IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bex, of the Town of Northampton, in
the County of Northampton, Carpenter, and Eli Morris, of the
same Town, Clicker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bex and Eli
Morris at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 22nd December 1871.
We, WILLIAM BEx, of the Town of Northampton, in the County of
Northampton, Carpenter, and ELI MORRIS, of the same Town, Olicker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MAKING AND FIXING THE HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOB," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in making and fixing
the heels of boots and shoes, and in apparatus therefor.
In making the heel of a boot or shoe a flat piece of leather is cut out
in such manner that it will fold together to form the shell of a heel. The

page_text: method of cutting the leather is such that the edges of the piece of
leather meet to form a vertical joint in the centre of the front of the
heel, and a T shaped joint in the bottom of the heel. The leather is
folded around a metal block and put into a bottomless mould of polished
metal. The mould is slidden along guides up to stops and then by an
eccentric; a plunger is brought down on to the block and drives it home
into the mould. A second plunger also worked by an eccentric ascends
into the mould and comes against the bottom of the heel, which is thus
moulded by the pressure in opposite directions of the two plungers. The
second plunger comes to its highest position immediately after the
descent of the first plunger is complete. Two workmen work at the
press, sliding in the moulds alternately from either side.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bex and Eli Morris in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BEX, of the Town of Northampton, in the County of Northampton,
Carpenter, and ELI MORRIS, of the same Town, Clicker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Bex and Eli Morris, Her
special license that we, the said William Bex and Eli Morris, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Bex and Eli Morris, our 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING AND FIXING THE HEELS
OF BOOTS AND SHOES, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Bex and Eli Morris, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, should particularly 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.

page_text: In making the heel of a boot or shoe a flat piece of leather is cut out
in such manner that it will fold together to form the shell of a heel.
The method of cutting the leather is such that the edges of the piece of
leather meet to form a vertical joint in the centre of the front of the
heel, and a T-shaped joint in the bottom of the heel. The leather is
folded around a metal block and put into a bottomless mould of polished
metal. The mould is slidden along guides up to stops, and then by an
eccentric a plunger is brought down on to the block and drives it home
into the mould. A second plunger, also worked by an eccentric, ascends
into the mould and comes against the bottom of the heel, which is thus
moulded by the pressure in opposite directions of the two plungers. The
second plunger comes to its highest position immediately after the
descent of the first plunger is complete. Two workman work at the
press, sliding in the moulds alternately from either side.
The leather having been moulded is expelled from the mould by a
pusher worked by a treadle.
The vertical joint of the heel is next secured by a piece of leather laid
over it at the back and secured by rivets. The heel is afterwards
rendered solid by filling it with a suitable filling block and composition.
The filling is forced into its place by a similar press to that employed to
mould the leather. The composition within the heel is covered with a
strip of leather or other material to prevent the plunger of the press
adhering to it. With the same object the plunger is heated by means of
a gas jet playing into a hole bored in the plunger.
To fix the heel the boot or shoe is put on to an iron last, and by a
suitable tool a curved row of points is inserted into it and clenched on
the last. The heel is carefully put on to these points in its proper place,
the points entering the edges of the heel, and then a clamping ring is
brought down upon the heel which forces it home to its seat upon the
boot or shoe. Rivets are now inserted through holes bored through the
heel from top to bottom, and then are clenched on the last so that the
heel becomes very firmly fixed.
Lastly. A tip of leather is put upon the bottom of the heel to give it
a finished appearance.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the Drawings
homounta annovod

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of a piece of leather cut to the form for making a
heel; Figure 2 is a plan, Figure 3 a longitudinal section, and Figure 4
a transverse section of the block and mould together with the slide in
which the mould is carried; Figure 5 is a front view, and Figure 6 a
side view of the machine by which the pressure is given.
a is the block, and 6 the mould which is of brass with its surface
highly polished that it may communicate a polish to the leather pressed
in contact with it. The mould is placed in the opening formed for it in
the slide c, and is there clamped by means of the clamping screws c¹, c¹,
and the filling pieces c³, c². The piece of leather is folded around the
block and is placed in the mould, which with the slide containing it is
then at the outer end of its guide course d, as shewn at Figure 5. This
guide course is carried by a suitable framing, as the Drawings shew, and
the framing also supports in bearings the main shaft e, which is driven
by a belt passing around the pulleys e¹; e³ is a fly wheel, and e³ à spur
toothed pinion on the same shaft; the pinion e³ drives the wheels f¹, f¹,
on the shafts ff, which also revolve in bearings on the frame. The
ends f*, f*, of the shafts f are turned down to form eccentric pins
which are received into the square blocks 9, 9; these blocks are carried
by the slides h, h, which are capable of moving vertically in guides on
the frame, and the blocks g, g, can traverse horizontally in the recesses
formed to receive them in the slides. The eccentrics thus arranged give
motion to the slides, causing them alternately to approach and recede
from each other; by preference the movements of the upper slide are
slightly in advance of those of the lower. The upper slide h carries only
a plain plunger ³, the lower slide carries a plunger with a head corre-
sponding in form with the bottom of the heel.
The leather having been folded around the block a, as already described,
and inserted into the mould 6, the slide a containing these parts is pushed
by the workman to the centre of the guide course d; it is stopped by
the stop pin d* coming against a corresponding pin on the back of the
slide. The plungers then approach each other and the block a is driven
down into the mould 6 with great force by the upper plunger until the
pressure is taken by the lower plunger bearing on the bottom of the
heel. Thus the leather is moulded to the shape required, the plungers

page_text: then separate, and the workman moves the slide d back until by a stop
it is retained over the pusher i, which on a treadle in connection with it
being depressed rises and ejects the moulded leather and block from the
mould.
The leather is now in the form in which it is shewn in plan at Figure 7;
Figure 8 is a front view and Figure 9 a longitudinal section of the same.
These Figures also shew a connecting piece of leather x, x, which is
rivetted on by hand to hold together the two flaps which form the front
of the heel. The heel having thus been brought to the required form is
filled with a block of wood shaped so as to fit it quite loosely. This
block is coated all over to the depth of about one-sixteenth of an inch
with a composition consisting of pitch, tar, and sawdust mixed in such
proportions as to form a compound, which when cold can be readily
dented with the thumb nail. The coated block is put into the leather
heel, which is returned to the mould, and the block is covered with
a scrap of thin leather.
The upper plunger of the machine is now changed for the one shewn
in Figure 10, which is convex at the bottom to give to the top of the
heel such a form that it may fit closely to the boot or shoe upon which
it is to be fixed; and by preference this plunger is heated by inserting a
small gas burner into a hole bored in it at a short distance from its face.
The heel now receives the pressure of the plungers as before, and the
composition on the block yields to the pressure, and adapts itself so as to
fill all the crevices between the wooden block and the leather. Unless
this plunger be heated there is risk of the composition adhering to it,
and of the heel rising with the plunger out of the mould, which might
result in the breakage of the machinery.
The heel is now ready to be fixed upon the boot or shoe which is to
receive it. For this purpose six or seven holes are bored through the
heel from top to bottom by means of a tool like a brush maker's drill;
then the edges of the heel are pared so that it may seat itself properly on
the boot. The boot or shoe at this time is upon an iron last, and a
curved row of double pointed pins are inserted into it in such a position
as to catch the edges of the heel all round. These pins are driven in
with a hollow punch so as not to injure their projecting points, whilst
their other points are clenched upon the iron last. The heel is then
carefully put down on these points which serve to keep it in its place
until it is more securely fixed. The ring shewn in Figures 11, 12, and 13,