Improvements in the Means for Fastening Boots, Shoes, and other Articles of Wear.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Means for Fastening Boots, Shoes, and other
Articles of Wear.
I, ALVAH SANFORD FRENCH, of Number 305 West 125th Street, New York City,
in the County and State of New York, and United States of America, Inventor, do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS FOR
FASTENING BOOTS, SHOES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF WEAR, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates, generally, to fastening devices for articles of apparel, such
as shoes, boots, leggings, gloves, corsets and the like, but it is more particularly
intended, in its present embodiment, as a fastening device for shoes; and it consists
in the peculiarities of construction and arrangement or combination of parts herein-
after fully disclosed in the description, drawings and claims.
The objects of my invention are, first, to provide improved fastening devices for
drawing, holding together and releasing the flaps adjacent to the instep-openings in
shoes or the edges alongside of openings or spaces in other articles of apparel; second,
to provide the band or strap of my fastening device with improved, interior, closely-
set clasps or clamps, each of which is formed with enlarged recesses or grooves in its
interior and with openings in its side and bottom leading into said grooves, said
openings being smaller than said recesses or grooves and thus preventing the with-
drawal of the strips or ribs by strain upon the flaps; third, to provide clasps or clamps
of the construction just described with a band or strap, which may be formed in one
or more pieces, which covers the exteriors of said clasps or clamps, lines their interiors
and may be held in place by being bent with said clamps, or by other suitable means;
fourth, to provide said band or strap and clamps with two, continuous recesses or
grooves for the reception and retention of the strips or ribs upon the flaps of shoes or
the edges of other articles of apparel; fifth, to provide removable and replaceable
devices for the adjustment of one or more of said strips or ribs into different positions;
and, sixth, to provide the other improvements hereinafter described and claimed.
These objects I accomplish by the fastening devices illustrated in the accompanying
drawings forming part of this specification, in which the same letters of reference
indicate the same or corresponding parts, and in which :—
Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my invention as applied to a shoe;
Figure 2, an enlarged, broken, detail view of my invention, showing the adjustable
strip or rib on the under flap of the shoe-upper and a portion of said flap passing
beneath the enlarged edge of the flap on the opposite side of the instep opening;
Figure 3, a transverse section of the same, the section being taken on the dotted
lines y y of Figures 1 and 2 ;
Figure 4, a detail, transverse section of the band or strap, showing the same covering
and lining one of the clasps or clamps; and,
Figure 5, a corresponding view, showing a slightly modified form of the clasps or
clamps, or as bent at their edges to securely fasten them to the band or strap.
In the drawings A indicates the upper of a shoe, B the instep opening, CC the
strips or ribs, D the band or strap, and E the clasps or clamps.
One of the edges of the shoe flaps is provided with a strip or rib C, which is
enlarged beyond the thickness of the shoe-upper and its lining, either by turning or
hemming or binding the edge, or by fastening a strip of leather or other suitable
material either upon the upper or under surface of said flap by means of the adjust-
able devices hereinafter described. A portion of the other flap of the shoe projects
beneath this flap and its enlarged rib or edge and takes the place of the ordinary
shoe-tongue. A rib or strip of leather or other suitable material is fastened upon the
upper surface of this flap, at any suitable or desired distance from its edge, and thus

page_text: forms the other strip or rib (P. This rib is so attached as to be readily removable and
replaceable, and thus adjustable to suit different sized insteps and to take up any
wrinkling and stretching about the ankle. For this purpose I preferably employ
small staples and clinch them below the upper leather of the shoe, but I may use
small removable and replaceable eyelets. The staples are shown in perspective
view in Figure 2 and in section in Figure 3.
The enlarged edge or rib C and the strip or rib Cupon the flaps both operate as
guides for the flexible and slidable hand or strap D, which is made of leather or other
suitable flexible material and placed to cover the exteriors and extend within and line
the interiors of the series of closely-set clasps or clamps E, which are made of sheet
inetal or other suitable material, which, in connection with said band or strap, form
continuous guide-ways or recesses for said strips or ribs and which serve as supports
or stiffeners for said band or strap. I preferably make this band or strap of a single
pieco of flexible material, but it may be formed of more pieces, one for covering the
outer surfaces of the clasps or clamps and one or more for lining their interior surfaces.
