CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON APPARATUS USED IN DRAWING BOOTS ON AND OFF
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HALLIDAY, of Ham, in the County of Surry, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fourth day of October, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Halliday, His especial licence that I, the said Francis Halliday,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Halliday,
my exors, adiñors, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS ON APPARATUS USED IN DRAWING BOOTS ON AND OFF;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Francis Halliday,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and cause the same to be inrolled in His 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, refernce being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Halliday, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention is

page_text: particularly described and ascertained in and by the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, and the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention of apparatus for drawing boots on and off consists in such a
construction of the instruments commonly called boot hooks and boot jacks for
drawing boots on and off, as that the same shall be rendered more portable,
and may be packed in a smaller compass when not in use than the apparatus
now in use for the same purpose, so as to be more convenient for the use of
travellers, and particularly for those engaged in the military service. All the
Figures on the Sheet of Drawings are drawn to the real size.
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 on the annexed Sheet of Drawings represent that part of
my said apparatus which is for drawing boots on, being for the same purpose
as the instrument called a boot hook. The upper end of the stem B of the
boot hook is formed with a groove or long opening through.it, as at a, Figs. 1,
2, and 3, and the handle A is united to the upper end of the stem B by a
joint pin d, which passes through the said long opening, and is adapted to slide
therein so as to admit of shortening the length of the instrument, in the
manner shown at Fig. 2, when it is folded up for carriage. But when my
boot hook is to be opened or unfolded for use the handle A is drawn up to the
extreme length of the groove a, as in Figs. 1 and 3, and then turned at right
angles to the length of the stem into a suitable position to be grasped by the
hand. In order to fold up the boot hook for packing the handle A is turned
round upon its joint pin d until the length of the handle is parallel to the
length of the stem B, and then the joint pin d with the handle A is to be
slided down the groove a until the handle comes into the position seen in
Fig. 2, so as that the end of the handle will reach but a very little or not at
all beyond the end of the stem; in consequence, when the two boot hooks are
packed they are laid with their handles towards each other, but the handle of
one boot hook applying against the stem of the other boot hook, and laying
within the curved part of the said stem, as seen by the dotted lines, Fig. 2,
and they thus occupy a much less space than in packing the common boot
hooks. The two boot hooks are held together in this position by small pins o
fixed into the handles, and which enter into corresponding holes in the stems.
On the end of one of the handles I fix a small punch 1, and at the other
end of the same handle a screw driver 2. A notch is cut in one end of the
other handle, as at 3, to receive the said screw driver when the boot books are
packed together, and the other end of the second handle is furnished with a
small button hook at 4; in this case the groove a should be made long enough
to allow the handles to meet and touch when packed.

page_text: 9,
Figs. 4, 5, 6, represent that part of my said apparatus which is for
drawing boots off, Fig. 4 being a plan of the same when unfolded, and opened
out fit for use; and Fig. 5 is a side view corresponding to Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a
side view of the instrument when folded up into its most compact form. The
boot jack is formed of two bars of steel A, A, which are united together at
one of their ends by a joint a, and each bar has a joint in the middle of its
length, so that the arrangement of the bars is that of a pocket two-foot rule,
which folds up into four, so as to be six inches long when folded;
cach of the bars A is furnished with a short leg d, as seen in Fig. 5,
and the legs d are made of such lenghts as to raise the ends f, f, of the
bars A, A, to a suitable height to allow the heel of a boot between them
when the instrument is opened out for use, as in Fig. 5. There is also a short
stump c fixed to each of the bars A, A, to form firm supports for them to rest
upon. The ends f, f, of the bars A, A, are united by two links which are
jointed to the bars A at h, and are united together by a joint and pin at i. The
bars A, A, can be opened out at an angle from each other upon their common
joint a, in order to bring their ends f, f, nearer to or further from each other,
and as the said ends approach each other the two links g, g, will form a more
acute angle h, i, h. Cavities are made in the adjacent sides of the bars A, A, to
receive the said links g, g, within the bars A, A, when they are folded. close
together, as seen at 7, 1, Figs. 4, 5, and 6. The instrument being opened out
into the position shewn in Figs. 4 and 5 is fit for use, in the same manner as in
a common boot jack, one foot being set upon the bars A, A, between the
ends a and the legs d, d, to press firmly upon them and hold them down, and
the other heel of the boot which is to be drawn off from the other foot being
placed in the space between the open ends f, f, of the bars A, A, and the
links g, g, which unite them, these links serve as the check or point of resist-
ance for the heel of the boot to pull against. To pack up the said instrument
or boot jack the bars A, A, are brought close together by folding them on their
joint a, and the links g, g, then enter into their cavities 1, 1; the short legs d, d,
are folded down upon their joints e, e, so as to lay flat against the under side
of the bars A, A, as seen in Fig. 6; and the said bars A, A, are then doubled
up upon their joints b, the half towards the ends f, f, being doubled under the
other half towards the end a, in the same manner as the shutting of a pocket
two-foot rule. The short stumps c, c, enter into cavities 2, 2, in the opposite
half of the bars A, A, as seen in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. p is a small steady pin,
fixed into one side of the bars A, which enters into a hole in the opposite bar
when the two bars are brought close together as first described. The instru-
ment is shown folded up in the Fig. 6, and the four portions of the bars A, A,

page_text: are retained together when so folded by the pin p, and the legs c, c. In this
manner a boot jack may be made as large as is requisite for use, but capable
of being packed in a very small compass. My apparatus for drawing boots
on and off may be made of steel in order to have greater strength with the
same weight, but the form and proportions of the same, as well as the mate-
rials of which they are to be made, may be varied according to convenience.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Halliday, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid Francis Halliday came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-seven