Improvements in Shoe and like Clasps or Fasteners.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 21st Oot., 1899
[Communicated from abroad by CRANE BUCKLE COMPANY, of No. 112, Water
Street, Boston, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Manu-
facturers].
Improvements in Shoe and like Clasps or Fasteners.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this 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 relates to clasps or fasteners, primarily designed for use on over-
shoes, yet adapted for use for other purposes, and the invention has for its
object to improve and simplify the construction of the same to the end that the
clasp or fastener may be composed of but two parts and each part made of sheet
metal by means of suitable punches and dies, and in such manner as to obviate
the requirement of machine work of an expensive character, and also obviate
assembling the parts.
And to these ends the invention consists of a fastener or clasp possessing certain
structural peculiarities, all as illustrated upon the drawings, described in the
following specification, and pointed out in the appended claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters
designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.
Of the drawings:-
11
Figure 1 shows in plan view the two members of my improved clasp or fastener.
Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of the same, taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 represents a longitudinal section of the clasp or fastener, the parts or
members thereof being in engagement.
Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal section of the same, the members being in the
positions occupied during their disengagement.
Fig. 5 represents one of the members rocked to one side relatively to the other
member.
On the drawings, ab indicate the two members of my improved clasp or
fastener which are adapted to be secured or attached to the flaps of an overshoe,
or to the edges of a garment or other article.
The member a is herein shown as being made of thin sheet metal and is
provided with an aperture a¹ forming a rear cross bar a around which the end
of the flap of an overshoe may be passed or secured, it being understood of course
that this feature of the fastener is immaterial and the member may be formed
in any desirable way to provide for its attachment to the overshoe or other article.
The said member is further provided with a front aperture a³ forming a front
cross-bar a with a transverse engaging edge as and an intermediate cross bar or
Dortion as with an edge a'. The front end of the plate, or the cross bar a is
bent downward at an inclination to the body thereof, as shown in Fig. 2, the
line of the bend being coincident with the edge a³.
The transverse bend or angle thus given to the apertured plate, coincident with
the engaging-edge a³, results in turning said engaging-edge obliquely to the
position it occupied previous to thus bending the plate, and when so turned said

page_text: engaging edge occupies a position to better engage and hold on to the engaging
portions of the other member of the clasp or fastener.
The member b consists of a curved strip of sheet metal laterally extended at its
rear end and perforated at 6' to provide a cross-bar ba by means of which it may be
attached to the over-shoe. This member may likewise be formed in any suitable
way to provide for its attachment and hence the aperture and cross-bar do not
constitute an important feature of the present invention.
The elongated strip b is formed with a number of tongues or lips 68, cut from
the body of the strip, as will be described, each tongue or lip projecting beyond
the plane of the strip, as, for instance, they may be extended upwardly and rear-
wardly, and said tongues or lips constitute engaging portions, and they are all
arranged at regular intervals. Each tongue or lip is curved or semi-circular
and has an operativo engaging end 6' against which the engaging-edge as abuts,
although the parts may be turned so that the lower edge of said end 64 will be
engaged by the engaging-edge a³. The said tongues or lips are each formed by
a transverse curved slit cut in the body of the strip, and the parts or portions
so cut projected outwardly Beyond the plane of the strip. The tongues or lips
are thus cut from the body of the strip between its edges and preferably occupy
a position substantially midway the width of the strip, thereby leaving the edges
of the strip unbroken.
In width, the member 6 is sufficient to pass freely through the aperture a³ of
the member a, and the aperture is likewise adequate to permit of the passage
therethrough of the lips or tongues 63, when the member a is at an angle of sub-
stantially 90 degrees to the member b.
By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that when the member 6 is passed through
the aperture in the member a, and the parts are brought into operative position,
the cross bar a' and the under portion a will engage the upper and under surfaces
of the said member 6, and the engaging edge as will engage the end of one of the
lips or tongues b³.
The tension of the flaps of the over-shoe on the ends of the members will cause
the engaging edges a5 and 6 to remain positively locked together, and the edge a
to press firmly against the under concave surface of the member b.
