IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING BOOTS & SHOES BY MACHINERY, & IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, WHICH IS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Ellis, of New Malton, in the County
of York, Ironmonger, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING
BOOTS & SHOES BY MACHINERY, & IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME, WHICH IS
Deze an
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Ellis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
April 1858.
I, GEORGE HENRY ELLIS, of New Malton, in the County of York, Iron-
monger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CLEANING BOOTS & SHOES BY MACHINERY, & IN APPARATUS FOR THE
SAME, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO CLEANING OTHER ARTICLES IN DOMESTIC USE,"
to be as follows:-
In cleaning boots and shoes by machinery heretofore it has been usual to
employ circular brushes, to which a motion has been communicated, whereby
the rubbing or frictional action of the brush on the article being cleaned has
been always in one direction, which I believe is not attended with a good
polishing effect. Now; according to my Invention, I impart a reciprocating-
motion to the brush or brushes or other cleaning surfaces used for this pur-
pose, whereby the frictional contact produced is alternately in opposite-direc-
tions, and is in some degree assimilated to the action of hand polishing
[Price 8d.]

page_text: This reciprocating action I believe to be not only better adapted for pro-
ducing the polish required on the boots or shoes, but also for dislodging &
removing the dirt. For this purpose I mount one or more brushes in the
shape of a segment of a circle on a spindle, to which I impart a reciprocating
motion on its axis, thus giving the required motion to the brushes or cleaning
surfaces; the boots or shoes are presented to and held against them as may
be required. I produce the reciprocating or oscillating motion of the brushes
by a lever on the same shaft or axis, which lever is connected to a small
crank, the shaft of which receives rapid rotary motion by means of band wheels
or other gear put in motion by means of a treadle or by other means of apply-
ing and communicating motive power. In order to assist in the application
of the article to be cleaned or polished, I place a spring rest on the table
of the machine, on which I place the boot or shoe; this rest has a constant
tendency to force the boot or shoe against the brush, but which can be easily
regulated by hand as required. A gripping piece or other arrangement for
securing and holding the boot or shoe may be mounted on this spring rest, or
such fastening may be placed on the table of the machine.
Instead of imparting motion to the brush or brushes in a circular direction,
the brushes may be so held & controlled as to have a rectilineal reciprocating
motion, or it may be any other reciprocating curvilineal motion, & such as
may be easiest to obtain or best adapted for the purpose required. For
instance, the brush, instead of being curved as for a curvilineal motion, may
be straight, & mounted in suitable guides, in which it can perform a recipro-
cating motion in the direction of its length, which may be communicated by
a crank connecting rod & treadle, as before, or otherwise. It will be un-
necessary here to enter further into the mechanical contrivances adapted for
imparting such motions by motive power, as such combinations of machinery
will be in some degree according to the direction of the motion, & such as
will readily suggest themselves to a practical mechanic. Instead of applying
the article to be cleaned to the brush by hand, I sometimes place the boot or
shoe on a suitable tree, which I mount on a spindle fitted in a suitable frame,
in which it is free to rotate, and also to be traversed in a longitudinal
direction; in this frame the spindle and tree may be traversed, so as to cause
the boot or shoe to approach nearer to, or recede further from, the brush, in
which direction it is acted on by springs, which have a constant tendency to
keep it at a medium distance, the operator controlling it readily as required.
Instead of this transverse traverse of the spindle in the tree frame, this frame
may be fitted on the table of the machine so that it may be moved in the
direction required; a hand lever or handle is mounted on the tree spindle in

page_text: order to turn it, and present the several parts of the boot or shoe to the
brush, for which purpose the spindle is also moved in the direction of its
length. In furtherance of this object the face or surface of the brushes are
made to suit the different parts of the boots or shoes to be cleaned. The
brushes may generally be so formed with that object in view if desired.
This improved apparatus is also applicable to cleaning and polishing plate
and other metal ware of domestic use. For such purposes I simply substitute
brushes or other rubbing or polishing surfaces adapted for the individual pur-
pose required in lieu of the blacking brushes; or the several brushes or clean-
ing or polishing surfaces adapted for the various purposes required may be
all placed on the same shaft, at the same time providing the table or bench with
suitable appliances for the application of the different articles to the cleaning
or polishing surfaces by hand or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Henry Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY ELLIS, of New Malton, in the County of York, Ironmonger, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto I, the
said George Henry Ellis, Her special licence that I, the said George
Henry Ellis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said George Henry Ellis, my 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 CLEANING BOOTS AND SHOES BY MACHINERY AND IN APPARATUS FOR
THE SAME, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO CLEANING OTHER ARTICLES IN DOMESTIC
USE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Henry
Ellis, 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

