IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1885

page_text: DANIEL WILKINS FESSEY Machinery Salesman 14 Newland Street London S.W.
do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOTS AND
SHOES" to be as follows:-
No boots or shoes are easier to wear or look better when worn than button
boots, and but for the inconvenience of buttons coming off many more would be
worn
During the past few years many good button fastenings made of iron and
brass have been, offered for sale to the public, but they all have the following
objections:-
(1) They disfigure the linings of boots and shoes.
(2) They soil the stockings and very often hurt the feet.
These objections are all removed by my button flys, flaps or tabs and for which
I claim that they, effectually prevent the rucking or creasing of the button quarters
when the boot or shoe is buttoned. The button fastenings may be of iron, wax-
ends, brass or other materials, but they do not come in contact with the linings or
stockings, and therefore cannot stain tear or injure them, nor hurt the feet. If the
buttons tear out from tight buttoning the uppers or tops are not injured.
Having briefly described the objections to button fastenings, now in use, and
explained the advantages of my button flys, flaps, or tabs; I will now describe
them.
They are strips of leather or such materials as boot and shoe uppers or tops are
made of. These strips are cut in the form and shape of the button quarter of the
boot or shoe and may be of any required width from of an inch to 24 inches wide.
I line them with leather or other material to strengthen them.
These button strips, the outside edges of which, I fasten to the outside quarters
of the uppers or tops of boots or shoes, the front edges which pass under the button
hole quarters I leave free or loose, and to these strips I fasten the buttons; so that
the button fastenings go between them and the uppers, and being loose or free in
front, buttons can be shifted changed or replaced easily and without injuring or dis-
figuring the uppers or linings.
The outer or sewing-on edges of these strips, which I have named flys, flaps or
tabs, may be plain or of any required design for any style shape or fashion of button
boots or shoes

page_text: The above description will apply equally to other articles of clothing on which
the button flys, flaps, or tabs are used, viz:-that they are cut to the form and
shape of any article or part of article-and of whatever material desired and in
any style or design.
My second claim is for soft or easy tops for button boots or shoes.
In making uppers or tops it is usual to bind or turn them in. The result is, the
tops are generally hard, stiff, and uncomfortable. I dispense with both these ways
of treating the tops and instead I leave them "raw," neither binding nor turning
them in. So that shoes if they fit the ankle and heels quite close cannot chafe, or
hurt the ankles and feet of those who wear them. These raw tops may be cut or
pierced in various designs to give them any desired "finish."
I have now explained my invention and declare it to be for Button flys, flaps or
tabs for button boots or shoes and other articles of clothing and soft or easy tops
for button shoes.

page_text: 0
I, DANIEL WILKINS FESSEY, of 14 Newland Street, in the County of Middlesex,.
Machinery Salesman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOOTS AND SHOES "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 to boots and shoes designed to be fastened by means of
buttons.
Boots and shoes of this kind afford greater comfort to the wearer and are more
elegant than those fastened or secured by other means; but, by reason of the.
liability of the buttons to become detached, and the inconvenience resulting there-
from, the number of such boots and shoes now in use is much smaller than it would
be if better means than those heretofore generally employed had been used for
fastening or securing the buttons in place.
During the last few years many good button-fasteners made of iron or other
metal have been offered for sale, but they have been found objectionable for the
following reasons, viz:-They disfigure the linings of boots and shoes, and soil the
stockings, and, in many cases, hurt the feet of the wearer.
My improvements are designed to obviate these objections or disadvantages and
to effectually prevent the rucking, or creasing of the button-quarter of a boot or
shoe when buttoned.
In carrying my said invention into practice, I provide a boot or shoe with a flap
or tab which is secured to the upper and to which the buttons are attached by
means of any suitable fasteners. These flaps or tabs consist preferably of strips of
leather or other material such as is employed for, making boot and shoe uppers or
tops. The said strips may be of any desired width. They are cut so that they
correspond in shape with the button-quarters of the boots or shoes to which they
are to be applied. In some cases they are lined with leather or other material to
strengthen them.
The outer or rear edge of the flap or tab is stitched or otherwise secured to the
upper of the boot or shoe; the inner or front edge of the said flap or tab, which,
when the boot or shoe is buttoned, lies beneath the button-hole-quarter thereof, is
left free or loose. The buttons are secured to the said flap or tab in such a manner
that the heads, prongs, discs, knots, or wire ends of the button-fasteners are between
the flap or tab and the upper; therefore, as the said flap or tab is loose or free at
its front edge, the buttons can be easily shifted or replaced without injuring or
disfiguring the upper or lining of the boot or shoe. The outer or rear edges of the
flaps or tabs may be either plain or ornamented to suit any shape or fashion of
boot or shoe.
The buttons are secured to the flap or tab by means of wax-ends, or by fasteners
of iron, brass or other metal, or by other suitable means; but it is obvious that the
fasteners will not come in contact either with the stockings of the wearer or with
the linings of the boot or shoe; they, therefore, cannot stain, tear, or otherwise.
injure the said stockings or linings, nor hurt the feet of the wearer. Moreover if
the buttons should be torn out by reason of the boot or shoe fitting too tightly; the

page_text: uppers will not be injured. It is evident, from the foregoing description; that my
invention obviates the inconveniences heretofore experienced with button boots or
shoes in which the buttons are secured by metal fasteners, and provides for the
satisfactory use of fasteners superior to those heretofore generally employed.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1-is a side elevation showing the button-quarter of a boot-upper with my
improvements applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a section on the line x, x, Figure 1.
a indicates the upper; b is the flap or tab, which is stitched, at its outer or rear
edge b', to the upper a, but is unattached to the upper at its inner or front edge b²,
as clearly shewn in Figure 2. c is a strip of leather stitched to the underside of
the flap or tab b to strengthen the same. d, d are the buttons, which are secured
to the said flap or tab by means of rivets e. These rivets are passed through the
flap or tab b and through the strengthening strip c, so that their heads are between
the said strip and the upper a.
The above described improvements might be advantageously, applied to other
articles of clothing.
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
A boot or shoe wherein a flap or tab is secured to the upper, substantially' as, and
for the purpose, set forth.