IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Horatio Keats and Alphonso Keats, both of New-
castle-under-Lyne, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Horatio Keats and
Alphonso Keats at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th July
1878.
CHARLES HORATIO KEATS and ALPHONSO KEATS, both of Newcastle-under-Lyne,
in the County of Stafford. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS
AND SHOES."
The object of this Invention is to simplify the manufacture of boots and shoes,
which possess the character pertaining to what is known as welt boots and shoes,
and at the same time to effect an economy in the plant, material, and labor employed
in such manufacture.
To this end we stamp out the insole of a size and form corresponding with that
of the outer sole; we then cut on the flesh side of the leather a groove corresponding
in position with the line of stitches intended to be sewn to unite the insole with
the upper.
On the opposite side of the leather, and following some of an inch, more or
less, within the lines of the insole, we form a channel by cutting out a piece of
leather, triangular in cross sections. This channel forms an entry for a cutting
edge, which we use to split the insole horizontally, or thereabouts, for some half
inch, more or less, inwards. This cutting edge will arrive at its position for
making the horizontal cut by being first inclined to the face of the insole, and
when it has reached the desired depth in the leather the cut will be continued at
the same depth all round the insole. This splitting of the insole provides a space
for the reception of the edges of the upper, and the insole and upper are temporarily

page_text: connected together by means of brads. When thus secured the parts are to be
permanently connected by sewing in what is known as the horn machine.
The insole, prepared as above described, will retain its full thickness for
some of an inch inwards from its edge, and this portion of the insole we use as a
welt to receive the stitches for securing the outer sole in place.
By this mode of manufacturing boots and shoes it will be understood that the
cost of the material of which the ordinary welt is composed and the labor of pre-
paring the welt will be saved; the same cutters also will serve for stamping out
both the insole and the outer sole, and comparatively little skill will be required in
fitting the outer sole, as the welt, which is rigid and in one with the insole, will be
a sure guide for the workman.
It should be stated that the sewing of the upper to the insole extends only to the
waist, the sewing at the heel being effected when the outer sole is being attached.
The heel stitches will therefore pass through the insole at the part where it is split
to receive the upper, and the stiffening for the heel being also inserted with the upper
will be retained in place by the heel stitches.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Charles Horatio Keats and Alphonso Keats in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th January 1879.
CHARLES HORATIO KEATS and ALPHONSO KEATS, both of Newcastle-under-Lyne,
in the County of Stafford. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND
SHOES."
The object of this Invention is to simplify the manufacture of boots and shoes,
which possess the character pertaining to what is known as welt boots and shoes,
and at the same time to effect an economy in the plant, material, and labor employed
in such manufacture.
To this end we stamp out the insole of a size and form corresponding with that
of the outer sole; we then cut on the flesh side of the leather a groove corresponding
in position with the line of stitches intended to be sewn to unite the insole with
the upper.
On the opposite side of the leather, and following some three-sixteenths of an
inch, more or less, within the lines of the insole, we form a channel by cutting out a
piece of leather, triangular in cross section. This channel forms an entry for a
knife, which we use to split the insole horizontally, or thereabouts, for some half
inch, more or less, inwards. This knife will arrive at its position for making the
horizontal cut by being first inclined to the face of the insole, and when it has
reached the desired depth in the leather the cut will be continued at the same
depth all round the insole. This splitting of the insole provides a space for the
reception of the edges of the upper, and the insole and upper are temporarily con-
nected together by means of brads. When thus secured the parts are to be per-
manently connected by sewing in what is known as the horn" machine.
The insole, prepared as above described, will retain its full thickness for some
three-sixteenths of an inch inwards from its edge, and this portion of the insole we
use as a welt to receive the stitches for securing the outer sole in place.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Figs. 1 shew in plan and section
an insole channelled from the toe to the waist on the flesh side of the leather, as at
a, a, to receive the line of stitches which connects the insole with the upper;
Figs. 2 represent in plan and section the insole channelled on its reverse side to
permit of the insertion of the turned-in edges of the upper within the thickness of
the sole. This channel is formed from two cuts, vist, a recess b, which extends all
round the sole near the edge thereof, and a slit c leading out from this recess, and
extending inwards to the distance indicated by the dotted line.
The manner of effecting the channelling of the insole to receive the upper is
shewn in Sheet II. of the Drawings, where Fig. 1 is an elevation of a portion of a
channelling machine fitted with a knife to make what may be termed the entry
channel. This is shewn at A as fitted to a holder B, which when pressed down by
a treadle will cause the knife to bear upon the work and enter the required depth
in the sole as the feeding motion proceeds. C is the insole fed up to and past the
knife by a pair of feed rolls D, D¹. The channel formed by this knife is the
channel marked b in Sheet I., and it is made, as before explained, sufficiently far
inwards from the edge of the sole to leave a breadth of leather (of the full thickness
of the sole) sufficient to receive the stitches for securing the outer sole thereto.
When this channel b is formed the insole is removed to a channelling machine
fitted with a splitting knife, as shewn at Fig. 2, Sheet II. A* represents this knife
as carried in a holder B*; C, the insole; and D, D', the feed rolls.
The splitting knife A* consists of a narrow blade, thick at the back to stiffen it,
and chamfered to a cutting edge, which is parallel with the back. The knife stem
is cranked to allow the blade to enter the leather and slit the insole at a depth
about equal to that of the channel b.

page_text: When the slitting operation is effected, as shewn at Figures 2, Sheet I., the insole
is then ready to receive the upper.
The mode of temporarily attaching the upper to the insole is illustrated at
Figure 3, where a portion of the insole is bent back to expose a part of the edge of
the inserted upper. Brads are used to attach these parts temporarily together,
and they are then submitted to the sewing machine to secure them by stitches d,
as shewn at Fig. 4.
The next operation is to apply the outer sole to the insole, and to secure the two
together after the manner of sewing welt boots.
In Fig. 4 C is the insole and E the outer sole, F being the upper secured to the
insole, as explained, by means of what is known as the "horn" machine. The
outer sole E is attached to the inner sole by what is known as the Crispin post
machine, which forms a seam, starting from the waist of the sole and passing around
the toe to the opposite edge of the waist.
In order to complete the sewing of the boot the post machine is used to produce
internal sewing, which extends around the heel. The stiffening being applied to
the back of the upper, as usual, its lower edge is inserted, together with the turned-
in edge of the back of the upper, within the split insole. The internal stitching is
then commenced at the waist and carried round the heel to the opposite edge of
the waist, as shewn best in the plan view, Fig. 5. By this means a line of stitches e
will be passed through the split insole, and the upper and filling contained therein,
and through the outer sole, as shewn in a sectional view of a boot at Fig. 6.
By this mode of manufacturing boots and shoes it will be understood that the
cost of the material of which the ordinary welt is composed and the labor of pre-
paring the welt will be saved; the same cutters will also serve for stamping out
both the insole and the outer sole, and comparatively little skill will be required in
fitting the outer sole, as the welt, which is rigid and in one with the insole, will be
a sure guide for the workman.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements in the
Manufacture of Boots and Shoes," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent we claim, in the manufacture of boots and shoes, the use of an insole
prepared with an equivalent for a welt to receive the outer sole and split so as to
receive the turned-in edges of the upper, as described with reference to the accom-
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Horatio Keats and Alphonso Keats,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventeenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.