page_text: 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 George Henry Ellis do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the two Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
In cleaning boots and shoes by machinery heretofore it has been usual to
employ circular brushes, to which motion has been communicated, whereby
the rubbing or frictional action of the brush on the article being cleaned has
been always in one direction, which I believe is not attended with a good
cleaning or polishing effect. Now, according to my Invention I impart
reciprocating motion to the brush or brushes, or other cleaning surfaces used
for the purpose, whereby the frictional contact produced is alternately in
opposite directions, and is in some degree assimilated to the action of hand
cleaning and polishing.. This reciprocating action I believe to be not only
better adapted for producing the polish required on the boots or shoes, but
also for dislodging and removing the dirt. For this purpose I mount one or
more brushes on spindles, slides, or other carriers, suitable to receive and
communicate reciprocating motion, thus giving the required motion to the
brushes or cleaning surfaces, the boots or shoes being presented to and held
against them, as may be required.
I produce the reciprocating or oscillating motion of the brushes by a crank
shaft or axis, which receives rapid rotary motion by means of band wheels or
other gear put in motion by means of a treadle or by other means of applying
and communicating motive power.
In order to assist in the application of the article to be cleaned or polished,
I place a rest on the table of the machine, on which I place the boot or shoe,
& a gripping piece or other arrangement of parts for securing and holding the
boot or shoe may be mounted and held on this rest while being cleaned, or it
may be placed and fastened on the table of the machine.
Instead of imparting motion to the brush or brushes in a circular or curved
direction, the reciprocating motion may be rectilineal; or brushes may be
used in combination, having reciprocating motion in circular or curved and
rectilineal directions, and such as may be best suited to clean the parts of
the boots, shoes, or other articles to which they are applied. If the motion
imparted to the brushes is curvilineal, I make them of a curved form, while
for the rectilinear motion the brushes may be straight or curved, and mounted

page_text: in suitable guides, in which they can perform reciprocating motion in
a rectilineal direction. Generally I form the brushes of such a shape that they
will embrace and act on as much of the surface of the boot or shoc as possible.
To further this object I form the brushes in parts, hinged to each other and
acted on by springs, so as to collapse and grip the surface to be cleaned as
closely as can be.
.
.
Instead of applying the article to be cleaned to the brush by hand, I place
the boot or shoc on a suitable boot tree, which I mount on a spindle fitted in
a suitable frame, in which it is free to rotate, and also to be traversed in a
longitudinal direction; in this frame the boot or shoe and tree are traversed
or otherwise moved, so as to cause the boot or shoe to approach nearer to or
recede farther from the brushes; it may further be acted on by springs, which
have a constant tendency to keep it at a medium distance, the operator con-
trolling and moving it readily, as required. Instead of thus traversing the tree
frame, this frame may be fitted on the table of the machine, so that the tree
may be moved in any direction required, or the boot & tree may be fixed and
rendered immovable while the brushes perform the cleaning operation, but
which oscillate on an axis, or move in other directions that may be required.
This improved apparatus is also applicable to cleaning and polishing plate
and like metal ware of domestic use; for such purposes I simply substitute
brushes or other rubbing or polishing surfaces adapted for the individual pur-
pose required, in lieu of the blacking brushes; the several brushes or cleaning
or polishing surfaces adapted for the various purposes required may all be
placed on or moved by the same shaft, at the same time providing the table
or bench with suitable appliances for the application of the different articles
to the cleaning or polishing surfaces, by hand or otherwise.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, Sheet A, represents a front elevation, partly in section, of a machine
constructed according to my Invention, and adapted for cleaning boots and
shoes; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same, through the line a, b, Fig. 3,
Sheet B, which represents a plan of the machine. c, c, is the driving wheel.
mounted on a shaft d, which receives motion by means of a treadle e, or by
other suitable means; the wheel c communicates rapid motion by a strap and
pulley and g to a crank shaft h; from this shaft reciprocating motion is
communicated to a slide i by a connecting rod k; the slide i is fitted in
suitable guides to traverse across the table; to this slide i a second slide lis
attached, and participates in its motion; the connection is formed by means
of a regulating screw m, by which it is adjusted at greater or lesser distance

