Improvements in Eyelets.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 15th June, 1897- Accepted, 31st July, 1897
[Communicated from abroad by FRANK FANCHER HAWKINS, of 61 Fourth Street,
Troy, New York, United States of America, Dentist.]
Improvements in Eyelets.
I. HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex 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 :-
This invention relates to eyelets and is illustrated in the accompanying drawing
in which
Fig. 1 of the drawings is a view in central longitudinal section of my improved
eyelet.
Fig. 2 is a similar view of the eyelet inserted and secured in a lacing aperture in
a piece of leather.
Fig. 3 is a similar view of the molded hard-rubber head before the annular groove
has been formed in its under face.
Fig. 4 is a similar view of the head inclosed in a die under compression.
The objects of my invention are to provide a two-part eyelet composed of differing
materials, mechanically united to form a single device; to coat the metal part of a
two-part eyelet, which would be in sight when in use, with some inaterial corre-
sponding in color with the object to which the eyelet is to be attached, and so cover
the coated metal part by the non-metallic part as to prevent the coating from being
worn off by contact with external objects; and at the same. time to strengthen the
nonmetallic part and facilitate the operation of attaching the eyelet.
B-is the tubular metallic part which is similar in general construction to the
well known tubular inetallic paper-attaching eyelet.
The end-flange Bis provided with a thin colored coating of varnish, Japan, or
other hard adhesive substance which will conceal the metal.
The color of the coating is preferably made to correspond with the color of the
supporting material to which the device is to-be attached..
i
A-is the nonmetallic ring or head, preferably made of hard rubber, celluloid, or
some substance which can be colored to correspond with the colored portion or
coating of the metallic part.
The ring has a bottom seat A2 surrounding and bordering the central ring-
aperture, which seat is adapted to be engaged by the supporting material when the
device is attached.
The ring is also provided with an interior annular seat A'-bordering the ring-
aperture and overlying the bottom seat.
The two parts are put together by inserting the metallic part in the ring and
projecting it therethrough until the flanged end B₁ is seated upon the interior
annular seat A'-within and below the upper outer surface of the ring.
The clinching end B-projects down below the bottom seat of the ring a sufficient
distance to pass through the supporting material and be clinched on its under side
by a tool in the usual manner, and as shown in Fig. 2.

page_text: By tapering the metallic part from the flanged end toward the clinching end, as
shown in Fig. 1, I am able to insert the metal part within the nonmetallic part as
above described by the use of machinery especially designed for the purpose.
The smaller end of the metallic part is adapted to easily enter the ring-aperture,
while the larger end fits such aperture so tightly that when the flanged end of the
inetallic part is forced to its seat within the ring, the metallic part is tightly wedged
within the ring and cannot be easily removed therefrom, thereby affording, as an
improved article of manufacture, a two-part eyelet composed of differing materials
mechanically united to form a single device.
The single device so formed, with the metallic and nonmetallic parts mechanically
united, and with the ready-formed flange of the metallic part near the outer surface
of the nonmetallic part, can be easily and quickly attached to a shoe or other article
by means of a setting tool very similar or like the tool used in setting the ordinary
all-metal eyelets and in substantially the same manner.
As the tool can be made to bear directly upon the flange of the metal part, with
little or no pressure upon the nonmetallic part, the danger of breaking or defacing
the latter part while setting or clinching the device upon the supporting material is
reduced to a minimum.
By so locating the seats of the nonmetallic ring that the bottom seat rests directly
upon the supporting material, and the annular seat which is engaged by the flange
on the metal part overlies the bottom seat, the tension between the two parts due to
clinching is taken up by the material itself which underlies the bottom seat, thereby
minimizing the danger of fracturing the annular seat.
The head or ring B-is made preferably of hard rubber vulcanized in a mold to
the general form desired.
As a preferred method of construction, after the rubber head has been thus molded
and vulcanized, in the form shown in Fig. 3, I submit it to the action of a die C-
under great pressure.
The upper member of the die conforms to the shape imparted to the upper surface
of the head in the mold; while the lower member is provided with an annular rib or
flange C adapted to engage the under surface of the head and form therein the
concavity or annular seat or groove A²-by compression while the head is confined
by the die-walls.
By thus concaving the under side of the head by compression while retaining the
molded form of the upper side, I decrease the volume of the head, thereby making
it inore dense and increasing its strength.
An eyelet having a head thus formed is better adapted to withstand the strain of
the clinching operation incidental to its application to a shoe or other article.
It also affords a neater appearance when clinched or set upon the article to which
it is attached, due to the fact that in the clinching operation, the tool employed
forces the clinched end of the metallic shank tightly against the supporting material,
which material is driven upward against the seating surface of the eyelet-head, and
into the groove formed therein.
The upward movement of such portions of the supporting material as enter said
groove, permits the clinched end of the eyelet to be forced inside of the normal
plane of the inner surface of the shoe or other article, instead of forming a
conspicuous projection therefrom as does the common eyelet in use.
By extending the concavity in the seating surface to the periphery of the head, I
am able to form thereon a sharp edge C2 - which is embedded in the supporting
material when the eyelet is secured thereon, thereby insuring a close union between
the supporting material and the periphery of the eyelet, which adds to the attractive
appearance of the finished article to which the eyelets are applied.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
1. In an eyelet and in combination, a nonmetallic ring having an interior flange.

page_text: and a tapered metallic clinching tube projected through the ring-aperture and having
its tapered portion wedged therein and provided at its larger end with an exterior
coated flange in engagement with the interior ring-flange below the surface of the
ring, substantially as described.
2. A clinching-eyelet having an annular non-metallic head die-formed by compression
to a convexo-concave form in cross-section, whereby such head is provided with a
bottom-face groove extending to a sharp peripheral edge, which edge is formed by
the intersection of the upper convex and under concave surfaces of the head,
substantially as described.
HASELTINE, LAKE & CO.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.