CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Crossdale, of Rotherfield Street, Lower
Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Boot and Shoe Maker, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES."
Sealed the 10th June 1859, and dated the 12th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Crossdale at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
April 1859.
I, JAMES CROSSDALE, of Rotherfield Street, Lower Islington, in the County
of Middlesex, Boot and Shoe Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing boots and shoes in the following
manner, for the purpose of admitting a free circulation of air through them
in a more simple, efficient, and less expensive manner than by the means
heretofore employed for ventilating boots and shoes. The improvements
above referred to, which constitute this Invention, consist mainly in interposing
perforated tubes of elastic material between the insole and outer sole of boots
and shoes, said tubes being connected with the external atmosphere by
openings formed in the upper, sufficiently above the sole of the boot or shoe to
prevent the entrance of wet or dirt. It is proposed to insert eyelets into the
several perforations in the aforesaid tubes, and to connect such perforations
to or with other perforations made through the insole of the boot or shoe..
The effect of thus manufacturing boots and shoes is as follows:-The
pressure of the feet in the act of walking will expel the heated air and
vapour which may have accumulated in the aforesaid tubes, and also

page_text: in the space between the insole and outer sole of the boot or shoe, and the
lifting of the feet from the ground will allow fresh air to enter said tubes by
reason of the partial vacuum formed therein and between the soles, as aforesaid,
thereby effectually ventilating boots and shoes, and presenting great comfort
to the wearer by keeping the feet cool.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Crossdale in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CROSSDALE, of Rotherfield Street, Lower Islington, in the County of Middlesex,
Boot and Shoe Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Crossdale, Her special licence that I, the said James
Crossdale, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Crossdale, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Crossdale, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 James Crossdale 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 consists in manufacturing boots and shoes in the following
manner, for the purpose of admitting a free circulation of air through them in
a more simple, efficient, and less expensive manner than by the means hére-

page_text: tofore employed for ventilating boots and shoes. The improvements above
referred to, which constitute this Invention, consist mainly in interposing per-
forated tubes of elastic material between the insole and outer sole of boots and
shoes, said tubes being connected with the external atmosphere by openings
formed in the "upper," sufficiently above the sole of the boot or shoe to
prevent the entrance of wet or dirt. It is proposed to insert eyelets into the
several perforations in the aforesaid tubes, and to connect such perforations to
or with other perforations made through the insole of the boot or shoe. The
effect of thus manufacturing boots and shoes is as follows:-The pressure of
the feet in the act of walking will expel the heated air and vapour which may
have accumulated in the aforesaid tubes, and also in the space between the
insole and the outer sole of the boot or shoe, and the lifting of the feet from
the ground will allow fresh air to enter said tubes by reason of the partial
vacuum formed therein and between the soles, as aforesaid, thereby effectually
ventilating boots and shoes, and presenting great comfort to the wearer by
keeping the feet cool.
In order to explain this Invention as completely as possible, I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked

page_text: MODE OF OPERATING.
I first last the insole, and round it and hole it, as usually practised. I
then proceed to cut with a half-round chisel a groove or grooves to receive
the tubing D, the depth of said groove being about half the diameter of the
tubing and I afterwards punch holes in said grooves for connecting the
tubing to the insole by eyelets, as herein-after described. Having done this,
I next pass the tubing D through the holes a, a, which are at the waist of
the insole, and holding the two ends flush and tight, slightly stretch the tubing,
and pull the loop thereof up to the toe part of the groove, and holding it
therein proceed to mark with a pen and ink from the other side of the insole
the position of the centres of the holes therein upon the said tubing; I then re-
move the tubing, and proceed to punch small holes therein at the marked parts
of the said tubing; I then stretch the tubing, and insert into each of the holes
thus formed an ordinary No. 9 eyelet. The tubing thus prepared I proceed
to affix to the insole, beginning at the toe part thereof, and fix each eyelet in
succession, using a piece of hard leather, which I place between the eyelet
punch and the tubing to prevent injury thereto from said punch, and I
operate similarly with the tubing at the heel part of the insole; the insole is
then put on the last, and the upper lasted in the usual way. The open
ends of the tubing are then sewn over and closed, and afterwards pulled up
above the holes b, b, in the upper (shewn at Figure 1), and are held in this
position whilst the tubing is marked through said holes with ink. The tubing
is then punched as before stated, and the eyelets affixed thereto and to the
upper, a hand punch being used in this instance for that purpose.
lining c of the boot is cut as at Figure 6, the cut parts passing over the
tubing, so that the upright part of the tubing is between the lining and the
"upper." The other and ordinary parts of the boot are then completed in
the usual way.
The
In some cases I propose to employ the tubing at one part only of the boot
or shoe, say, at the waist thereof, acting as bellows, and when this is the case

page_text: I simply insert eyelets into the holes in the other parts of the insole, and pack
the unpunctured parts between the two soles with elastic tubing or flat pieces
of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material or substance.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Certain Improvements in Boots and Shoes," together with the
best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect,
I would remark, in conclusion, that I do not claim the forming of grooves or
channels at the under side of the insole of boots and shoes as conduits for air,
as I am aware of the same having heretofore been practised in the manufacture
of boots and shoes; and although I have shewn and described grooves as being
made at the under side of an insole, it is simply as being a convenient way
of adapting the elastic tubing D and E to the insole, and is not an indis-
pensable condition to my Invention in the manufacture of boots and shoes
required to be self-ventilating, as the said tubing might be affixed to the
under side of the insole without such said grooves or channels, and when this
is the case I propose to employ either oval or flat tubing; oval eyelets may
also be used instead of round ones; but what I claim as my Invention, and
desire to secure under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
the use of elastic tubing placed between the insole and outer sole of boots and
shoes, for the purpose of ventilating the same, by forcing out the vitiated air
and admitting fresh air, as constituting certain improvements in boots and
shoes.
I also claim the use of eyelets for connecting the elastic tubing to the
insole, as described and represented by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
also to prevent closing of the holes in the insole.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Crossdale, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
0 Witness,
STEPHEN NEAL,
27, Laurence Pountney Lane,
Cannon Street, E.C.
JAMES CROSSDALE. (L.S.)