CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HOLLAND, of Fence House, in the Parish of Aston, in the County of York,
Shoemaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirty-first day of May, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four,
in the fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said James Holland,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said James Holland, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso that if I, the said James Holland, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties

page_text: and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Holland, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention and im-
provements, and the manner in which the same are to be carried into effect
and practice, are described and ascertained in and by the following explanations
and Drawings hereunto annexed:-
Drawing 1: Fig. 1 represents the upper or inside face of my improved sole
and heel or bottom part for a boot or shoe for the right foot, and herein-after
called core, and consists of three pieces of wood numbered 1, 2, 3, connected
by knuckle joints, but any other suitable joints may be used for this purpose.
Fig. 2 represents the under or walking face of the said core. Fig. 3
represents a longitudinal section or saw cut made through the said core
along the straight line A, B, which is a line from the center of the toe
through the center of the heel. Fig. 4 represents the section of a cut made
across the toe piece of the said core along the dotted line a, b, looking
towards the toe. Fig. 5 represents the section of a cut made across the
heel piece of the said core along the dotted line c, looking towards the heel.
Fig. 6 represents the section of a cut made across the heel piece of the said
core along the dotted line e, f, looking towards the heel. Fig. 7 represents
the section of a cut made through the connecting piece of the said core along
the dotted line g, h, looking towards the toe. Fig. 8 represents the section of
the said core along the line l, m, being at right angles with the knuckle
joints i, k.
Drawing 2: Fig. 1 represents the upper or inside face of my improved sole
and heel or bottom part for a boot or shoe for the right foot, and called core,
and consists of three pieces of wood numbered 1, 2, 3, two pieces of leather C,
which I shall herein-after call waist or shank piece. The toe and connecting
pieces are wood united by a knuckle joint, but any other joint may be used
for this purpose, and the leather waist piece is united to the wood pieces by
screws or nails, or both. Fig. 2 represents the under or walking fuce of the
said core. Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section or saw cut made through
the said core along the line A, B, which is a line taken through the centre of
the toe and the centre of the heel. Fig. 4 represents the section of a cut
made across the too piece of the said core along the dotted line a, b, looking
towards the toe. Fig. 5 represents a section made across the heel piece of the
said core, along the line c, d, looking towards the heel. Fig. 6 represents a

page_text: section made through the leather waist or shank piece of the said core C, along
the dotted line e, f, looking towards the heel.
Directions for constructing the Cores according to the Drawings.—
Drawing 1, Fig. 3, is applicable to a man's boot or shoe of the size technically
called size 7, and shews the thicknesses of the heel piece, the waist shank or
connecting piece, and toe piece respectively when in a finished state; but as
waste will occur in reducing the wood to a proper shape, allowance must be
made, as shewn by dotted lines partly circumscribing the Figure 8. The
heel piece should be an extra thickness for a boot, but the sole piece may be
of the same thickness for a boot as for a shoe. These respective thicknesses
are suitable for all the common purposes, but for men's lighter boots and
shoes, or women's boots and shoes, they need not be more than 5/8ths of an
inch thick. As to the choice and preparing of the wood, any light wood which
is not liable to crack or shake may be used for the core of my improved sole
and heel, or bottom part, but I recommend lime-tree wood boiled in lime
water and afterwards in oil, and put to season until perfectly dry.
Drawing 2, Fig. 3, is applicable to a man's boot or shoe of the size
technically called 7, and shews the thickness of the heel piece, waist shank,
and connecting piece, and toe piece respectively when in a finished state. In
constructing-this core attention must be paid to the waste that will occur, as
before stated, and the other particulars I have enumerated. The wood and
the preparation of it ought also to be, as before described.
Rules for settling the exact Degree of Obliquity of the Joints when
a particular Foot is to be fitted.-Cause the foot to be placed upon writing
paper and the toes to be pressed firmly upon it, while the heel is lifted
up. This will shew the peculiar obliquity of its bendings where the toes
are connected to the ball of it, which should be marked upon the paper;
but in forming the core for this foot care should be taken to place the
joint shewn by the line n, o, Drawing 1, Fig. 1, 5/8ths of an inch farther
from the toe than the bendings of the foot appears to be, and even more
when the core is to exceed 7/8ths in thickness. In forming the other
joint p, 9, of the said Fig., care must also be taken that it is parallel
with the joint n, o. These joints being formed and the pieces connected
together, they are to be hollowed so as exactly to fit the bottom or sole
of the last, which when done, and also shaped to suit the form of it, the
feathered, sunk, or moulded edges must be made round the toe piece, as
shewn by a, b, Fig. 4. The sunk or quirk and rebated edging round the
heel piece 8, agreeable to the section shewn by lines c, d, Fig. 5, and. the

