IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER, ALSO IN THE MAKING OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1851

page_text: CITIC
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PYKE, of Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of May (One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Pyke, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said James Pyke, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Pyke, my exors, adors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER, ALSO IN THE
MAKING OF BOOTS AND SHOES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said James Pyke, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Pyke, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, are fully described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in the manufacture of leather;
and, secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture of
boots and shoes.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
The first part of my Invention consists of means of applying heat when
xtracting tannin from bark or other material employed. And I would state
that I am aware that heat has before been resorted to in this process by
causing free steam to pass into the liquor under process, but I believe with no
beneficial effect. Now, this part of my improvements consists of employing
pipes through which hot water is caused to circulate, or through which steam
is caused to pass, so that the liquor in contact with such pipes may become
heated. In carrying out these improvements I employ vats or pits of any
desired dimensions, and at the bottom thereof I place a series of pipes
sufficient to heat the liquor to from one hundred and fifty degrees to two
hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, and over these pipes I place a falso bottom to
the vat or pit, perforated with numerous holes. When hot water is employed for
heating them, I prefer the system practised by Mr. Perkins, and which is well
known. If steam be employed, then I use any known arrangement of pipes
for such purpose. In either case I provide means such as are well understood
for regulating the temperature, so that the heat in the tubes or pipes shall
not become too great. The materials from which the liquor is to be obtained
is placed above the false bottom, and the liquor is drawn off from below the
false bottom; and in order to prevent the atmosphere getting to the liquor, I
employ covers, which I prefer to be of galvanized iron, with their edges
turned down, so as to enter grooves around the vat or pit, which are kept
constantly full of water, so as to produce a water joint all round the edges of
the cover. This arrangement will allow of a slow evaporation when concen-
tration is desired, but will prevent the action of the atmosphere. The liquor
when cold is to be put into pits of the ordinary construction; but in place of
introducing the hides one on another in a horizontal position, I suspend them
from above, so that they hang vertically in the pits, which in itself, however, is
not new; but I cause the bars by which they are suspended in a pit to be

page_text: constructed and arranged in such manner that the bars will form a cover to
the pit, and yet the hides will hang separate, so that the liquor can pass
freely between them; and the using of bars capable of covering the pit, and at
the same time keeping the hides or skins separate, constitute another of my
improvements in the manufacture of leather. For this purpose I take boards
of about three-quarters of an inch thick and about six inches wide, and of
a length according to the width of the pit; on either side and at the upper
edges of these boards I fix fillets of about two inches wide and about five-
eighths of an inch thick, so that when the whole are arranged on edge, side
by side and in contact with each other, they will completely cover the pit,
their ends resting on either end or side of the pit. On either side of each
board below the fillets I place hooks, so that a hide or skin may be suspended
on either side and hang parallel to each other in the pit, and in this state I
leave them, changing the liquor every two or three days, or as often as the
condition of the hides or skins may from time to time require such change,
till the hides or skins are tanned; and I have not found it desirable to raise
the hides or skins out of the pit, nor to change their position, the process
being completed by simply suspending the hides or skins in the manner stated,
and changing the liquor from time to time, taking care that the upper edges
of the hides or skins are covered by the liquor.
Another of my improvements in the manufacture of leather consists of a
process of rolling the same when in a damp state after being tanned. I
would state that I do not claim the rolling of leather between metal or other
rollers generally, rollers having before been used to press leather; this part of
my Invention consisting of the use of roller made partly of metal and partly
of elastic material, so that the surface of the roller will be of metal in nume-
rous parts, and the interior elastic. The manner in which I prefer to con-
struct such a roller is as follows:-On an axis I place a cylinder of vulcanized
india-rubber, and I completely cover the india-rubber with rings of metal,
there being metal plates fixed to the axis at either end of the india-rubber, so
as to prevent the rings coming off. This roller I employ in combination with
an ordinary metal roller, and they are mounted in suitable frames in like
manner to ordinary pressing rollers. The leather is passed between the two
ollers, and pressed thereby, the elasticity allowing its parts or ring consti-
uting the surface to give way to inequalities in the leather. A like effect
will be produced by employing a metal bed in place of the solid rollers, the
bed with the leather moving under the elastic roller; or an elastic bed may be
sed with a metal roller, the under-surface of the bed being composed of

