IMPROVEMENTS IN LACING HOOKS OR STUDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, &
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LACING HOOKS OR STUDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR BOOTS
AND SHOES." A communication from abroad by Mellen Bray, of Newton,
Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th June 1880.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LACING HOOKS OR STUDS
CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR BOOTS AND SHOES." A communication from abroad by
Mellen Bray, of Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.
This Invention relates to that class of lacing hooks which are provided with
tubular shanks having closed heads for securing the hook to the boot or shoe, or
other article, whether said shank is made in one piece with or separate from the
head.
The said Invention consists partly in forming a lace-hook from a plain flat blank
cut from sheet metal, and having three arms, by embossing, bending, folding, and
swaging said blank to bring it into the desired shape with a smooth round tubular
shank divided longitudinally into two equal parts by two straight seams, as herein-
after described.
It further consists in forming upon each half of the tubular shank made as
above described, a corrugation or rib-like projection extending lengthwise of said
shank as means for stiffening the same to enable it to resist the pressure necessary
to force it through leather or other like material without previously punching a
hole for its reception.
It further consists in forming upon one edge of each of those arms of the blank
from which the tubular shank is to be made a projecting V-shaped tooth, and
upon the other edge a correspondingly shaped notch or recess, all so arranged that
when the hook and its shank are brought to the desired shape the teeth shall fit
into said notches and interlock the two halves of the tubular shank, and serve as a
means for preventing one half of the shank from being driven faster than the
other half, and thereby destroying or injuring the hook.
It further consists in the combination, in the same lace-hook formed from a flat

page_text: sheet metal blank, of the longitudinal corrugations, and the interlocking teeth and
notches arranged as above described.
It further consists in the construction of a lace-hook or stud in two pieces, the
first composed of two collars or discs connected at one side by a neck to receive the
lacing string with a hole through the centre of one of said discs, and the second
consisting of a tubular rivet having a closed headed end, and its shank end inserted
through the hole in said disc, and secured therein by a fin or lip thrown outward
therefrom beneath said disc, and adapted to serve as a means for attaching the
hook to a shoe.
It further consists in a lace-hook or stud having two discs connected by an
excentrically-located neck, oval in cross section, and made in one piece, there being
an opening through one of said discs, and an attaching shank composed of a tubular
rivet made separate from said hook head, and inserted through the opening in the
lower disc of said head, with the head of the rivet between the two discs of the
book head.
It further consists in upsetting the tubular shank of the rivet after it has been
inserted in the disc of the hook-head so as to throw outward from said rivet shank
a small bead or fin, immediately beneath the underside of said disc, as a means for
securely attaching the two parts of the stud together.
It further consists in constructing a lace hook from a single piece of wire by
bending its two ends so as to produce a blank having in each end an eye or loop
substantially circular in form, embossing or swaging said blank to reduce its
thickness at the two ends or around its two eyes, and forming the stock around
one of said eyes to a concavo-convex shape, and the other concave upon one side
and flat upon the other, and bending said blank into the shape of a letter U turned
upon its side with one loop directly over the other, with their concave faces toward
each other, a tubular rivet being inserted through the eye having one concave side
and one flat side, with its head between the two loops, as will be more fully herein-
after described.
In the accompanying Drawings

page_text: Figure 25 is a similar section of the hook after being set in a shoe or other
article.
Figure 26 is a plan of the blank from which the hook head is to be formed.
Figure 27 is a longitudinal section of said blank.
Figures 28 and 29 are an elevation and a vertical section of a rivet having a
hollow or tubular shank and a closed head.
Figures 30 and 31 are an inverted plan and a longitudinal section of the head
blank and the tubular rivet inserted therein.
Figures 32 and 33 are a horizontal section and a vertical section of a modified
form of iny lacing hook.
Figures 34 and 35 are a plan and a longitudinal section of the blank from which
the head of this modified hook is to be formed.
Figure 36 is a plan of another modified form of my improved lacing hook.
Figure 37 is a side elevation.
Figure 38 is a vertical section on the line x, x, Figure 37.
Figure 39 is a vertical section of the same set in a piece of leather.
Figure 40 is a plan of the swaged blank.
Figure 41 is a longitudinal section of the same on the line z, z, Figure 40.