When it is desired to engage the members the member b is passed through the
aperture as of the part a, while the latter is held at an angle thereto, and the
member a is then pressed down into the position illustrated in Fig. 3, whereupon
it impinges upon the upper and under sides of the member b, and the engaging
edge a engages one of the engaging portions 64; and while the members remain
in this position, and as long as there is a strain upon them, the parts will remain
in engagement.
To disengage the members, the front end of the member a is lifted and turned
back until it is at the proper angle to the member 6, as shown in Fig. 4, and
the member a is then thrust bodily downward until it rests upon the transverse
edge a7 of the portion a (or else the member b is lifted into that position) where-
upon the member 6 will, by reason of the strain upon it, immediately slide through
the aperture a³.
From the foregoing description, it will be seen that both members of the fastener
may be made of sheet metal or any desired thickness, and said members. may be
easily and at a slight cost died out and no other tools than ordinary dies and
punches required and no assembling of the parts is required.
The bending of the member a provides a sharp engaging edge without the
necessity of cutting away a portion thereof, and the formation of the tongue or
lips by cutting them from the body of the strip provides a series of engaging
portions which may be projected beyond the plane of the strip, to form teeth of
any desired size or pitch irrespective of the initial thickness of the strip. The
strain upon the teeth is substantially directly against their ends, in their longi-
tudinal planes, so that there is no danger of bending the lips or tongues under
& sudden severe pressure.

page_text: By forming the member 6 with tongues or lips which are rounded, the two
members are adapted to have an augmented lateral or rocking movement relatively
to each other, and are also prevented from catching in the fabric of the garments
of the wearer. Moreover, by rounding the tongues, they may be greater in
length and inclined at a less angle, whereby the disengagement of the member a
will be rendered easier.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:--
1. A clasp or fastener comprising two independent rigid complemental members,
each adapted for attachment to the parts to be secured together, one of said
members having an aperture with an engaging-edge, and the other member having
an elongated portion or strip adapted to enter said aperture, and having tongues
or lips cut from the body thereof which project beyond the plane of the strip
and whose ends constitute engaging portions for the engaging-edge of the afore-
said member, substantially as described.
2. A clasp or fastener comprising two independent rigid complemental members,
each adapted for attachment to the parts to be secured together, one of said
members having an aperture with an engaging-edge, and the other member
having an elongated portion or strip adapted to enter said aperture, and having
tongues or lips cut from the body thereof which project beyond the plane of the
strip and whose ends constitute engaging portions for the engaging-edge of the
aforesaid member, said tongues being rounded on the engaging ends, sub-
stantially as described.
3. A clasp or fastener comprising two independent rigid complemental members,
cach adapted for attachment to the parts to be secured together, one of said
members having an aperture with an engaging edge, and the other member having
an elongated portion or strip adapted to enter said aperture and having tongues
or lips cut from the body thereof between its edges, which project beyond the
plane of the strip and whose ends constitute engaging portions for the engaging-
edge of the aforesaid member, substantially as described.
4. A clasp or fastener comprising two independent, rigid, complemental mem-
bera, each adapted for attachment to the parts to be secured together, one of said
members having an aperture with an engaging-edge, and having a transverse bend
or angle coincident with said engaging-edge as described, and the other member
having an elongated portion or strip adapted to enter said aperture, curved in the
direction of its length, and having engaging portions projecting beyond the
plane of the strip for the engagement of the engaging-edge of the aforesaid
member, substantially as described.
5. A clasp or fastener comprising two independent rigid complemental mem-
bers of which one is apertured to receive the other whereby the walls of the
aperture engage both faces of said other member, the second said member having
a plurality of tongues or lips cut from the body thereof and projecting from
its surface whereby their ends engage one of the walls of the said aperture in the
said first-mentioned member, said parts being constructed as thus described
whereby they are held in engagement when they approach parallelism and are
detachable when they approach a right angle to each other.
1 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.
Agents for the Applicants.