IMPROVE- MENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE CLEANING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Biggs, of Leigh Woods, near Clifton, in the
County of Somerset, Colonel, Royal Artillery, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE CLEANING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Biggs at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th November 1876.
THOMAS BIGGS, of Leigh Woods, near Clifton, in the County of Somerset, Colonel,
Royal Artillery. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE CLEANING MACHINES."
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple and efficient machine for
cleaning boots and shoes that may be easily driven by hand and used by a boy or
servant girl; and also, if preferred, can be driven by foot or other motive power
without requiring any great skill or manual dexterity from the attendant or
attendants.
Upon a horizontal spindle turning in standards of cast iron I fit a series of
circular brushes, which as the boot or shoe is presented to them in succession will
brush off the dirt, lay an even coat of blacking over the boot, and bring the
blackened boot to a bright polish.
-
The hard brush and the blacking brush are both cylindrical, but the polishing
brush consists of a double or divided cone the smaller diameters of which face eacli
other.
To ensure an uniform motion of the brushes and to overcome the pressure of the
boot upon them, I mount on the brush spindle a fly wheel of sufficient weight to
maintain its momentum. Between the two cones constituting the polishing brush
I place a coiled spring, or india-rubber, or other disc springs, the elasticity of which
will keep the cones apart and yet allow of their approaching nearer to each other
when it is desired to contract the space between them. These conical brushes are
fitted to their spindle, the one by a pin projecting from the brush side entering a
notch or hole in a collar made fast to the spindle, and the other by means of a pin
or bolt which drops into a hole or holes in the spindle, and has a square projecting
head or shoulder that enters a square slot cut in a plate attached to the side of a
I Prins C11

page_text: conical brush. By the outward pressure of the spring or springs between the cones
the brushes or prevented from disengaging from these couplings, but a slight
endway compression of the spring will permit of the removal of the retaining pin
and the readjustment of the conical brushes on the spindle.
The fly wheel may be cast with a band pulley on its hub to receive a driving
band from a treadle, but the small machines I prefer to drive by a winch handle
carried by a spur wheel which runs loosely on a stud axle projecting from one of
the standards, and gears into and drives a pinion keyed on the end of the brush
spindle.
The blacking brush will be conveniently supplied with blacking from a flat
sponge mounted on a backing of wood, which sponge is to be applied to the under
side of the brush. To prevent the blacking from flying off by centrifugal action
and being wasted I fit above the brush a metal segment shaped cap, the lower edges
of which are turned up to form receivers for the liquid blacking.
When constructing the larger machine for large establishments where one person
could work the machine and two more use the brushes simultaneously, and where
steam, gas, or other power is available for driving it, I provide the spindle with, say,
two pairs of polishing brushes; and also as the driving speed will be in excess of
what is required for the blacking brush I place that brush on a spindle which
receives its motion through a large spur wheel from the pinion on the brush spindle.
In other respects the machine will be substantially the same in construction as that
already described.
When cleaning boots with my improved machine, the attendant having placed
the boot on, say, his left hand as a moveable rest submits it (while driving this
machine through the winch handle with the right hand) first to the action of the
hard brush, pressing it against the under side thereof. When the dirt has been
removed the boot is submitted to the blacking brush, being turned round and from
side to side to expose the upper completely to the action of that brush. Then the
conical brushes being suitably adjusted to the size of the boot (and from their con-
struction they will suit almost any size) the attendant projects the toe of the boot
into the hollow at the under side of the conical brushes and holds it in contact with
the brushes, the rotation of which will speedily impart a polish to the contact
surface. By properly manipulating the boot the whole blackened surface thereof
will in turn be submitted to the action of the polishing brushes, and a polish with
comparatively little labor will be rapidly imparted to the boot.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Biggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th May 1877.
THOMAS BIGGS, of Leigh Woods, near Clifton, in the County of Somerset, Colonel,
Royal Artillery. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE CLEANING MACHINES."
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple and efficient machine for
cleaning boots and shoes that may be easily driven by hand and used by a boy or
servant girl; and also, if preferred, can be driven by foot or other motive power,
without requiring any great skill or manual dexterity from the attendant or
attendants.
Upon a horizontal shaft turning in standards of cast iron I fit a series of circular
brushes, which as the boot or shoe is presented to them in succession will brush
off the dirt, lay an even coat of blacking over the boot, and bring the blackened boot
to a bright polish.
The hard brush and the blacking brush are both cylindrical, but the polishing
brush consists of a double or divided conc, the smaller diameters of which face each
other.
To ensure an uniform motion of the brushes and to overcome the pressure of the

