IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Redfern, of Shelton, in the County of
Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES."
Sealed the 24th June 1856, and dated the 29th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert Redfern at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
December 1855.
j
I, HERBERT REDFERN, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SKATES" to be as follows:-
I propose to dispense with the use of a great portion of the material now
used in making skates, as straps, buckles, and other, and to use instead a spring
or springs with the following action:-The heel of the boot is secured by a cap
and spike or spring. A steel spring runs above the skate iron, being secured
at the heel to the said iron, from whence it rises to suit the hollow of the boot,
until it arrives at the portion where the ball of the foot would press, where it
is again secured, slots being so made therein as to allow free play to the spring,
and short spikes being placed to prevent the sole of the boot sliding. The
spring passing on, terminates in a regulating slide secured to spring by rivets,
such rivets moving in slot holes by means of a screw, permitting the slide to be
be

page_text: regulated to any size of boot. The end of this slide turns up, and on being
pressed down by the toe, allows the foot to come down to the spring and the
boot is completed secured to the skate..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Herbert Redfern in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th June 1856:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HERBERT
REDFERN, of Shelton, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Herbert Redfern, Her. especial license that I, the said Herbert Redfern,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Herbert
Redfern, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SKATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Herbert
Redfern, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Herbert Redfern, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, on which
Figures or Diagrams illustrating the said Invention are designed, and similar
letters of reference are placed upon and denote similar parts in each of the
Figures respectively :-
Having considered the peculiar construction of the skate in ordinary use;
it appeared to me that much of the apparatus connected therewith might be
advantageously abandoned in the manufacture thereof; the result of my experi-

page_text: ments is the skate herein-after described, in which it will be observed that no
wood, straps, or buckles are required in the make or in the fastening thereof.
But I would observe, that as many persons may be too timid to at once use my
skate as I intend it to be used, I have made provision for the use of straps.
Figure 1 of the Drawing gives a side view of a skate according to my Invention,
and Figure 2 a top plan view of the same.
It will be seen that on the skate iron a two blocks b, 6', (made of brass
or other suitable metal,) are screwed (or they may be otherwise firmly
secured). On or above these blocks is placed a steel spring c, c, c, curved,
or formed in manner most convenient to the shape of the boot or shoe worn
by the skater. This spring passes (as shewn, Figure 2,). along from the
heel to and beyond the toe portion of the skate; near the fore end of this
spring c may be seen another but shorter spring d, which latter is placed
upon the under spring c; this upper spring & moves backward and forward,
so as to allow of adjustment to the sole of the boot or shoe, and for this
purpose ȧ slot is cut therein to allow for the rivet head of one of the nuts.
The upper spring is secured in position by a screw a working in a stud f and
nut f', (this may be termed an adjusting screw). A rivet is fixed in the upper
spring d through a slot made for that purpose in the lower spring c; the head
of the rivet is so fixed under the lower spring as to allow it to move in the slot.
The brass block 6 is furnished with two small spikes 9, 9, which pass through
slots in the lower spring, to allow the spring to expand when necessary. Before
placing the skate on the foot, a small hole should be made in the centre of the
outer part of the heel of the boot or shoe to receive (as for a spur) a spike h
(made in the heel cap formed by the brass block 6'), which being inserted into
said hole, the foot is pressed down on the springs, before described, the latter.
of which d is formed with a semi-curled lip or tipi; the toe part of the boot
or shoe depresses the spring d, the lip of which i is forced past the toe of the
boot, which is caught thereby, and firmly secured in position. Thus the skate
is fixed or fitted on the foot, receiving further assistance from the short spikes
9, 9, which insinuate their points into the sole of the boot or shoe. Should
the skater desire to use straps, they may be run through the slots provided
(and shewn) in the brass blocks b, b', and be buckled over the foot; but this
addition will be found unnecessary by the experienced skater.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
it is carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself
to any particular size of skate nor to the exact proportions of the springs or
other parts to each other, as shewn, as such may be modified to suit particular

page_text: requirements, nor do I claim any. of the parts taken seperately as parts, and
.not in combination for the purposes herein-before mentioned; but I claim,
the exclusive use of the combination of parts herein-before described and
shewn, forming when so combined an improved skate for skating.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert Redfern, have hereunto affixed
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
HERBERT REDFERN. (L.s.)
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE, Patent Agent,
4, Wellington Street South, Strand,
London.