To construct a lacing hook like that shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, a blank is
first cut from sheet metal of the form shewn in Figure 5, having the two discs a
and connected by the neck c, and the two arms d and d' projecting from opposite
sides of the disc b, as shewn. This blank is then struck up in suitable dies to
give it the shape shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9, with the disc a made concavo-
convex, and the arms and d¹ each bent into the form of a semi-cylinder.
If it is desired to form a hook like that shewn in Figures 10, 11, and 12, the
dies for striking up the blank are provided with means for throwing out longi-
tudinal corrugations e and e¹ upon the arms & and d', as shown in Figures 13
and 14.
To make the hooks shewn in Figures 15 and 19 the arms d and d' of the blank
are each provided with a tooth f upon one edge, and a correspondingly shaped
notch g on the other edge, said teeth and notches being so arranged that the tooth
on the arm & will fit into the notch on the arm d', and the tooth on the arm d
will fit into the notch on the arm & when said arms are bent and folded to bring
them together in the form of a tube, as shewn in Figures 15 and 19.
After the blanks have been struck up to the shapes shewn in Figures 7, 8, and
9, 13 and 14, 17 and 18, or 20 and 21, the arms & and d' are bent along the dotted
arcs, by the aid of suitable tools, to a position at right angles to the disc b, and
parallel, or nearly so, to each other, and they are then driven endwise into a bell-
mouthed female die provided in its centre with a male yielding mandrel having a
diameter corresponding to the desired interior diameter of the hook shank, whereby
the lower ends of the semi-cylindrical arms d and d' are brought together and made
to fit closely around said male mandrel, and then by another operation the partially
formed tubular shank is brought to the desired shape with portions of the arms d
and d¹ folded under the disc b to reinforce and strengthen the head of the tubular
rivet, this being done by driving the shank into a second feinale die of the desired
size and shape to be given to the tubular shank.
When the shank is completed the neck c is bent to bring the disc a directly over
the disc b and its shank, with the concave side of a towards b, and the neck c is
swaged by means of suitable dies in such a manner that if a horizontal section
were cut through said neck it would appear concavo-convex, with the convex side
towards the axis of the tubular shank.
The corrugations e and e¹ add greatly to the stiffness of the tubular shank, and
thus adapt it the better to cut its own way through the material in which it is to
be set, and the interlocking of the two halves of said tubular shank by means of
the teeth and notches g ensures the even driving of both halves of the tubular
shank.
These studs or lacing hooks can be made very cheaply, and when attached to a

page_text: boot or shoe, or other article, are much stronger than the lacing hooks heretofore
in use made of sheet metal, and having an eyelet, open at both ends, as a means for
attaching the hook to the material, by reason of the closed head or cap, to the
tubular shank, which supports said tubular shank and prevents it from crippling.
In constructing the modified lacing hook shewn in Figures 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, and
33, I first cut out a blank of suitable outline from sheet metal, or cut from a wire
a blank of suitable length, and then swage the blank in dies or by a drop press to
the form, substantially as shewn in Figures 26 and 27, or the blanks may be rolled
to shape from a wire in a continuous line, and then be cut apart and formed by
dies to shape. I then insert the tubular shankh of the rivet shown in Figures 28
and 29 in the hole i formed in one end of the swaged blank A, and upset said
tubular shank, by means of suitable tools, to throw outward therefrom a slight
annular bead or fin j beneath the blank A to securely unite the two parts, as shewn
in Figures 30 and 31, when the blank A. is bent into the shape shewn in Figure 22,
completing the lace hook ready for insertion in the shoe or other article, as shown
in Figure 25, said hook having a neck k to receive the lacing string, oval in cross
section, as shewn in Figure 23, so as to present no sharp corners to cut the
string.
Figures 32 and 33 illustrate a modified form of the hook in which the two discs
and the connecting neck are of even thickness, no swaging being required upon the
plain blank except to make that portion of said blank which is to form the outer
disc concavo-convex, as shewn at 1, Figure 35.
