IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Boisset and Bernardo Antognini, both of
New York, in the County and State of New York, in the United States
of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BOOTS AND SHOES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Boisset and
Bernardo Antognini at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th May 1862.
We, PIERRE BOISSET and BERNARDO ANTOGNINI, both of New York, in
the County and State of New York, in the United States of America, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists in the application of a metal piece or. pieces, or
nuts, with caoutchouc or india-rubber soles for boots or shoes imbedded or
incorporated in said soles while being made in combination with screws so
arranged and operating with said pieces of metal or nuts as to allow the sole
being screwed up and securely fastened to the upper leather and inner soles.
Further, in the application and combination with the india-rubber heel of
metal points to prevent the wearing away of said heel; and, further, in the
combination with an india-rubber or caoutchouc heel of a capsule, socket, or
box to attach the spur to the same.
The nuts or metal pieces are imbedded into the india-rubber or caoutchouc
sole and heel, while the same are made and are provided with holes, having a
suitable screw thread to receive the screws. The screws are inserted from

page_text: the boot or shoe, passing through the inner soles and the upper leather or
vamps and quarters, and are screwed into the metal pieces or nuts, which,
being firmly imbedded in the sole and heel, will allow said upper leather and
inner soles to be firmly screwed up and fastened to the india-rubber sole,
while the external appearance will present a clean and smooth surface, the
ends of the screws not being allowed to project; and as the nuts or metal
pieces are imbedded some distance in the india-rubber, the wearing away of
the sole and heel will in no manner affect the fastening.
The metal points to prevent the wearing away of the heel are likewise
imbedded in the india-rubber heel while being made, and may be made
either separate, with projections on their surfaces so as to fasten and incor-
porate thereby each piece with the surrounding india-rubber, or the several
points may be attached and fastened together by a plate or bar, and the whole
frame imbedded in the inside of the heel near the outer edge, or in any place
which it is desired to protect from wearing quickly away. The lower ends of
the points come even with the bottom surface of the heel, and thus take the
wear.
The capsule or box to receive the spur is made with rough projections to
incorporate the same with the surrounding india-rubber or caoutchouc, and is
likewise imbedded into the heel in its proper position while the same is made.
This box is made with a suitable hole, provided with a female screw, to
receive the screw at the end of the neck of the spur. In the end of this hole
a small piece of metal is screwed in loosely, provided with a cross cut or with
a projection, into or over which the end of the screw on the neck of the spur
screw in such a manner that said piece is screwed further into the hole, while
the spur is screwed into and attached to said box, and is likewise screwed out
again when the spur is taken off, so that said piece or stopper comes to the
end of the hole, closing up the mouth of the same when the spur has been
taken off to prevent the introduction and admission of dirt or dust into the
interior of said hole.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo Antognini in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PIERRE
BOISSET and BERNARDO ANTOGNINI, both of New York, in the County and s
State of New York, in the United States of America, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo Antognini, Her special license, that we,
the said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo Antognini, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo
Antognini, our 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 BOOTS AND
SHOES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Pierre Boisset
and Bernardo Antognini, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals,. or under the hand and seal. of
one of us or them, should particularly 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 we, the said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo
Antognini, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention consists in the combination with caoutchouc or india-rubber
soles for boots or shoes of a metal piece or pieces or nuts pierced with
suitable thread holes for the reception of screws, whereby the upper leather
and inner soles are securely fastened to the said caoutchouc soles. Further,
in the combination with the india-rubber or caoutchouc heel of metal points,
or a frame provided with points to prevent the wearing away of said heel, and
likewise in the combination with the india-rubber or caoutchouc heel of a box
or capsel to attach a spur to the heel..
In the application of india-rubber or gutta percha soles and heels to boots
or shoes as a substitude for leather, the greatest difficulty has heretofore existed
in securing said soles firmly to the upper leather. Screws have been used for
'this purpose; but from the nature of the caoutchouc, it is impossible to make
the thread of a screw hold firmly in this material so that the screw cannot be
easely pulled out after a very little use.
The combination of nuts imbedded some distance in the body of the india-
rubber sole and heel gives a firm hold to the screws, enabling the same to be

page_text: screwed up tight, so as to secure the upper leather firmly to the sole and heel,
without being effected by any wear of the soles or heels; and as the
screws are not depending upon a screw thread cut into the material itself, but
upon the thread cut in the metal pieces or nuts, the same cannot be easely
pulled out.
The heel of boots or shoes, when made of india-rubber or gutta percha,
will, from the nature of the material, wear very quickly away by only a little
use; to prevent this, we arrange pieces of metal imbedded into those parts
most subject to wear, whose lower edges come flush with the bottom of the
heel, and which consequently take the wear, protecting thereby considerably
the wearing away of the india-rubber.
In cases where it is required to attach a spur to the boot, we arrange a
box imbedded in the proper place in the heel of the boot while the same is
made, provided with a suitable hole, into which the spur can be fastened. To
prevent this hole being filled up or damaged when the spur is not in its place,
a stopper or plug is arranged in the end of said hole, so constructed that in
the act while the spur is being fastened into the hole said stopper will be
attached to the end of the spur, and moved in advance of said spur into the
interior of the hole, and by reason of said attachment be brought out again,
when the spur is unfastened, so that when the same is clear of the hole said
stopper will be at the end of the hole, closing up the same, and thereby prevent
the admission of dirt or dust.
now
In order to explain our Invention as completely as possible, we
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of refer-
ence marked thereon resp. as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure I. represents a longitudinal section of a boot or shoe; Figure II.
shews a bottom view of the same; and Figure III. shews the spur box and
spur separate. In these Figures (A) represents the sole of a boot or shoe
made of india-rubber, where (a) is the heel, (b) the shank, and (d) the
forder part. If desired, the forder part (d) may be made of leather, and
attached to the shank (6) by any suitable cement, and fastened to the vamps
in the usual manner. (B) represents part of the upper leather of the boot or
shoe, which is turned in between the outer and inner soles, and (C) represents
the inner soles. In the india-rubber sole (A) small metal pieces or nuts (f)
are imbedded during the process of making the sole; these metal pieces or

