IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE SHAPE OF THE FOOT, AND MAKING LASTS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES.
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Fisher at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 7th July 1880.
JOHN FISHER, of 40, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND REGISTERING THE SHAPE
OF THE FOOT, AND MAKING LASTS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS
AND SHOES, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES.",
My Invention relates more especially to apparatus to be used for measuring and
registering the shape of the foot, in order that such measurement may be used for
the purpose of manufacturing lasts or wooden models reproducing with sufficient
accuracy the shape and size of the foot, so that when boots or shoes are made in
the ordinary way upon a last so reproduced, they shall fit the foot accurately and
well, avoiding too great tightness on the one band or looseness on the other, which
almost always results where boots or shoes are made upon lasts imperfectly and
incorrectly made from approximate measurements only.
In order to carry out iny Invention I make a caso or box resembling the shape
of the foot in its general outlines, but considerably larger, so that the foot which is
to be measured can be readily introduced into it, to facilitate which I make the
upper part or cover of the front of the foot separate from the remainder, to which it
is attached by hinges or screws, steadying or guiding pins being provided to ensure
its adjustment in the proper position when closed after having been opened.
I make the opening of the box described sufficiently large and of sufficient height
to leave ample space for the ankle round which it passes; and the interior of the
box need only be approximately curved to the shape of the foot, or if desired may be
left flat. The box or case described is preferably of wood, but may be made of
metal or other suitable material, and it is of sufficient thickness to receive a series of
tubular sockets, which are fitted into corresponding holes drilled through its thickness
and at distances apart greater or less, according to the greater or less variation in
shape of the part of the foot opposite to which they are applied, or the greater
or less accuracy with which it is intended that the shape of the foot shall be
reproduced.
Each tubular socket is of small diameter and preferably of metal, such as brass,
and has a scrow thread formed through its interior, into which is fitted a second

page_text: corresponding tubular socket of smaller diameter, but greater length, having an
external screw thread which screws into and fits the larger socket. The said larger
sockets are fitted into the holes made to receive them through the box or caso,
either by screws or by expanding or rivetting their ends, by driving them in
sufficiently tightly, or in other convenient way.
I make a separate wire or guage of steel or other material which can pass freely
through the inner tubes which are screwed into the external screwed sockets as
described. This guage has a collar (which (may be made adjustable) at or near its
outer end, and it also has a handle by which it can readily be used.
The action of the apparatus so far as already described is as follows:-
The person whose foot is to be measured places it, preferably in a stocking,
inside the box, which is itself supported in a convenient position, and the cover of
the latter is then closed and secured. The guage last described is then introduced
into each of the inner screwed tubes in succession, the collar upon its outer end
being pressed steadily against the outer end of the tube in which it is, and the
latter is screwed carefully into its socket until the inner end of the guage just
touches that part of the foot which is opposite to the particular socket and tube
which are being used. The guage is then withdrawn, and the same process is
repeated with each of the tubes in succession, or with as many as may be thought
necessary. The foot which has been thus measured or guaged is then withdrawn
from the box, the cover of which is released for the purpose, and a block of wood
from which the last is to be made is introduced in its place. This block is roughly
shaped to approximately resemble the foot which is to be reproduced, and it is held
firmly down in the box by one or more screws, so that it occupies a similar
position to that which the foot recently held. I then take a small auger or boring
tool of a similar diameter to that of the guage above described, and having a collar
(which may be made moveable) fixed upon it at a distance from its point equal to
that between the collar upon the gauge and the inner end of the Intter. I
pass this
tool through each in succession of the scrowed tubes, the position of which has been
adjusted as above described, and I bore holes with it into the wooden block, until
the collar upon the tool comes in contact with the outer end of the inner screwed
tube. The boring tool then occupies exactly the same position which the guage
occupied when the foot was in the place now held by the block, and the bottom of
the hole precisely represents the point of the foot then touched by the end of the
guage. "If therefore a sufficient number of holes are bored in the block in the way
described, and the wood or material is then cut away to the level of the bottom of
such holes, the contour between them being curved or carved gradually away, the
resulting block will be a reproduction of the foot which was measured, the accuracy
of which will depend upon the number of holes bored and the care with
which the material is subsequently cut away. The block so produced is used as
a last upon which boots or shoes can be made, with the certainty that they will
fit the person from whose foot the last has been reproduced. Each foot will of
course have to be reproduced separately in the way described. I prefer that a
lock nut or other similar device should be fitted upon each of the inner screwed
tubes described, for the purpose of fixing the latter when its proper position has
been determined. Each socket should be numbered or otherwise distinctively
indicated, and when the apparatus has been adjusted for a particular foot, the
position of the corresponding inner tube for each number should be indicated or
measured and registered or recorded, so that the several tubes can be replaced in
their proper positions for that particular foot whenever desired. Instead of using
the sockets described, I sometimes screw the inner tubes directly through the body
of the box or case, and I sometimes make the exterior of the inner tubes plain
instead of screwed, and I make them slide through the outer sockets instead of
being screwed through them, and they may be retained in their position when
adjusted by set screws or ratchet teeth or notches and a spring detent, or other
equivalent means. In order to reproduce the shape of the bottom of the foot, I

page_text: sometimes adjust and fix the latter a short distance from the bottom of a shallow
trough or vessel, into which I then pour liquid plaster of Paris, or other quickly
setting material. When the plaster has set I remove the foot, and I press into the
mould so formed warm gutta percha or other sufficiently plastic material, which
when cold may be nailed or otherwise fastened to the bottom of the last.
My improved apparatus, as above described, may be used for the purpose of
reproducing other objects of irregular shape, as well as for making lasts reproducing
the human foot.