page_text: boot upon them, I mount on the brush spindle a fy wheel of sufficient weight to
maintain its momentum.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a front elevation of what I term my
small machine, which is capable of being worked either by hand or by a treadle;
Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the
polishing brushes; and Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken through the blacking
brush and its cover in line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
In those Figures A is a horizontal shaft constituting the brush spindle. This
shaft turns in bearings in the standards B, B, and it is furnished with a spur
pinion C, which gears into a spur wheel D, mounted loosely on a stud axle E,
projecting from the adjacent standard and carrying a winch handle F, by which
rotary motion is imparted to the machine. Keyed to the brush spindle A is a fly
wheel G, the momentum of which is intended to counteract the friction due to the
pressure of the boot to be cleaned against the several brushes. This fly wheel is
cast with or has fitted to its hub a band pulley G¹, which will allow of the machine
being driven by a treadle; H is the hard brush keyed to the extremity of the shaft
or brush spindle A; I is the blacking brush, also made fast to the shaft A, and above
it is fixed the segment shaped shield I which is carried by a bracket from the
adjacent standard; K and K are the conical polishing brushes. Between theso
two brushes I place a coiled spring, or india-rubber, or other disc springs (as shewn
at L), the clasticity of which will keep the cones apart and yet allow of their
approaching nearer to each other when it is desired to contract the space between
them. These conical brushes are fitted to the shaft A (see Fig. 3), the one K by
a pin projecting from the end of the brush entering a notch or hole in a collar made
fast to the shaft, and the other K' by means of a pin or bolt k which drops into a
hole or holes in the shaft, and has a projecting head or shoulder that enters a hole
cut in a plate attached to the end of the conical brush. By the outward pressure
of the spring L the brushes are prevented from disengaging from these couplings,
but a slight endway compression of the spring will permit of the removal of the
retaining pin and the readjustment of the conical brushes on the shaft.
The blacking brush will be conveniently supplied with blacking from a flat
sponge mounted on a backing of wood, which sponge to be applied to the under
side of the brush. To prevent the blacking from flying off by centrifugal action
and being wasted I fit above the brush the metal segment shaped cap or cover,
the lower edges of which (see Fig. 4) are turned up to form receivers for the liquid
blacking.
When adapting the Invention to the use of large establishments where one person
could work the machine and two more use the brushes simultaneously, and where
steam, gas, or other power is available for driving it, I employ the arrangement
shown in front elevation at Fig. 5. In this case I provide the shaft A with, say,
two pairs of polishing brushes, and also a band pulley M, for receiving motion from
an overhead shaft. As, however, the speed of the machine when thus driven will
be in excess of what is required for the blacking brush, I place that brush on a
separate spindle and drive it by means of a band and pulleys from the shaft A.
This arrangement is shown at Fig. 6, where the stud axle E of Fig. 5 is utilized
to receive a sleeve shaft which carries both the brush I and a band pulley D, which
is the equivalent of the spur wheel in Fig. 5, and receives rotary motion through a
band from a pulley C on the shaft A. In other respects this large machine will bo
substantially the same in construction as that already described.
When cleaning boots with the machine illustrated at Fig. 1, the attendant having
placed the boot on, say, his left hand as a moveable rest submits it (while driving
the machine through the winch handle with the right hand) first to the action of
the hard brush H, pressing it against the under side thereof. When the dirt has
been removed the boot is submitted to the rotating blacking brush I, it being
turned round and from side to side to expose the upper completely to the action of
that brush. Then the conical brushes being suitably adjusted to the size of the
boot (and from their construction they will suit almost every size) the attendant

page_text: projects the toe of the boot into the hollow at the under side of the conical brushes
and holds it in contact with the brushes, the rotation of which will speedily impart
a polish to the contact surface. By properly manipulating the boot the whole
blackened surface thereof will in turn be submitted to the action of the polishing
brushes, and a polish with comparatively little labour will be rapidly imparted to
the boot.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in Boot
and Shoe Cleaning Machines," and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood, that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I clain, the improved boot and shoe cleaning machine, constructed and
arranged as and for the purpose described with reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Biggs, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.