IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Miles Wells, of 13, Belitha Villas, Barnsbury,
in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BOOTS AND SHOES."
Sealed the 9th April 1868, and dated the 17th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Miles Wells at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th October 1867.
I, GEORGE MILES WELLS, of 13, Belitba Villas, Barnsbury, in the County
of Middlesex, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the sockets or holders and standards or supports
employed for holding the lasts during the process of making and finishing
boots and shoes, and has for its object the affording facility for placing or
adjusting the last in any convenient position required by the workman.
According to this Invention it is proposed to mount the standard which
carries the last in a revolving socket whereby the last is free to be rotated

page_text: horizontally or angularly so as to bring any side in front of the workman.
This revolving socket may be used either in conjunction with the ordinary
standard or with a standard cast in one piece with a portion of the last. The
revolving or rotatory socket may be made in various ways.
According to one mode of construction I cast the outer ring or surrounding
metal forming the fixed part or holder of the socket round the revolving
socket hole, such block being by preference of a slightly spherical shape
in order to increase its strength and to keep it in its place in the outer
ring. It may be used in combination with a peculiar jointed standard which
will serve both as a rigid standard or support and will also afford facility for
adjusting the position of the last angularly so as to enable either side thereof
to be brought nearly to a horizontal position and enable the finishing of the
edges, to be more conveniently effected. In this standard the stem which
enters the revolving socket is jointed so that by inserting the lower portion
below the joint in the socket the standard can be brought to an angle,
and by inserting the whole of the stem or lower part of the standard with
the joint into the socket it may then be used as as a rigid upright standard.
In case of using lasts having the standard cast thereon it is sometimes pro-
posed to combine with such standards a lower jointed portion of wrought or
cast iron fitting into a socket as before described.
According to another modification the moveable or rotating block is of a
perfectly spherical form, and is cast or contained in an outer fixed support or
holder, within which it is free to rotate in any desired direction after the
manner of the ball-and-socket joint. A socket or opening is made in the
spherical block, and a corresponding opening is made in the bottom of the
outer fixed holder. The standard when adjusted into the block may either
pass through it so as to cause its protruding end to enter the opening in the fixed
holder, in which case the rotatory block will be locked and the standard main-
tained in a fixed vertical position, or the standard may be elevated slightly
so as to withdraw its extremity from the opening in the fixed holder or case,
whereupon the spherical block with the standard will be free to be adjusted or
turned to any desired angular position, suitable notches or recesses being
formed if desired in the surrounding rim or edge of the outer case or holder
to support the standard when adjusted or turned over into an angular or
horizontal position.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Miles Wells in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MILES WELLS, of 13, Belitha Villas, Barnsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the 31st year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Miles Wells, Her special license that I, the said George Miles
Wells, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Miles Wells, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Miles Wells,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain 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 Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said. Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Miles Wells, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the sockets or holders for the standards or
supports employed for holding the lasts during the process of making and
finishing boots and shoes, and has for its object the affording facility for
placing or adjusting the last in any convenient position required by 'the
workman.
According to this Invention it is proposed to mount the standard which
carries the last in a revolving socket, whereby the last is free to be rotated
horizontally or angularly, so as to bring any side in front of the workman.

page_text: This revolving or rotating socket may be used either in conjunction with
the ordinary standard or with a standard cast in one piece with a portion
of the last. The revolving or rotating socket may be made in various
ways.
According to one mode of construction I cast the outer ring or surrounding
metal forming the fixed part or holder of the socket round the revolving
block containing the socket hole, such block being by preference of a slightly
spherical shape in order to increase its strength and to keep it in its place in
the outer ring.
According to another modification the moveable or rotating block is of a
perfectly spherical form, and is cast or contained in an outer fixed support or
holder, within which it is free to rotate in any desired direction after the
imanner of a ball-and-socket joint. A socket or opening is made in the
spherical block, and a corresponding opening is made in the bottom of the
outer fixed holder. The standard when adjusted into the block may either
pass through it so as to cause its protruding end to enter the opening in the
fixed holder, in which case the rotating block will be locked and the standard
maintained in a fixed vertical position, or the standard may be elevated
slightly so as to withdraw its extremity from the opening in the fixed holder
or case, whereupon the spherical block with the standard will be free to be
adjusted or turned to any desired angular position, suitable notches or recesses
being formed if desired in the surrounding rim or edge of the outer case or
holder to support the standard when adjusted or turned over into an angular
or horizontal position.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings represent in sectional elevation and plan
one of my improved adjustable sockets. This socket which I call the
"rivetting" socket always maintains the standard of the last in a vertical
position, as shown in red lines, but nevertheless admits of the standard and
last rotating on a vertical axis. For this purpose I construct the holder in
two parts, the outer one A being stationary and secured to the work bench or
other convenient support, whilst the inner one B which constitutes the socket
proper (being provided with a hole a for the reception of the lower end of the
standard C of the last) is free to rotate on a vertical axis inside the fixed or
surrounding socket A. In order to keep the loose part B inside the part A
I form an internal enlargement of the aperture in the part A, and cast therein

page_text: the inner part B. The part A in fact serving the purpose of a "chill"
during the operation of casting.
Figures 3 and 4 represent respectively a sectional elevation and plan of a
modified form and construction of socket or holder which I call the finishing
socket, wherein a universal adjustment of the last is provided for. The inner
loose portion B of the holder (which forms the socket proper having the hole
made therein for the reception of the lower end of the last standard C) is of a
spherical shape, and is cast inside the spherical chamber of the fixed part A
of the holder, which it consequently fits with accuracy but easily, so as to
enable it to turn inside the part A, and assume any desired position. A
number of notches or recesses b, b, may be made in the surrounding raised
portion of the holder A, into any one of which the standard may be laid, as
shewn by the red lines, so as to incline the last to an angle. By turning the
standard C with the spherical socket B the toe heel or side of the last may be
presented to the workman as required. And if it be desired to maintain the
standard and last in a vertical position it is simply requisite to drop the lower
end of the standard through the central square opening c made in the bottom
of the outer fixed part A of the holder, as shewn in Figure 3. The notches
or recesses b, b, are of different depths in order that the standard C may
assume different angles, and one of such notches 6 is V shaped at the
bottom in order to admit of one of the corners or angles of the standard
resting therein, the remaining notches being flat bottomed to take the flat
sides of the standard.
In lieu of cutting the inner or moveable part of the socket inside the outer
part the outer part may be cast round the inner part.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The constructing of adjustable sockets for holding the standards of
lasts employed in the manufacture of boots and shoes by casting the inner or
adjustable portion B of the socket inside the outer fixed portion or holder A,
or casting the outer portion A round the inner adjustable portion B
substantially as herein-before described.
2nd. The construction and use of an adjustable socket as and for the
purpose herein-before described and illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 of the
Drawings annexed.
3rd. The construction and use of sockets wherein the moveable or

page_text: adjustable portion B is of a spherical form, as and for the purpose herein-
before described and illustrated by Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawings annexed.
4th. The combination with a spherical socket piece B of recesses b, b, and
an opening c, made in the fixed portion A of the socket, as and for the
purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Miles Wells, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
GEO. M. WELLS. (L.S.)