IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1872

page_text: °
LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Jolunson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES." A communication from
abroad by Thomas Hutchings Dodge, of the City and County of
Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jolin Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st December 1872.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES," a communication
to me from abroad by Thomas Hutchings Dodge, of the City and
County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to the use of metal pegs or rivets cut from a
wire for securing the soles of boots or shoes, which wire has a fine rib,

page_text: burr, or spiral thread raised upon its outer surface by means of passing
the wire through a die or dies or serrated rolls, and also to the com-
bination with the said wire of a wax or other adhesive coating.
The essential features of the said Invention consist,-
First. In the fastening together of the soles and uppers of boots and
shoes by means of metal pegs or rivets cut from ribbed or burred wire
made of the peculiar form herein-before described, with or without a
waxed or other adhesive coating.
Second. In the combination with the soles and upper of a boot or
shoe, of attaching or fastening metal pegs or rivets cut from ribbed or
burred wire made of the said peculiar form.
Third. In the combination with the peculiarly constructed metal pegs
or rivets of a waxed or other adhesive coating.
Fourth. In the combination with the sole and upper of a boot or
shoe of a fastening metal peg or rivet cut from a wire having a fine
rough burr or rib upon its entire surface, either continuous in spiral form
or with independent parallel ridges or sections of ridges.
Fifth. Of a burred wire as an improved article of manufacture, the
burr of which is formed of a continuous thread or parallel ridges or
sections of parallel ridges for the purposes set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of a
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special
license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time 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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES," a communication to me from abroad
by Thomas Hutchings Dodge, of the City and County of Worcester,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say:-
The said Invention relates to the use of metal pegs or rivets cut from
a wire for securing the soles of boots or shoes, which wire has a fine rib,
burr, or spiral thread raised upon its outer surface by passing the wire
through a suitable die or dies or serrated rolls as herein-after described,
and also in the combination with the said wire of a wax or other
adhesive coating, as and for the purposes herein-after set forth.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a side view of a boot embracing the said
improvements, a portion of the sole being shown in section.
Figure 2 is a side view of a section greatly enlarged of a boot or shoe
sole along the line of nailing, illustrating these improvements as applied
to a boot or shoe having a double sole.
.

page_text: Figure 3 is a side view of a piece of the wire from a coil of which the
metal pegs or rivets are cut off to be used for nailing or attaching the
soles.
Figure 4 represents upon an enlarged scale a piece of wire having
parallel burrs passing entirely around its surface.
And Figure 5 represents upon an enlarged scale a piece of wire having
parallel burrs passing only half way around the wire, the form shewn
in Figures 4 and 5 being modifications of the form shewn in the other
Figures.
A, A', (Figure 2), represents the outer sole; B indicates the inner
sole; C, the edge of the upper leather; and D (Figure 1), the heel of the
shoe. I employ for securing the soles A, A¹, and B to each other, and
to the upper leather C, metal pegs or rivets cut from peculiarly con-
structed wire E, said wire having a fine continuous screw-thread or
raised spiral burr or rib having a very slight pitch upon its outer surface
or parallel burrs, either passing entirely around the wire or only half way
around, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, and the soles are attached by short
pieces of said wire, which are cut off into pegs or rivets of the proper
length, and driven through the soles by any suitable machinery. The
positions of the metal pegs or rivets are indicated at E¹, Figures 1 and 2.
The fine screw-thread burr or rib a is formed upon the wire E, which is
first drawn smooth by passing the latter through a rapidly revolving screw
cutting die or dies, whereby a continuous spiral rib or thread is produced
upon the surface of the wire, while at the same time such rib a upon the
body of the wire is condensed or hardened to such an extent as to add
greatly to the stiffness of the wire in addition to the stiffness resulting
from the rib or thread itself.
In lieu of the continuous screw thread the wire may be covered with
parallel burrs passing entirely round the wire, as shewn in Figure 4, or
only half way around, as shewn in Figure 5. This form of burring the
wire is or may be accomplished by passing, or running the wire through
or between burred steel rolls.
This wire may be put up in suitable coils of a size convenient to use
upon the machines for cutting and driving it into the soles of the boots
or shoes, and it may be coated with wax, gutta percha, asphaltum, or
other similar substance; either before it is wound into coils or as it
passes to the machine for use; but in the former case the wax or other
material should be reheated as the wire is used.
-

