Improvements in Means for Attaching India Rubber or Flexible or Yielding Material to the Soles of Boots and Shoes or other like Surfaces.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Attaching India Rubber or Flexible or
Yielding Material to the Soles of Boots and Shoes or other like
Surfaces.
I, HENRI MENIER, of 56, Rue de Chateaudun, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The means heretofore employed for attaching rubber studs, calks, strips, and the
like or other elastic or yielding material to the soles or heels of boots and shoes are
all of them attended with serious disadvantages.
When sewing is resorted to the stitches cut the rubber and nails, screws, or rivets
soon grind it away in consequence of the shaking or vibration to which they are
exposed. The loosening of such nails is the consequence of their having to support
almost all the strain produced in walking which drives them inwards whilst the
elasticity of the rubber constantly tends to pull them out.
In all cases the calk or piece of rubber comes off after a time and always before
it is completely worn out.
In order to provide a remedy for these defects and enable elastic or rubber calks
or the like to be employed with advantage I attach the yielding material to the sole
or other surface by the means hereinafter described.
According to my invention the nail, screw, or rivet employed to attach the elastic
material is passed through a washer, collar, bush or sleeve of rigid or relatively
unyielding material inserted or embedded in the thickness of the elastic or yielding
material and extending from one side of it to the other that is to say from the outer
surface to the inner surface so as to take a bearing directly upon the sole or other
surface to which the said yielding material is to be applied. Strips, calks or pieces
of rubber attached to boots or shoes, according to my invention are completely worn
away before the attaching device becomes loose and the rubber is not liable to
injury from the action of the said device.
The accompanying drawing illustrates in section an example of the way in which
the piece of rubber or yielding material is attached to the sole or surface according
to my invention. In this drawing A. represents a portion of a boot sole for example
and B a portion of a piece of rubber or flexible material to be attached thereto.
The part marked a represents the washer which is perforated by a conical hole for
the passage of a nail screw or rivet having a head of corresponding shape. The
washer a may be inserted by any suitable process during or after the manufacture
of the piece of rubber (B).
The rubber or other yielding material B is retained by the washer a by means of
a flange or shoulder e on the said washer or by any other equivalent projection or
arrangement.
Any suitable material may be employed to form the washer a provided that it
presents the required strength or firmness and is of an unyielding nature or relatively
incapable of being compressed. Wood may be employed for example or horn or
metal or undurated rubber which may if required be formed in the yielding or
flexible part of the rubber.
By means of this arrangement the head of the nail, screw or rivet is not exposed
to the blows incidental to walking the strain of which is borne by the wide surface
of the washer a which is flush with the wearing surface and bears directly against
the solid surface of the sole or heel of the boot or shoe. Consequently the nail,
screw or rivet is never shaken, is not called upon to sustain the whole of the strain
and its head wears away equally with the calk or piece of rubber secured by the

page_text: rigid collar a. This collar may be of any suitable shape and its thickness may be
either equal to or greater or less than that of the rubber or yielding material.
These means of attaching yielding material to surfaces are evidently applicable to
attaching strips or sheets of rubber or other elastic or yielding material to any
other like description of surfaces or supports.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what [
claim is :-
1. The improvements in means for attaching india rubber or flexible or yielding
material to the soles of boots and shoes or other like surfaces substantially as
herein before described.
2. The improved means for attaching calks, studs, strips, or sheets of india rubber
or other clastic or yielding material to the soles or heels of boots or shoes or to
other surfaces or bodies the said means consisting essentially in the employment of
a rigid or relatively unyielding support or washer (a) through which a nail, screw,
rivet, or other attaching device is passed substantially in the manner and for the
purpose herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 31st day of January 1891.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, Agents.