page_text: :
from i, according to the size of the boot or shoe to be cleaned. On the slide 1
the brush n that takes effect on the front part of the shoe is attached and
supported by a spring m¹, which carries it, and at the same time applies it
with an elastic pressure to the boot or shoe. The slide i carries the brushes
o, o, which brush the sides of the boot or shoe, the upright stems supporting
such brushes passing through slots in the table. These stems support the
brushes in sockets p, p, which receive the horizontal stems p¹ of the brushes,
which slide freely therein, and are constantly projected by the elastic force of
india-rubber or other springs. q is the brush which takes effect on the heel
and back part of the boot or shoe; this brush is mounted on a spring plate r,
carried by a slide fitted in vertical guides r¹, by which it is guided and con-
trolled to move in a vertical direction. Motion is communicated to this brush
by means of a rod s connected to the long arm of a bell-crank lever t mounted
on a axis u, supported from table by bracket bearings v, v. The short arm
of the crank levert is connected by rod w to the joint pin of slide i, and con-
necting rod k, from which it receives and participates in the same motion.
These motions, applied to the several brushes n, o, o, and q, afford the required
rubbing action to clean the whole surface of the boot necessary to be cleaned
at one time. In this arrangement of machine I secure or fix the boot or shoe
in position to be cleaned, which is the mode I prefer, and as required for this
disposition and arrangement of the brushes; this may, however, be varied by
giving the brush or brushes a single motion, and applying the boot or shoe by
hand, as herein-before expressed.
In order to hold the boot in position, I mount it on a kind of tree, which is
supported in an upright frame y, y. It consists of a small last 1, suitable to
be inserted into various sized boots; it is supported by metal straps 2, 2, from
a tube 3, forming the body of the tree; this tube slides within an outer tube
4, which is supported on gudgeons or axes 5, 5, mounted on the cross bar of
the framing , y, on which it is free to oscillate. The tube 3 slides in the
manner of a telescope in tube 4, and is supported on two rods, which are con-
nected by a cross tie above, in which a regulating screw 6 is fitted, which by
pressing on the top of case 4, forces down or lifts up the tube 3 and last 1.
I fill the tube or case 4 with small shot, it being furnished with a throttle
valve to retain the shot therein, or permit it to descend through the lower
tube 3. I enclose the last in a thin vulcanized india-rubber sock, the ankle
of which embraces the lower end of the tube 3, around which it is tied tightly.
In order to clean a boot or shoe, I place it on the sock and last, swinging
the tree in suitable position for the purpose; when the last and sock is so
inserted, I open the valve 7, and allow the shot to descend, which enters the

page_text: sock and expands it so as to fill out and distend the boot or shoe, and thereby
remove all wrinkles, and present a plump surface, which will render the action
of the brushes effective throughout. The force of distension will depend on
the column of shot contained in 3, 4, and should always be sufficient to give
the distension required; when the boot or shoe is expanded, the tree is adjusted
in the position shown, and forced down by the screw 6, with the sole of the
boot or shoe against a rest 8; by which it is held while being cleaned; motion
is then given to the brushes by the treddle, a few strokes of which suffices to
give the cleaning or polish required.
Although only one set of brushes are represented in the table of the
machine in Fig. 1, it is intended to place a set at each end, as seen in the
plan, Fig. 3, to be actuated by the crank shaft h, as before described, the one
set of brushes to be used for removing the dirt from the boots, and the other
for polishing. Instead of only two sets, three sets of brushes may be arranged
and mounted on the same machine, so as to represent the dirt brushes, the
brushes for the application of the blacking, and the polishing brushes. I think,
however, that two sets of brushes are ample for cleaning boots and shoes,
that the third set for the application of the blacking are superfluous. I dis-
pense with the latter set of brushes, and apply the blacking to the boots or
shoes by a hand brush e¹, represented in Fig. 3. Figs. 4 & 5 represent
sections of a box or vessel I use to contain the blacking in a fluid state. In
this box I place a pad a¹, fixed to a lever b', the fulcrum c¹ of which is
mounted on fixed brackets. The other end of this lever is furnished with a
surface d', with which the blacking brush e' comes in contact when it is intro-
duced into the blacking box through the hole f¹. The effect of this contact
is, that it lifts the pad a' up from amongst the fluid blacking, and bringing it
in contact with the blacking brush e', thus applying a regulated quantity of.
blacking thereto. The brush is then withdrawn from the blacking box, and
the blacking applied to the surface of the boot or shoe to be cleaned. I
mount the expanding tree on its gudgeons or supports, so that it can be
readily removed and changed from the one set of brushes to the other; or it
may be permanent therein, and the boot or shoe changed from one tree to the
other while in process of being cleaned. In proceeding to clean a boot or
shoe, I place it on the small last and elastic sock 1. In preparation for this,"
the shot is contained in case 4, above the valve 7, and the tree swung into a
suitable position; having so arranged the boot or shoe, the tree is placed. in
position over the rest 8, the valve 7 is then opened, and the shot allowed to
run down into the sock, which expands and completely fills the boot or shoe.
The screw 6 is then operated by its handle 9, so as to bring down the tree;.

