CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON HEELS AND TIPS FOR BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT:
PORTER, of Carlisle, in the County of Cumberland, Iron Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of June, in the tenth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, .His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Porter, His special licence that I, the said Robert Porter, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Porter,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of a "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON HEELS AND TIPS FOR
BOOTS AND SHOES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Robert. Porter, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly, to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-.
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the..
same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited;
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Porter, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say)::--
My said Improvement or Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron Heels
and Tips for Boots and Shoes applies to those heels and tips which are formed
by the action of grooved or channelled iron, steel iron, steeled or cast-iron
rollers or cylinders, and which are usually made of an equal thickness through-
out their whole length. Now I form them in such a manner as to cause them
to be thickened in those parts which are the most exposed to wear in use, and
to be thinned in those parts which are less exposed to the action of wearing,
and thus to employ the iron to the greatest advantage, and without unneces-
sarily adding to the weight of the heels and tips.
Another of my said improvements consists in indenting or imprinting the
rolled iron with depressions or marks indicating the places where holes are
afterwards to be made through the heels and tips to receive the nails or screws
by which they are to be affixed upon the soles of the boots or shoes, and
which said indentations I form by the action of the rollers or cylinders at the
time of rolling them, by means of solid and projecting parts affixed in the said
grooved or channelled rollers or cylinders, and which may in some cases
entirely perforate the said heels and tips.
As, however, it may be desirable to afford some examples of methods of
carrying my said improvements into effect, I shall proceed to do so by referring
to the various Figures which are contained in the Drawing, which, as afore
said, is annexed to this Specification, and in which Figure 1 is an under view
of an iron heel, and Figure 2 an edge or side view of it, formed in the usual
manner, of an equal thickness throughout its whole length, the holes only s
'being wholly or partly formed in it in my improved mode. I give this example
in order the more readily to explain my improvements upon its form.
Figure 3 is an under view, and Figure 4 an edge or side view, of a similar
"heel, but with its ends thinned in the manner already mentioned, instead of
being, as usual, made of an equal thickness throughout its entire length.
; Figure 5 is an edge or side view of a similar heel, but with its sides bevilled
or sloped, instead of being made square, and its ends also tapered away or
'thinned, and the holes in it are shewn by dotted lines as being marked or
'indented in the rolling, ready to be afterwards completely pierced through it,
and as shewn in Figure 6 by the dotted lines across it, or they may be at once
perforated entirely through.
Figure 7 is an internal view and section of this heel, taken at the dotted
lines A, A, in Figure 3; and Figure 8 represents it as being straight, or
before bending or curving it.

page_text: Figure 9, an end view of it.
Figure 10 is a longitudinal section of it, wherein its tapering form, from the
middle towards each end of it, is distinctly shewn.
Figure 11 is a cross section of part of a roller or cylinder, taken through the
centre of a groove, wherein the dotted circular line B, B, shews part of a
groove or channel formed around the roller or cylinder, by turning it in the
usual manner, and C shews it as being deepened in the centre, and gradually
sloped on both sides in the turned groove or channel, in order to encrease the
thickness of the middle of the heel, in the manner shewn, and above described.
D, D, D, D, are iron or steel pins secured into the roller or cylinder by screw-
ing or driving them into holes formed in the roller or cylinder to receive them,
and against the bottoms of the said holes the ends of the pins are lodged in
order to secure them firmly therein. The outer ends of these pins are shaped
or formed in such a manner as to cause them to indent or imprint the iron in
its passages through them, for the before-mentioned purpose of marking the
situations of the holes in the heels and tips, as well as to facilitate the piercing:
of them through the heels and tips afterwards. In like manner I also roll the
iron for making the plain tips for the toe parts of boots and shoes, a different
shape or curvature being given to them according to the fashon or form of the
boot or shoe they are to be applied to. In like manner I also thicken the
middle parts, and taper or thin the external parts or ends of the grooved or
channelled iron heels and tips for boots and shoes, such, for instance, as that.
shewn in an under view in Figure 12, edgeways in Figure 18, and as straight,'
or before bending it, in Figure 14, and an end view of which is shewn in
Figure 15, namely, by deepening the channels in the cylinders or rollers, after
a similar manner to that already described in rolling the plain heels and tips.
In case of forming those descriptions of iron heels and tips for boots and shoes
which have a solid, flat, or plain part in the middle of them, whilst their sides
are grooved or channelled, such, for instance, as the iron tip shewn in'
Figure 16 in an under view thereof, and in Figure 17, which is an edge view
and section of it, Figure 18 being a top view of the iron shewn in its rolled
state, and Figure 19 a section through the middle thereof. In this case I
turn a plain channel or groove around the iron roller or cylinder, and after-
wards deepen or sink the channels which are to form the sides of the channels
in the heels or tips in a lathe, or by hand, assisted by chisels, files, or other
proper tools.
Figure 20 is a cross section of part of a roller or cylinder, taken, as in the
former example shewn in Figure 11, through the centre of a groove; but here
there is no circular dotted line.shewn, but only one which serves to mark or