page_text: nuts (ƒ) are pierced with holes provided with a screw thread forming a
female screw for the reception of the screws to be used. The upper leather'
(B) and the inner sole (C) are fastened to the india-rubber sole (A) by
means of screws (a) passing from the inside of the boot or shoe through said
inner sole (C) and upper leather (B), and through that part of the caoutchouc
outer sole situated above the metal pieces or nuts (f), and then into said
pieces or nuts (f), by which latter said screws (a) will be held fast and pre-
vented from being pulled out, and whereby said inner sole and upper leather
will be firmly screwed and attached to the india-rubber or outer sole.
Instead of several small metal pieces or nuts being imbedded in the
caoutchouc sole, as above described, a plate or plates provided with any
desired number of holes to receive the screws may be imbedded in the sole
and heel, but we prefer the use of small pieces, as thereby the weight of the
boot and shoe is not much increased.
Near the outer edge of the heel (a) one or more frames or bars (m),
with long metal points (o) attached, are imbedded in the india-rubber heel
while being made in such a manner that the ends of said points (0), which
may be round, square, or any other desired shape, come flush with the under
side or bottom of the heel when finished, whereby the wear of the heel is
taken by these metal points, and the wearing away of the india-rubber part of
the heel in a great measure prevented. This frame may be so constructed
and arranged that the points (o) will be only on that part or side of the heel
most subject to wear, or the same may be made to go all around the heel, as
may be desired. Similar frames, with points attached, may likewise be
imbedded in any other part of the sole which may be desired to protect it
from wearing away very fast. Instead of fastening the points together by
a frame or bar, separate points may be imbedded into the heel, or in any
other desired part of the heel and sole, care being taken to make their surfaces
in that case somewhat rough, so as to incorporate the same well with the
surrounding india-rubber or caoutchouc. In the after end of the heel a box
of capsel (D) is imbedded into the same, projecting only a short distance.
The outside of this box is made either with small projections, or is made very
rough, so as to incorporate the same well with the surrounding material.
This box (D) has a hole (w), into which a screw thread is cut, forming a
.female screw to receive the end of the spur. In the end of this hole (w) a
small block (n) is screwed to prevent the admission of dirt or dust, whereby
said hole might be stoped up, or the thread damaged, when the spur is not
in its place. The outer end of this block (n) is made a little smaller than
the inside diameter of the thread, and is provided with a groove (S), (see

page_text: Figure III.) cut in its face. The end of the neck of the spur (P) is provided
with a screw (v) fitting into the thread of the hole (w). A cavity is made at
the end of the screw (v), which fits over the projecting part of the block (n),.
and is provided with a projecting piece or edge (4), which fitts into the
groove (S) in the end of the block (n), by which arrangement this spur is
attached to the block (n) similar as a screw-driver to a screw. The end of
the block (n) may be made with a square or other shaped projection, and the
end of the screw (v) made to fit the same, and be attached similar to a box.
wrench;
but we prefer to make the end of the block (n) circular, and
provided with a groove, as represented and described, whereby a smooth
appearance will be obtained, and less liable to be damaged. When the
spur (P) is to be attached to the heel, the edge or plate (4) is put into the
groove (S), and attached thereby to the block (n), and is then screwed into
the hole (w), by which operation said block (n) will at the same time be
screwed further back into the, hole (w) while the spur is screwed in (see
Figure I.), the hole (w) in the box (D) being made sufficiently deep to
allow for the depth of said block (n) and the length of the screw (v) as the
neck of the spur (P). When the spur is taken off again, the block (n)
will screw itself out with the spur, being attached to the same, as above
described; and when the spur (P) is free of the box (D), said block (n) will
be again at the end or mouth of the hole (w), closing the same (see
Figure III.), and prevent thereby the admission of any dirt or dust to the
inside of said hole. When the spur (P) is fastened into the box (D) by any
other means than a screw, such as a spring fastening, the block or stopper (n)
may be attached to the hole (w) by means of a spring, so arranged that said
block may be forced into the hole (w) in advance of the spur, when the same
is put in for the purpose of being fastened to the box (D), and that by means
of said spring this stopper or block will be forced out again so as to close the
mouth of the hole when the spur is taken off, and prevent in that case the
admission of dirt or dust into the interior of said hole.
Having now fully described and set forth our Invention, we hereby declare
that we claim as our Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,―
First, the use and combination with metal plates or nuts, when the same
are imbedded or incorporated within india-rubber or caoutchouc soles while
being made, of screws, so arranged and operating in connection with said
plates or nuts, as to allow the sole being fastened and screwed to the upper
leather and inner soles, substantially as described.
Secondly, we claim the arrangement and use of metal points, or of metal
frames provided with points, in the heels and other parts of india-rubber soles

page_text: for boots or shoes, imbedded in the same while being made, in the manner
and for the purpose as set forth.
Thirdly, we claim imbedding or incorporating a suitable box to attach a
spur to in the heel of an india-rubber sole for boots or shoes while being
made; and further, the arrangement of closing the mouth of the hole in said
box by a stopper, constructing and operating substantially as specified &
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Pierre Boisset and Bernardo Antognini,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
PIERRE BOISSET.
(L.S.)
BERNARDO ANTOGNINI. (L.S.)