A NEW OR IMPROVED SPRING SHANK APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M°Neal, both of
Holloway, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW
OR IMPROVED SPRING SHANK APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND IN THE
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alvin Wales Moore
and Elias M'Neal at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th March 1867.
We, ALVIN WALES MOORE and ELIAS M°NEAL, both of Holloway, in the
County of Middlesex; do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED SPRING SHANK APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES AND IN THE
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of a new or improved spring
shank applicable to the waist or bridge of boots and shoes for the purpose of
preserving the shape of the arch and preventing the unequal tread of the
boot, besides giving ease and facility for walking, caused by the reaction of
the spring when lifting the foot from the ground.

page_text: The Invention also applies to the machinery or apparatus to be employed
in the construction of the shank. We propose to form the shank of iron,
steel, brass, zinc, or other suitable metal or alloy of metal, in the form of a
flat elongated plate or blade of a suitable length and strength according to
the size and substance of the boot and shoe, the sides of the plate may be
slightly curved inwards, each end being wider than the intermediate portion.
The method of constructing these plates is as follows:-We take a metal
mould or matrix having the form or outline of the plate recessed on its surface.
The matrix is held after the usual manner of such moulds in stamping or
embossing machines, and a corresponding die, cutter, or stamp is then caused
to descend upon a sheet of metal from which the plate is to be cut, whereby
the shank plate is produced, it is then placed under a punching machine;
whereby two or other number of holes are punched at one end of the plate,
which is then bent in a shaping machine consisting of blocks curved to the
proper degree into spaces in which the blank or shank plate is introduced and
bent to form an arch as required, the shank is then hardened or tempered;
it is then applied to the waist of the boot by inserting the end where the
punched holes are formed between the leather heel pieces, where it is secured
by nails or screws passing through the holes; the other part of the shank
extends along the waist, and is left free to play or elongate by the flattening
of the arch at every step (if such occurs), but always recovers its form on the
release of the pressure, bringing back the waist of the boot to its proper
position. Metal arches have before been used to boots and shoes, but they
have been for preventing and descent of the arch of the boot; they have been
set in the boot incapable of elongation or play, and have constituted rigid
arches, contrary to this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M'Neal in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALVIN
WALES MOORE and ELIAS MCNEAL, both of Holloway, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the

page_text: said Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M'Neal, Her special licence that we,
the said Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M'Neal, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Alvin Wales Moore and
Elias M Neal, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
timo 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,
tho Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED SPRING SHANK APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M'Neal, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 we, the said Alvin Wales Moore and Elins
MoNeal, do hereby declare the nature of our said 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 the construction of a new or improved spring
shank applicable to the waist or bridge of boots and shoes for the purpose of
preserving the shape of the arch and preventing the unequal tread of the boot,
besides giving ease and facility for walking, caused by the reaction of the spring
when lifting the foot from the ground.
The Invention also applies to the machinery or apparatus to be employed in
the construction of the shank. We form the shank of iron, steel, brass, zinc,
or other suitable metal or alloy of metal in the form of a flat elongated plate
or blade of a suitable length and strength according to the size and substance
of the boot or shoe; the sides or end of the plate may be slightly curved
inwards, each end being wider than the intermediate portion.
The method of constructing these plates is as follows:-We take a metal
mould or matrix having the form or outline of the plate recessed on its surface.
The matrix is held after the usual manner of such moulds in stamping or
embossing machines, and a corresponding die, cutter, or stamp is then caused
to descend upon a sheet of metal from which the plate is to be cut, whereby
the shank plate is produced; it is then placed under a punching machine,
whereby two or other number of holes are punched at one end of the plate,

page_text: or the holes may be punched as hereafter described; the plate is then bent
in a shaping machine, consisting of blocks curved to the proper degree, into
which the blank or shank plate is introduced and bent to form an arch as
required; the shank is then finished in another stamper and afterwards
hardened and tempered; it is then applied to the waist of the boot by
inserting the end where the punched holes are formed between the leather
heel pieces, where it is secured by nails or screws passing through the holes.
The other part of the shank extends along the waist and is left free to play
or elongate by the flattening of the arch at every step (if such flattening
occurs), but always recovers its form on the release of the pressure bringing
back the waist of the boot to its proper position. Metal arches have before
been used in boots and shoes, but they have been for preventing any descent
of the arch of the boot; they have been set in the boot incapable of elongation
or play, and have constituted rigid arches, contrary to this Invention.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings represents a full-sized elevation of the
stamp or die and matrix for stamping or cutting out the shanks from a plate
of metal.
a is the stamp, and 6 the matrix; c is the orifice or division of the matrix
through which the metal plate is passed to receive the successive cuts from the
die, and d is a guide block over which each last space cut rests in order that
the next cut may be made as near thereto as possible so as to avoid waste of
metal; this guide is of course on the further side of the matrix. e is one of
two wires which punch the holes in the plate before it passes under the die, so
that each descent of the die block punches out a shank previously pierced,
and pierces at the same time that portion of the plate which will by the
next stroke of the punch be converted into a shank plate. The matrix is
secured to the bed of a screw fly press, and the die or cutter is secured to the
descending fly by the screw stem e.
Fig. 2 is an under plan view of the matrix b and die a; the dotted lines
at d shew the situation of the guide. The curve is produced in excess of
that required because the shank will partially recover its form and return to
the curve shewn at Fig. 5, or thereabouts.
Fig. 4 is a top plan of matrix for finishing the spring and producing a
slightly turned-up edge at one end. f is the matrix; g, the outline of the bed
for the shank to be place thereon; it is secured by the jaws i, i, cut in the
bars j, j, screwed to the matrix. The bed is slightly bevelled or sunk at the
parts h, h, h, so as to form a curved or turned edge to the shank, and Fig. 6
shews the finishing die K which is caused to descend on the plate by a screw
fly motion afforded by an ordinary screw press.

page_text: Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we would remark that we do not limit
ourselves to any precise form of shank, or to any size, as the same may
obviously be varied in many ways according to the purposes required,
neither do we limit ourselves to the precise form or arrangement of stampers
and matrices; but we claim as our Invention the manufacture of spring metal
shanks applicable to boots and shoes, as described, and the machinery for
stamping out and punching such shanks, also for bending and finishing the
same, substantially as berein specified and illustrated by the Drawings here-
unto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alvin Wales Moore and Elias M*Neal,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
soven.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
A. W. MOORE.
ELIAS MCNEAL.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)
°