IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOES AND BOOTS."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cecil Johnson, of No. 6, Northumberland Street,
Strand, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOES AND BOOTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cecil Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
April 1860.
I, CECIL JOHNSON, of No. 6, Northumberland Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHOES AND BOOTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
shoes and boots. For these purposes the soles are made of yarns, or threads
of fibrous material, such as hemp, flax, jute, or others which are plaited
together according to the thickness of the soles intended to be made therefrom.
In order to make a sole the plaited material is made up into a flat coil,
and then the same is sewn horizontally through from side to side, a filling
piece of plaited yarn or thread being introduced at the wider part of a sole,
under the tread of the foot to obtain width, and such is the case in some

page_text: 66
instances in regard to the heel also, and there are two, three, or more rows of
such horizontal stitches one above the other in forming a sole. The "uppers"
are by preference made of canvas or it may be of any strong woven fabric
or other material; and in order to fasten a shoe or boot on the foot, the
upper" has one or more metal eyelet holes on each side of the front. In
some cases, in place of sewing the "uppers" to the soles, they are made in
a suitable manner by the use of metal eyelet holes, as to admit of the soles
being laced to the "uppers," by which the "uppers" of shoes or boots may
readily have new.soles applied thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Cecil Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CECIL
JOHNSON, of No. 6, Northumberland Street, Strand, in the County of Middle-
sex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, 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
Cecil Johnson, Her special licence that I, the said Cecil Johnson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Cecil
Johnson, 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 MANU-
PACTURE OF SHOES AND BOOTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Cecil Johnson, 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 Cecil Johnson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: 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 manufacture of shoes
and boots. For these purposes the soles are made of yarns or threads of
fibrous material, such as hemp, flax, jute, or others, which are plaited together
according to the thickness of the soles intended to be made therefrom. In order
to make a sole, the plaited material is made up into a flat coil and then the
same is sewn horizontally through from side to side, a filling piece of plaited
yarn or thread being introduced at the wider part of a sole under the tread
of the foot to obtain width, and such is the case in some instances, in regard
to the heel also, and there are two, three, or more rows of such horizontal
stitches, one above the other in forming a sole. The " uppers are by
preference made of canvass, or it may be of any strong woven fabric or
other material, and in order to fasten a shoe or boot on the foot, the "upper,"
has one or more metal eyelet holes on each side of the front. In some
cases in place of sewing the "uppers" to the soles, they are made in a
suitable manner by the use of metal eyelet holes to admit of the soles being
laced to the "uppers," by which the uppers of shoes or boots may readily
have new soles applied thereto.
ני
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The fibrous material used (which it is preferred should be vegetable, though
animal fibrous materials may be used in place of, or in conjunction with
vegetable fibrous matters,) is first made up into a narrow flat form, which is
most conveniently done by using the fibres in a spun state and making there-
with a flat plait or braid, the width of the flat plait or braid corresponding with
the depth or thickness of sole desired to be made.
Or the fibrous material
may be otherwise manufactured or made up into a flat tapelike form suitable
for the purposes of my invention, to which preparations of the fibrous materials
I make no claim. The flat plait or braid is then coiled on edge into an oblong
coil, of the length of the intended sole, there begin an additional coil intro-
duced to widen the sole under the palm or tread of the foot, and such is
the case also in regard to the heel, where it is desired that the heel as well
as the tread should be wider than the part intermediate of the tread and heel.
The coiled fibrous material (which consists of several thicknesses of the
plait braid or other like flat manufacture of fibrous material) is then sewed
horizontally, through and through, from side to side of the sole, there being
two, three, or more-rows of stitches, one above the other, according to the depth

page_text: of thickness of sole. These soles are then to bave "uppers" sewed thereto by
preference of canvas, though other materials may be used for the "uppers,"
in making up shoes and boots with soles as above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cecil Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
CECIL G. JOHNSON. (L.S.)