IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES AND BOOTS WHEN INDIA. RUBBER IS USED
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Goodyear, of 42, Avenue Gabrielle, Paris,
for tho Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES AND BOOTS WHEN INDIA.
RUBBER IS USED."
Sealed the 25th April 1856, and dated the 14th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Goodyear at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
November 1855.
I, CHARLES GOODYEAR, of 42, Avenue Gabrielle, Paris, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOES AND BOOTS WHEN
INDIA-RUBBER IS USED," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of boots
and shoes, for which Letters Patent were formerly granted to me, and wherein
there were means of ventilating applied to the heels and soles of boots and
shoes. And my present improvement consists of making the "uppers" or parts
of the "uppers," when india-rubber is used, with corrugations, such corruga-
tions being perforated with numerous small holes to admit of the passage of.
air, and thus to ventilate the upper parts of the feet.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Goodyear, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Goodyear, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Goodyear, my exccutors, administrators, and 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHOES AND BOOTS WHEN INDIA-RUBBER IS USED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Goodyear, 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 the nature of tho said Inven-
tion, 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 Charles Goodyear, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of boots
and shoes, for which Letters Patent were formerly granted to me, and wherein
there were means of ventilating applied to the heels and soles of boots and
shoes. And my present improvement consists of making "uppers"
or parts
of the "uppers," when india-rubber is used, with corrugations, such corruga-
tions being perforated with numerous small holes to admit of the passage of
air, and thus to ventilate the upper parts of the feet.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a boot, and Figure 2 a shoc, the "uppers" of which are
formed with perforated corrugations according to my Invention, the soles and
heels being ventilated by means of air chambers, as described in a Patent
granted to me bearing date the
One thousand eight
day of

page_text: of shoes and boots (when india-rubber is used to render them waterproof) in
any convenient manner, and perforate the ribs thus made at their highest
points with numerous small holes, which will permit the free circulation of air
from the interior of the shoe or boot; at the same time, any moisture falling
on the exterior of the "uppers" will be conducted away by the channels
between the ribs or corrugations. I also make the upper of the shoe in some
cases partly of india-rubber and partly of leather dressed without oil (leather
when dressed with oil being destroyed by the high temperature maintained in
vulcanizing). The leather should be used with the flesh side out, and blacked
after the shoe is made.
The corrugations before alluded to may be formed either by forming the
shoe on a corrugated last or by moulding it on an ordinary last wound with
cords of proper thickness and coated with soap-stone, to enable them to be
afterwards withdrawn before the sole is applied. These corrugations are
intended to extend to the bulbs and form air tubes, to assist in the general
system of ventilation.
In fastening the sole to the " upper," when the "upper" is composed of
unvulcanized rubber the common method of cementing is adopted; but when
the "upper" is of leather, cloth, or vulcanized rubber, the following method is
adopted-The "upper" is fitted to the lasts, and threads are drawn from the
edge of the "upper" on one side to the edge on the other, to the entire bottom
of the shoe. The rougher these edges and the more unfinished the points of
union are the better, and in some cases I punch holes in the edges to improve
the joint and make the union more firm. Thus prepared, the shoe while on
the last is placed in a form leaving the bottom of the shoe exposed; the soles,
when they are made of leather or of hard india-rubber, whether made in
moulds or otherwise, being suitably prepared by roughing the surface, or by
dovetailed countersinks, or by screws in the soles leaving the heads exposed;
a sheet of softened gutta-percha is then placed upon the bottom of the shoe;
the soles are then united to the "upper" by pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Goodyear, have hereunto set my
hand and seal. this Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
CHAS GOODYEAR (LS)