A NEW MACHINE FOR CLEANING, BLACKING, AND POLISHING BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Lewis, of Bicester, in the County of
Oxford, for the Invention of "A NEW MACHINE FOR CLEANING, BLACKING,
AND POLISHING BOOTS AND SHOES."
Sealed the 27th January 1874, and dated the 30th July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Lewis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
80th July 1878.
I, JOSHUA LEWIS, of Bicester, in the County of Oxford, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW MACHINE FOR
CLEANING, BLACKING, AND POLISHING BOOTS AND SHOES,” to be as follows:---
This Invention consists of an arrangement of rotary brushes mounted
on an horizontal shaft bearing upon a frame and worked by treadle,
crank, fly wheel, and band over a pulley fixed on the before mentioned

page_text: rapid motion of the rotary brushes as above described making it a truly
labour saving machine.
By a variation of the machine the rotary brushes may be worked on
a vertical shaft instead of the horizontal shaft, as above described, by
using either the screw principal or a pair of mitre wheels; or flat brushes 5
may be used mounted on a sliding frame with backward and forward
motion, with crank and wheel from fly wheel, as before described.
The novelty of the Invention consists in using mechanical power in
cleaning, blacking, and polishing boots and shoes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 1
filed by the said Joshua Lewis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 80th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
LEWIS, of Bicester, in the County of Oxford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 1
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joshua Lewis, Her special
licence that I, the said Joshua Lewis, my executors, administrators, a
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua Lewis, my 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 "A NEW MACHINE
FOR CLEANING, BLACKING, AND POLISHING BOOTS AND SHOES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joshua Lewis, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain a
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joshua Lewis, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :—
This Invention consists in the herein described arrangements of rotary
brushes, mechanism, and appliances for the purposes above stated, the
rotary brushes being mounted on a horizontal shaft bearing upon a
frame and worked by treadle, crank, fly wheel, and band over a pulley
fixed on the before mentioned shaft.
The brushes are so arranged that a pair of boots or shoes, one in each
hand, can be cleaned, blackened, and polished at the same time; and
the rapid motion which can be given to the above described rotary
brushes makes it truly a labor saving machine.
By a variation of the machine the rotary brushes may be worked on a
vertical shaft instead of the horizontal shaft, as above described, by either
using the screw principle or a pair of mitre wheels; or flat brushes may
be used mounted on a sliding frame with backward and forward motion,
and crank and wheel from fly wheel, as before described.
The brushes may also be made to work at any angle.
In order to apply blacking to the boot or shoe I arrange at the side
or any convenient place a box containing blacking, or a sponge saturated
with blacking, whereby in order to get sufficient blacking on the boot or
shoe the same is first placed in the box or against the sponge and then
spread over the boot by applying it to the revolving brush used for that
purpose.
Also instead of mounting the revolving brushes on one spindle, one
(such for instance as the hard brush) might be mounted on the spindle
carrying the fly wheel, and this would enable (where a number of boots
or shoes are to be brushed) one operator to remove the dirt from the
boot, while the other would be blacking and polishing them by the other
brushes.
Tthe Ironiked the nature of mo Tugantian T

page_text: I
carry
the same into effect, that is to say :—
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents an elevation of my improved machine; Fig. 2 is an
end elevation; Fig. 3 represents a section on A, B, Fig. 1; Fig. 4
represents a modification of my machine, whereby one brush (the hard
one for instance) is fitted on the spindle carrying fly wheel, the other
brushes mounted as in Fig. 1.
In these Drawings A represents the frame; B, the fly wheel mounted
on spindle 6 and driven by crank and treadle O. Round the fly wheel B
is a pulley band D, which passes over and round a double pulley E
fitted on to shaft or spindle F, which shaft carries the brushes G, such
brushes being of a form to take into the hollows, and sides of the boot
or shoe. The brushes G¹ are for the purpose of brushing the front of
the boot or shoe, being of suitable form to accomplish this object.
These brushes G' are mounted on a spindle or shaft H, such shaft
being driven by the band I, which runs over pulley D on shaft F and
drives the shaft or spindle by means of the pulley K fitted on to said
shaft H.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The treadle worked by the
operator by means of the crank sets the fly wheel revolving, which
causes (by means of the band round the fly wheel connected to the
pulley) the brushes to revolve, and the operation of brushing and
polishing the boots or shoes effectually accomplished. L represents the
box containing the blacking.
In the modification shown in Fig. 4 one of the brushes is mounted
on spindle b, which carries the fly wheel, by which means the object
herein-before described is accomplished.
•
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed or put in practice, I hereby declare that I claim, the Invention
of the machine for cleaning, blacking, & polishing boots and shoes,
consisting in the herein-before described arrangements, mechanism, and
appliances, it being understood that I do not limit or confine myself to
the precise details shown by the Drawings and described with reference

page_text: thereto, but claim to vary the same as circumstances may require, so
long as the main features and substantial character of my said Invention
are not departed from.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Lewis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
JOHN WESTMORLANDS,
Armathwaite,
Cockermouth.
JOSHUA LEWIS. (L.S.)