IMPROVEMENTS IN GAITERS AND SHOES OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE FOOT
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clotilde Marie Antoinette de Gauban du Mont, of
Boulevard Saint Denis 1, at Paris, Spinster, for an Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN GAITERS AND SHOES OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE FOOT
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clotilde Marie Antoinette de
Gauban du Mont at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
19th May 1883.
CLOTILDE MARIE ANTOINETTE DE GAUBAN DU MONT, of Boulevard Saint
Denis 1, at Paris, Spinster, IMPROVEMENTS IN GAITERS AND SHOES OR OTHER
COVERINGS FOR THE FOOT,
According to my Invention I provide the gaiter, boot, shoe or other foot
covering, at or about the instep thereof with a gusset of deer skin calf skin, kid,
sheep skin or other flexible and supple skin, or of india-rubber-cloth, or the like,
and which may be of any ornamental shape.
This gusset is composed of two halves joined together by a double stitching
which renders it firin without in any way fatiguing the instep.
In applying the invention to half boots or gaiter-shoes it is preferable to employ
a double lacing so as to allow of rapid fastening and unfastening.
By means of my invention I obviate the evils which are now experienced with
foot coverings made in one piece of leather, and which arise chiefly from the
hardening of the leather after it lias been wetted, as in a certain time the instep of
the wearer becomes injured or wounded; now in foot coverings made according
to my invention the gusset lends itself to the different inclinations taken by the
foot in relation to the bottom of the leg whilst walking, and the evils above
mentioned are obviated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Clotilde Marie Antoinette de Gauban du Mont in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th November 1883.
CLOTILDE MARIE ANTOINETTE DE GAUBAN DU MONT, of Boulevard Saint
Denis 1, at Paris, Spinster IMPROVEMENTS IN GAITERS AND SHOES OR OTHER
COVERINGS FOR THE FOOT
It is known that ordinary gaiters or boots, made of a single piece of leather
bent to shape, such as those which are employed for military use have the
serious drawback after being worn a certain time of injuring the instep of the
wearer, this being caused chiefly by the hardening of the leather after it has
been wet.
In fact, it is clear that, at the part of the gaiter or boot which covers the joint
of the foot with the bottom of the leg it is indispensable that the material
employed for making the gaiter or boot should be always supple and very flexible
so as to lend itself to the different inclinations taken by the foot.in relation to the
bottom of the leg, whilst walking.
If by reason of the hardening due to rain, mud, length of time in wear, &c, the
leather of the gaiter or boot has become hard and lost its suppleness, it no longer
lends itself to the angular displacement of the foot in relation to the leg, and wounds
the walker. This frequently occurs as I have above described it.
The new description of gaiter, or improved boot which forms the subject of this
invention has precisely for object to remedy the aforesaid defect by providing the
boot, at the part of the articulation of the foot with the leg, with a portion
necessarily always supple and flexible which leads itself indefinitely to all the
movements performed in walking.
For this purpose, I substitute for that portion of ordinary leather which
corresponds to the instep, a gusset of deer skin, calf skin, kid, sheep skin, or other
flexible and supple skin, or of india rubber, cloth, or the like. This gusset may
obviously be of any ornamental shape, but the arrangement shewn in the drawing
is preferred in which Fig. 1 represents a boot A, provided with the improved
gusset B, and fig. 2, shews the same opened out with the gusset B flat.
This gusset B, which is made of any one of the materials hereinabove mentioned,
is composed of two halves b, b, joined together by an exterior double stitching, a, a,
which renders it firm without in any way fatiguing the instep.
.
Fig. 3 shews a gaiter provided with the gusset B, and fig. 4 this same gaiter
opened out, with the gusset flat.
It is evident that this gusset B, may be applied not only to boots and gaiters,
but also to half boots, (Fig. 5) shoes, boots and in general to all foot coverings of
whatever material they may be made.
In the boot shewn in Fig. 1, the heel piece g is outside so as to avoid any kind
of projection inside the boot.
"
This boot is further designed for instantaneous double lacing, that is to say, it is
open longitudinally from c to d, on each side, for the whole height of the leg, and
the two parts thus separated are instantaneously united and closed by the laces f,f,
which are then fastened by a knot, or in any usual manner.
Fig. 6, represents the conversion of the kind of shoe now employed in the
French army, into an instantaneous laceable gusset boot in accordance with this
invention
In this figure the dotted lines indicate the shoe in its ordinary position, and the
full lines represent the parts added to the shoe by stitching, in order to convert it
into a half boot.
Fig. 7 is a view of the converted foot covering.

page_text: At the front part of the uppers I cut off the part comprised by v, x, y, z. At the
back of the shoe, and on the outer side, I add the back part u, of the leg, an
inner heel piece being thus formed, and in front I fix the front part t, of the leg, by
stitching, leaving a vacant space at 8, to which the gusset is applied.
I also employ for this kind of foot covering, the method of instantaneous double
lacing hereinabove described.
Fig. 8 shews a form of half boot without gusset, but with outer heel piece, and
provided with the instantaneous double lacing arrangement.
In this half boot r the inner tongue or flap for preventing injury to the feet of
the wearer by friction against the laces, is replaced by a bellows like part q
hermetically closed on its two edges.
This bellows like part whilst preventing injury to the foot protects it from the
dampness caused by rain or dew as absolutely as would be the case in wearing
high boots.
Having now described the nature of the said invention, and in what manner the
same may be performed, I declare that I claim :-
1. The application of the improved gusset to all kinds of foot coverings or gaiters,
as herein described and shewn in the drawings.
2. The manufacture of foot coverings with an outer heel piece for the purpose of
preventing injury to the heels of the wearer, as herein described.
3. The conversion into half boots with gussets, and with instantaneous double.
a cing arrangement, of all kinds of shoes or foot coverings, as herein described and
shewn in the drawings.
4. The system of instantaneous lacing herein described, the same being also
applicable to half boots without gussets, as set forth.
In witness whereof I the said Clotilde Marie Antoinette de Gauban du Mont
have hereunto set my hand and seal this Twelfth day of November in the year
1883.
o Witness:
MARIE DE GAUBAN DU MONT (L.S.)
ALBERT CAHEN
Civil Engineer
of Boulevard Saint Denis 1
at Paris