IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO HORSE-SHOES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Latapic, of No. 1, Avenue de Villars, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BOOTS AND SHOES, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS BEING APPLICABLE TO HORSE-SHOES."
Sealed the 24th December 1878, and dated the 4th July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Latapie at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th July 1878.
JOSEPH LATAPIE, of No. 1, Avenue de Villars, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS
BEING APPLICABLE TO HORSE-SHOES."
My Invention consists in placing on the under side of the soles and heels of boots
and shoes metallic plates, preferably of cast or wrought iron or steel, and provided
with a number of projections serving to replace the nails usually employed, and
also to prevent the wear of the soles and heels of the boots and shoes. These plates
are fixed to the soles by means of screws, bolts, rivets, or by other suitable means,
and they may cover the whole or part only of the soles, and be composed of several
parts. These plates may also be employed for replacing the shoes of horses, mules,
asses, and oxen,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Latapie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th January
1879.
JOSEPH LATAPIE, of No. 1, Avenue de Villars, Paris, in the Republic of France,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES, SUCH IMPROVEMENTS
BEING APPLICABLE TO HORSE-SHOES.”
Broad and strong soles furnished with well-headed nails are the most essential
conditions for a good boot for walking, for military use, for hunting, or for any
kind of work. These projecting nail heads have also for object to protect the sole
from the friction of the ground, and in consequence they lessen the wear and tear.
This result is attained by the improved solos which are the object of the present
Invention, and my improvements consist in placing on the under side of the soles
and heels of boots and shoes metallic plates, preferably of cast or wrought iron or
steel, and provided with a number of projections serving to replace the nails
usually employed, and also to prevent the wear of the soles and heels of the boots
and shoes. These plates are fixed to the soles by means of screws, bolts, rivets, or
by other suitable means, and they may cover the whole or part only of the soles,
and be composed of several parts. These plates may also be employed for replacing
the shoes of horses, mules, asses, and oxen.
But to make my Invention better understood, I will proceed to describe the same
by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal
section, and Figure 2 a plan of the under side of a sole constructed according to my
improvements; Figures 3 and 4 shew details of the methods of attachinent and
construction; Figures 5 and 6 shew the Invention applied to a horse-sboe.
T, T, shews the heel made in one or more pieces, with a flange T, r, partially or i
completely enclosing the whole of the circular part of the heel.
E, blades of the waist of the sole, which blades may be dispensed with, and
which in no cases require nail heads.
S, cross pieces, under which take the longitudinal blades L, L, L.
V, broad-threaded screws, with their heads cut away and placed between the
heads of the nails which protect them against the striking and the friction of the
ground.
L, longitudinal blades provided with nail heads smooth on the side applied to
the sole, and rough like the teeth of a file exteriorly, according to circumstances.
The number of these blades (which are very thin) may vary according to the
size or style of the boot. The arrangement and the number of nail heads vary
according to circumstances.
N, N, N, a very essential piece, with a flange raised in front of the sole and
enclosing it, as shewn at N, c, Figure 1, being thicker at N, c, than at S.
It will thus be seen that my improvements consist in forming soles which are
completely covered with thin hard metallic blades or plates which entirely protect
the soles against the friction of the ground, and against all shocks, and which are
furnished with projecting nail heads or points to bite the ground, and prevent
slipping. These nail heads or points have no shanks for passing into the sole to:
fix them; they are neither screwed nor rivetted to the blade which carries them,
but they are struck, cast, rolled, stamped, or pressed out of one piece with this
blade, and form part with it, so that they cannot be drawn out nor broken.
The heel is provided with a special covering which covers the flat part, and
encloses also the outer curve.
The toe end of the sole is also provided with a special piece which is raised over a
the front covering this front part of the sole, and thus protects it against the blows
and shocks to which it is liable at each step. It is thicker on the front than the
flat blades. These blades and pieces are fixed to the sole by means of broad-
threaded screws, or even by means of T shaped hooks, rivets, or screw nuts, as seen

page_text: in Figure 4; in the inside these connecting pioces should not project from the body
of the sole, but they are covered with an ordinary leather sock of suitable thickness
in such a manner as not to be felt under the tread of the foot.