In the construction of the lace hook, shewn in Figures 36, 37, 38, and 39, a
piece of round wire is first cut to the desired length, and its two ends are bent so
as to form two eyes or loops m and n connected by a straight section of wire, said
loops being in the same plane when the blank thus formed is subjected to the
action of dies to reduce the thickness of its two ends, and change the form of the
cross section of the wire which forms the loops m and n, pressing the stock of the
loop m into a concavo-convex form, and the stock of the loop n concave upon one
side and flat upon the other side, while the connecting section remains unchanged,
as shewn in Figures 40 and 41. A tubular rivet h, shewn in Figures 28 and 29, is
placed in the eye of the loop n with its head upon the concave side thereof, and is
secured therein by upsetting the tubular shank of the rivet to throw out a fin j
upon the other side of the loop n, as shewn in Figure 31. The blank is then bent
at the middle of its length into a U shaped form to bring the loop m directly over
the loop n with its concave side toward the latter, and the head of the rivet h
between the two loops, as shewn in Figures 37 and 38, said loops being connected
by the round and curved neck o, located excentrically to the axis of the rivet h
and the centre of the rounded button shaped loop m. These modified lace hooks
may be made of soft iron without annealing, and as a consequence may be pro-
duced at a less cost than if made of brass, and will obviate most of the objections
to the cheaper lace hooks now in use, as follows, that is to say :-
In order to draw the eyelet on the end of the blank in the construction of the
cheaper studs or hooks above referred to a ductile metal has to be used, and as the
necessary annealing cannot be applied to a part of the blank without affecting the
whole, it follows that the neck to receive the string is very soft when the hook is
completed; this fact, taken in connection with the fact that the said neck is quite
thin in the direction in which the strain is exerted, renders the hook very liable to
straighten out when the strain is applied, or the head or outer disc is very liable
to be jammed down upon the under disc by any considerable pressure applied to
its upper surface by reason of the extreme pliability of the soft metal of the neck.
Another objection to the use of brass is that the verdigris generated by the brass
and thrown off, rots or injures the leather, and when the japanning is worn off
the appearance of the brass head is more objectionable than an iron one under
similar conditions.
These objections are all overcome or reduced to a minimum by the use of my
improved lacing hook.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. A lacing book made from a single piece of sheet metal, and having a
tubular shank divided longitudinally into two halves, and connected by a closed
head or cap, substantially as above described.
Second. A lacing hook made from a single piece of sheet metal, and having a
tubular shank, in two semi-cylindrical parts, connected by a closed cap or head,
each of which parts is provided with a longitudinal corrugation, substantially as
herein described.
Third. In a lacing hook made from a single piece of sheet metal, a tubular shank
composed of two semi-cylindrical parts joined together at one end and to the hook-
head by a closed head or cap, and interlocked by means of teeth and notches,
substantially as above specified.
Fourth. In a lacing hook made from a single piece of sheet metal, a tubular
shank divided longitudinally into two semi-cylindrical parts interlocked and
connected together, and to the hook-head, as herein set forth, and provided with
the corrugations, substantially as above described.
Fifth. A lacing hook made from a single piece of sheet metal, and provided with
a tubular shank divided longitudinally into two parts, and connected together at
one end and to the hook head by a partially doubled or reinforced disc or head,
substantially as above described.
Sixth. A shoe lace-hook or stud composed of two discs, one directly above the
other, and connected at one side by a neck made in one piece therewith, and of a
tubular rivet made of a separate piece, and having its headed end closed and located
between said two discs while its shank passes through an eye in the lower disc as a
means for attaching the hook to the article with which it is to be used, substantially
as herein described.
Seventh. A shoe lace stud or hook composed of two discs placed one directly
above the other, and united by an excentrically located neck made oval in transverse
section, or having its edges rounded, all in one piece, and of a tubular rivet made
separately and united to one of said discs to form the shank by which the hook
may be securely attached to the shoe or other article with its head between the
upper and lower discs, substantially as above described.
Eighth. In a shoe-lace stud or hook a tubular rivet attached to the hook-head
by inserting its shank through a hole therein, and upsetting the tubular shank of
said rivet to throw out a bead, lip, or fin beneath said hook-head, substantially as
and for the purposes herein described.
Ninth. A lace hook, the head of which is formed of a single piece of wire
bent and embossed, as herein set forth, and adapted to be secured to a shoe or
other article by means of a tubular rivet, substantially as above described.
Tenth. In a shoe-lace hook, the loops embossed as set forth, and connected by
the excentrically located neck, all made from a single piece of wire, in combination
with the tubular rivet, inserted through and secured in one of the loops as a means
for fastening the hook to the shoe or other article, substantially as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and coal this Ninth day of June in the year of our Lord One
W ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)