Improvements in Shoe Laces and Apparatus employed therein.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Jan., 1892-Accepted. 27th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Shoe Laces and Apparatus employed therein.
I, FRIEDRICH PETER OSTERMANN of Barmen Rhenish Prussia Germany,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:--
According to the usual manner of fixing the "tags" to the shoe laces, or rather
the little pieces of sheet metal rolled up around the ends of the laces so as to form
a tube or 66
tag" laid around the lace, these tags have a cylindrical form, they
are not pointed like a real tag & therefore the insertion of the same into a
shoe or the leather is not so easily done as is desirable because it takes too much
time.
To overcome this drawback "pointed tags" have been made by winding thin
metal wire spirally round the end of the lace and twisting both ends of the wire
of form a somewhat pointed end. These wire tags however do not answer because
they are so very easily bent and deformed & because they are too expensive.
I have invented a sharply pointed, tubular conical tag nearly of same shape as
the spiral tags-to replace the latter at cheaper prices-the same is fixed to
the end of the lace in like manner as the old cylindrical tubular tag by rolling the
properly shaped sheet metal piece round the lace a sort of teeth or indentations
having before been made into the metal.
This sheet metal however does not form a rectangle as formerly, but is pointed
or triangular wholly or at one side and the dies I use to form the tag are hollowed
out conical so that the metal rolled up therein must also take the conical or
pointed shape as will be seen from the following description and from the annexed
drawing of the apparatus.
Figs. 1-4 show the front and back views of the dies in the various states of
the formation of the tag;
Fig. 5 is a plan of the bottom die ;
Fig. 6 shows the same seen sideways;
Fig. 7 shows the same seen from the face;
Figs. 8, 9 & 10 are the three corresponding views of the upper die ;
Fig. 11 is a section of the apparatus complete ;
Fig. 12 is a plan of Fig 11;
Fig. 13 shows the metal sheet used in various views;
Fig. 14 shows a finished tag as fixed to a lace.
In making and fixing the pointed tags to shoe and other laces I use two dies A
& B similar in shape and arrangement to the dies used with the old method of
making and fixing the cylindrical tags, but differing from the latter in that, that
hollowed out spaces C, in which the formation of the tag takes place, when the two
dies with the lace and the piece of sheet metal between them are pressed together,
do not form two half hollow cylinders but the two halfs of a hollow cone. The
envelopping surface of the cone being of triangular shape it is evident that the
piece of sheet metal D having to form the tag must be of corresponding shape
as shown by Fig. 13, so that when rolled up or round the end of the lace it
naturally takes the shape of a cone or pointed tag.
This piece D is first provided with the indentations E & then it is bent partly
into angle shape as shown and in this form it is placed upon or between the
dies A & B with the lace in it as at Fig. 1.
The dies are then pressed, together to form the first half of the fixture (Fig. 2)
and after they have been opened again the lace, to which the tag is now partly
fixed, is turned round and put upon the dies as shown in Fig. 3, when they are
again firmly & suddenly pressed together to complete the fixing and formation

page_text: of the tag, which of course must be of the shape of the hollow space between
the dies and which is the only one it can take on account of the original shape
of the sheet metal D.
This finished tag as fixed to the end of a shoe lace is shown by Fig. 14; it
answers and corresponds to the requirements put forth at the head of this
Specification and is without the disadvantages of the other tags of shoe laces
known.
It may be added that it is not absolutely necessary that the whole length of
the tag be of conical shape, the greater part of it which encircles the lace-end
may be cylindrical and then of course the piece of sheet metal used, is composed
of a rectangular part ending in triangular form as indicated by dotted lines in
Figs. 13 & 14 and the hollow space of the dies then naturally coincides with the
shape of the tag.
sul 1
с
*1 1001
KARL S. MAYER,
Agent for F. P. Ostermann.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Shoe Laces and Apparatus employed therein.
