IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT CLEANING MACHINES
Year: 1884

page_text: I GEORGE JAMES FREDERICK TATE of 219 Brixton Road in the County of
Surrey, Engineer's Assistant, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT CLEANING MACHINES to be as follows:-
My Improvements relate to a novel contrivance to be worked by hand, for
cleaning boots and shoes.
I provide circular metal or other disc-plates carrying a short vertical spindle in
the centre of each. These plates are furnished with holes or perforations for
admitting currents of air. The plates are flanged round the edges to allow a flat
ring or circular brush stock to be fitted tightly within the flanges and further
secured by pitch or screws.
The stocks are filled with suitable bristles for cleaning and polishing boots, the
marginal rows well bevilled outwards.
These disc-plates being supplied with brushes, I take the one to be used for dirt
brushing, and fit on the end of the short vertical spindle, a large driving pulley,
furnished with an actuating knob or handle, and upon the spindle end of the
polishing brush I fit a small driving pulley. I provide a suitable stand or
framework, to be fastened down upon the edge of a table or shelf, having two
projecting arms to receive and carry the two brush spindles aforesaid, (between the
metal disc and the pulley); it being understood that by this means about three-
fourths, or the whole, of the brushes project from the table or shelf. One of the
projecting arms is fixed, and the other is moveable. A belt or strap is passed
round the two pulleys; and an adjustable tension is given thereto by the moveable
arm, which is fixed at the required point by a thumb or set screw.
It will be seen that slow motion is given to the dirt brush by the direct action
of the large pulley fixed over it, upon its spindle; and that rapid motion is
imparted to the polishing brush by the belt or strap working upon its small pulley.
Both brushes are placed side by side and work horizontally, with their surfaces
downwards.
I further provide a sort of mushroom shaped brush, about one-third the size of
the two others, for applying blacking, and this is fitted immediately above the

page_text: small pulley of the polishing brush, (the surface upwards), and revolves with it.
All the brushes are made to be readily withdrawn for the purpose of being
renewed the large ones, in the case of being fixed by pitch, can be readily pulled
off after being warmed; or if fixed by screws to the discs, the screws can be taken
out, and fresh brushes put in place of the worn ones. The small blacking brush is
screwed on and off the spindle.
The mode of working the Machine, is to fix it down as mentioned; set the three
brushes in motion by one hand working the actuating knob or handle, and with
the other hand hold the boots to the brushes.

page_text: I GEORGE JAMES FREDERICK TATE, of 219, Brixton Road, in the county of
Surrey, Engineer's Assistant, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT-CLEANING MACHINES, and in what manner the same is to
bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
This invention has for its object to provide a simple and effective contrivance, to
be worked by hand, for cleaning, blacking and polishing boots and shoes.
In the following description reference will be made to the accompanying
drawing, in which Fig 1 is a plan and Fig an elevation of a machine embodying
the invention, while Figs. 3 to 5 represent details.
The improved machine chiefly comprises a system of rotary brushes A, B
mounted at the lower end of short vertical spindles a and b, and set in motion by
means of a handle D, pulleys E, F and an endless string G.
A is the dirt brush, C the blacking brush and B the polishing brush. As will
be seen from the drawings, the driving pulley E is mounted at the upper end of
the spindle of the dirt brush A and made much larger in diameter than the driving
pulley F which sets in motion the spindle b (carrying at the bottom the polishing
brush B and at the top the blacking brush C), in order to obtain a high speed for
the polishing brush.
The vertical spindles a and b are held in bosses h and i at the outer extremity
of arms H and I secured to a base plate L by means of a vertical bolt K (see Fig. 4)
and a screw-cap or nut M.
In order to facilitate the removal, putting on and stretching of the driving
string G, the angle between the two arms H and I is made slightly variable, in tho
manner illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5. The hub of the arm H is mounted loose on
the bolt K and prevented from turning by a tooth h³ fitting into an aperture of the
base plate L.
The hub of the arm I has a flange i resting on a corresponding flange h¹ of the
hub H and provided with a recess slightly wider than the arm H projecting into
the same, so as to allow the arm H a short angular motion around the pivot K,
After the arms have been set at the required angle, they are fixed by turning
the screw cap M fitted over the top of the bolt or screw spindle K.
The base plate L is so screwed (or otherwise secured) to a table, that the greatest
part of the brushes projects over the edge of the same. The circumferential rows
of bristles are strongly bevelled outward, and all the brushes are adapted to bo
casily withdrawn for exchange or renewal. In the construction represented by
Fig. 3, which is a vertical cross section through the brushes B and C, the removal
of the brush B is effected by simply screwing off the screw nut situated at the
lower end of the axle b.
The discs which form the backs of the circular brushes, or to which the stocks
of the brushes are secured, may be made of metal, papier maché, wood or any
other suitable material, and the central part of each disc, namely that which is not
occupied or covered by the bristles, may be provided with a series of perforations.
The method of working the machine is to fix it to the edge of a table, as
illustrated, set the three brushes in motion by turning the knob or handle D
secured to the large driving pulley, and with the other hand holding the boots
against the brushes. For blacking the boots, they may either be held against the

page_text: brush C, which has been previously dipped into the blacking, or tho brush C may
be lifted away from the spindle and used as a blacking brush in the ordinary
manner.
It is evident, that the drawing only represents a special form of the machine, the
details of which may be varied without departing from the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is,
1. The combination of a pair of rotary brushes A, B, mounted face downward
at the lower end of a pair of spindles, with hand driving gear for setting the
brushes in motion at unequal speeds, and means for holding them at the edge of a
table or equivalent support.
2. The combination of a pair of spindles a, b carrying rotary brushes A, B and C,
with arms H, I, means for supporting said arms at various angles to each other,
and driving gear E, F, G, D.
3. The combination of a pair of axles a and b carrying at their lower ends the
brushes A and B, with arms H, I, base plate L with bolt K and screw cap M,
and hand driving gear for imparting to the brushes a rotary motion at unequal
speeds.
The whole substantially as described and illustrated.