On the exterior, the screw heads offer no hold or purchase for the gravel, nor for
the roughness of the ground. The end of the blades which enters the waist of the
sole is not absolutely fixed to the leather, but it takes under a cross piece on which
it may slide a little. This arrangement allows the sole to follow the bend of the
foot. The blades may besides be of any suitable number, and placed lengthwise or
crosswise as desired. They are formed of any suitable metal or alloy, provided it is
sufficiently hard to resist wear by friction, and will not break.
The form, distance apart, and arrangement of the nail heads may vary according
to circunstances and locality. This method of protecting the soles of boots and
shoes has great advantages over the ordinary nailing of the soles. It is the usual
practice to place the nails in thick and close rows. Outwardly this shoeing
appears to supply all that is required for case in walking and to protect the sole
against the friction of the ground. But to the leathor itself this shoeing is very
injurious. Each nail point that is driven into the sole violently widens or tears
the fibres of the leather, and prepares for their destruction.
It is evident that my method of covering the sole avoids this cause of destruction,
for the metallic heads with which it is provided have no shanks which enter into
the leather. The few screws which hold the blades to the sole are too far apart to
cause any damage to the fibre of the leather. The improved covering therefore
allows of having on the exterior as many nail heads as may be desired, without in
any way injuring the interior of the sole, as is the case when nails are employed.
In ordinary boots and shoes the bodies of the nails which remain driven into the
solo become damaged by the interior water or moisture and are rusted, but in
becoming rusty they burn the leather which surrounds them, and in a few days
reduce it to the state of tinder, without strength or consistence.
The improved covered soles cannot thus carry rust into the leather, as they have
no nail bodies to enter therein. If blades of steel or other metal subject to rust are
employed, as an additional precaution, these blades may be covered or coated on
the side applied to the sole with a leaf or layer of tin, lead, or aluminium, and in
this way rust will never reach even the surface of the leather.
In my improved covered soles, the toe part is furnished with a special piece, very
hard, and of great resistance, which well covers the front of the sole and protects it
from all shocks and friction; at the same time the covered soles are much lighter
than the others.
It will be understood that the covering blades herein-before described applied to
a leather boot or shoe may be applied to all other kinds of boots and shoes, such as
to wooden shoes, for example.
The hoof of the horse, ass, mule, or other like footed animal is in reality a
natural shoe, and it does not therefore appear surprising that the shoe of a man
which is of leather, and that of the horse which is of horn, may be strengthened by
the same means. The furniture with which each is provided has the same object,
videlicet, to prevent slipping, and to preserve them against the shocks and friction of
hard bodies.
Figures 5 and 6 represent in plan and elevation the application of my Invention
to horse-shoes.
The horse-shoe itself should be of an unwearable or durable metal, but these pro-
jections may be tempered so as to render them harder and of greater resistance.
The attaching nails have the heads cut away between the projections of the shoe,
and consequently are protected against friction and blows; this attachment is thus
perfectly durable.
But when the ends of these attaching nails come out at the upper surface of the
hoof, and are there clinched and rivetted in the hoof itself, it is well known how
this injures the horse's hoof, causing holes, cuts, crevices, slits, and all kinds of
damage so frequently seen in the feet of nearly every horse.

page_text: This inconvenience may be avoided by furnishing this part of the upper surface
with a metallic band B, B', more or less wide and thick, and pierced with holes for
the points of these attaching nails. In clinching and rivetting the ends of these
nails on this band, the hoof will not be affected. This band may be in one or
several pieces.
If the thickness of this band be increased so as to be able to make screw holes
therein, screws may be used, the ends of which are threaded to enter these holes in
the said band, and then this band is a veritable collective nut for the whole shoe;
a separate nut may also be applied to each screw.
I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly. The application, to the soles of boots and shoes of all kinds and materials,
of one or several metallic plates screwed or otherwise suitably fixed and provided
with points, heads, or suitable roughness or projections.
Secondly. The application of these metallic plates and of their methods of
attachment to the shoes of horses, mules, asses, oxen, and other like footed animals.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Latapie, have hereto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
J TATA DIE
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