TAKING THE TRUE BEARING LINE AND DIMENSION OF THE WIDTH OF THE SOLE of the HUMAN FOOT AND BONY STRUCTURE OF THE SAME BY A NEW, NOVEL, AND ACCURATE WAY
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Nicholls, of 54, Fifty-four, Gayton Road, Hamp-
stead, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, and Manufacturer of
Patent Volta Medicated Cloth, for the Invention of "TAKING THE TRUE BEARING
LINE AND DIMENSION OF THE WIDTH OF THE SOLE of the HUMAN FOOT AND
BONY STRUCTURE OF THE SAME BY A NEW, NOVEL, AND ACCURATE WAY."
13
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Nicholls at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd March 1870.
RICHARD NICHOLLS, of 54, Fifty-four, Gayton Road, Hampstead, in the County of
Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, and Manufacturer of Patent Volta Medicated Cloth.
TAKING THE TRUE BEARING LINE AND DIMENSION OF THE WIDTH OF THE SOLE OF
THE HUMAN FOOT AND BONY STRUCTURE OF THE SAME BY A NEW, NOVEL, AND
ACCURATE WAY,"
Whereas the first part of my Invention is to take a piece of wood, stone, metal,
india-rubber, or any other material as I may think best suited, of the size of
fourteen inches or more long, by eight inches or more wide, and from the half of an
inch to one inch and a half thick, having two equally plain surfaces of fourteen
inches or more in length, by eight or more inches in width.
The second part of my Invention is an ordinary printer's roller composed of
wood, metal, or any other material covered with leather, cloth, india-rubber, or any
other material, and of the length of eight inches, by one and a half or more inches
in diameter, affixed to a handle composed of metal and wood.
The third part of my Invention is printer's ink, which is usually composed of
vegetable black mixed with oil and varnish; this I employ after the following
manner, viz. To spread some ink as before described with a flat knife upon the
surface of the roller as before described, and apply the same to a piece of stone,
wood, metal, india-rubber, or any other material of the size of fourteen inches or
more in length, and eight inches or more in width, and from half an inch to one
inch and a half in depth, rolling the same backwards and forwards upon the surface
of such material, as before described, until sufficient ink is deposited to take a clear
and distinct impression of the sole of the human foot, showing the true bearing line

page_text: and bony structure of the same together with any peculiarities in connection with
such foot.
The fourth part of my Invention is a piece of white cartridge or other paper of
the size of fourteen inches or more in length, by eight inches or more in width;
this piece of paper I place upon my already described and prepared material of
wood, stone, metal, india-rubber, or any other material, whereupon the person
desiring to be measured is requested to place one of their feet upon the paper,
which is now upon the inked surface of such material, and such person is then and
there requested to bring their weight as in the act of ordinary walking upon the
paper before described, whereupon it is found on removing the paper that a clear,
true, and faithful impression of the sole of the human foot is taken, showing the
exact bearing line, the bony structure, and all the peculiarities in connection with
such foot upon the face of the paper next to the inked surface.
Lastly. All the several parts of my Invention fit into a box of wood or metal
for the convenience of transit, and this is the nature and description of my
Invention.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Richard Nicholls in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd October 1876.
RICHARD NICHOLLS, of 54, Gayton Road, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex,
Doctor of Medicine, and Manufacturer of Patent Volta Medicated Cloth. "TAKING
THE TRUE BEARING LINE AND DIMENSION OF THE WIDTH OF THE SOLE OF THE
HUMAN FOOT AND BONY STRUCTURE OF THE SAME BY A NEW, NOVEL, AND ACCURATE
WAY."
Whereas the first part of my Invention is to take a piece of wood, stone, metal,
india-rubber, or any other material as I may think best suited, of the size of fourteen
inches or more long, by eight inches or more wide, and from the half of an inch to
one inch and a half thick, having two equally plain surfaces of 14 inches or more in
length, by eight or more inches in width.
The second part of my Invention is an ordinary printer's roller composed of
wood, metal, or any other material covered with leather, cloth, india-rubber, or any
other material, and of the length of eight inches, by one and a half or more inches
in diameter affixed to a handle composed of metal and wood.
:-
The third part of my Invention is printer's ink, which is usually composed of
vegetable black_mixed with oil and varnish; this I employ after the following
manner, viz. To spread some ink as before described with a flat knife upon the
surface of the roller as before described, and apply the same to a piece of stone,
wood, metal, india-rubber, or any other material of the size of fourteen inches or
more in length, and eight inches or more in width, and from half an inch to one
inch and a half in depth, rolling the same backwards and forwards upon the surface
of such material, as before described, until sufficient ink is deposited to take a clear
and distinct impression of the sole of the human foot, shewing the true bearing line
and bony structure of the same together with any peculiarities in connection with
such foot.
The fourth part of my Invention is a piece of white cartridge or other paper of
the size of 14 inches or more in length, by eight inches or more in width; this
piece of paper I place upon my already described and prepared material of wood,
stone, metal, india-rubber, or any other material, whereupon the person desiring to
be measured is requested to place one of their feet upon the paper, which is now
upon the inked surface of such material, and such person is then and there requested
to bring their weight as in ordinary walking upon the paper before described,
whereupon it is found on removing the paper that a clear, truc, and faithful im-
pression of the sole of the human foot is taken, showing the exact bearing line,