These clasps or clamps are rectangularly-shaped in contour and of substantially T form
in transverse section, there being at the sides of the vertical or central part of each T
enlarged recesses or grooves G and G', having openings J, which are large enough
to admit the part of the flap adjacent to the enlarged edge or rib and the neck of
the strip or rib C on the opposite flap, but too small, relative to the thickness of said
rib and enlarged edge to permit their withdrawal in the direction of the tension or
strain upon the flaps of the shoe.
The construction of the band or strap and the clamps shown in Figure 5 is such
that the metal of the latter is bent to form them into the shape shown, and, at the
same time, to securely fasten them to the former without the employment of additional
holding means.
It will be obvious from the foregoing that my improved fastening devices for shoes
and other articles of apparel are simple, inexpensive to manufacture, strong or
durable, not liable to get out of order and permit of said shoes or other articles to
be quickly fastened and unfastened; that my band or strap is provided with interior,
closely-set clasps or clamps, cach of which is formed with enlarged recesses or
grooves in its interior and with openings in its side and bottom leading into said
grooves, said openings being smaller than said recesses or grooves and thus pre-
venting the withdrawal of the strips or ribs by strain upon the flaps; that the
metallic clasps or clamps are covered exteriorly and lined interiorly by the band or
strap, which may be bold in place by being bent with said clamps, without any
other fastening means whatever, and that, by means of this construction and
arrangement of said band or strap and clamps, they will form two continuous guide
recesses or grooves for the reception and retention of the strips or ribs upon the
shoo flaps.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare what 1
claim is
1. In a fastening device, a clasp or clamp having substantially the form of a T
in transverse section and formed with enlarged recesses or grooves outside of the
central or vertical part of said T and with a side opening and a bottom opening of
smaller area than that of said recesses or grooves, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
2. In a fastening device, a band or strap provided with a series of metallic clasps
or clamps which are formed with an opening in the side and an opening in the
bottom of each and with separate, enlarged recesses or grooves, substantially as and
for the purpose described.
3. In a fastening device, a band or strap provided with a series of metallic clasps
or clamps which are formed with openings and with separate, enlarged recesses or
grooves, said band or strap being constructed and arranged to cover the exterior
and line the interior surfaces of said clasps or clamps, substantially as described.

page_text: 4. In a fastening device, a band or strap provided with metallic clasps or clamps
which are formed with an opening in the side and an opening in the bottom of
each and with separate, enlarged recesses or grooves, in combination with strips or
ribs fitting within said recesses or grooves and secured to the article to which the
fastening is to be applied, substantially as described.
5. In a fastening device for shoes or other articles of apparel having an opening,
flaps and strips or ribs, the combination, with a series of clasps or clamps, of a band
or strap of flexible material arranged to cover, extend within and line said series of
clasps or clamps and form two continuous clamping recesses or grooves for the
reception and retention of said strips or ribs, said fastening device, as thus con-
structed, having two separate recesses or grooves, each of which has an opening large
enough to admit the part which joins the strip or rib to the flap of the article, and
yet too small to permit the withdrawal of said strip or rib in the direction of the
tension or strain, substantially as described.
6. In a fastening device for shoes or other articles of apparel having an opening
and flaps, the combination, with strips or ribs, attached to said flaps upon their
upper surfaces, of a band or strap adapted to close and unclose said opening, one
of said strips or ribs being on the surface of the article at some distance from the
edge of one of said flaps, the latter being passed under the other flap and adapted
to close said opening and, also, to perform the service of the usual tongue, substantially
as described.
7. In a fastening device for shoes or other articles of apparel having an opening
and flaps, the combination, with strips or ribs attached to said flaps, of a band or
strap adapted to close and unclose said opening and provided with a series of
clasps or clamps, which are bent and clamped to said band or strap, substantially as
described.
8. In a fastening device for shoes or other articles of apparel, having an opening
and flaps, the combination of one or more adjustable strips or ribs and devices for
securing the same to said flaps, substantially as and for the purpose described.
Dated this 14th day of February 1800
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.