IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre François Gubault, Shoemaker, residing
at No. 13, Rue Milton, Angers, Empire of France, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING BOOTS AND
SHOES."
Sealed the 11th September 1868, and dated the 14th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre François
Gubault at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th March 1868.
I, PIERRE FRANÇOIS GUBAULT, Shoemaker, residing at No. 13, Rue
Milton, Angers, Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING BOOTS
AND SHOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
finishing boots and shoes. In order to trim the heel I employ a circular
cutter mounted on an axis revolving at a very high speed. The cutter
is curved on the face; and inclined teeth are cut upon it. The boot
or shoe when presented to the cutter is supported on a rest. On the
end of the same axis there is also mounted a disc with file-like teeth

page_text: on its edge and on its face; it is used to smooth the heels and soles.
To shape the sides or edges of the sole a similar cutter is employed,
but with the teeth cut obliquely; it is mounted on a vertical axis also
revolving at a very high speed, and it is surrounded by an annular
table or rest, the height of which can be adjusted. The same axis
receives a face plate or disc having two steps upon it. At the bottom
of the inner step file teeth are cut to remove the burr produced by the
preceding cutter. The rise of the step serves as a guide to aid in
presenting the boot or shoe to the face plate. The outer step is used
to produce a beading around the heel. When this tool is used the axis
is rotated more slowly.
To polish or burnish the heel a horizontal axis having a rocking
motion communicated to it is employed; it carries upon it a dise
polished and curved on the periphery. This disc is hollow and has a
passage passing around it with an opening at each end; a flame is
placed at one of these openings, and the heated air therefrom passes
around within the hollow tool and escapes at the end of the passage.
To polish or burnish the edges of the sole suitably shaped burnishing
tools are. fixed on a bar having a short reciprocating motion given to
it longitudinally by a crank, of which the throw is adjustable. These
tools are hollow and are heated by a gas jet or otherwise. The boots or
shoes are held against a rest or support as they are presented to the
burnishing tools.
The blacking is effected by means of discs mounted on a revolving
axis; one of these discs is furnished with bristles like a brush on
the face and edge, the other is padded on the surface. On the
same axis are also metal discs with grooved edges for finishing the
heels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed. by the said Pierre François Gubault in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 14th September. 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
FRANÇOIS GUBAULT, Shoemaker, residing at No. 13, Rue Milton,
Angers, Empire of France, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Pierre François Gubault, Her special
licence, that I, the said Pierre François Gubault, my executors,.
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre François
Gubault, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FINISHING BOOTS AND SHOES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre François Gubault,
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 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 Pierre François Gubault, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
finishing boots and shoes. In order to trim the heels and prepare
them to receive the blacking I employ the circular cutters marked A, B,
on Figures 1, Sheet 1. These cutters are mounted on a horizontal
axis, and are of steel; they are curved on the face, and teeth of a
peculiar form are cut in them, as shewn by the Drawings. The
cutter A. should be a little more curved than the cutter B; it is
employed for trimming the heels of ladies' boots, whilst the tool B is
for trimming the heels of gentlemen's boots. The axis carrying the
cutters should be driven at a speed of about 1,100 revolutions a minute,
but this speed may be varied according to the requirements of the
work.
For dressing the side edges and preparing them to receive the
blacking I employ the cutter marked C in the machine shewn at...

page_text: Figures 2, Sheet 1, and also shewn separately on Sheet 3; this cutter is
also of steel, and is carried by a vertical axis which should be driven at
about 1,800 to 2,000 revolutions a minute. The cutter is about
th
of an inch in thickness or width, so that it would be inconvenient for
edges which vary in height if a rest or support a, b, which could be
raised or lowered at the will of the operator were not also employed,
so as to increase or diminish the height of the cutter which is free to
act upon the edge. This rest is made circular in order to be able
readily to turn the boot around the tool. The up-and-down movement
is given to this support by a small crank c on the axis of a screw worm
which communicates motion to the axis of a pinion gearing with a
rack on the rest. All these parts being very small the movement
of the rest is extremely gradual, so that the workman whilst holding
a shoe against the plate or surface a, b, can with one or two fingers turn
the crank c, and consequently raise or lower the rest at pleasure without
taking away the shoe from the tool C. This tool C is formed with file-
like teeth, as shown by the Drawing. After the side edges have been
trimmed a small burr is left on the upper edge all round the sole, which
is removed by the disc D. This tool, although it is caused to revolve
similarly to the tool C, is not in one piece with it, it is fixed
above in such manner that a ring of about 5th or th of an
inch is left around the tool C; this ring is formed with teeth, which
in its rotation remove the burr above mentioned. On the vertical
axis of the tool C, or on a similar axis, I fix a circular cutter E (shown
separately on Sheet 1) formed with a small hollow g around it; this
tool is for forming the beading around the heel. The vertical
portion d, f, is chamferred off for fear the upper edge should cut the
heel. The sole rests on the lower ring, which is about two inches
in width. It is only necessary to drive this tool at about 4 to 500
revolutions a minute. The trimming of the heels being completed they
are afterwards polished by the tool F (Figure 3, Sheet 2); this polisher
is of cast iron and mounted on a horizontal axis, to which a to-and-fro
reciprocating revolving motion of about 12th of a revolution is imparted.
This motion is given to it by an eccentric, as shewn by the Drawing.
At the end of the axis which carries the polisher F is a slotted crank
arm, to which the connecting rod of the eccentric can be attached at any
desired distance from the axis, and thus the amount of motion given to
the axis can be varied. Ordinarily this motion will amount to about 1
to 2 inches for each half-turn of the axis of the eccentric; this axis

