CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MARSDEN, of Kingsland Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of
January (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Marsden, my exors, adñors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles
Marsden, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Marsden, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Charles Marsden, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Juvention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Marsden, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by
the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the. Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:
My improvements in boots and shoes have for their object the constructing
them in such manner that they may admit of a free circulation of air through
them, and thereby prevent that over-heating of the feet, which takes place with
boots and shoes of the ordinary kind, especially in walking, to the dis-
great
comfort, and not unfrequently serious injury of the wearer.
Figure 1 is an external elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of a boot fitted with
arrangements for this purpose. In the latter Figure the outer sole is removed
to show more clearly the passages through which the air is made to circulate.
A is the inner sole, B, B, a series of grooves cut out of the lower side of A,
and which, when the outer sole is put on, form so many air pipes or channels.
These grooves may be filled, if deemed necessary, with metallic tubing or
quills. C, C, C, are holes which communicate through the inner sole A with
the interior of the boot. D, D, are other holes, which open into a conical
vertical passage E, formed on the inside of the boot, between the outer covering
or leather and the lining, as represented in Figure 3, where the upper of the
boot is partly removed to shew the position of the passage, and also in separate
explanatory views, Figures 4 and 5. Instead of only one such passage E, there
may be a similar passage on each side, or more if desired. The upper end of
the passage E is open to the external atmosphere, and at the lower end it
terminates in the holes D, D (as before mentioned), which again have com-
munication with the passages B, B, formed in the inner sole by means of a
piece of thin corrugated metal plate F, which is inserted between the outer and
inner sole, previous to their being sewn or otherwise joined together. Figure
G is a plan, and Figure 7 an edge view of one of these pieces of plate; the
furrows a, a, are placed accurately over the holes D, D, so that there may be
a free passage for the upward escape of heated air from beneath the soles of
the feet, and the passage is carried to such a height as to exclude, under all.
ordinary circumstances, the entrance of wet or dirt. G (Figure 8) is a thin

page_text: strip of brass, which is laid along the outer edges of the holes D, D, to prevent
the stitching from closing them up. Figures 9 and 10 are representations of
another bent strip of metal, which encircles the mouth of the passage E.
Instead of the metallic plate F, a piece of strong leather or other stout pliable
substance, with grooves cut out; may be substituted.
Another method of effecting the ventilation of boots and shoes is shewn at
Figure 13 (a side view) and Figure 14 (a plan with the outer solė removed.
A, A, A, are the air holes, B, B, other holes which communicate with a
passage formed between the lining and the upper leather of the boot. These
two sets of holes are connected by thin pieces of corrugated brass plate, repre-
sented in Figures 6, 7, 15, and 16, and sewed in the manner before explained
between the two soles. Figure 17 is a cross section of the boot, taken on the
line a, b, of Figure 14. The passage formed between the lining and upper
leather is carried some distance up the leg of the boot upon the inside by
means of a grooved piece of leather C, shewn separately in Figure 18, which
terminates at top in two holes D, D, which are open to the external atmo-
sphere, and may be at any height. The boot or shoe may be also ventilated
from the top by making a few holes in the vamp or upper, and covering them
over with an open ornamental piece of leather, such as represented in Figure
19, or by using a light under vamp with vent holes in it, and making the
holes communicate with a common aperture of escape in the exterior vamp.
It will be obvious that the same arrangements which have been described for
ventilating the feet of boots may, with slight modifications, be with equal
advantage adapted to the ventilating of shoes and feet coverings of all
descriptions.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the con-
structing boots and shoes with air passages through the same, kept open at
certain parts by the aid of metallic plates, or strong substitutes of leather, as
before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Marsden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
CHARLES (L.S.)
(L.S.) MARSDEN.

page_text: JEFFERSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Charles Marsden came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.