Improvements in Toe-caps for Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 30th May, 1896
COMIDELE DE MOITICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by EDWARD BAYLIES SEAVER, of 122 South Street,
Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, United States
of America, Gentleman.]
Improvements in Toe-caps for Boots and Shoes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to boot and shoe toe-caps having permanently glossy
facings, such as are produced by the application of japan or enamel to the leather
body of the toe-cap. Heretofore such facings have always been applied to the
leather body while the latter is flat, and afterward shaped by the operation of
lasting or incorporating the leather body into the boot or shoe. The nature of
such facing is such, however, that the tension to which it is subjected by the
operation of bending and stretching the leather body is liable to crack the facing,
and thus greatly injure its appearance. The cracks are not always formed when
the leather body is first shaped or lasted, but often appear subsequently. They
are especially liable to appear on an abruptly curved portion of the facing, such as
that formed by applying the leather body to a last having a pointed toe. This
liability of the glossy facing to crack is a source of great difficulty, annoyance,
and expense, often resulting in the return of the goods to the manufacturer and
requiring much expenditure of time and labor in repairing or renewing the
facing.
My invention has for its object to overcome this difficulty, and to provide, for
the use of shoe manufacturers, a toe-cap ready for incorporation into a boot or
shoe and having a glossy toe-facing which, while possessing the usual characteristics
of an ordinary patent-leather facing as to permanent gloss and resistance to water, is
free from tensile or cracking strain, and can be relied upon to stand in a boot or shoe
without cracking, even at the abrupt curves of pointed toes, a desideratum which
bas never before been attained..
The invention consists in a toe-cap comprising a lasted body having a flange for
attachment to a boot or shoe, and a toe-facing of japan or enamel deposited or
modelled in toe-cap shape while in a plastic condition and subsequently hardened
to make said shape permanent, said facing being waterproof and characterized by
freedom from cracking strain.
Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this Specification,-
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a toe-facing embodying my invention,
and Figure 2 represents a sectional view of the same.
In carrying out my invention, I take a leather body b that has been previously
lasted or shaped to conform to the shape of the toe portion of a last, so that it
requires no further stretching or fitting in incorporating it into a boot or shoe,
and deposit or model thereon a permanently glossy waterproof facing c composed of
japan or any other suitable preparation or composition, said facing being applied
in a liquid or plastic state to the body b, and then completed or hardened by the
application of heat. The characteristics of the facing, as to permanent gloss and
resistance to water, are the same as those of the coating or facing of ordinary
patent leather, but unlike the ordinary patent-leather toe-facing found in a boot

page_text: or shoe, it is further characterized by an entire freedom from cracking strain when
incorporated into the boot or shoe.
It will be seen that the facing formed or modelled while in a soft or plastic
condition, and subsequently set or hardened, is not only free from cracking strain,
but is firmly set or fixed in the desired form. The toe-cap may therefore be kept
in stock by the manufacturer, ready for application to a boot or shoe, and when
applied the facing may be relied upon to retain both its predetermined form
and its continuity, without liability of cracking and losing its waterproof
character.
The leather body b is provided with a flange or lip extending along its lower
edge below the exposed portion of the facing, for attachment to a boot or shoe.
The said body is here shown as internally reinforced by a layer a of buckram or
other stiffening material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
As an article of manufacture, a toe-cap comprising a lasted body having a flange
for attachment to a boot or shoe, and a modelled facing composed of a material or
composition formed on said body while in a plastic condition and subsequently
hardened, said facing being characterized by a permanently glossy waterproof
surface, free from cracking strain.
Dated this
*1.1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.