page_text: indicate the deepening of the grooves, effected in the manner just described
at D, D, D, D. In this Figure are shewn the steel or iron pins screwed or
driven into the iron roller or cylinder, for a similar purpose as those shewn
in Figure 11.
Figure 21 is a front view of parts of two iron rollers or cylinders, the lower
one baving a groove or channel formed around it in the manner above
described, with steel or iron pins screwed or driven into it, and the upper
one being a plain iron cylinder placed in. close contact with the under one,.
leaving a passage between them, through which the iron in its heated state is
to be passed, in order to receive the effect of the rollers or cylinders upon it.
Several successive grooves may thus be formed along or around the roller or
cylinder, according to its length. and diameter, and the grooved cylinder may.
be placed above as well as underneath the plain one, as here shewn, if it be
preferred, or both rollers or cylinders may be grooved, thought necessary.
And in case of having to turn up the front of a tip, as shewn in Figure 22,
and edgeways in Figure 23, as well as by a dotted line in the under view,
Figure 24, I cause an aperture or cavity to be made in one of the rolls, into
which the iron will be received in the act of rolling it. Instead of forming a
grove.or channel on each side of an iron heel or tip, as in the examples already
referred to, I can, if preferred, form it on one side only, as shewn in Figure 25,
and the iron for forming which as rolled is shown before bending it in
Figure 26, and in section in Figure 27; the groove in the iron roller or,
cylinder being of course prepared conformably. So also I can roll iron for,
heels and tips with a raised rim upon it, by grooving the rollers or cylinders
accordingly, and either carry it all round the heels and tips, or only partly
around them, and as shewn in Figure 28, in the bent or curved state, the iron
as rolled being shewn in Figure 29. And although I have hitherto given
examples or figures of entire iron. heels and tips for boots and shoes, yet it is
easy to cut them into halves or other portions after the rolling of the iron,
as may be required, and as shewn in Figure 30, which is a half heel, and in
Figure 31, which is a shortened heel; and, instead of rounding the end of a
tip, I can occasionally make it square, as shewn in Figure 32, or give to it any
other shape as may be required, and also make the holes in them round and
countersunk, as shewn in Figure 30, 31, and 32, instead of oblong or square.
It may sometimes be desirable to make the rolled iron for the heels and tips
of boots and shoes thicker or thinner, by forming grooves with parallel sides to
them, around one of the rollers or cylinders, and projecting rings, also with
parallel sides to them, upon or around the surface of the opposite rollers or
cylinders, and made to enter and fit exactly within the grooves, as shewn
.

page_text: in Figure 33. I can also roll the iron for making heels and tips for boots and
shoes in grooves formed in iron cylinders or rollers, in the manner of that
shewn in Figure 34, and also widen the said groove sideways in the
manner shewn in Figure 35, in order to thicken and to taper away gradually
the iron so rolled.
I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention the making of iron
heels and tips for boots and shoes of an equal thickness throughout their whole
length. But I do hereby claim the thickening them in those parts which are
the most exposed to wear in use, as well as thinning them in the parts which
are less exposed to the action of wearing.
Also, the indenting or perforating the rolled iron in those places where
holes are to be provided to receive the nails or screws at the time of rolling
them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Porter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal; this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
ROBERT (L.s.) PORTER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1829, the aforesaid Robert Porter came before our