IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR DEVICES FOR FASTENING OR SECURING LACES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Galloway, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham,
"
for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR DEVICES FOR FASTENING
OR SECURING LACES."
Sealed the 18th April 1879, and dated the 23rd October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Galloway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd October 1878.
THOMAS GALLOWAY, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham.
IN MEANS OR DEVICES FOR FASTENING OR SECURING LACES."
"IMPROVEMENTS
My Iuvention relates to means or devices intended more particularly to be
employed for fastening or securing the laces of boots or shoes, but which are also
applicable to fastening or securing laces for other purposes without the necessity for
tyeing them, and it consists in the employment of a roller, by preference roughened,
milled, serrated, or V grooved, pivotted eccentrically in an open sided case or holder
of thin sheet metal or other suitable material, which may be attached to the boot
or shoe or other article by passing the tangs or extremities of the holder through
the leather or other material, and then bending them over, or by forming the bottoin
of the case with an eyelet and securing it to the leather or other material in any
usual manner.
By turning the roller on its pivot in one direction, its periphery will be moved to
a sufficient distance away from the bottom or back of the holder to admit of the
introduction of the end or ends of the lace between the two, after which by turning
the roller in the opposite direction, or imparting to it a further motion in the same
direction, the end or ends of the lace will become jammed or held tightly between
the periphery of the roller and the bottom or back of the holder, and the lace be
thereby fastened or secured.
It is obvious that in lieu of employing an eccentric roller, a cain may be used.
for the same purpose, and two rollers or cams with their holders may be
employed.
.

page_text: the said Thomas Galloway-in-the-Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
April 1879.
THOMAS GALLOWAY, of Gateshead, in the County of Durbam.
IN MEANS OR-DEVICES FOR FASTENING OR SECURING LACES."
"IMPROVEMENTS
My said Invention relates to means or devices intended more particularly to be
employed for fastening or securing the laces-of-boots or shoes, but which are also
applicable to fastening or securing laces for other purposes without the necessity of
-tying-them,-and-it.consists in the employment of a roller (by preference roughened,
milled, rivetted, or V grooved), pivotted eccentrically in an open-sided-case or holder
of thin sheet metal or other suitable material, which may be attached to the boot
or shoe or other article by passing the tangs or extremities of the holder through
the leather or other material, and then bending them over, or by making the bottom
of the case in the shape of an eyelet and securing it to the leather or other material
in any usual manner.
By turning the roller on its pivot in one direction its periphery will be moved to
a sufficient distance away from the bottom or back of the holder to admit of the
introduction of the end or ends of the lace between the two, after which, by turning
the roller in the opposite direction, or imparting to it a further motion in the same
direction, the end or ends of the lace will become jammed or held tightly between
the periphery of the roller, and the bottom or back of the holder, and the lace be
thereby fastened or secured.
It is obvious that in lieu of employing an eccentric roller a cam may be used
for the same purpose, and two rollers or cams with their holders may be
employed.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates a mode of carrying out my said
Invention.
Figures 1 and 2 represent elevations drawn to an enlarged scale of a portion of a
boot, having applied thereto a lace fastener constructed according to my said Inven-
tion, the fastener being represented as open in Figure 1 for the reception of the end
of the lace, and as closed in Figure 2, with the end of the lace secured thereby.
Figure 3 and 4 are sectional plans of the fastener, corresponding to Figures 1 and 2
respectively, and Figure 5 is an elevation, drawn to the natural size of the upper
part of a boot, illustrating the general arrangement of the improved fasteners as
applied to the securing of the ends of the lace of the said boot.
A is a case or holder of thin sheet metal (for example), which may be attached
to the leather B of the boot by an eyelet a or otherwise. This holder is open at its
sides b, b, and closed at its end c, whilst at its opposite end it is provided with a
pin d carrying the eccentric roller C.
The fastener is operated in the following manner :-
When it is required to secure the ends of the lace (after the lacing of the boot
has been effected), the roller C is placed in the position shewn in Figures 1 and 3;
one end of the lace may then be passed through the holder A, after which by
turning the roller C upon its centre into the position indicated in Figures 2 and 4,
the end e of the lace will become jammed or held between the periphery of the
roller and the end c of the holder, and the other end ƒ (Figure 5) of the lace being
introduced into another and similar fastener on the opposite side of the boot, the
lace will be thereby fastened or secured.
If desired, in lieu of employing a fastener to each end of the lace, as in the
example illustrated, a single fastener may be used for each boot, and the two ends
of the lace be secured together therein.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original and

page_text: therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
The employment for fastening or securing the end or ends of laces of an eccentric
roller or cam pivotted in a case or holder attached to the laced article, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Galloway, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-nine.
THOMAS GALLOWAY. (L.S.)