IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, of No. 25, Down
Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Cholmondeley
Pennell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th January 1872.
I, HENRY CHOLMONDELEY PENNELL, of No. 25, Down Strect, Picca-
dilly, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES," to be as follows:-
First. A new heel fastening, which consists of a spring lever working
horizontally on a pivot secured to the heel plate.
The description of the lever and mode of working and adjustment are
as follows:-The heel plate being slightly projected forward beyond the
actual portion covered by the heel of the boot or shoe on this projection,
the pivot and spring lever are secured by means of a screw or screws or

page_text: a nut or nuts. The pivot is moveable so as to admit of the lever being
adjusted to the length of the heel. The short portion of the lever
nearest to the heel is serrated at the end or posterior surface, or it may
be plain, or may have a cutting edge, which end, edge, or surface presses
against the front portion of the heel of the boot or shoe and forces
it backward against the heel clamps. The long portion of the lever
turns downwards, and when the skates are in use is secured in its
proper position by means of a "nick" or "slot" at the extremity,
which fits on to the blade or iron of the skate.
Second. A new method of fastening the front part of the sole of tho
boot or shoe to the skate. This is effected as follows:-On cach side of
a platform or foot plate, which may be of iron or any other substance, a
metal clamp, hereafter described, is secured by means of a screw or
screws, or a bolt or bolts, movable or rivetted, and a nut or nuts. The
clamps are movable and capable of adjustment to suit the width of
the sole of the boot or shoe. Each clamp may be slightly thicker
towards the inner end to prevent its being drawn outwards. Each clamp
is turned or bent upwards, first in a slanting direction, then perpen-
dicularly, and ultimately inwards so as to hold and overlap the upper
edge of the sole of the boot or shoe. The specific improvement in the
side clamps consists of their being bent or turned in the first instance
upwards and outwards, by which the foot plate of the skate with the
clamp attached is enabled to be brought closer to the ice without danger
of contact, and also in the graduated thickening.
Example of a mode of application of the above improved method of
securing the side clamps :-A short metal bolt is screwed from below into
a metal foot plate near the lateral margin and rivetted. The lower end of
the bolt is a screw having a nut fitting it. The clamp, which works
underneath the plate, has a groove or slot in the centre, through which
the bolt passes, so that when the nut is loosened it is capable of being
slid inwards or outwards, and having been adjusted it is fixed by
screwing up the nut. A similar clamp is similarly secured to the
opposite lateral margin of the footplate.
Third. Compound skates, i.e. skates partly of metal and partly of
wood. The heel fastening described under the head of improvement
"No. 1" is applicable to compound skates, and is intended to be so
applied.

page_text: In addition to or substitution for the side clamps already described
under the head of improvement "No. 2 " the following improved method
of securing the side clamps, especially applicable to compound skates,
may be adopted-Each side clamp is secured by a screw to the upper
part of the foot plate or platform, a slight hollow being made in the
surface of the platform to receive the clamp. By the loosening and
tightening action of the screw each clamp admits of being adjusted to
the width of the sole of the boot or shoe. Each side clamp may also be
adjusted to a small plate of metal attached to the upper part of the
platform and secured by a screw or screws and nuts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Cholmondeley Pennell in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 6th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CHOLMONDELEY PENNELL, of Number 25, Down Street, Piccadilly, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, Her
special licence that I, the said Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, 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, excrcise, 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 Henry Cholmondeley
Pennell, 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

page_text: nied in the Great Seal Patent Once within six calendar montos next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being made to accom-
panying Drawings :-
First. A new hecl fastening, which consists of a spring lever C,
Figs. 1 & 2, working horizontally on a pivot D secured to the metal
heel plate.
The description of the lever and mode of working and adjustment are
as follows: The heel plate being slightly projected forward beyond the
actual portion covered by the heel of the boot or shoc, on this pro-
jection the pivot and spring lever arc secured by means of a screw or
screws or a nut or nuts. The pivot is movable so as to admit of the
lever being adjusted to the length of the heel. The short portion of the
lever nearest to the licel is serrated at the end or posterior surface E, or
it may be plain, or may have a cutting edge, which end, edge, or surface
presses against the front portion of the heel of the boot or shoc and
forces it backward against the heel clamps. The long portion of the
lever turns downwards, and when the skates are in use is secured in its
proper position by means of a "neck" or "slot" G, Fig. 2, at the
extremity, which fits or springs on to the blade or iron of the skate.
Second. A new method of fastening the front part of the sole of the
boot or shoc to the skate. This is effected as follows:-On each side of
a platform or foot plate I, which may be of iron or any other substance,
a metal clamp, hereafter described, is secured by means of a screw or
screws, or a bolt or bolts, movable or rivetted, and a nut or nuts. The
clamps are movable and capable of adjustment to suit the width of the
sole of the boot or shoe. Each clamp may be slightly thicker towards
the inner end to prevent its being drawn outwards. Each clamp is
turned or bent upwards, first in a slanting direction upwards and out-
wards, then perpendicularly, and ultimately inwards, so as to hold and
overlap the upper edge of the sole of the boot or shoe. The specific
improvement in the side clamps consists of their being bent or turned
in the first instance in a slanting direction upwards and outwards,

page_text: (A, Fig. 3) on Drawings, by which means the foot plate of the skate
with the clamp attached is enabled to be brought closer to the ice.
By means of square-headed bolts, Fig. 4, having screw ends which
pass through square holes on each side of the foot plate from above near
the posterior margins, then through a longitudinal slot or groove in the
clamps, and ultimately into screw nuts which are loosened when the
clamps are to be adjusted and screwed tight when they are to be fixed.
The bolts have their heads bevelled off from below, and the square holes
in the foot plate into which they fit have their edges bevelled off from
above, so that when adjusted the heads of the bolts are flush or nearly
so with the foot plate, whilst the square heads prevent their moving
round when the screw nuts are applied and hold the clamps firmly
fixed in their places.
The heel fastening (Fig. 1) may be used with or without the improved
front fastenings, above described, and the clamps may be applied to a
wooden platform from above by means of screws merely fastened into the
wood from above, or by screws with nuts attached below passing through
the platform from above. Hollows or grooves may be made in the
upper surface of the platform to receive and assist in securing the
clamps.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same may be carried into practical effect, I
declare that what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the improvements in skates,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated on Drawings, or
any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Cholmondeley Pennell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
H. CHOLMONDELEY PENNELL. (L.S.)