Fig. 9, is intended to be dropt in the notches of the plate C.
When all the nails or pins have been let and driven in their places the shoe is
so far finished as to require nothing but the usual triming and polishing before
it is taken off.
The process to be observed for making boots is exactly the same as described
before, but the machine differs in some degree from that represented in the
Fig. 4, 5, and 6. The shank of the last must be of a convenient height to
allow sufficient room for the leg of the boot, and the clamps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, and 8 must be of a corresponding size.
As my Invention for making shoes and boots consists likewise in using,
in lieu of metallic nails or pins, pegs or pins of either leather, bone,
whalebone, catgut, or any other animal or vegetable substance fit for it,"
it is obvious that the inner ends of pegs or pins of such substances, when
driven in, cannot (like metal) be turned in and secured by the usual
method of clinching. In order, therefore, to give to these pegs or pins a

page_text: proper and sufficient holding, both inside and outside, I propose to have
them driven in quite through the inner sole, so far as to exceed it by
at least of an inch. The last is to have, for that purpose, a groove all
round, and near its edge, to admit of the point or awl B, Fig. 11, penetrating
freely and without any obstruction. The pegs or pins which I intend to
substitute in lieu of metallic nails or pins are to be let in in the manner before
specified, with the exception that they are not to be driven with so great a
force. When the sole, together with the heel, have been completely fastened
with pegs or pins, I propose to have the outer ends of these pegs or pins
seared smooth by means of a hot iron, and afterwards hammered in very close
and tight. The shoe or boot, when in that state, is fit to be taken from the last.
In order to facilitate the taking off of the shoe or boot made in the manner
before described, with all the inner ends of the pegs or pins projecting out, I
propose to have a last made, as represented in Fig. 12 and 13; the part A
moves in and out at pleasure, and when drawn in, as in Fig. 13, the size of
the last is sufficiently reduced to admit of the shoe being easily removed; such
last is to be used in lieu of the solid one represented at A, Fig. 5. The ends
of the pegs or pins projecting inside of the shoe or boot are to be flattened
down or seared by means of heated iron; great care is to be taken, when
performing that operation, not to damage the closing. The shoe or boot so
far made is ready to be polished and trimmed in the usual manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marc Isambard Brunel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Second day of February, in the year of our
T
and sight hundred and eleven