page_text: vulcanized india-rubber, and the outer surface of a series of bars, which, when
subjected to leather of unequal thickness in parts, will give way as such parts
pass between the bed and the roller.
I will now proceed to describe the second part of my
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Invention.
Figure 1 shows a section of what I call the mould box a, which is of iron,
having two air tubes a', a', rising up within it; Figure 2 shews a section of a
mould b, which is made of vulcanized india-rubber, and there is within it a
filling piece c of wood; e, in all the Figures where it appears, is the last on
which the "upper" for a shoe is placed; Figure 3 shows the under surface
of the last e, and around its edge is a steel plate formed with inclines, as
shewn, against which the points of the metal brads (used to fasten the parts
together) come, and by which they are turned up, as is indicated at Figure 4,
which shews a section of parts of a boot or shoe, fastened by metal brads or
pegs turned back by being driven against the inclines of the last c, as will be
better understood when the mode of driving the brads or pegs is explained;
Figure 5 shows a section of the last e, having thereon a suitable "insole"
for a shoe, together with the apparatus f, used for forcing these parts into the
mould 6; Figure 6 shows a sectional plan of the apparatus f, and Figure 7,
a transverse section thereof, by which it will be seen that the pressing instru-
ment is in two parts, which when pressing on the insole which is on the last,
in order to force them into the mould, are opened or spread out; but in drawing
the instrument out of the mould the two parts f fold towards each other, as is
shewn by dotted lines at Figure 7. The "upper" is placed as heretofore
on a last; an insole is placed on the last, and consequently within the
"upper," and the last is placed on to the filling piece. The mould b is
to lie in the box a. On to the cover a of this box is to be placed a second
box g, shewn in section at Figure 8. The box contains a block of vulcanized
india-rubber h, having an opening through it; Figure 9 shows the parts
above mentioned in section. The "upper" for the shoe is on the last e, the
insole i is on the last, the last is on the filling piece c, the pressing apparatus f
is in its place, the edge of the "upper" extends beyond the insole, and the
process now to be performed is to cause the projecting edge of the "upper"
to be folded down on to the insole preparatory to receiving the sole, and so that
the edge of the upper may be closed in between the insole and the sole, which
is done by metal brads or pegs, as before mentioned and as hereafter described.
The effect of forcing the last and " upper" into the mould through the

page_text: block of india-rubber h will be to expand the block of india-rubber h by
opening the passage through it, by which the india-rubber will embrace very
tightly the instrument f, and the edges of the upper, which project beyond
the insole, and the india-rubber h will have a tendency to, and will close
again to its original form on withdrawing the instrument f, and as the insole is
to be pressed down below the under sole of the india-rubber so soon as the
instrument is moved, the india will begin to collapse, and will in so
doing press the edge of the "upper" inwards, and on to the outer surface of the
instrument f, and by the time that the instrumentf has been drawn out the india-
rubber h will have assumed its ordinary form, and it will have pressed the edge
of the upper closely down on the insole and the edge of the upper, which
being damp, will be held in close contact with the insole, and to secure the
edge of the upper in this condition, it is desirable to press on the block of
india-rubber. The sole i is now to be put in its place, and to insure its being
of the exact size and form, I use cutters, such as is shown in section at
Figure 10. In order to introduce the sole, the frame g is removed from the
frame a, and tho sole j is put in position, as shown at Figure 11, and the
frame is to be placed into the frame a; this frame is provided at each
end with ratchet grooves or notches, and the sole plate 1, Figure 12, is placed
on the sole. This plate is perforated with as many holes as there are to be
brads or pegs used in fastening the parts together. On to this plate is placed
what I call the ejector m, Figure 13, which consists of a plate of metal
supported on a wide spring m'. Figure 14 shews a section of what I call the
broaching frame n; it carries as many sharp punctures or points as there are
to be brads or pegs used; these punctures descend, when pressed on by a screw
press or other suitable means, through the holes in the plates l, m, through the
sole, also through the edge of the "upper," and into the insole, but not so as
to come against the last. The punches of the broaching frame having been
caused to punch holes through the parts above mentioned, the broaching
frame is to be removed, and the frame c, containing brads or pegs, Figure
15, is to be introduced into the mould a, and the frame of punches p,
Figure 16, is then to be introduced, and as the punches correspond with the
holes which have been punched by the broaching frame, and the punches also
correspond with the holes through the frame containing the brads or pegs,
which brads being forced out by the punches of the frame p, are forced
through the sole and insole, their points come against the inclines of the last,
and are thereby clenched or rivetted. In order that there may at all times be
brads or pegs o' ready for the punches p, the frame o has in it as many

page_text: grooves as there are holes, and each of these grooves will contain several pegs
or brads in a vertical position, and they are pressed outwards by a spring, not
shown in the Drawing, and the outermost peg in each groove will be opposite
the hole through the frame, and which, as before stated, corresponds with one
of the holes punctured through the sole; hence, when the punches are caused
to descend by a screw press or other suitable means, each punch p will force
out one brad or peg out of the corresponding grooves in the frame o. This will
be readily understood by reference to the before-mentioned Figures, and to
Figure 17, where the parts are shewn in the position immediately after the
punches p have been forced down, and the punches have driven their several
corresponding pegs or brads, and have, by the inclines on the last, caused
each brad or peg to be rivetted or clenched, as is shewn by the Drawing.
Figures 18 and 19 show like apparatus for puncturing the holes and punching
in the proper brads or pegs for fixing a heel to a shoe; when making boots
according to my Invention, I use a box a, and parts with an opening through
the bottom, so that the "uppers" may pass through. In connecting the parts
of the "uppers," the same may be done by sewing, or it may be done by
rivetting; if by the latter, then it constitutes part of my Invention to employ
rivits, such as are shewn at Figure 20 and Figure 21. Those shewn at Figure
20 consist of hollow shells, similar to those used for closing letters by; the use
of such rivits to combine parts of "uppers" of boots and shoes is new, and
these parts are to be closed together in like manner to that practised when
using like instruments for closing letters. The rivets, Figure 21, consist of
rivets with heads and hollow stems, which, after passing through the materials
of the uppers," have hollow or dished washers placed on them, and then the
stems are to be closed, as is shown in this Figure.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the details as hercin given, so long as the peculiar character of any of my
improvements be retained. But what I claim is,
1
First, the improvements herein described in the manufacture of leather.
Secondly, I claim the improvements herein described in manufacturing
boots and shoes.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Pyke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
JAMES (L.8.) PYKE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid James Pyke came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.