IMPROVE- MENTS IN PROTECTING PARTS. OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROTECTING PARTS. OF BOOTS AND SHOES."-A communication from.
abroad by Horace Miltimore Bearce; of Boston, in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 4th November 1864, and dated the 7th May 1864:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left. by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1864.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN PROTECTING PARTS OF BOOTS AND SHOES," a communication
to me from abroad by Horace Miltimore Bearce, of Boston, in the United
States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in protecting the toes and the parts of the upper
leather of boots and shoes near to the toes, by driving in a series of nails or
tacks between the upper leather and the sole, such nails or tacks having heads
so shaped out as to spread over or cover the upper leather, and if desired also
the sole. It is obvious that these nails or tacks may be of various shapes to
effect the required object, and may also be so manufactured and so inserted
in the boot or shoe as to give an ornamental appearance to the same. The
same object may be effected by means of a kind of metallic cord fitting or

page_text: nearly fitting to the crevice which exists in all boots and shoes between the
sole and the upper leather, and this metallic cord or protection may be manu-
factured with a kind of flange or disc of metal, which flange or disc possessing
holes through which fastenings may be passed is readily inserted in the course
of manufacture of the boot or shoe between the sole and the upper leather,
and so securely fastened to and made to form part of the completed boot or
shoe.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING PARTS OF BOOTS AND SHOES," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Horace Miltimore Bearce, of Boston, in the
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, or under the land and seal of one of them,
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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
The said Invention consists in protecting the toes and the parts of the upper
leathers of boots and shoes near to the toes; by: driving a series of nails or
tacks in front of the upper leather, or between the upper leather and the sole,
such nails or tacks having heads so shaped out as to spread over or cover the
upper leather, and if desired also the toe part or edge of the sole. It is obvious
that these nails or tacks may be of various shapes to effect the required object
and may also be so manufactured and so inserted in the boot or shoe as to
give an ornamental appearance to the same. The same object may be effected
by means of a kind of metallic cord fitting or nearly fitting to the crevice
which exists in all boots and shoes between the sole and the upper leather, and
this metallic cord or protection may be manufactured with a kind of flange
or disc of metal, which flange or disc may or may not be provided with holes
made therein through which fastenings may be passed. This cord is readily
inserted in the crevice between the sole and the upper leather in the course of
manufacture of the boot or shoe, and is by the aid of the flange 'securely
fastened to and made to form part of the completed boot or shoe.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a side elevation of the
toe portion of a boot or shoe protected according to one part of this Invention;
Fig. 2 is a corresponding front view of the same; and Fig. 3 represents a
side and front elevation of one of the various forms of protective nails or tacks
detached which may be employed in carrying out this part of the Invention.
a represents the upper leather of a boot or shoe, and 6 the sole thereof;
c, c, are a series of ornamental or other nails or tacks which are driven into
the sole immediately in front of the upper leather so that the heads of these
nails or tacks may cover or partly cover the toe part of the upper leather as
shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, and thereby protect the same.
I may here
observe that I do not confine myself to any particuliar form of or mode of
introducing the nails or tacks so long as the heads of the same are made to
protect either the upper leather alone, or the upper leather and the edge of the
sole, by covering or overlapping more or less such parts.
Fig. 4 represents a portion of a boot or shoe in which the upper leather a is
protected by introducing into the crevice between it and the sole b a species of
metallic cord or beading d. This metallic cord or beading is shown detached in.

page_text: plan at Fig. 5, and. in transverse section at Fig. 6. It may be formed by cutting
it out of a flat sheet of thin brass; copper, or other suitable metal, and then
turning up a bead d:on its outer edge, whilst the remainder of the metal is left
to form a flange e which may or may not have holes made therein for the
purpose of securing the same by the ordinary shoe fastenings, such as nails or
pegs. The flange portion e is to be introduced between the upper leather and
the sole when making the boot or shoe, and the holes may be made therein
when adjusted in its place with an awl or other piercer, for the reception of
the fastenings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the 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,-
First, the system or mode of protecting the toes of the upper leathers of
boots and shoes by the aid of nails or tacks applied substantially as herein-
before described.
Second, the application and use to and in the protecting of the upper leathers
of boots and shoes of a flanged metallic cord or beading, applied substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Second day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)