IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Adams Knight at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st October
1861. A communication from abroad by Henry Port, of the City of
New York, in the United States of America.
I, JOHN ADAMS KNIGHT, of No. 4, Symond's Inn, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP BOOTS AND SHOES," being
a communication to me from abroad by Henry Port, of the City of New
York, in the United States of America, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to affix the soles of boots and shoes to the
uppers thereof in a durable and efficient manner, and in less time and with
less labour than is ordinarily the case. It consists in riveting the external
sole to the upper and to the insole by means of flat-pointed rivets that are
alternately clenched in opposite directions, and are made in a staple shape, and
extend across the sole at the shank and heel portion of it. The insole is made
of leather in the ordinary way, or if thin metal of a skeleton shape in conformity
with the outline of the sole and with a cross piece at the middle for the recep-
tion of the rivets that secure the half sole in the shank. The shank and heel
portion of the sole may be built of leather in the ordinary way, but I prefer to
mould it if india-rubber or other plastic material, on a suitably shaped form, and
with recesses for the reception of pieces of cork, to make it less heavy than if it
were solid. The staple rivets may be incorporated in the shank, or they may
extend across the outside, and they may be formed from a skeleton plate with
their beads connected and their pointed ends projecting in a row around the
edge.

page_text: Whether the shank piece is moulded of india-rubber or is built of leather,
it is formed with a double tongue for the reception of the back end of the front
or half sole.
The soles are cut and punched at a single operation with a knife and
punches that are worked by a press.
The bottom of the last is faced with metal around the edges and across the
middle, and is made with suitably inclined grooves or recesses, for the purpose
of receiving the points of the rivets and clenching or turning them alternately
in opposite directions.
In practicing my Invention, the leather or metal insole is placed on the last,
and it is inserted in the upper of the boot or shoe, the edges of which aro
drawn over and pinned to the bottom of the last. The shank and heel pieco
that has been formed as above described is then placed in its proper position
over the last, and is forced down with a die, which causes the rivets to pass
through the edges of the upper and the holes in tho insole, and when they
come in contact with the recesses in the metal facing of the last the points are
clenched or turned alternately in opposite directions for the purpose of spread-
ing the points of attachment and securing the sole and upper firmly together.
In a similar manner, the half sole is riveted with flat-pointed rivets to the
edges of the front part of the insole and across the middle and between the
tongues of the shank. The last is then removed and replaced with a plain iron
last, upon which the clenching of the rivets is completed.