IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS, SHOES, GAITERS, OVERALLS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES OF APPAREL
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
KEENE, of Sussex Place, Regents Park, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Keene, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Keene, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS, SHOES, GAITERS, OVERALLS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
OF APPAREL;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Charles Keene, should cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said.
Charles Keene, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-.
tained in and by the present Specification thereof:-

page_text: My improvements in boots, shoes, gaiters, overalls, and other like articles
of apparel, consist in rendering the same more or less weather and water proof,
and more easy of wear, by the application to the same or the making of the
same in whole or in part of the substance recently imported from the East
Indies, called gutta percha, and sometimes gutta tuban.
First, I coat the pieces of leather or other material of which the boots,
shoes, gaiters, overalls, or other articles of apparel are made, and either on
one or both sides, with a solution of gutta percha, or a solution of gutta
percha mixed with a portion or portions of caoutchouc, or sulphur, or coloring
matter, or any other substance or thing which may be calculated to improve
the quality of the said solution, as directed and explained in.the Specification
of certain Letters Patent, of date the Eleventh day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and forty-five, granted to Richard Archibald Brooman, for
"certain improvements in the preparation and application of artificial fuels,
mastics, and cements ;" and this I do either once, twice, or oftener, according
to the thickness of the solution and the thickness desired to be given to the
coating; and sometimes, instead of so coating the whole of the said pieces,
I coat those pièces only which are likely to be most exposed to tho weather
and wet, as for example, the outer sole and upper leathers only..
Second, I protect in like manner the said pieces of leather or other material,
some or all of them, by covering the same either on one or both sides with
a layer or layers of gutta percha in the plastic state, or of gutta percha
combined in the said plastic state with a portion or portions of caoutchouc,
or sulphur, or coloring matter, or of French chalk or òthor soft powder, as
directed in the aforesaid Specification of the Patent of Richard Archibald
Brooman, applying the said layer or layers by the means and in the mode
also described in the said Specification.
Third, instead of either coating or covering as aforesaid the materials of
which the boots and other articles before mentioned are made, I sometimes
interpose between the same or certain portions of the same, as for example,
between the outer and inner soles, or between the upper leathers and lining,
pieces of gutta percha, in any of the sheet states in which it is manufactured
under the said Patent of Richard Archibald Brooman.
Fourth, I manufacture boots, shoes, gaiters, overalls, and other like articles
in whole or in part of a compound fabric, formed as described by the Specifica-
tion of the said Richard Archibald Brooman, by adding to gutta percha
while in the kneading machine (whether previously combined or not combined
with caoutchouc, or sulphur, or coloring matter, or French chalk or other
soft powder, as aforesaid) a portion of leather dust, or hair, or bristles, or

page_text: ground cork, or woollen shearings, or other membraneous or fibrous substance
in a finely comminuted state.
Fifth, I also manufacture boots, shoes, gaiters, and other like articles in
whole or in part of a certain other fabric, which is directed in the Specification.
of the said Richard Archibald Brooman to be formed by saturating a bat or
fleece of cotton, wool, or other fibrous material with a solution of gutta
percha, or a mixed solution of gutta percha and caoutchouc, preferring,
however, for the purpose of this branch, of my Invention such bats or fleeces
as have been saturated with a solution containing in it a portion more or
less of sulphur and of some coloring matter.
Sixth, I make boots and shoes and the other articles aforesaid of gutta
percha, or of a mixture of gutta percha and caoutchouc, either sulphurized
or not sulphurized, all in one piece, without either sewing or stitching, as,
usual, by casting. the same in cored moulds made of the required form of
the boot, shoe, or other article. I either fill the mould with the material
in a state of hot solution, and leave it to cool, or I fill it with the material.
in a granular state, heat the mould till its contents become in a pulpy state,
and then set it to cool. Instead of cored moulds I sometimes use a single
matrix only, and cause the material in a sheet or in a plastic state to assume
the shape of that matrix, by forcing it into the recesses thereof by means.
of the pressure of water or air. And sometimes, in order to give greater
springiness to the boot or shoe or other article, instead of casting it all in
öne piece I. cast it in two or more pieces, as for example, I cast the front
part in one piece and the heel. or back part in another piece, and unite the
two parts by means of an interposed piece or pieces of leather or gutta percha,
in the sheet and sulphurized state, or some other like flexible material.
Seventh, instead of uniting the different parts of which boots and shoes, and
other articles aforesaid, are made by stitching or sewing, as usual, whenever
any two of these parts or any one of two parts consist or consists of gutta
percha, or of a mixture of gutta percha and caoutchouc, in any of the sheet
states aforesaid, I pass a hot iron over the joint or joints, which causes the two
surfaces to adhere firmly together.
Eighth, I take boots, shoes, gaiters, overalls, and other like articles, as
they are now ordinarily made of unsulphurized caoutchouc, and greatly
improve the same in point of smoothness of texture and capability of resist-
ing varietions of temperature, by exposing them for from thirty to sixty
minutes to the fumes of sulphur in a close vessel, heated to a temperature of
from two hundred and ten to two hundred and fifty degrees, more or less, on
immersing them for the same length of time in a bath of melted sulphur.

page_text: In either case, in order to prevent the articles from sticking to one another,
they should be done over with a paste made of French chalk, flour, and water,
and that paste allowed to dry before subjecting them to the action of the
sulphur. Boots, shoes, and other articles made in whole or in part of un-
sulphurized gutta percha, may be treated in the same way, but I prefer incor-
porating the sulphur in the first instance with the gutta percha, when it is in
the state of solution, or in the plastic state, or in any of the other states of
preparation and combination aforesaid.
Lastly, I improve the shoes of horses by laying upon and securing to the
upper part of the same a sheet or layer of sulphurized gutta percha or of
sulphurized caoutchouc, or by making the same wholly of either of the said
materials. In the former case, the sheet or layer of sulphurized gutta percha
and sulphurized caoutchouc may be either attached to the shoe by rivets beforo
it is applied to the foot, or it may be laide loosely between the shoe and foot
when the horse is being shod, and be made fast by passing the shoe nails
through it. It affords a soft yet firm footing to the animal, and resists without
injury to its shape very high degrees of heat and pressure.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is as
follows:.
First, I claim the coating and covering either wholly or partially of the
pieces, some or all of them, of which boots, shoes, gaiters, overalls, and other
like articles of apparel are made, with gutta percha, in any of the states of
preparation or combination before specified, and as before described.
Second, I claim the interposing of gutta percha in any of its sheet states
between other materials in the making of the said boots, shoes, and other
articles, as before described.
Third, I claim the employment in the manufacture of the said boots, shoes,
and other articles of the two compound fabrics described under the fourth and
fifth heads of this Specification.
Fourth, I claim the making of the said boots, shoes, and other articles all
in one piece, or in two or more pieces by casting, as before described.
Fifth, I claim the uniting of the parts of boots, shoes, and other articles,
when any two parts, or any one of two parts, are or is composed of gutta
percha, in any of its states of preparation or combination, by cementing instead
of sewing or stitching them together, as before described.
Sixth, I claim the sulphurizing of the said boots, shoes, and other articles,
when made of unsulphurized caoutchouc, or of unsulphurized gutta percha, as
before described.
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page_text: And, lastly, I claim the improvement of the shoes of horses by the addition
thereto of sheets or layers of sulphurized gutta percha or sulphurized caout-
chouc, as before described, or by making the same wholly of either of the said
materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Keene, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.