IMPROVEMENTS APPERTAINING TO ARTICLES TO BE AFFIXED TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND TO THE FEET OF 'ANIMALS, AND IN THE MACHINERY AND MEANS EMPLOYED FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Southwood Stocker, of No. 18, Wimpole
Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPERTAINING TO ARTICLES TO BE AFFIXED
TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND TO THE FEET OF 'ANIMALS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
AND MEANS EMPLOYED FOR PRODUCING THE SAME."
"
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 24th April 1858.
in')
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Southwood
Stocker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents," with his Petition,
on the 24th, April 1858.
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I, ALEXANDER SOUTHWOOD STOCKER, of No. 18, Wimpole Street, Cavendish
Square, in the County, of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare, the
nature,of, the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPERTAINING TO. ARTICLES TO
BE AFFIXED TO BOOTS & SHOES AND TO THE FEET OF ANIMALS, & IN THE, MACHINERY
& MEANS EMPLOYED FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
2012.
IT
T
73
The articles are composed entirely of metal, or metal combined with leather,
gutta, percha, or other material or materials, and are what I. term, improved
soles, heels, & toes, applicable to boots & shoes, & partly. to the feet of horses
or other animals. They, are formed,, compressed,. & finished by, machinery,
dies,, tools, &c., into their, desired .configuration, as follows: The soles & heels
of the boots are plugged with.metal, wch is done by means, of, piercing holes
through the leather or other material, and then placing in such holes, the
metal plugs referred to, which may be even with the surface of the ground
r
......

page_text: side of the boot or shoe, or it may protrude through and answer the purpose
of, and supersede the use of hob nails; and it will be evident that more wear
& tear will be obtained when these means are resorted to than in the ordinary
manner of nailing or sprigging boots and shoes.
My improvements for making the heels & toes for boots & shoes consists
also of making them entirely of metal, which is done by forcing them into
their various configurations by the aid of apparatus for bending, & dies, &
tools for forming the same out of metals-wch may be found most suitable to
the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Southwood Stocker in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SOUTHWOOD STOCKER, of No. 18, Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Southwood Stocker, Her special license that I, the said
Alexander Southwood Stocker, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexander Southwood Stocker, my executors,
administrators, or 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 APPERTAINING TO ARTICLES TO BE AFFIXED
TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND TO THE FEET OF ANIMALS, AND IN THE MACHINERY AND
MEANS EMPLOYED FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Southwood Stocker, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Southwood Stocker, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
My Invention relates, in the first instance, in combining in a particular
manner iron or other metal or metals with leather, gutta percha, or other such
like flexible or fibrous material or materials; and when such articles are made
and completed in accordance with the description set forth, they are intended
and are in readiness to be affixed to boots and shoes; and the means I employ
for producing this part of my Invention are as follows:-I take a sheet of
leather, gutta percha, or other suitable material or materials, and reduce it
to a given guage or thickness by the aid of rollers or otherwise, then I place
the same between a pair of cutting tools fixed in a fly press or other machine,
which tools, with the aid of the machine into which they are placed, will cut
up the sheet of material into certain size soles, which are then passed on to
another press or other machine or apparatus into which are placed another
pair of tools, which are intended to operate upon the soles herein-before
described, and produce thereon or therein round holes of any desirable dia-
meter, into which plugs are intended to be placed. The holes in the sole
may be produced at one operation or singly at the discretion of the machinist
working at that department, and may be placed at any chosen distance or
distances apart from each other, and of the diameter required to receive any
given size, length, and number of plugs with which the soles are intended to
be charged. The tools for cutting out the soles and piercing the holes therein
are very simple, and are now used in common; I do not therefore lay any
claim thereto; and the metal plugs are made by dies and pressure out of
round wire by the same means as the articles known and technically called
screw blanks are now made, or the plugs may be cast of malleable or other
metal. I place the points or ends of the plugs in such position in the sole
that when affixed to the boot or shoe, and the same is being worn, it (the end
or point of the metal plug) shall come in contact with the ground, and the
head of the plug shall be within or between the sole and insole of the boot or
shoe. The metal plugs are forced quite tight into the sole, after which they
receive, under the pressure of a powerful machine, a good smart blow, ren-
dering the whole firm together, and imparting to it at the same time a finished
appearance. The merits contained in this part of my Invention will cause the
boot or shoe to which the process is applied to possess considerably more
wear and tear than that ordinary resorted to. Hobnails of a heavy description