page_text: eliptical curvature agreeable to the sections g, h, & e, f, Figs. 6 and 7, are to
be formed, when the core will be ready to fix upon the Inst. In forming a
core according to Fig. 2, No. 1, which, I have before stated, has a leather
shank or waist piece, the same rulo must be observed to ascertain dhe place
for the joint. The wood parts must be hollowed and shaped and the edges
formed as before directed, when they are ready to be connected to a proper
sized waist or shank picce by means of screws or nails, or both, and to be
fixed upon the last.
Directions for the Finishings upon the Cores and for the Completion of my
Improved Boots and Shoes.-Although in the following directions I shall
have the core according to the Drawing 1, Fig. 1, more particularly in
view, yet the directions will equally apply to the finishings upon the other
core, which the workman will perceive when he is employed upon it.
Drawing 2, Fig. 17 represents the under face of a boot or shoe when all
the finishings, except the metal tips or guards, are completed upon it. The
workman will proceed with those finishings in the following order as being
the most eligible. First, he will put upon the inside face of the core a
covering of leather, cloth, or any other approved material; this covering will
be more complete if folded neatly over the edges of the core. It must be
cemented with paste to the core, so as to make it completely fast and easy for
the sole of the wearer's foot. Next he will fit a piece of tar cloth over all tho
reduced part on the under side of the core, which should be fastened along
with the finishings, to be put outside of it. He will then fix the core upon
the sole of the last, with tacks in the usual way, and last, on the upper leather,
and make it fit closely upon the feathered or sunk or moulded edge round the
sole piece, and into the quirk rebates or sinkings round the heel piece, so that
the hedges of the upper leather shall fit home to the raised parts of the sole
and heel, paring the edges of the upper leather in those two parts; ho
proceeds, and then brace the remaining parts of the upper leather to each
other over the whole of the reduced part of the core with a stout waxed
end. He will next, by means of a welt of good sole leather of sufficient
substance to fill in the whole of the quirked sinking or rebate round the heel,
and of nails proper for the purpose, fasten and well secure the upper leather
round the heel. He will next fasten and well secure with proper screws and
nails the upper leather round the toe piece (sco Drawing 2, Fig. 4), by means
of a welt of sufficient substance to fill up completely the sunk and moulded
edging round the core (the screws should be wood screws made tapering).
He will then completely cover the whole of the reduced part of the core with

page_text: a piece of leather of sufficient substance to finish in continuation, and be level
with the welt, which he will secure by channel sewing the edges of the waist,
and by means also of nails and screws, as shewn by Fig. 7, Drawing No. 2.
He will next pare the heel and eldges of the welt into their proper form, and
5 then finish the boot, &c. in the same way and with the same tools he would
finish a leather boot, &c. These being completed, my improved boot or shoe
will be perfected for ordinary wear, but if greater durability be desired, metal
tips or nails may be added and fastened, as they usually are when used for
leather boots, &c., care being taken not to interfere with the joints.
"
For navigators and diggers' boots & shoes I would recommend the
omission of the joint n, o, Drawing 1, Fig. 1, and the core to be thicker
by of an inch, and the heel longer by of an inch. The finishings, &c. may
be as before described.
Having enumerated and described the various parts or pieces of wood, and
also of wood and leather, that are necessary to form my improved soles or heels
or cores for boots and shoes, and shewn how they are combined, united, and
framed together, and having also given directions for uniting the upper leathers
thereto, I shall now enumerate the improvements I have invented, for which
I claim the protection granted to me by this Patent. I therefore declaro that
the improvements I have invented consists,―
First, in having combined, united, and framed together certain pieces of
wood by means of knuckle oblique joints, or pieces of wood united by an
oblique joint and leather, which when combined, united, and framed together
in the peculiar way I have described, may be advantageously used as a
substitute for and instead of leather soles and heels.
Secondly, in having formed the feathered or sunk and moulded edges
round the toe and connecting pieces, and in having formed the peculiar shape
of the wood, as well as the leather shank or waste piece, by which contrivances
together I am enabled to unite the upper leathers to my improved cores, so as
to be water-tight, and give to my improved boots and shoes the properties of
yielding to the bendings of the foot when in the act of walking, and being as
neat in appearance as the best made leather boots and shoes, produced at a
less expence, and more than two-fold as durable; and it is for theso Inventions
of these improvements only I claim, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Holland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
<>
JAMES (L.B.) HOLLAND.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid James Holland came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.