IMPROVE- MENTS APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Spires, of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES."
Sealed the 22nd September 1854, and dated the 15th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Spires at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th July
1854.
I, JOSEPH SPIRES, of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO BOOTS AND SHOES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improved construction of rotary heel;
and.secondly, to a novel instrument or means for turning the heel, or causing
it to rotate on its centre when required.
My improved rotary heel consists, first, of a circular metal plate, which is
fixed by screws or in any other convenient manner to the heel; and second, of
a concentric metal ring or tip, which surrounds the first and fixed plate, and
is held in its place by a shoulder or otherwise, so that it may be made to
rotate or move round when required. The centre of the concentric ring or
tip may be filled up, either with a block of wood or thicknesses of leather, and
will externally present all the appearance of an ordinary heel with a metal

page_text: tip, except that the said tip is circular, instead of being of the ordinary horse-
shoe shape. II sometimes propose to make the central metal piece moveable
instead of fixed, and a thin concentric ring may be fixed by screws or otherwise
to the heel, for the purpose of holding the central piece. In this case the
leather or wood block or filling piece must be attached to the moveable central
part, so that it may be rotated therewith when required.
The novel instrument for turning the heel or tip when required, and which
forms the second part of the Invention, consists simply of a spring clamp,
which is made to fit or nearly fit the heel, so that by pressing the two jaws
of the clamp together they will firmly embrace the heel, and will enable any
person to turn it, even if it should stick, or the metal parts get fixed by
oxidation. Instead of a spring clamp, the internal part of the clamp may be
provided with one or more projecting studs, which, by taking into correspond-
ing notches in the periphery of the metal ring or other part of the heel, will
give sufficient leverage to enable the operator to turn the moveable part of
the heel on its centre. The spring clamp is more particularly applicable to
leather heels, while the rigid clamp with studs is intended for metal heels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Spires in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SPIRES, of Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Spires, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Spires, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Spires,
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 APPLICABLE TO
BOOTS AND SHOES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Spires, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-

page_text: larly 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 mouths next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Spires, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements applicable to Boots and Shoes" relates,
firstly, to improved methods of constructing rotary heels; and, secondly, to
novel instruments or means for turning the heel, or causing it to rotate on its
centre when required.
My improved rotary heel consists, first, of a circular metal plate, which is
fixed by screws or in any other convenient manner to the heel of the boot or
shoe; and second, of a concentric metal ring or tip, which surrounds the first
and fixed plate, and is held in its place by a shoulder or otherwise, so that it
may be made to rotate or move round when required.
The centre of the concentric ring or tip may be filled up, either with a
block of wood or horn, or thicknesses of leather or other material, and will
externally present all the appearance of an ordinary heel with a metal tip,
except that the said tip is circular, instead of being of the ordinary horse-shoe
shape.
I sometimes propose to make the central metal piece moveable instead of
fixed, and a thin concentric ring may be fixed by screws or otherwise to the
heel, for the purpose of holding the central piece.
In this case the leather or wood block, or filling piece, must be attached
to the moveable central part, so that it may be rotated therewith when
required.
The novel instrument for turning the heel or tip when required, and which
forms the second part of the Invention, consists simply of a clamp, which is
made to fit or nearly fit the heel, so that by pressing the two jaws of the
clamp together they will firmly embrace the heel, and will enable any person
to turn it even if it should stick, or the metal parts get fixed by oxidation.
Instead of a spring clamp, the internal part of the clamp may be provided
with one or more projecting studs, which, by taking into corresponding
notches in the periphery of the metal ring or other part of the heel, will give
sufficient leverage to enable the operator to turn the moveable part of the heel
on its centre.