page_text: makes 2 to 300 turns a minute. The burnisher F is hollow, there being
formed within it a hollow chamber which is for the purpose of heating
the burnisher. At the lower part of the chamber are two holes separated
by partition one from the other; one of them a, b, is about 2 inches
and the chamber is heated through this. hole, the other hole is about
an inch and is the outlet hole. The Drawing shews clearly this
special arrangement, which I consider to be one of the important features
of my Invention. The warming of the burnisher is effected either by
gas or by a candle or by other means. The heated burnisher F is
for the heels of men's boots, a second heated burnisher marked F is for
the heels of ladies' boots. This second burnisher is slightly more rounded
than the first, but with the exception of this slight difference it is of
the same form and performs the same operations. The trimming of the
side edges having been effected by the circular cutter C they have then
to be polished or burnished; for this I employ the tools G, H, I, J,
Sheet 3. These four heated burnishers, which are variously shaped, are
of cast iron or steel and have a rectilinear reciprocating to-and-fro.
motion imparted to them. This movement is given to them, as is shown
at Figures 4, Shect 3, by a small connecting rod, the head of which is
fixed to a moveable stud which is received in a slot in a crank arm
fixed on the driving axis. By this arrangement, as will readily be seen
by the Drawings, the stroke given to the rod which carries these tools
can be varied according to the requirements of the work. The interior
of each of these four tools is hollow so that the tools may be suitably
heated in like manner to the burnishers above mentioned, a small
hole a being formed through each of them for the escape of smoke
or heated gases. The tools G, H, serve as above stated for burnishing
the side edges, but there are duplicate sets of these tools so that the
workman may employ either one or other of them according to the
thickness of the sole to be polished. The tool I is used for shoes
which have no heels. The tool J is suitable for polishing some descriptions
of soles and also for polishing heels. Three of these tools are shewn to be
fixed to the rod which forms the tool carrier; any other suitable number
of tools might, however, be similarly carried. The crank which actuates
the tool carrier makes about 100 to 150 revolutions a minute. On a
horizontal axis driven at about 40 to 50 turns a minute, I have
mounted, as is shewn at Figures 5, Sheet 3, the tools K, K¹; the tool K
is shewn separately on Sheets 1. These tools serve as finishing tools
for the heels. These two tools are exactly alike, they are however

page_text: placed one with the beads or mouldings on the right of the surface a, b,
and the other with the beads or mouldings on the left; this is done
by putting them on to the axis in opposite ways. Taken separately
these several tools or groups of tools would occupy a considerable
amount of space, and thus many makers would be unable to employ
them without first being put to great expense for setting them up, I
have combined them together on one rectangular table about 10 feet
long by 6 in width, so that by employing two workmen to use the
cutters for the heels, one for the cutter for the side edges, two for the
heel finishers, four for the finishers for the side edges, and one for the
fitting tool, ten men can without hindering one another be working
around this table. The table is about 3 feet high, and as the driving
axes are below the table all accidents are thus avoided, as all the
working parts are covered in. The workmen may place their work
on the space in the centre of the table. A force of from 2 to 2 horse
power is all that is required for giving motion to all the tools, Without
altering the dimensions of the table I can also profit by my method
of supporting and driving the tools to adapt to some of the axes various
other tools used by bootmakers, such as a brush for removing the
blacking pads, for removing the wax, and other like tools. As above
stated the arrangement and working of the several parts herein described
constitute an entirely new system or combination of apparatus which
will be of great value to bootmakers.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is, the general arrangement of the parts and the tools herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre François Gubault, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight
PIERRE FRANÇOIS GUBAULT. (L.S.)