I, FRIEDRICH PETER OSTERMANN of Barmen Rhenish Prussia, Germany 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
66
-
"
According to the usual manner of fixing the "tags' to the shoe laces, or rather
the little pieces of sheet metal rolled up around the ends of the laces so as to form
a tube or pin ” laid round the lace, these "tags or pins" have a cylindrical form;
they are not pointed like a real pin and therefore the insertion of the same into a
shoe or the leather is not so easily done as is desirable and it takes too much time.
To overcome this drawback "pointed tags" have been made by winding thin
metal wire spirally round the end of the lace and twisting both ends of the wire
to form a somewhat pointed end.
These wire tags however do not answer because they are so very easily bent and
deformed and besides this they are too expensive.
I have invented a sharply pointed, tubular conical tag, the same is fixed to the
end of the lace in a similar manner as the old cylindrical tubular tag by rolling the
properly shaped sheet metal piece round the lace, a sort of teeth or indentations
having before been made into the metal. This sheet metal however does not form
a rectangle as for the cylindrical tags, but is of triangular shape wholly or pointed
at one side.
The dies I use to form the tag are hollowed out conical, so that the metal rolled
up therein must also take the conical or pointed shape, as will be seen from the
following description and from the drawing of the apparatus left with the
Provisional Specification, in which:
Figs. 1-4 show the front and back views of the dies in the various states of the
formation of the tag;
Fig. 5 is a plan of the bottom die ;
Fig. 6 shows the same seen sideways;
Fig. 7 shows the same seen from the face;
Figs. 8, 9 & 10 are the three corresponding views of the upper die ;
Fig. 11 is a section of the apparatus complete.;
Fig. 12 is a plan of Fig. 11;
Fig. 13 shows the metal sheet used in various views ;
Fig. 14 shows a finished tag as fixed to a lace.
In making and fixing the pointed tags to shoe and other laces, I use two dies A
& B similar in shape and arrangement to the dies used with the old method of

page_text: making and fixing the cylindrical tags, but differing from the latter in that, that
the hollowed out spaces C, in which the formation of the tag takes place, when the
two dies, with the lace and the piece of sheet metal between them, are pressed
together, do not form two half hollow cylinders, but the two halves of a hollow
cone. The envelopping surface of the cone being of triangular shape it is evident
that the piece of sheet metal D having to form the pin, must be of corresponding
shape as shown by Fig. 13, so that when rolled up or round the end of the lace it
naturally takes the shape of a cone or pointed tag.
This piece D is first provided with the indentations E and then it is bent partly
into angle shape as shown and in this form it is placed upon or between the dies A
& B with the lace in it as at Fig. 1. The dies are then pressed together to form
the first half of the fixture (Fig. 2) and after they have been opened again, the
lace, to which the pin is now partly fixed, is turned round and put upon the dies as
shown in Fig. 3, when they are again firmly and suddenly pressed together to
complete the fixing and formation of the tag, which of course must be of the shape
of the hollow space between the dies and which is the only one it can take on account
of the original shape of the sheet metal D.
This finished tag and as fixed to the end of a shoe lace is shown by Fig. 14; it
answers and corresponds to the requirements put forth at the head of this Specifica-
tion and is without the disadvantages of the other tags of shoe laces known.
It may be added that it is not absolutely necessary that the whole length of the
tag be of conical shape the greater part of it, which encircles the lace end may be
cylindrical and then, of course, the piece of sheet metal used is composed of a rect-
angular part ending in triangular form as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 13 and
the hollow space of the dies then naturally coincides with the shape of the tag to
be produced.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion I declare that what I claim is:
1). Providing shoe and boot and other laces with tags partly cylindrical and
pointed conically at the end or completely of conical shape made and fixed to the
end of the lace by rolling round the same a piece of sheet metal of the corresponding
shape.
2). The tools required therein consisting of two dies working together in the
same manner as usual, the hollow spaces (C) of the same however forming each
the half of a true hollow cone or of a half cylinder ending in a cone.
Dated this 20th day of January 1892.
FRIEDRICH PETER OSTERMANN,
Per Karl S. Mayer,
Agent.