AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FASTENING BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clegg, junior, and George Ashton Clegg,
both of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FASTENING BOOTS AND SHOES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clegg and George
Ashton Clegg at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th January 1871.
We, JOHN CLEGG, junior, and GEORGE ASHTON CLEGG, both of Bolton,
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF FASTENING BOOTS AND SHOES," to be
as follows:-
The Invention consists principally in dispensing with the elastic side
springs, and also with buttons, laccs, hooks and eyes, or other fastenings
hitherto employed, and in substituting therefor a kind of spring fastening
somewhat similar to what is sometimes employed for fastening leather
leggings.
The boots are made entire on one side and at the front, and at the
other side (by preference on the outside) there is an opening from the
top to near the bottom or sole, which is made with the edges to overlap,
and has a tongue inside, stitched at cach side so as to be waterproof,

page_text: similar to the tongue of an ordinary shooting boot. One edge of the
opening is provided with one, two, or more projecting studs fixed in a
narrow strip of metal sewn inside the leather, and the other edge is
provided with a thin steel spring, also sewn inside the leather, and
having a notch or notches formed therein, so that upon the edges of the
opening in the side of the boot or shoe being brought together with the
spring in a bent form the studs will enter the notches, and upon the
spring being allowed to straighten itself will be held firmly, whilst on
the other hand all that will be required to unfasten the boot or shoe is
to bend the spring and withdraw the notches from the studs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Clegg and George Ashton Clegg in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
CLEGG, junior, and GEORGE ASHTON CLEGG, both of Bolton, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Clegg, junior, and George Ashton
Clegg, Her special license that we, the said John
junior, and
George Ashton Clegg, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said John Clegg, junior, and George Ashton Clegg, 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF FASTENING BOOTS AND SHOES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Clegg, junior, and George Ashton Clegg,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or one of our, 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 to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: in the Great Scal 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 Ashton Clegg, on behalf of
myself and the said John Clegg, junior, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
:-
The Invention consists principally in dispensing with the elastic side
springs, and also with buttons, laces, hooks and eyes, or other fastenings
hitherto employed, and in substituting therefor a kind of spring fastening
somewhat similar to what is sometimes employed for fastening leather
leggings.
The boots are made entire on one side and at the front, and at the
other side (by preference on the outside) there is an opening from the
top to near the bottom or sole, which is made with the edges to overlap,
and may have a tongue inside, stitched at each side so as to be water-
proof, similar to the tongue of an ordinary shooting boot. One edge of
the opening is provided with one, two, or more projecting studs fixed in
a narrow strip of metal sewn inside the leather, and the other edge is
provided with a thin steel spring, also sewn inside the leather, and
having a notch or notches formed therein, so that upon the edges of the
opening in the side of the boot or shoe being brought together with
the spring in a bent form the studs will enter the notches, and upon the
spring being allowed to straighten itself will be held firmly, whilst on
the other hand all that will be required to unfasten the boot or shoe is
to bend the spring and withdraw the notches from the studs.
If preferred, instead of the above-described arrangement with pro-
jecting studs on the piece of metal and notches in the end of the spring,
the former may be provided with two loops, and the spring be slightly
tapered or pointed at each end, which will serve the same purpose.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention for "An
Improved Method of Fastening Boots and Shoes," we will now proceed
to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect; and in order that the
same may be clearly understood we have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thercof:-

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a side view of a half boot with our improved fastening
shown as attached thereto, the boot being represented as unfastened
and open; and Fig. 2 shows the same closed and fastened; Fig. 3 shows
the first described fastening removed from the boot; and Fig. 4 shows
the other arrangement.
The thin piece of metal a, a, provided with studs b, b, or loops c, c,
(as the case may be) is sewn in between the leather and the lining
on the back or inner edge of the opening, and the spring d, d, either
notched or pointed, is sewn into the front or overlapping edge, with the
ends projecting, as shown at Fig. 1. All that is necessary in fastening
the boot is to bend the spring d, d, so as to pass the notches under the
studs, or the points into the loops, and upon relcasing the spring and
allowing it to straighten the boot is fastened. In unfastening the boot
the operation is reversed, that is, the spring is bent till the ends can be
withdrawn.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as our Invention the use or employment for such purposes of
a spring fastening constructed and operating substantially in the manner
herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ashton Clegg, on behalf of
myself and the said John Clegg, junior, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-onc.
GEORGE ASHTON CLEGG. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN HUGHES,
Clerk to George Davies, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
4, St. Ann's Sq., Manchester.