IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OUT AND PRICKING THE SOLES AND HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Edward Craven, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Engineer, and Thomas Carrack, of the same Place, Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
OUT AND PRICKING THE SOLES AND HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES, APPLICABLE
ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 25th April 1865, and dated the 25th October 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Edward Craven
and Thomas Carrack at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 25th October 1864.
We, HENRY EDWARD CRAVEN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer,
and THOMAS CARRACK, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR CUTTING OUT AND PRICKING THE SOLES AND HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Cutting

page_text: out and Pricking the Soles and Heels of Boots and Shoes, applicable also to
other Purposes," has for its objects, firstly, to perform the operation of cutting
soles or heels of boots and shoes with greater expedition than can be done by
machinery now in use; secondly, to prick the holes required in the soles or
heels simultaneously with the operation of cutting; thirdly, to prevent the
cutter or cutters from becoming choked; and, lastly, to avoid spoiling the
soles and heels already cut.
We effect these various objects by adjusting our cutter or cutters (of the
shape ordinarily used for cutting soles and heels) upon a fixed table, secured
to a suitable framework, and provided with apertures underneath the cutters to
admit the passage of the leathers cut. A cross head having a reciprocating
vertical motion imparted to it by ordinary mechanical appliances is placed
over the table carrying the cutters. To this cross head we attach a frame
containing a block of hard wood (by preference) so adjusted that on descent
of the cross head the said block comes directly over the cutters, and leather
being placed over such cutters, the soles or heels are effectually cut, and drop
through the recess formed to receive them. A framework of prickers is also
(when desired) placed on the wood block, and holes are pierced through the
soles simultaneously with the operation of cutting.
By the above arrangement soles or heels already cut do not fall upon those
about to be cut; also soles or heels just cut, although resting for a moment,
in the mouth of the cutter, are forced into the recess by each descent of the
cross head, and finally the workman adjusts the leathers on the cutter itself,
and can thus cut more quickly and to the best advantage, that is with the
least waste of material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Edward Craven and Thomas Carrack in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 25th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
EDWARD CRAVEN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and THOMAS
CARRACK, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: us, the said Henry Edward Craven and Thomas Carrack, Her special licence
that we, the said Henry Edward Craven and Thomas Carrack, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry
Edward Craven and Thomas Carrack, our 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OUT
AND PRICKING THE SOLES AND HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry
Edward Craven and Thomas Carrack, our exécutors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 Thomas Carrack, on behalf of myself
and the said Henry Edward Craven, 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, that is
to say:-
Our Invention has for its objects, firstly, to perform the operation of cutting
5 soles or heels of boots and shoes with greater expedition than can be done by
machinery now in use; secondly, to prick the holes required in the soles or
heels simultaneously with the operation of cutting; thirdly, to prevent the
cutter or cutters from becoming choked; and, lastly, to avoid spoiling the
soles and heels already cut.
We effect these various objects by adjusting our cutter or cutters (of the shape
ordinarily used for cutting soles and heels) upon a fixed table, secured to a
suitable framework, and provided with apertures underneath the cutters to
admit the passage of the leathers cut. A cross head having a reciprocating
vertical motion imparted to it by ordinary mechanical appliances is placed
5 over the table carrying the cutters. To this cross head we attach a frame
containing a block of hard wood (by preference) so adjusted that on descent of
the cross head the said block comes directly over the cutters, and leather being
placed over such cutters, the soles or heels are effectually cut and dropped

page_text: through the knife and the aperture in frame a and table B into any con-
venient receptacle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Carrack, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
P. H. SHARP,
18, East Parade,
Leeds.
THOMAS CARRACK. (L.s.)