IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Palliser, of the Army and Navy Club,
Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS."
Sealed the 14th November 1871, and dated the 29th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Palliser at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th May 1871.
I, WILLIAM PALLISER, of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS," to be as follows:—
66
My Invention has reference to an improved construction of the
description of boots known as Wellington" boots, or boots of similar
form, whereby such boots are made to fit the shape of the foot more
accurately and with less inconvenience than heretofore.
In "Wellington" boots of ordinary construction the foot is held down
by the pressure of the leather across the instep. In order to insure

page_text: this pressure the measure from the heel round the instep is made as
small as possible, looking to the necessity of allowing the foot to enter
the boot, and to permit of this it is found necessary to make the back
of the boot to slope upwards, away from the heel of the foot, or at least
to be straight from the heel upwards. By this formation of the boot
it is either rendered so tight over the instep as to be difficult to pull
off and on, especially when wet, or if the boot is made loose over the
instep the heel of the foot in walking slips up and down in the
boot.
Now my present improvements consist,-
Firstly. In so forming the back of the boot that it curves inwards
above the heel, so as to fit the configuration of the back of the heel,
like the back of a walking shoe or lace boot.
Secondly. In making the boot so much larger than usual round the
instep as will allow of the introduction of the foot past the contraction:
formed just above the heel, as above described.
And, thirdly. In enabling such enlarged part of the boot to be tightened
or drawn in round the instep after the introduction of the foot by the
application of any suitable fastening, such as a strap and buckle passing
across the instep, or flaps tightened by shoelaces, or by fixing hooks,
eyes, or studs upon the instep of the boot, over which tightening´laces
are passed. I prefer to employ laced flaps as the means of tightening,
such flaps being made to extend in a direction from the instep towards
the ankle and upper part of the heel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Palliser in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALLISER, of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said William Palliser, Her special licence that I,
the said William Palliser, my executors, dministrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Palliser, my executors, adminis- -
trators, 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 BOOTS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Palliser,
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 William Palliser, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say :-
"
66
My Invention has reference to an improved construction of the
description of boots known as Wellington" or "legging" boots, or
boots of similar form, whereby such boots are made to fit the shape
of the foot more accurately and with less inconvenience than heretofore.
In "Wellington or "legging” boots of ordinary construction the
foot is held down by the pressure of the leather across the instep. In
order to insure this pressure the measure from the heel round the instep
is made as small as possible, looking to the necessity of allowing the
foot to enter the boot, and to permit of this it is found necessary to
make the back of the boot to slope upwards away from the heel of the
foot, or at least to be straight from the heel upwards. By this formation
of the boot it is either rendered so tight over the instep as to be difficult
to pull off and on, especially when wet, or if the boot is made loose
5 over the instep the heel of the foot in walking slips up and down in
the boot.
Now my present improvements consist, firstly, in so forming the back.
of the boot that it curves inwards above the heel so as to fit the con-

page_text: figuration of the back of the heel like the back of a walking shoe or
lace boot.
Secondly. In making the boot so much larger than usual round the
instep as will allow of the introduction of the foot past the contraction
formed just above the heel, as above described.
And, thirdly. In enabling such enlarged part of the boot to be
tightened or drawn in round the instep after the introduction of the
foot by the application of any suitable fastening, such as a strap and
buckle passing across the instep, or flaps tightened by shoe laces, or by
fixing hooks, eyes, or studs upon the instep of the boot, over which
tightening laces are passed. I prefer to employ laced flaps as the means
of tightening, such flaps being made to extend in a direction from the
instep towards the ankle and upper part of the heel.
The arrangements which I prefer to employ in carrying out my
Invention are shewn on the accompanying Drawings.
Figure 1 shews a "Wellington" or "legging" boot with the lacing
flaps A extending right round the upper part of the heel, and cut and
joined at the back so as to produce the inward curve of the boot at that
point, as herein-before described. This flap is by preference sewn to
the boot along its entire lower edge, and also by preference for a short
distance a, b, at the upper edge, and it may also be sewn downwards
along the dotted line b, c. From 6 to d the upper edge of the flap is
by preference not sewn down to the boot, but is stitched in order to
prevent the leather from stretching. The leather of the boot B when
the lacing flap is opened is large enough in the direction from a to d to 2
insure the easy entry and withdrawal of the foot; and in drawing in the
flaps the creasing occassioned by the excess of leather in the boot is by
preference caused to lie on either side of the ankle instead of over the
instep by sewing a leather tongue C down upon the instep of the boot
at the part where the laces of the flaps cross each other. In a similar 3
manner the creasing is provented from taking place at the back of the
heel by stitching the flaps to the boot from a to b, as described.
Figure 2 shews a similar arrangement to that above described, but
with the flaps A extended down to the bottom of the boot, and sewn
thereto along the lines a b, b c e, and f g. In this arrangement the 3
toe cap which is sometimes applied to these boots may be extended so
as to join on to the flaps A, thus forming with the latter a complete
covering for the foot of the boot.

page_text: Figure 3 shews a similar form of flap to that at Figure 2, with the
exception that the fastening is effected by means of a buckle D.
In Figures 1 and 2 hooks or buttons may be substituted on the flaps
for laces to pass round instead of the eyelet holes.
66
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is, combining in
Wellington" or "legging" boots a recess or inward curve round the
upper part of the heel with sufficient width of boot to allow the foot to
enter freely, and with the means of tightening the boot round the instep,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palliser, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
W. PALLISER. (L.S.)