IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES AND BOOTS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th April
1872.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of No. 10, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES AND BOOTS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to render the soles and heels of shoes
and boots more solid and durable by incorporating into and with the
leather or other material used for such soles or heels small pieces, which
for convenience of description I call plugs of metal, giving the preference
to steel or cast iron, in such way that the said plugs are securely im-
bedded in the leather or other material of which the sole or heel is made,
so as not to be liable to separate from it. The most ready and con-
venient mode in which I propose to effect the incorporation of the said
metal plugs into and with the material of the sole or heel is to punch or
otherwise make holes in such material somewhat smaller in diameter
than the plugs to be used, and to drive the latter by a blow or pressure
into such holes, thus securely imbedding the metal plugs in the leather
or other material. I provide that the length of the metal plugs shall

page_text: .
correspond with the thickness of the leather or other material into which
they are to be inserted, so that when the plugs are driven home into the
aforesaid holes, the two ends of the plugs shall be level with the two
surfaces of the sole or heel material. Nevertheless it may sometimes be
found desirable to allow the metal plugs to protrude outside beyond the
sole.
In order to insure more perfect adhesion of the plugs to the leather or
other material referred to the plugs may be made conical, and I find as a
general rule it is a good plan to make a difference of th part of an inch
in the diameter of the two ends of the plugs, so that for example one end 1
of the cone being %, and the other end ¼ inch in diameter, these would
be suitable dimensions. I also find that ½ or 18th of an inch is a good
dimension for the length of the plugs and the thickness of the sole.
For the heel they may be longer.
By this arrangement the hole being made ½ inch diameter, and the 1
plug being driven at its smaller end into the hole, its conical form causes
it to be jammed into the leather or other material so that it cannot be
easily removed. In fastening the sole thus combined with metallic plugs
to the shoe or boot, it is preferable to let the smaller ends of the conical
metal plugs be outside, and thus to render it unlikely if not impossible, 2
when the shoe or boot is in use, that the plugs should detach themselves
from the sole or heel.
On the above plan the metal plugs would be circular in form, but they
might be angular, or corrugated, or roughed, to insure a better adhesion
to the leather or other material, and as a means of rendering such. 2
adhesion more complete some kind of adhesive cement or varnish may
be used when driving the plugs into the holes. Shoe or boot soles and
heels prepared and made as above described are to be fastened to shoes
or boots in any way or by any method which is now or may be practised.
It is to be understood although not so expressed in the above description, 8
that this Invention applies to the outer soles or heels of shoes or boots.