page_text: and cause the sole of the boot to bear hard against the rest 8, which is faced
with metal roughened, and by which it is held securely in its place; the
brushes are then put in action, a few strokes of which completes either the
removal of the dirt or the polishing; the machine is then stopped, with the
brush q in its lowest position, and the tree swung on its pivots 5, 5, so that
the shot runs from the interior of the sock and boot into chamber 4, when the
valve is closed, the tree is again lowered, and the boot or shoe
removed. It is then removed from the dirt brushes, and similarly applied to
the other tree and polishing brushes (after the application of the blacking by
hand, as described) which completes the operation. As before mentioned, the
tree may be made to shift from one set of brushes to the other, in which case
the boot or shoe is not removed from the tree till the cleaning is complete,
but I prefer to change the boot on the tree, which can be readily and quickly
effected by the introduction and removal of the shot in the elastic sock, this
sock when collapsed being so much smaller than ordinary boots or shoes, that
it will fit almost all sizes. Two boots or shoes may be in process of cleaning
at the same time in the same machine by applying one on each tree, the one
undergoing the operation of removing the dirt while the other is being
polished; by increasing the number of duplicate parts of the machine, three or
more boots or shoes may be cleaned simultaneously. It was before mentioned
that the brushes are made in parts, hinged together, and acted on by springs, so
that they collapse on and grip all parts of the surface of the boots or shoes, as
will be readily understood by the different views, Figs. 1, 2, & 3, while Fig. 6
represents a separate back view of one of the side brushes o; in this the lower
part only is hinged, as explained, in order to pass under and clean the under
side of the hollow of the boot.
For cleaning plate and other articles of domestic use, the brushes are shaped
and mounted in a manner suitable for the purpose required, but in all cases
having a reciprocating motion, either curvilineal or rectilineal, imparted to them
by the apparatus. The articles to be cleaned being held in contact with the
brushes or other cleaning surfaces simply by hand, or with the assistance of
springs i, or other rests, or other appliances suitable for assisting the applica-
tion and, holding of the individual articles to the brushes or cleaning surfaces.
Instead of the machinery herein-before described, the brushes may be of a
segmental form, and simply mounted on a shaft which has an oscillatory move-
ment imparted by means of a rotating crank shaft connected to an arm on the
Oscillating shaft, so as to impart the required reciprocating motion to the
brushes, the articles to be cleaned being simply applied and held thereto by
hand, with or without the assistance of auxiliary parts.

page_text: Instead of distending the elastic sock and the boots or shoes with shot, as
described, the case 4 may be filled with water or other fluid, which will flow
into and out of the elastic india-rubber sock, according to the position of the
tree, and will by its column distend the boots and shoes in the same manner as
the shot, the only difference required being that it is necessary to fit the tubes
3 & 4, and the valve 7, so that the whole shall be water-tight.
Instead of water, a pressure of air may be introduced into the sock from
a reservoir kept supplied by a small pump actuated by the machine when in
motion; in this case the parts must of course be nearly air-tight.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
details of apparatus shown and herein described, as long as the principal
feature of my Invention be retained; and that what I claim as my Invention
to be secured by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
mounting and applying brushes or other surfaces on springs, levers, slides, or
other parts; and imparting thereto reciprocating motion, for the purpose of
cleaning boots, shoes, and plate or plated articles of domestic use by
machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Ellis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London.
G. H. ELLIS. (L.S.)