IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT OF LACED BOOTS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, of No. 24, Old
Cavendish Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT OF LACED BOOTS."
Sealed the 8th September 1864, and dated the 11th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Thomas Whit-
more Jones at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th March 1864.
I, WALTER THOMAS WHITMORE JONES, of No. 24, Old Cavendish Street,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT OF LACED BOOTS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction or
arrangement of laced boots. These boots as now usually constructed require
to be partially unlaced and laced in taking them off and putting them on, or
else the laces would have to be made very inconveniently long. Now accord-
ing to my Invention I combine with each boot a reel or winder, on which the
loose end of the lace is wound when the boot is in wear. I make the lace so
long that it can without unthreading it from any of the eyes in the boot be
sufficiently loosened to allow of the boot being taken off readily. The outer
end of the lace is connected to the reel or winder, and when the lace is pulled
tight to fasten the boot on the foot, the end of the lace is wound up on or by
the reel. I prefer to make the reel or winder with hooks or fastenings upon
it, so that after the lacé has been wound upon it it may be secured to the boot

page_text: in any required position. A convenient way is to hook the reel or winder on
to the top crossing of the lace, or an eye may be made in the upper edge of the
boot to receive the hook or fastening of the reel or winder. Or, if desired, the
reel or winder may be attached to the boot so as not to require to be removed
to wind the lace upon it, the lace being wound up in a similar manner to that 5
in which measuring tape is wound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
THOMAS WHITMORE JONES, of No. 244, Old Cavendish Street, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, Her special licence that I, the
said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, my executors, administrators, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR
ARRANGEMENT OF LACED BOOTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, 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 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 Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, 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 has for its object improvements in the construction or

page_text: arrangement of laced boots. These boots as now usually constructed require
to be partially unlaced and laced in taking them off and putting them on, or
else the laces would have to be made very inconveniently long. Now accord-
ing to my Invention I combine with each boot a reel or winder, on which the
loose end of the lace is wound when the boot is in wear. I make the lace so
long that it can, without unthreading it from any of the eyes in the boot, be
sufficiently loosened to allow of the boot being taken off readily. The outer
end of the lace is connected to the reel or winder, and when the lace is pulled
tight to fasten the boot on the foot the end of the lace is wound up on or by
the reel. I prefer to make the reel or winder with hooks or fastenings upon
it, so that after the lace has been wound upon it it may be secured to the
boot in any required position. A convenient way is to hook the reel or winder
on to the top crossing of the lace, or an eye may be made in the upper edge
of the boot to receive the hook or fastening of the reel or winder. Or, if
desired, the reel or winder may be attached to the boot so as not to require to
be removed to wind the lace upon it, the lace being wound up in a similar
manner to that in which measuring tape is wound.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a front view of the upper part of a laced boot, having a reel
applied thereto according to my Invention; Figure 2 shews an edge view of
the reel or winder applied to such boot; and Figure 3 shews a section of the
reel and its case without any part of the boot lace thereon. In the Drawings
the reel or winder is shewn fixed by sewing to the upper part. If desired, the
winder or reel might be attached by a hook or other fastening, which would
admit of the reel or winder being readily removed and again attached. The
winder consists of a bobbin a made by preference of metal, but other materials
may be used. This bobbin is mounted in a frame b, on which it can be readily
turned. c is a catch or stop, which at its point enters between the teeth on
one end of the reel or winder, so as to retain the winder or reel from turning.
The frame of the reel is fixed, as before stated, by sewing to the upper parts
of the boot, and at the other side of the frame of the winder it has a short
strap & fixed to it by sewing, and there is a buckle e on the other side of the
boot to that where the winder is fixed, by which the strap can be held when
the boot is on the foot. The end of the lace f is passed through a hole in the
barrel of the reel or winder, so that when the reel is turned on its axis it will
wind up the lace and the lace will be retained by the catch c. When it is

page_text: desired to remove the boot from the foot the catch c is to be lifted out of the
teeth of the ratchet; the lace can then be unwound from the reel and
slackened; the strap d is then to be released from the buckle, the boot may
be then readily removed. If it be desired, the reel of the winder may be
closed in at the edges as is shewn at Figures 4 and 5. The winder and its 5
frame, and the mode of attaching it to a boot, and also the mode of holding it
from unwinding, may be otherwise varied without departing from my Inven-
tion, which consists in combining a winder with a boot for the purpose of
winding up and holding the end of the lace when the boot has been laced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Thomas Whitmore Jones, have 1
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WALTER THOMAS WHITMORE JONES. (L.S.)