A MACHINE OR APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO BOOTS, SHOES, OR OTHER COVERING FOR THE FEET, FOR THE PURPOSES OF TRAVELLING OR PLEASURE
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I ROBERT
JOHN TYERS, of Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Fruiterer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of April, 1823, in the fourth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Robert John Tyers, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Robert John Tyers, my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "A MACHINE OR APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO BOOTS, SHOES, OR
OTHER COVERING FOR THE FEET, FOR THE PURPOSES OF TRAVELLING OR PLEASURE;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Robert John Tyers, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and scal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby

page_text: granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert John Tyers, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
My apparatus consist of what I term my volitos or substitutes for the scates
ordinarily used upon the ice, these being mounted upon wheels, and are, there-
fore, capable of being used upon land in a similar manner to scates upon the
ice, to perform the various evolutions and movements peculiar to the art of
scating. For this purpose it is requisite that only a single line of wheels
should be affixed to each volito, and that in the centre of it, and also that the
middle wheel should be rather larger or greater in diameter than those on each
side of it, and that the adjoining ones again should be rather larger than those
next to them, and so on to each extremity of the volito, or that in case of the
wheels being all nearly of the same size, they must be so placed as that their
lower parts or edges may all touch a line, which must be a portion of a circle,
and also that one wheel in each should be placed under or nearly under the
heel of the person using them. In order, however, to explain more readily
the nature and construction of my said Invention, I shall refer to the Draw-
ings which, as before said, accompanies this my said Specification, and in
which Drawing A, A, &c., in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, is the stock or
wooden part of the volito; B, B, &c., in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, a frame made of
iron, steel, brass, or other proper metal, and which is secured or affixed to the
stock A, A, by means of the screws C, C, &c.; on each side of this frame
B, B, &c., are formed ears D, D, &c., with holes in them, viz, a square hole
in each ear, along one side of the frame, and round holes in those of the
other side; these holes are intended to receive the screwed pins E, E, &c.
(one of which is shewn separately in Fig. 9), which are secured in the holes
of the frame by the screwed nuts F, F, &c. (one of which is shown separately
in Fig. 10). Upon those pins the wheels G, G, &c. turn, and which said
wheels may be made of brass, cast iron, or other proper metal or material;
their rims are rounded as shewn in the different Figures; or the wheels may
have fixed necks or pivots in them to turn in holes made in the sides of the
frame, but in this case one of the sides must be made to take off, to put in
or take out the wheels. E, in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is a stop which may
either be made to form part of the frame B, B, or be removeable at
pleasure, as may be also the nose or turned up part I, at the opposite

page_text: end of the volito. J, in Figs. 1 and 2, is a spike to enter the heel of the
boot or shoe of the wearer of the volito, and K, K, &c. are other smaller
spikes to secure the sole steadily when the stock is buckled or strapped tight
upon the foot, in the same manner as scates are usually fastened. It should
be observed that Fig. 4 is a section of the volito taken at the dotted line L, I.,
in Figs. 2 and 3.
Figs. 5, 6, and 7, represent another method of constructing the volito,
differing from the preceding chiefly in the holes for the pins being made in
the sides of the frame B, B, instead of in the ears. In these Figs. the same
letters of reference indicating the similar parts, it is unnecessary again to
particularize them, but only to point out differences in the construction.
And, first, that instead of the stop H of Figs. 1, 2, and 3, another wheel G is
introduced at that end of the volito, and the nose I is omitted. In case,
however, it should be wished to introduce a stop, the wheel G is made to take
out, and the cylinder M, Fig. 8, is fixed between holes made on purpose, and
the stop N, Figs. 11 and 12, is placed in the frame B, B, and secured by
screwed pins and nuts E and F, in the same manner as the wheels G, G, &c.
were, as before described. The volitos above described are intended to be
used upon hard, smooth, and level stone or brick pavements, oak floors, or
other similar surfaces, and upon them all the movements common to the art of
scating upon the ice may be executed. When, however, the volitos are
intended to be used for the purposes of travelling upon hard and smooth
gravelled footpaths, the wheels should be made as broad as the frames will
permit, and sometimes it may even be necessary to employ wider frames in
order to receive still broader wheels. The wheels may also have grooves
made in the middle of them, so as to afford a broader bearing, useful to
learners of the art of scating, but not so eligible in performing the various
evolutions, as they require, as in scates, only a single line of bearing.
I have thus given some examples of methods of carrying my said Invention
into effect, not that I mean or intend thereby to limit myself to the employ-
ment of those methods only, but, on the contrary, I hereby claim every mode
in which my said Invention of applying a single line of wheels to my volitos,
in place of the ordinary irons of scates, can be carried into effect.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert John Tyers, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
ROBERT JOHN (L.s.) TYERS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1823, the aforesaid Robert John Tyers came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamp't
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.