page_text: are generally applied to boots and shoes when much wear and tear is required.
Such hobnails have very fine shanks which are struck into the leather up to
the head. Now, it will be evident, that the wear and tear of these hobnails
continues only down to the time when the head or hob has by friction on the
ground worn itself even with the sole or surface of the leather; and it is a
fair calculation that at least forty-five per cent. of the hobs or heads will
break off or by other means release themselves before the remainder are one-
third worn down; hence it will follow that great loss and disadvantage will
arise, whereas it will be evident that where my metal-plugging process is
'used, not only can they not be removed or displaced by any possible means
from their firm situation, carrying the wear and tear of every metal plug
down to the sole or surface of the leather, but the wear and tear will continue
all through the sole with an equal amount of durability until the sole and
plug has been worn down to the thickness of a wafer, the metal plugs remain-
'ing firm in their places down to the very last; and it will be evident that
when a boot is plugged in this manner, that the extraordinary and very unusual
amount of wear and tear and durability it carries with it, will render a re-
soling ever unnecessary, for one pair of boots manufactured accord-
ing to my Invention will wear out three pairs at least of the
same thickness and cost. A gentleman's or light boot may be made in
accordance with this Invention, the plugs being left fair or even with the sole
or surface of the leather, which may be plugged with iron, copper, brass, zinc,
or other 'metal; and for such as town or other travellers, and for government
or military soldiers' boots steel plugs may be used at a trifling extra cost. The
'sole with its metal furniture may be made and sold in the curriers.and grinders
establishments, the same as gutta percha soles are vended, and they may be
applied either by sewing or sprigging in the ordinary manner, or they may be
pegged as pegged boots are now made, or applied with solution of gutta
percha, the same as gutta percha soles are now attached to boots and shoes.
The 'heels of boots and shoes may be made.and applied in the same manner.
Upon referring to the Drawing Number 1, it will be seen that Figure 6 repre-
sents a gentleman's or light boot studded with copper, with the plugs agreeing
fair with the surface of the ground side of the boot; and Figure 7 shews
the kind of plug applied thereto; and Figure 8 represents a strong infantry
soldier's boot studded with iron, with the plugs projecting from the surface
of the sole, the same as the ordinary hobnail projects when nailed in the
ordinary manner; of course the soles may be varied in any manner.desired as
to the quantity and size of studs to be placed therein, either all or partially

page_text: over the surface of the same as shown in the Drawing, and arranged of any
figure desired as to the shape or manner in which they shall be placed; Figure 9
shews the kind of plug to be applied to the sole to which I have referred.
In the second place my Invention consists in producing in a particular
manner articles to be affixed to boots and shoes when made entirely of metal,
and which are various, some of which are styled and known in the market
commercially as York grooved heels, grooved solid back or bitted heels, flat
or Scotch heels and toes, to all of which my Invention applies.
In the Sheet marked Number 1, A represents a length of rolled grooved
iron suitable to make the ordinary York heel, as shewn in its bent state at B;
C represents a length of rolled solid back or bitted iron suitable to make the
ordinary solid back or bitted heel, as shewn in its bent state at D; and E
represents a length of rolled iron bevelled on both edges, and thinner on
the inner than the outer edge, suitable to make the ordinary flat or Scotch
heel, as represented at F, also in its bent state. These, as well as other
similar articles, when manufactured in the ordinary manner, are cut from the
rolled rod into lengths, and merely bent round a piece of metal shaped so as
to produce them into forms suitable to be affixed to boots and shoes. There
are several means resorted to by the trade for bending these goods; some
are bent cold, the holes are then pierced in the ordinary manner,
after which they are polished upon a wooden leathered wheel or bob, dressed
with glue and emery, when they are ready for the market, and some of the
heavy class of goods are bent in the red-hot state, receiving counter-sunk
impressions for the nail heads by forging by hand, and in some instances
these impressions are made in the iron while passing through the rolls at the
last stage of manufacturing the rod of rolled iron. I will now explain the
machinery and means which I pursue to manufacture and finish the articles
to which I have just referred.
I adopt (when manufactured into these goods in the particular manner
herein described) the use of slit rods (known in the market commercially by
that name), which gives me an advantage of 15 per cent. in the price of the raw
material over and above the iron, which is rolled rod iron, and generally now
in use for the manufacture of these articles, and I proceed in the following
manner: It has never been known that a machine or any method hitherto
has been found out of any description whatever to continue to turn heels
with extreme accuracy, so that both sides should be delivered with great
nicety as to truth in their curvature and to match each other, and as this is
essential to the market, as also somewhat to my method of working, I take

