AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wright, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars,
.City of London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOOTS AND SHOES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Abingdon, Plymouth,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th March 1861, and dated the 13th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wright at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th Sep-
tember 1860.
I, JAMES WRIGHT, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, City of London, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVE
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOOTS AND SHOES," a communica-
tion to me from abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Abingdon, Plymouth,.
Massachusetts, United States of America, to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the production of boots and shoes in a
cheaper and more expeditious manner than has hitherto been accomplished,
and it is limited to that part of the manufacture of boots and shoes in which
the soles are sewn to the vamps, and it consists, first, in the manner in or the
process by which the vamps and soles are sewn together; and secondly, in the
boot or shoe so made as a new article of manufacture..
Hitherto, in all methods of uniting the uppers of the soles and other

page_text: portions of boots or shoes by hand, it has been necessary to draw the ends
and the whole length of the unused thread through the united materials at
each successive stitch, which not only wastes a large amount of power and
time, but necessitates the continual waxing of the thread; I propose, then, by
means of a hook and crochet needle, to pierce the inner and outer soles and
vamps from the outside of the shoe (the last being removed therefrom), and
to unite the said parts by a seam formed by interlacing loops of the same thread
without drawing the end or ends, and the unused length of the thread through
the parts every time a stitch is formed, as is the case with hand sewing; the
stitch then formed being what is known as the chain or tambour stitch. The
sole may be channeled upon the outside, so that in sewing the chain or inter-
lacing of the loops is drawn into the groove, and is then covered from sight,
while the plain or single stitch comes within the shoe against the foot.
The mechanism which I employ in the practise of my Invention is that
described in the Specification of an Invention for which a grant of Letters
Patent was obtained by the aforesaid Lyman Reed Blake, dated 3d May 1859,
and numbered 1111.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WRIGHT, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, City of London, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Wright, Her special licence that I, the said James Wright, my ex-
ecutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Wright, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOOTS AND SHOES," a communication to him from abroad
by Lyman Reed Blake, of Abingdon, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

page_text: .
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Wright, 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 James Wright, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a new and improved method of constructing
boots and shoes, rendering them when so made new articles of manufacture.
This improved method, however, only relates to that part of the manu-
facture of boots and shoes wherein the soles are sewn or united to the
vamps, the object being the production of boots and shoes in a cheaper and
more expeditious manner than has hitherto been accomplished, and which
when so made will be at least equal, if not superior, to those made by hand
by the ordinary method.
In order to render the following description clear and intelligible, I have
to this Specification appended the accompanying Drawings, which when taken
in connexion with it will enable any one to understand and produce the
Invention. Similar letters in the different Figures refer to the same or
similar parts.
Hitherto, the vamps and soles of those boots and shoes which are
stitched have been united by sewing with the hand, a welt being stitched
to the vamp and inner sole, then by stitching (also by hand) the outer sole
to this welt, or the vamp and outer sole have been directly stitched together
without the medium of a welt; other methods slightly varied from these have
also been adopted. All these methods, however, are carried out by the direct
and intermediate action of the hand, and all of them necessitate drawing the
ends the whole length of the unused thread through the materials united at
each successive stitch, which process renders necessary frequent waxing of
the thread and consequent waste of time. I propose in the operation of
stitching to substitute a machine for the hand, and the mechanism which
I employ in effecting this, is that described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to Lyman Reed Blake, in the year One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine, and numbered 1111, and consists of an apparatus which operates with
a hook or crochet needle, which pierces the inner and outer soles and vamps

page_text: from without the shoes (the last being removed, and unites the said parts
by a seam formed by interlacing loops of the same thread without drawing
the end or ends, and the unused length of the thread, through the parts
every time a stitch is formed, as is the case with hand sewing. The sole may
be channelled upon the outside, so that in sewing, the chain or interlock-
ing of the loops is drawn into the groove, which covers it from sight, while
the plain side of the seam comes within the shoe against the foot, the sewing
being of the description which is usually known as the chain or tambour
stitch.
In the Drawings, Figure 1 represents in elevation a shoe made by and
embodying my Invention as it appears after the sole a has been sewn to the
vamp 6, and the channel closed over the stitching as represented at the side of
Figure 1, which is a cross section of the last-mentioned Figure. In Figure 2,
the inner sole is represented by c, and the lining by the red line. Figure 3,
shews a vertical longitudinal section through the seam shewing the stitches.
Having now described my Invention, and in what the same consists, and
how it is carried out into effect, I wish it understood that I claim and desire
secured by the before in part recited Letters Patent,-
First, the method of uniting the bottoms or soles with the vamps or uppers
of boots and shoes, made (without passing the end and length of the unused
thread through the parts united) by interlacing one loop of the thread with
another, and extending through the said parts, substantially as herewithin
described and shewn.
Second, I claim as a new article of manufacture a boot or shoe, in which
the bottom and upper are united with stitches, made (without passing the
length and end of the unused thread through the parts united) by interlacing
one loop of the thread with another, and extending through the said parts,
substantially as herewithin described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wright, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
JAMES WRIGHT.
L.S.)