Improvements in Soles for Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1891-Accepted, 22nd Aug., 1891
CODELELE SI DUIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by EMIL KÄSEMODEL, of Zwickau, in the Kingdom
of Saxony, Boot Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Soles for Boots and Shoes.
I, CARL BOLLE of 57 Barton Arcade, Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
Consulting Engineer 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 :-
In boots and other foot coverings the sole is subject to the greatest amount of
wear and consequently requires the earliest repairs and as a properly made boot
must stand several renewals of the sole before the upper needs repairing, the wear
of the sole is the cause of the greatest expense. This disadvantage is well known
to practical men who have endeavoured to obviate it by covering the underside of
the sole with broad headed nails. Thereby the durability of the sole is considerably
increased, but other defects are produced, such soles possessing only a slight
impermeability against water and the boot or shoe becoming very heavy and not
fit to be worn in better class rooms, as the nails projecting from the sole scratch the
floors and carpets. Consequently such nailed soles are only worn by soldiers and
labourers while the greater part of the population does not use them..
The object of my invention is the production of a sole which possesses greater
durability and is cheaper to make than the ordinary soles while at the same time it
does not allow moisture to pass through and can be worn in any locality. This
is attained by forming the sole out of narrow strips of leather placed on edge and
connected on their faces by means of waterproof cement, instead of affixing the sole
leather in a flat position to the boot in the usual way.
On the sheet of drawings appended hereunto
Fig. 1 shows the improved sole as seen from below.
Figs. 2 and 3 show two longitudinal and
Fig. 4 a cross section.
The leather forming the sole A is cut up into a lot of narrow strips, which are
then placed on their edges close together and connected by means of a waterproof
cement of any kind ordinarily used for cementing leather. The thickness of the
sole leather forms the thickness of each layer (Fig. 1) while the width or breadth
of the strips determines the thickness of the sole formed out of them (Fig. 2).
Hence results an important advantage besides that of increasing the durability
of the sole by wearing the leather edgewise, which consists in rendering the thick-
ness of the sole independent of the thickness of the leather, as by using strips of
greater or less width any desired thickness of sole can be produced.
As the leather for forming the improved sole is cut into strips, it is not necessary
to use a piece large enough for soling a boot in the ordinary manner for these strips,
but they can be cut from the waste or cuttings of sole-leather, as the separate strips
need not extend across the entire width of the sole but may be formed by two
pieces a and a' (Fig. 4) butting against each other.
In order to prevent the different strips from separating by the bending of
the sole during the wearing of a boot provided with the improved sole, (Fig. 3),
preferably wires B (Figs. 1 and 4) are inserted lengthwise through the sole or all
the strips. The latter coated on their faces with the waterproof cement are
strung upon the wires and strongly pressed together, after which the ends of the
wires are bent over or otherwise secured so that after removal of the pressure the
wires keep the strips in a firmly compressed position. This prevents any single
strip becoming separated from the adjoining one and forming a nick into which dirt
or water could enter, however long the sole may be worn.

page_text: Although the sole is thus formed into a firm single piece, its flexibility remains
greater than that of ordinary soles of equal thickness, so that the ease of
walking is increased for the wearer.
When the sole is worn through, it is removed and replaced by a new one, as
patching the sole would not pay on account of its small cost when made from waste
cuttings of sole leather, while its durability is more than double that of ordinary
soles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
Firstly. The manufacture of soles for boots and shoes from strips of leather placed
together standing on their edges and connected on their faces by waterproof cement,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Secondly. A sole for a boot or shoe composed of strips of leather connected to
each other on their faces by waterproof cement, aubstantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the drawings.
Thirdly. In soles composed of strips of leather cemented together on their faces,
the arrangement or use of wires passing lengthwise through the sole substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 13th day of July 1891.

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