IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF OVERSHOES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF OVERSHOES."-A communication
from abroad by Augustus Osborn Bourn, of Providence, Rhode
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th March 1869.
"
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF OVERSHOES," a communica-
tion, to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention herein described is to produce an overshoe

page_text: of that class commonly known as "Arctic overshoes," which shall by
preventing the ready admission of water from the outside be practically
water-tight, but shall nevertheless allow the free escape of the insensible
perspiration of the foot.
Shoes of the general class to which this belongs are composed usually
of a rubber sole, a rubber foxing, an outer vamp, and quarters of closely
woven cloth, an inner lining of plush or other soft and loosely woven
material to give wamth to the foot, and an interlining of rubber
between the two walls of cloth. Usually the outside cloth and the
inside lining are cemented together with rubber cement, but sometimes
the inner lining and outer cloth vamp and an intermediate sheet of
rubber are secured together only at the edges, and are elsewhere
unattached.
The former mode of construction as universally practised produces a
shoe which alike prevents the admission of water from without and the
escape of perspiration from within. The latter mode of construction
secures ventilation to a considerable degree, but when the outer vamp
and inner lining are not secured together throughout the whole extent
of their surfaces in contact the vamp after it has become wet will shrink
and change its shape independently of the lining, and render the shoe
uncomfortable and unshapely.
When rubber is spread out into a very thin or attenuated sheet and
applied to a shoe, as herein-after described, it will not prevent the escape
through its pores of moisture evolved by perspiration generated, as such
moisture is under conditions which create a pressure from the inside of
the shoe, but water from the outside is nevertheless under the ordinary
exposures of the shoe from common use practically excluded. By
availing myself of this fact I am enabled to produce an overshoe which
is sufficiently water-tight for the protection of the feet against wet, but
at the same time secures the comfort and advantages of ventilation.
<<
The construction of my improved shoe is peculiar only so far as the
upper" is concerned. The sole and foxing is made in the manner
commonly practised in the art, and is secured to the cloth and vamp in
the well understood way. The cloth which forms the "upper" is coated
with rubber which has been dissolved by any of the well known solvents.
This thin solution is applied to the cloth by means of a knife in the

page_text: manner in which rubber fabrics are usually coated by gum in solution.
The solution which I prefer to employ is of such consistency that two
coats upon the inner fabric and two coats upon the exterior of the lining
are requisite to render the two fabrics (when brought together to form
an "upper") capable of furnishing sufficient protection against water
from the outside.
Any person familiar with the art will be able readily to determine the
thickness of the coating necessary when it is understood that the rubber
should be so thin that the color of the underlying cloth can be readily
seen through it; in other words, so thin that if a sack made of a sheet
of such thickness were filled with water and subjected to gentle pressure
moisture would exude through it in drops. A skilled workman would
probably be able to apply a coating of this character to a fabric by
means of a calender, but it will ordinarily be safer to spread it by a
knife.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her
special licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Robert Lake, 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

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOF OVERSHOES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 a
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 William Robert Lake, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming part of this Specification:-
The object of the Invention herein described is to produce an overshoe
of that class commonly known as "Arctic overshoes," which shall by
preventing the ready admission of water from the outside be practically
water-tight, but shall nevertheless allow of the free escape of the
insensible perspiration of the foot.
Shoes of the general class to which this belongs are composed usually
of a rubber sole A, a rubber foxing B, an outer vamp and quarters C of
closely woven cloth, an inner lining a of plush or other soft and loosely
woven material to give warmth to the foot, and an interlining of rubber
between the two walls of cloth. Usually the outside cloth and the inside
lining are cemented together with rubber cement, but sometimes the
inner lining and outer cloth vamp and an intermediate sheet of rubber
are secured together only at the edges, and are elsewhere unattached.
The former mode of construction as universally practised produces a
shoe which alike prevents the admission of water from without and the
The latter mode of construction
escape of perspiration from within.
secures ventilation to a considerable degree, but when the outer vamp
and inner lining are not secured together throughout the whole extent
of their surfaces in contact the vamp after it has become wet will shrink
and change its shape independently of the lining and render the shoe
uncomfortable and unshapely.

page_text: When rubber is spread out into a very thin or attenuated sheet and
applied to a shoe, as herein-after described, it will not prevent the
escape through its pores of moisture evolved by perspiration generated,
as such moisture is under conditions which create a pressure from the
inside of the shoe, but water from the outside is nevertheless under tho
ordinary exposures of the shoe from common use practically excluded.
By availing myself of this fact I am enabled to produce an overshoe
which is sufficiently water-tight for the protection of the feet against
wet, but at the same time secures the comfort and advantages of
ventilation.
The construction of my improved shoe is peculiar only so far as the
" upper "is concerned. The sole and foxing are made in the manner
commonly practised in the art, and are secured to the cloth and vamp in
the well understood way. The cloth which forms the "upper" is coated
with rubber which has been dissolved by any of the well-known sol-
vents. This thin solution is applied to the cloth by means of a knife
in the manner in which rubber fabrics are usually coated by gum in
solution. The solution which I prefer to employ is of such consistency
that two coats upon the inner fabric and two coats upon the exterior
of the lining are requisite to render the two fabrics (when brought
together to form an " upper") capable of furnishing sufficient pro-
tection against water from the outside.
Any person familiar with the art will be able readily to determine the
thickness of the coating necessary when it is understood that the rubber
should be so thin that the color of the underlying cloth can be readily
seen through it%3B in other words, so thin that if a sack made of a
sheet of such thickness were filled with water and subjected to gentle
pressure moisture would exude through it in drops. A skilled workman
would probably be able to apply a coating of this character to a fabric by
means of a calender, but it will ordinarily be safer to spread it by a
knife.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it understood that I do not
claim broadly the use of an interlining of rubber; neither do I claim
broadly the use of an elastic fabric coated with rubber; but I claim, the
improvement in rubber cloth overshoes, which consists in spreading
upon the contiguous surfaces of the cloth upper and lining a thin solu-

page_text: tion of rubber by which the shoe is rendered practically waterproof yet
pervious to perspiration, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)