AN IMPROVEMENT TO SHOE BUCKLES
Year: 1789

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ELIN, of Pimlico, in the Parish of Saint George Hanover Square, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of August now last past, did give and
grant to me, the said John Elin, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Elin, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein expressed, make,
use, exercise, and vend, throughout that part of Great Britain called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT TO SHOE BUCKLES;" in which said recited Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Elin, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, and the Statute in that behalf
made, relation being thereunto respectively had, may more at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, and in pur-
suance of the said Statute, I, the said John Elin, do hereby declare that the
following is a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed (that is to say):-

page_text: The improvement consists of a thin bar of steel, iron, or any other metal,
fixed across the ring of the buckle under that side opposite to where the
tongue of the chape points, and parallel with the wire of the chape, having
upon it one or more small points, whose direction is from the center of the
buckle, as appears by the Drawing annext. The bar is fixed at such a
distance under the ring as to admit the thickness of a shoe strap between.
When the shoe is buckled tight enough, the end of the strap which is held by
the tongue is drawn through on the opposite side between the ring and the
bar. It then requires to be tucked under the bar and forced upon the points.
The pressure of the buckle upon the foot effectually prevents the strap from
flying out. The manner of fixing the bar to the ring of the buckle is either
by continuing the bridges of the buckle of sufficient depth from the center to
the side, or by forming
by forming distinct bridges under the ring where the bar should
be fixed, so as to admit of letting in the ends of the bar into the bridges, or
otherwise by shouldering the bar at each end and soldering it to the ring of
the buckle, or in any other manner so as to secure the ends of the bar, and
leave a space between the bar and the ring sufficient to admit the thickness of
a shoe strap. The whole breadth of the bar should not be immediately under
the side of the ring, but the greatest part of it should be nearer to the centre
of the buckle in order to facilitate the straps being easily slid over it.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
third day of September, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, thạt on the Twenty-third day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1789, the aforesaid John Elin came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.