IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERSHOES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rafaello Louis Giandonati, of the firm of Dodge,
Bacon, & Co., of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London,
Merchants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERSHOES."-
A communication.
Sealed the 6th February 1857, and dated the 12th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rafaello Louis Giandonati
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1856.
I, RAFAELLO LOUIS GIANDONATI, of the firm of Dodge, Bacon, and Company,
of St. Paul's Churchyard, in the City of London, Merchants, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERSHOES,"
a communication from abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in goloshes or overshoes.
whereby they are more easily put on to the feet and removed again; one great
objection at present to the use of overshoes being the trouble of putting them
on, and the unpleasantness arising from the necessity for the hands being
brought into contact with the shoes in putting them on and off.
These improvements consist in the introduction of a strengthening piece at
the heel or back portion of the overshoe, and this strengthening piece I prefer
to be of gutta percha. By this means the foot may be readily slipped into the

page_text: overshoe without requiring the shoe to be pulled on by hand. In order to
facilitate the removal of the shoe from the foot without soiling the fingers I
insert a short metallic or other stud or projection in the back of the heel, so
that by simply placing the toe on this projection the overshoe may be readily
drawn off
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Rafaello Louis Giandonati in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RAFAELLO
LOUIS GIANDONATI, of the firm of Dodge, Bacon, & Co., of St. Paul's Church-
yard, in the City of London, Merchants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in tho year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho said
Rafaello Louis Giandonati, Her special license that I, the said Rafello
Louis Giandonati, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Rafaello Louis Giandonati, my executors, administrators, or 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN OVERSHOES," a communication, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Rafaello Louis Giandonati, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per.
formed, 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 Rafaello Louis Giandonati, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
he performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements in goloshes or overshoes,

page_text: whereby they are more easily put on to the feet and removed again; one great
objection which at present exists to the use of overshoes being the trouble of.
pulling them, on, and the unpleasantness arising from the necessity for the
bands being brought into contact with the shoes in pulling them on and off.
These improvements consist in the introduction of a strengthening or
stiffening piece at the heel or back portion of the overshoe, and this strength-
ening piece I prefer to be of india-rubber or gutta percha. By this means the
foot may be readily slipped into the overshoe without requiring the shoe to:
be pulled on by band. In order to facilitate the removal of the shoe from the
foot without soiling the fingers I insert a short metallic or other stud or
projection on the back of the shoe or heel, so that by simply placing the toe
on this projection the overshoe may be readily drawn off.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in both Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section, full size,
of an overshoe of my improved construction; and Figure 2 is a corresponding
end view of the same. A is the body of the shoe, which may be of the
ordinary shape and construction, the heel portion being strengthened by the
inner vamp or strengthening piece B, of india-rubber, gutta percha, leather,
or other suitable material sufficiently strong to impart the requisite degree of
stiffness to the back or heel portion of the shoe to enable the foot to be
pushed or slipped into it whilst on the ground without having to soil the
fingers by pulling it on thereby; C is the projection or stud on the back or
heel of the shoe, for the purpose of facilitating its removal from the foot, as
herein-before described. This projection may either be cast in india-rubber
during the manufacture of the shoe, or it may be composed of wood or other
suitable material fitted on to or cast in the shoc.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the berein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the application and use to
and in the back or heel portions of goloshes or overshoes of strengthening

page_text: pieces and projections or studs, either separately or in combination, for the
purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Raefaello Louis Giandonati, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
R. L. GIANDONATI. (L.s.)