Improvements in Lasts and Boot Trees Used in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 11th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 14th Dec., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lasts and Boot Trees Used in the Manufacture of
Boots and Shoes.
JOHN SHARP and JOHN WILLIAM SHARP Engineers Alfred Street Kettering
in the County of Northampton do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention has for its object improvements in and appertaining to lasts
& boot trees used in the manufacture of boots & shoes and relates to John &
John William Sharp's former Patent No. 5764 A.D. 1892.
According to this invention we provide in conjunction with post or hinged clip
shewn on Sheet 1. Fig. 1 in drawings the aforesaid Patent No. 5764 A.D. 1892, a
wedge or middle block of any suitable material to be fitted in recess between heel
part & forepart & instep & held in position by any suitable means.
In the manufacture of lasts & boot trees in wood we make a joint in parts of
suitable form & material for the purpose of connecting heel part & forepart &
instep.
In boot trees we adopt to wedge or middle block a leg-piece.
JOHN SHARP.
JOHN WILLIAM SHARP.
Improvements in Lasts and Boot Trees Used in the Manufacture of
Boots and Shoes.
We, JOHN SHARP, Pattern Maker, of 17, Thorngate Street, and JOHN
WILLIAM SHARP, Engineer, of 46, Wood Street, both in Kettering, in the
County of Northampton, 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 lasts of the kind forming the subject of our former
Letters Patent No. 5764 dated 24th March 1892.
Our present improvements consist chiefly in providing a wedge or middle block
designed to be fitted in the recess which exists between the heel part and fore part
and instep in order to secure the last in position in the boot or shoe, thereby
dispensing with the necessity for the post or hinged clip of our former invention.
The said wedge or middle block is held in position by any suitable means such
as a pin on the heel part of the last adapted to enter a recess in the wedge or
middle block.
To enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe how it can
be carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a last embodying our
improvements and shewn in an inverted position:
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the wedge or middle block detached; and,
Figure 3 is a front view of the same:

page_text: Figure 4 is a similar view to Figure 1 but shewing the last in the reverse position
and without the wedge or middle block :
Figure 5 is a section of part of the last drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrating
a modified arrangement of the pin hereinafter described for holding the wedge or
middle block in position.
a is the heel part, and the fore part and instep of the last, which parts a and b
are jointed together at c as described in the Specification of our said former
Letters Patent.
d is the wedge or middle block which we now provide and which is designed
to be fitted in the recess e, Figure 4, between the parts a and b of the last in
order to secure the latter in position in the boot or shoe.
fis the pin on the heel part a of the last, and g the recess in the wedge or middle
block d for receiving the pin in order to hold the wedge or middle block in position.
The pin is advantageously adapted to slide in a hole a' made in the heel part a,
as shewn, so that it will fall by gravity into the recess g, as shewn in Figure 1,
when the last is inverted to place it on the stand, and out of the said recess, as in
Figure 4, when the last is placed with the sole downwards, the said pin f having a
stud h located in a slot i in the casing j of the hole a¹ in order to prevent the pin
from entirely leaving the hole.
In order to ensure the pin fentering its recess 9 when the last is placed upon
the stand or upright, I find it of advantage as illustrated in Figure 5, to extend
the bole a' and pin finto the socket k which receives the top end of the stand or
upright so that when the last is placed upon the stand the said end will so act
upon the pin as to force it to move down into the recess g.
When applying our improvements in boot trees we fix the wedge or middle
block d to the leg piece of the tree as will be well understood without further
description.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a last or boot tree made in two parts jointed together as shewn, a wedge
or middle block such as d designed to fit between the said two parts in order
to secure the last in the required position in the boot or shoe, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
2. The improvements in lasts and boot trees used in the manufacture of boots and
shoes substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawing.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.