page_text: slit rods and cut them into lengths and bend them in the ordinary and well-
known manner of cutting and bending these articles generally by the trade,
and when so bent I place them in a muffle or furnace, and heat them to a
suitable temperature; I then place them in a mathematically and truly sunk
die, which is fixed in a stamp, and give them a blow, in order to rebend or
correct them into truth, after which they are placed in another corresponding
die of equal precision, also fixed in a stamp, when the article receives an
instantaneous smart heavy blow with a steam or other hammer; the article
will then assume the shape of any one of those shewn in the Drawing,
according with the form which has been provided in the die or matrix, for the
purpose of producing an article of any desired configuration the operator may
think fit. The top die must be left of a convex form, in order to turn out the
heel nice and hollow so as to fit properly the boot. Heels and toes have been
made out of slit rods, but they have been wrought or forged. I manufacture
also according to my Invention, out of rolled rods, any of the articles shewn in
the Drawing referred to when manufactured by the means and struck by the
aid of dies and pressure, as described, such dies being fixed and operated
upon by a hammer caused to fall by the aid of steam, vacuum, manual labor,
or otherwise. I also make solid back or bitted heels by filling up the back of
the same and placing into B x the bit G, which is made in any convenient
manner out of steel or other metal, or it may be cast in malleable iron or iron
wire bent. The shanks H, H, are rivetted into the two holes J, J, after
which the heel will be placed and struck in a die, shaped in such manner as
to rivet and finish the heel with a very workmanlike appearance in accordance
with the Figure marked Q, which has been struck in a die, producing at
the same time a very durable and economic article. I also stamp the
indentations for the nail heads and other forms for heels and toes in straight
lengths of iron, as shewn at L, which has been produced by the die M, after
which it is bent in the ordinary manner. The die N produces the heel F,
which has been struck out of a length of slit rod represented at P. Shoes to
be affixed to the feet of horses and other animals may be made by the same
means as herein explained. I also grind, polish, and finish these goods by the
aid of steel and other metal wheels cut as files are cut, or roughened in any
other convenient manner, also by the aid of stones or stone wheels in place of
the wooden leathered wheels or bobs dressed with glue and emery, as before
mentioned.
The dies I use to carry out my Invention are founded or cast in iron, which
should be selected of such quality as to be of great strength and wear and tear

page_text: to the parts liable to the most friction; I cast dies also in a chill, when they
will come out very hard, after which I temper them suitable to the work they
have to undergo; I also use ordinary steeled iron dies sunk to the figure
desired, all of which are essential to carry out advantageously my Invention.
Two very important points I attain out of the many I acquire by manu-
facturing these goods in the manner herein set forth in accordance with my
Invention are, first, cheapness and durability; second, greater truth and
workmanship; for not only do I gain the advantage in the price of the raw
material, as before mentioned, but my method of working will be more rapid
and turn out a far greater quantity in a given time than by the usual manner
of working as now practised, and it will be evident that greater truth and
precision will be accomplished by the processes which I use, and which also
causes the metal to be condensed into a very close texture, and thereby render
the articles much lighter in weight and considerably more durable than when
made as manufacturers now make them, which ordinary method I have herein
set forth, as also the manner of working and the means which I employ, and
which I claim as my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Southwood Stocker, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
ALEXANDER SOUTHWOOD STOCKER. (L.S.)