Improvements in or relating to the Ribbing, Corrugating, Fluting, or otherwise Roughening the Soles of Boots and Shoes, and in the Method of and Means for Producing the same.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in or relating to the Ribbing, Corrugating, Fluting,
or otherwise Roughening the Soles of Boots and Shoes, and in the
Method of and Means for Producing the same.
I, SEPTIMUS JOSEPHI GREEN, of Granby Street, Leicester, Boot and Shoe Manu-
facturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to the soles of boots and shoes and relates to
certain improvements as hereinafter described, in the method of and means for
ribbing, corrugating, fluting, or otherwise roughening the same.
Boots and shoes having the soles corrugated or otherwise roughened are used for
eyeling and various other athletic purposes.
The corrugations (which term as hereinafter used is intended to include other
forms of roughening) on the soles, is effected by passing the latter in a damp
condition between a pair of rollers one of which is corrugated as will be under-
stood.
Soles thus treated have the corrugations extending from side to side of the sole,
and in this condition well known difficulties are experienced in the opening and
closing of the channel in which the stitches are located, and in the finishing
operations of the sole.
My invention is designed to obviate these disadvantages and embodies improve-
ments by which the corrugations may be placed upon those parts only of the sole
desired.
In most cases it will be found desirable to leave the marginal edge of the sole
with a plain or smooth surface and also the heel part of the sole.
According to my invention this is effected by the use of a supplementary or
auxiliary skeleton sole or backer of suitable material which is left open at those
parts where the corrugations are to appear on the sole.
This backer and the sole to be corrugated are placed one on the top of the
other and the two passed together through the rollers.
The parts of the sole next to the backer will thus be plain or unaffected and the
parts of the sole opposite the open portions of the backer will be impressed or
corrugated.
Dated this 19th day of February 1897.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in or relating to the Ribbing, Corrugating, Fluting,
or otherwise Roughening the Soles of Boots and Shoes, and in the
Method of and Means for Producing the same.
I, SEPTIMUS JOSEPII GREEN, of Granby Street, Leicester, Boot and Shoe Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This vention has reference to the soles of boots and shoes and relates to
certain improvements as hereinafter described, in the method of and means for
ribbing, corrugating, fluting, or otherwise roughening the same.
Boots and shoes having the soles corrugated or otherwise roughened are used for
cycling and various other athletic purposes.
These corrugations (which term as hereinafter used is intended to include other
forms of roughening) when produced in the ordinary manner are obtained by
passing the soles in a damp condition between a pair of rollers one of which is
corrugated as will be understood.
Soles thus treated have the corrugations extending from side to side of the sole,
and in this condition well known difficulties are experienced in the finishing
operations of the sole as will be hereinafter referred to.
My invention is designed to obviate these disadvantages and embodies improve-
ments by which the corrugations may be placed upon those parts only of the sole
desired.
In most cases it will be found desirable to leave the marginal edge of the sole
with a plain or smooth surface and also in some cases the heel part of the sole
also.
According to my invention this is effected by the use of a supplementary or
auxiliary sole or backer of suitable material, as hereinafter described.
This backer and the sole to be corrugated are placed one on the top of the
other and the two passed together through the rollers.
The invention will be fully understood from the following further description
in reference to the accompanying drawing in which,
Figure 1 is a plan of a sole and,
Figure 1 an elevation of the edge of a part thereof, corrugated from side to
side in the ordinary manner.
Figure 2 is a plan of a sole corrugated in accordance with this invention so as
to leave a plain marginal edge.
Figure 3 is a similar view but showing the corrugations extending over a
portion only of the length of the sole.
Figures 4 and 5 are plans of backers used in the process of corrugating the
soles shown in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively.
Figure 6 is a transverse section taken on a line between two of the corrugations
of one of my improved corrugated soles.
Figure 7 is an elevation of a portion of a pair of pressure rollers plain and
corrugated respectively, used in corrugating soles.
Figure 8 is a section of the same showing the sole and its backer passing
between them to produce a sole as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 14, A is the sole, the corrugations B and the furrows C
of which extend across its width from edge to edge in the well known manner.