page_text: A peg thus made is adapted to be driven and not screwed into the
work. The latter operation owing to the fineness of the burr thread and
the degree of pitch given to it would not be at all economical or
practicable in a manufacturing sense.
The roughness of the burr edge, while it does not cut the leather to
such an extent as to injure it, serves to hold the peg in place, bringing
the leather around the peg to a slightly ragged condition with the fibres
somewhat torn and spread, so that they will engage in and take hold of
the minute teeth of the burr thread of the peg, and the wax or other
adhesive material employed as specified completes the union of the
leather and peg, being peculiarly adapted for use in this connection, and
with a pcg having the above described characteristics. The burr edge of
the wire prevents the wax from being scraped off from the peg when it
is driven into the leather, and enables the peg to carry in with it all
the wax needed to render secure the union of the fibres of the leather
with the burr edge of the peg.
When the pieces of wire E¹ are driven into the leather, the fibres of
the leather press into the depressions between the threads or ribs of the
wire, and thereby render its hold in the leather very firm and secure,
while the wax upon the wire adhering to the fibres of the leather
prevents the wire from rusting and precludes the possibility of any water
working up through the soles of the boot or shoc around the wire, while
at the same time forming an clastic connection between the metal pegs
and leather.
This method of securing the soles possesses many advantages over the
method of securing them with what are known as the "cable screw
wire" or the Townsend method so called, and upon which this method
is an improvement. Among these advantages may be named the
following:-
The cable screw wire requires to be clenched upon the inner side of
the sole in order to give the required hold upon the leather, whereas with
the improved method the wire will have sufficient hold by simply driving
it into the leather without clenching, consequently it can be used in the
construction of boots and shoes having much thinner soles than can
be properly secured by the "cable screw wire," while it is equally
applicable to heavy work.
Another advantage is that the water does not work up through the
soles around the wires, or in the depression of the screw thread or burr,

page_text: as it sometimes does with the cable screw wire," and as the ends of
the pegs or wires do not necessarily require to be clenched they can be
left below the surface of the inner sole, so that they will not rust and
discolor the stockings of the wearer or press into and injure the soles of
his feet. As the pitch of the thread or burr a is very slight, the pegs or
rivets E¹ do not have a tendency to work up through and project from
the inner sole even after the boot or shoe has been worn for a long
time.
The holding capacity of the pegs or rivets made by this method being
much greater, as before described, even without clenching, than that of
the Townsend or cable wire so called, enables a much smaller size of wire
for similar classes of work to be used, and the soles are thus rendered
more pliable or elastic when bent as in walking, thereby producing a
more desirable boot or shoe, while a considerable saving is produced in
the cost of metal or wire for the pegs or rivets.
0
It will be observed that this Invention seems to accomplish what has
been sought after for many years, viz., the proper and secure attachment
of the soles of boots and shoes by such instrumentalities as obviate the
objections to the clenching of metal pogs or rivets as is practiced by the
various methods heretofore in use, while at the same time rendering the
shoe as unobjectionable in walking as sewed shoes, without the objections
to sewed work, the greatest of which are the presence of the waxed
thread on the inside of the inner solc, and the liability of the sole to
separate as soon as the loop or lock of the thread upon the outer sole is
worn off.
In the Drawing the metal pegs are shewn as having been driven into
a furrow, and afterwards the leather turned back over the ends of the
licads or outer ends of the pegs, as is the practice in the other styles of
using metal pegs; but this is not necessary since the wire can be used
sɔ small and driven so accurately that the work will not appear more
objectionable than ordinary wood pegged work. The fine rough burr or
rib may be made in any convenient form and manner.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not claim
broadly the use of screw-threaded wire for fastening the soles to the
uppers of boots and shoes, nor do I claim a metallic pog with a

page_text: smooth or rounded thread upon it, but I am not aware that a metallic
peg expressly adapted to be driven, and provided with a fine continuous
raised spiral burr of very slight pitch, as herein shewn and described, or
other form has ever before been known or used for the purposes herein
specified, and therefore what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The means herein described for fastening together the soles and
uppers of boots and shoes, consisting of metal pegs or rivets cut from
ribbed or burred wire made in the peculiar form shown and described,
with or without a waxed or other adhesive coating, substantially as set
forth.
Second. The combination with the soles and upper of a boot or shoe,
of attaching or fastening metal pegs or rivets cut from ribbed or burred
wire made in the peculiar form shown and described and for the purposes
set forth.
Third. The combination with the peculiarly constructed metal pegs or
rivets of a waxed or other adhesive coating applied substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
Fourth. The combination with the sole and upper of a boot or shoe of
a fastening metal peg or rivet cut from a wire having a fine rough burr
or rib upon its entire surface, either continuous in spiral form or with
independent parallel ridges or sections of ridges.
Fifth. A burred wire as an improved article of manufacture, the burr
of which is formed of a continuous thread or parallel ridges or sections
of parallel ridges for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day
of June One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.