AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF SOLES FOR BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wiggins Coburn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1865.
1. JOHN WIGGINS COBURN, of the City and County of New Haven, State of
Connecticut. United States of America, Worker in India-rubber, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF SOLES FOR BOOTS AND SHOES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of waterproof
soles for boots and shoes, whereby the waterproof sole may be secured to the
boot or shoe in the usual manner of securing leather soles, and consists in
forming the sole of india-rubber or similar waterproof compound, with an
edge of leather around it. In describing my Invention I use the word boot
as including every description of boots or shoes.
I first construct a mould of the form and size required for the sole, whether
it be for whole sole, half sole, or heel. I then take a narrow strip of sole
leather, place it in the mould around the edge, coating the inner edge of the
said leather strip with the proper cement for uniting the rubber to the leather.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: The cement use is the common rubber cement, composed of sixteen parts
litharge. thirty-two parts india-rubber. one part sulphur, ground together and
dissolved in camphine or benzine. one gallon to twelve pounds of the com-
pound. then fill the space within the said leather strip with india-rubber,
clear, fabricated, or any of its compounds or equivalents therefor; then cure the
said rubber in the usual manner, which completes the sole. I cure my sole in
similar manner as for curing common india-rubber, that is, while in the mould
place them in an oven heated to about two hundred and sixty degrees
Fahrenheit for from six to eight hours. To attach the sole thus prepared to
boots, place the sole upon the boot in the usual manner for leather soles, the
leather rim around the sole forming the edge, which may be stitched or
pegged and finished in the usual manner.
India-rubber soles have long been used and applied to boots, but without
the leather edge, depending wholly for their security upon the gum placed
between the sole of the boot and the rubber sole. Thus applied the soles fre-
quently, and we might say generally, crack or peel from the sole, a great
objection, which my Invention entirely overcomes.
If in applying my improved sole it shall be deemed expedient to introduce
gum between the rubber part of the sole and the sole of the boot it may be
done in the usual manner, but it is not essential.
The rubber may be made and I prefer to make it a little thicker than its
leather rim. The outer surface of the rubber part of the sole may be corru-
gated, roughened. or otherwise prepared to prevent slipping.
The upper
surface of the sole, or between the waterproof sole and the insole, may be
covered with a thin sheet of fabricated, or with a thin coat of india-rubber,
so as to cover the leather edge and render that portion of the sole also
waterproof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wiggins Coburn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd March 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
WIGGINS COBURN. of the City and County of New Haven, State of Connecticut,
United States of America. Worker in India-rubber, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of

page_text: Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto
me, the said John Wiggins Coburn. Her special licence that I. the said John
Wiggins Coburn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Wiggins Coburn, my executors, administrators, and 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF SOLES FOR BOOTS AND
SHоxs," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said John Wiggins
Coburn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Wiggins Coburn. do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of waterproof
soles for boots and shoes, whereby the waterproof sole may be secured to the
boot or shoe in the usual manner of securing leather soles, and consists in
forming the sole of india-rubber or similar waterproof compound, with an edge
of leather around it.
To enable others to make and apply my improvement, I will proceed to
fully describe my manner of so doing. In describing my invention use the
word boot as including any description of boots or shoes.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews a view of a whole sole and
heel; Fig. 2 a half sole: Fig. 3 a section of the same, and Fig. 4 a section of
a half sole, the rubber thicker than its edging.
I first construct a mould of the form and size required for the sole, whether
it be for whole sole Fig. 1, half sole Fig. 2, or heel Fig. 1. I then take a
narrow strip of sole leather, place it in the mould around the edge, coating
the inner edge of the said leather strip with the proper cement for uniting the
rubber to the leather. The cement I use is the common rubber cement com⭑
posed of sixteen parts litharge, thirty-two parts india-rubber, one part sulphur,
ground together and dissolved in camphine or benzine, one gallon to twelve
pounds of the compound. I then fill the space within the said leather strip

page_text: with india-rubber, clear, fabricated, or any of its compounds or equivalents
therefor; then cure the said rubber, &c., in the usual manner, which com-
plates the sole. I cure the sole in similar manner as for curing common
india-rubber, that is, while in the mould place them in an oven heated to
about two hundred and sixty degrees Fht. for from six to eight hours. То
attach the sole thus prepared to boots, 1 place the sole upon the boot in the
usual manner for leather soles, the leather rim around the sole forming the
edge, which may be stitched or pegged and finished in the usual manner.
India-rubber soles have long been used and applied to boots, but without
the leather edge, depending wholly for their security upon the gum placed
between the sole of the boot and the rubber sole. Thus applied the soles
frequently, and we might say generally, crack or peel from the sole, a great
objection, which my Invention entirely overcomes.
If in applying my improved sole it shall be deemed expedient to introduce
gum between the rubber part of the sole and the sole part of the boot, il
may be done in the usual manner, but it is not essential.
The rubber may be made and I prefer to make it a little thicker than its
leather rim, as seen in Fig. 4. The outer surface of the rubber part of the
sole may be corrugated, roughened, or otherwise prepared to prevent slipping.
The upper surface of the sole, or between the waterproof sole and the insole,
may be covered with a thin sheet of fabricated, or with, a thin coat of india-
rubber, so as to cover the leather edge, and render that portion of the sole
also waterproof.
Having now fully described my Invention, what I claim as new and useful
and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the herein-described sole for boots
and shoes as a new article of manufacture.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wiggins Coburn, have hereunto se
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN WIGGINS COBURN. (L.S.)