In boots and shoes which have this kind of sole the latter is usually connected
to the upper by stitches and before the sewing takes place a channel is generally

page_text: opened by splitting the sole around its whole marginal edge as is well understood
so that the stitches can lie therein and be hidden from view and protected from
the weather.
The well known difficulties attendant upon. this operation are that, however
carefully the operation of opening the channel is performed, and considerable
skill is required to do it perfectly, the parts of the corrugations adjacent to the
edge of the sole frequently chip off, which at once disqualifies the sole for use, and
further, if the channel should be properly opened, considerable difficulty is ex-
crienced in properly closing it again after the stitching process, in consequence
of the uneven surface of the sole, and as invariably happens the channel soon
begins to gape, and presents a bad appearance.
One method which has been adopted to avoid the difficulty of closing the channel
referred to, has been to groove or gutter the sole around its marginal. edge, but
the disadvantages of this method are (1) that the stitches are always exposed and
it is therefore only applicable for the very cheaper classes of goods and (2) in
grooving soles formed of leather which is somewhat brittle as the American
leather for instance, the end of the corrugations chip off entirely and thus spoil
the sole.
Now the present invention is designed mainly to overcome the disadvantages
hereinbetore enumerated and to provide a sole which can be well and properly
finished irrespective of the quality of leather.
Referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 6 soles A are shown in which the corrugations B and
intervening furrows C extend across its central portion only, leaving a plain and
smooth marginal edge C all round in which a channel for the stitches can be
easily opened in the well known way and which will admit of being again closed
without any of the difficulties and disadvantages attendant upon the methods
heretofore employed.
In producing a sole corrugated as in Figure 1 a plain backer D, Figure 4 of
leather board, mill board or like material is employed.
This backer as will be noticed, though of the same shape as the sole is slightly
less in its dimensions (length and width) all round. In some cases openings may
be formed in the backer to correspond with the projections to be produced on the
sole, but as I have found the said openings are not a sine qua non I prefer to omit
them.
The sole is placed for a short time in water to damp it and increase its flexibility
and after being removed the backer 1) is placed centrally over it so as to leave the
marginal edge of the sole exposed and the two are passed together through a pair
of pressure rollers, comprising a plain roller E and a corrugated roller F the sole
being placed next to the latter so as to receive its impressions.
It is obvious that pressure will be exerted on those parts only of the sole next to
the backer D the marginal edge therefore will remain unaffected and will issue
from the rollers in the same smooth condition as it entered.
In some of the better classes of goods it is desirable to corrugate only the tread
part of the sole, leaving the waist and heel part plain.
This is impracticable according to the ordinary method as once the sole is fed
into the rollers it must pass through and in cases where the motion of the rollers
has been reversed the corrugations on the sole have failed to again meet the
corresponding grooves in the roller on the return journey and the sole has been
again flattened or nearly so.
In Figure 3 a sole is shown corrugated through the length of the tread only,
the waist A¹ and heel part A2 being left plain.
This has been effected by the use of a backer G Figure 5 the procedure being
the same as in the other case herein before described.
A similar process might be employed to obtain equivalent results in soles
roughened otherwise than by corrugations and although as is obvious two corru-
gated rollers might be employed better results are obtained by one being plain.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A sole for boots and shoes having corrugations throughout its length the
said corrugations, extending across part of its width so as to leave a plain
marginal edge all round substantially as described.
2. A sole for boots and shoes provided with corrugations on its tread or wearing
surface and plain waist and heel parts the said corrugations extending across part
of the width of the sole and leaving a plain marginal edge thereto substantially as
described.
3. The process of corrugating soles for boots and shoes which consists in first
damping the leather sole and placing it face to face with a backer of smaller
cimensions and passing the two together through two pressure rollers, one corru-
gated and the other plain, the said sole being placed next to the corrugated roller
and the backer next to the plain roller substantially as described.
4. In corrugating leather soles across their central part so as to leave a plain
marginal edge all round as specified the employment of a backer of smaller
dimensions in the manner hereinbefore described.
5. The improved corrugated sole produced in the manner and by the means
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
111111
fT.... 1907
Witness:
E. N. LEWIS,
Berridge Street Chambers,
Leicester.
SEPTIMUS JOSEPH GREEN.
Boult & Wade,
Agents for the Applicant.