page_text: the bony structure, and all the peculiarities in connection with such foot upon the
face of the paper next to the inked surface.
And I claim the right as in some cases of deformed feet or otherwise it is found
desirable to blacken, colour, or otherwise deposit on the sole of the naked foot, a
substance either by the process of rolling it with the inked roller as before described, or
by rubbing a preparation of carbon or any other colouring matter mixed with varnish,
oil, or any other material, found upon experience to be best suited to obtain a
clear imprint of the sole of the human foot, shewing its true bearing line and bony
structure.
Fig. 1 on the annexed Sheet of Drawings shows an imprint of the human foot
taken by my above described new system.
Fig. 2 shews an outline of the human foot taken by the present system.
The fifth part of my Invention in connection with my Patent in order to ascer-
tain the true bony structure and diameter of the several parts of the bones of the
human foot is a spring callapers, shewn in Fig. 3, made somewhat in the form of
an oval, having two equal sides a and a¹ of the length of five and a half inches,
more or less, and manufactured out of gun metal, brass, iron, or any other material of
the substance of one quarter of an inch, more or less, with an opening between
the points of the two arms a and a', as before described, of four inches, more or
less. At the point of the bottom arm a there is a small opening of the size of ono
quarter of an inch left to receive a small wheel b composed of glass, ivory, wood,
or any other material, and of the size of three-cighths of an inch by one quarter of
an inch, more or less; it works on a small piece of wire c passing through its centre
and rests upon the points of the openings left in the bottom arm of the callapers as
before described.
The uppermost arm, as before described, has a circular hole bored through it at
the extreme point which is opposite to the corresponding point of the lower arm,
the opening of which is one quarter of an inch in diameter, more or less, into
which a tube d composed of brass, iron, steel, or any other material is inserted and
securely and firmly fixed, the length of the said tube d is six inches, more or less,
by one inch and three-cights of an inch in circumference, more or less, having a
small opening e of the extent of four inches in length by the one thirty-second part of
an inch, more or less, in width; the opening is situated four inches from the bottom
and two inches from the top of the tube, as before described, more or less. On the
right-hand side of the four-inch opening, as before described, is marked con-
secutively forty-eight sixteenths of an inch, amounting to three inches in all,
divided on the opposite side by three equal inches and all of them duly engraved
upon the pillar or tube d, as before described; at the bottom of the six-inch tube,
as before described, there is another piece of tubing & four inches long and one incli
and three-sixteenths of an inch in circumference composed of brass, gun metal,
iron, steel, or any other material, attached to the top of which there is a piece of
wire i of the size of six inches in length by one-eighth of an inch in diameter,
more or less, composed of brass, iron, steel, gun metal, or any other material which
passes thro' the centre of the 6-inch tubed, as before described, around which a spiral
wire spring composed of brass, steel, or any other material, acts with sufficient
force when at rest to keep the lower extreme point of the tubing pillar or rod h,
as before described, closely in contact with the small wheel 6 inserted into the
lower arm a, as before described; a similar opening, together with a similar wheel b¹,
as before described, is left at the bottom end of the four-inch tube lastly described,
both these wheels working opposite and against each other at the top of the six-
inch wire, as before described; there is a small cap to prevent the wire spring k,
as before described, from forcing itself away from the wire i; and lastly; a handle m
of the size of four and a half inches long by two and a half inches in circumi-
ference, more or less, is affixed at the back in the centre of the two arms, as before
described. And the above is the nature and description of the spring callapers in
connection with my Patent, and for the better carrying out of the same in order
that full and explicit instructions may be at once given to the workman who is

page_text: employed to make a last exact to the human foot, whereby the following great,
permanent, and substantial advantages are obtained, namely, as follows:-
You cannot produce a corn or retain one.
You cannot wear the heels down on one side.
You cannot unduly determine the weight of the body on any particular part of
the sole.
You cannot become crippled in your feet.
You cannot have a misfit or put your boots out of shape.
Boots made by this Patent will not lose their shape, will wear very much longer,
look much neater, weigh much lighter, whilst affording all the room and support
which the foot requires; in a word, combines case, elegance, and durability.
Lastly, all the several parts of my Invention fit into a box of wood or metal,
for the convenience of transit, and this is the nature and description of my
Invention.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention I declare
that what I claim and desire to be secured by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the new and novel mode or method & apparatus for taking the
true bearing line and dimensions of the width of the sole of the human foot and
bony structure of the same, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
described and shown on Drawing, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Nicholls, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.
RICHARD NICHOLLS. (L.S.)