Improved Boot and Shoe Socks, and Materials for the Manufacture thereof.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Mar., 1892-Accepted, 7th May, 1892
Improved Boot and Shoe Socks, and Materials for the Manufacture
thereof.
I JOHN JAMES ECKERT 56 High Street Strood, Kent Boot Manufacturer 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 :-
My invention relates to the manufacture of socks for boots and shoes, and
comprises improved boot and shoe socks, and materials for the manufacture thereof.
Hitherto these articles have been made from more or less specially manufactured
compositions or materials, as for example in the manner described in the Specifi-
cation filed by Robert J. Baggaley A.D. 1883, No. 230.
The existing process of manufacture entail considerable cost and trouble, which
it is the object of my invention to obviate.
By my said invention I produce an improved article much more economically
than can be done by the methods at present in use.
The nature of my invention consists in rendering suitable for use in the manu-
facture of boot & shoe socks a cheap and well known material that has hitherto not
been found suitable for the purpose, namely linoleum which material I render
suitable for the aforesaid purpose by attaching to it a covering of some suitable
soft and warm fabric. By the term linoleum I mean materials of the class com-
merically well known by that name. Such materials are usually manufactured as
follows-
A material called scrim is first prepared by steeping canvas in boiled linseed
oil and hanging it up in large sheds to oxygenize. After a few days it rots, the
canvas and oil then forming the scrim. A cement is formed of scrim 8 cwts.,
rosin 1 cwt., kauri gum 1 cwt.; and this is mixed with ground cork in the proportion
46 lbs. of cement to 56 lbs. of ground cork. The mixture is rolled on to a canvas
backing and the resulting compound fabric is known as linoleum. Although I have
specified by way of example a usual method of making linoleum I do not confine
myself to the material manufactured precisely in that way, but may use any of the
materials already well known as linoleum. To the linoleum I first attach by any
suitable adhesive the covering fabric, and secondly cut up the compound material
so produced into pieces of the desired shapes and sizes for boots and shoe socks.
For the covering for the linoleum I employ felt, flannel, swansdown, or any other
suitable soft and warm material. The cutting up into pieces is effected by any
convenient means.
It will thus be seen that my invention essentially consists in rendering a cheap,
well-known and easily obtained material, namely linoleum, suitable for a use for
which it has not hitherto been employed, namely the manufacture of boot and shoe
socks, by attaching to it a covering of soft and warm material; which process I
have discovered enables me to produce cheaply an article equal to or superior to
that produced by the existing more costly processes of manufacture.
According to a modification of my invention I may use specially manufactured
linoleum in which felt, flannel, swansdown, or other suitable soft and warm material
is substituted for the canvas backing with which linoleum is usually manufactured.
In this case the composition used in the manufacture of ordinary linoleum is
rolled directly on to the felt flannel swansdown, or other soft and warm material
employed by me in the production of boot and shoe socks.
The resulting compound material I then cut into pieces of suitable shape and size
as in the former case.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1st. A sock for use in boots and shoes made of linoleum in combination with felt,
flannel, swansdown, or other suitable soft and warm material.
2nd. A compound fabric composed of linoleum with a covering of felt, flannel,
swansdown or other suitable soft and warm material for use in making boot and
shoe socks.
3rd. Linoleum, for the manufacture of boot and shoe socks, in which felt, flannel,
swansdown or other suitable soft and warm material is substituted for the canvas
backing with which linoleum is usually manufactured.
Signed this 24th day of March 1892.
JOHN JAMES ECKERT.