A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF ADAPTING STEEL OR OTHER SUITABLE METALLIC WIRE TO BE USED INSTEAD OF ANIMAL BRISTLES OR HAIR IN SEWING BOOTS, SHOES, SADDLERY, AND LEATHER WORKS GENERALLY
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Thornhill at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th September
1863.
I, CHARLES THORNHILL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
METHOD OF ADAPTING STEEL OR OTHER SUITABLE METALLIC WIRE TO BE USED INSTEAD
OF ANIMAL BRISTLES OR HAIR IN SEWING BOOTS, SHOES, SADDLERY, AND LEATHER
WORKS GENERALLY," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in adapting steel or other suitable metallic wire of
proper guages, lengths, and temper, to be attached to the shoe or other thread
used in sewing boots, shoes, saddlery, and other leather work, in cases in which
animal bristles or hair have been heretofore commonly used by shoemakers,
saddlers, and other workers in leather. Animal bristles or hair are costly, and
soon worn out, and my Invention, which I call "the metallic substitute," is
both cheaper and more durable.
In sewing boots, shoes, saddlery, and other leather work with animal
bristles or hair, the bristle or hair is used in two ways, the bristle or hair
being for some purposes split for some distance down from one end, forming,
as it were, two tails, and for other purposes it is used without being split. I
make the "metallic substitute "both with and without the tails. To make the
"metallic substitute" without tails, I take a piece of wire made of steel or other
suitable metal (though I prefer steel) of proper guage, and of from four to
seven inches or thereabouts in length, and by means of a hammer or roller .or
other convenient means I flatten a portion of the wire at one end for a length

page_text: 'of from two to four inches; I then twist the flattened end so as to make a
spiral thread (somewhat similar to the thread of a screw) by which means I
obtain a surface to which the shoe or other sewing thread can be securely
attached by wrapping or twisting round it. When the wire has been twisted,
as above described, I temper it to a proper and suitable degree, so that when
the metallic substitute is finished, its elasticity is somewhat similar to that of a
hog's bristle.
For purposes for which animal bristles or hairs are usually split, as above men-
tioned, I take a piece of steel or other suitable metal wire, as before mentioned,
of from eight to twelve inches or thereabouts in length, and I bend it double
about the middle; I then closely twist or wrap the one half round the other
half (beginning at the point where the wire is bent double) for a length of
from two to four inches or thereabouts, leaving the untwisted or unwrapped
ends like two tails, to which the shoe or other sewing thread is attached in a
manner similar to that in which the thread is attached to the split animal
bristle or hair. When the wire has been twisted, as above described, I
temper it to a proper and suitable degree, so that when the metallic substitute
finished, its elasticity is somewhat similar to that of a hog's bristle.
In making the metallic substituto, I use wire of various guages (the thick-
ness varying from that of a fine hair to that of a strong hog's bristle) 'to suit
the several descriptions of work for which they may be required, and the
length of the twisted part varying with the length and strength of the metallic
substitute.