page_text: The spring clamp is more particularly applicable to leather heels, and may
be employed to rotate any other form of rotary heel, besides those herein
referred to and described, while the rigid clamp with studs inside is intended
for metal heels, such as those above described.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn various views of the different
methods above referred to of constructing my improved rotary heels, and also
of the instruments whereby they or other rotary heels may be turned round
their centres when required. Fig. 1 is a plan view of the metallic part of
a rotary heel constructed according to my improvements; and Fig. 2 is a
sectional view of the same, taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; the filling pieces
of wood, horn, or leather are removed in Fig. 1, in order that the other parts
may be more clearly seen. a, a, represents part of the sole of a boot or shoe
to which the fixed part b, b, or filling piece of the rotary heel is attached by
screws, as shewn in the Drawing.
The moveable iron or metal tip is shewn at c, c, and is held in its place by
means of the central disc d, d, which rests on the inner shoulder of the piece
e, and is secured to the heel of the boot by screws e, e, as shewn in the
Drawing.
On the periphery of the circular tip c, c, are made indentations or recesses
fff (Fig. 1,) for the purpose of more conveniently rotating or turning the
heel, by means of one of the instruments hereafter described; Fig. 3 is a plan
view, and Fig. 4 a sectional view, of another rotary boot heel, which being
a modification of that above described, similar letters of reference are marked
on corresponding parts.
The principal difference between the two plans is, that in Figures 3 and 4
the inner shoulder of the circular tip c, c, is dispensed with, and this piece is
held in its place by the central plate d, and the filling piece being made
conical, as shewn in the Drawing. This central plate d is also provided with
cross ribs 9, 9, for strengthening it, and still further securing the concentric
annular metal tip. The filling piece must therefore be divided into quarters to
fill up the spaces of the central disc, as will be well understood by referring to
the Drawing. Fig. 5 is a plan view, and Fig. 6 a sectional view, of another
rotary heel, constructed upon the same principle as the two former, but slightly
varied in detail. This plan is more applicable than the former ones for a
dress boot or shoe, inasmuch as the circular metal tip is dispensed with, and a s
leather one employed in place thereof. The circular leather tip h, h, is secured
by screws or otherwise to a circular or annular plate i, i, and this, with the
leather tip attached to it, is held in its place by means of the central circular
disc d, which is for this purpose provided with a shoulder, as shewn in the

page_text: sectional view, Fig. 6, and is secured to the heel of the boot by screws or
otherwise. The annular plate i, i, and the circular central disc d, are shewn
in plan at Fig. 7.
A modification of the above is shewn in plan and section in Figures 8 and 9.
The only difference between the present plan and that shewn in Figures 5, 6,
and 7 is, that instead of making a shoulder on the central circular disc d, as
shown in Fig. 6, for the purpose of holding the annular plate i in its place,
this object is effected by means of a shoulder made on the annular plate, as
shewn in Figures 8 and 9.
Fig. 10 is a plan view, and Fig. 11 a sectional view, of another form of
rotary heel, which may be employed for dress boots. In this instance, the
central circular disc d is made moveable, and the concentric plate i is fixed to
the heel of the boot. The leather, horn, or other heel b, is screwed to the
moveable central circular disc, and may therefore be rotated with it.
Fig. 12 represents, in plan, the moveable circular disc d, and the fixed con-
centric plate i, i, which I propose to fix to the heel of the boot or shoo by
stitching, but any other suitable plan may be employed, if preferred.
The novel instruments for turning or rotating the heels when required, and
which form the second part of my Invention, are shewn at Figures 13, 14, 15,
and 16. Fig. 13 is one form of instrument which I propose to employ for
turning heels, such as those shewn at Figures 1 and 3, and consists simply of a
circular piece of metal, provided with a handle, and having the internal part of
the circle bevilled or made slightly conical to fit the sides of the heel; it
is further provided with a stud or projection j, to fit one of the indentations
fff, on the metal tips of the rotary heels, as shewn in Figures 1 and 3.
Fig. 14 is a modification of the instrument just described. In this instance,
in place of having a handle, I screw or otherwise secure the instrument on the
back of a brush, which will serve as a handle. Those portions of the circle
of the instrument which would overhang the sides of the brush are cut away,
so that the brush would be no more cumbersome or inconvenient to use than
before.
The leather heels, shewn at Figures 5 and 10, have no indentations or
recesses made therein, and consequently the instruments shewn at Figures 13
and 14 are inapplicable. I, therefore, for heels of the description shewn at
Figures 5 and 10, employ a spring clamp, such as either of those shewn at
Figures 15 and 16. The circular part of the clamp is passed over the heel,
and by forcibly closing the split handle, the heel is tightly clasped and may be
easily turned round when required. The only difference between the clamps
shewn at Figures 15 and 16 is, that in the former instance the clamp is made

page_text: of one piece, and in the latter the clamp is made of two pieces, rivetted together
above, as shewn in the Drawing. It is scarcely necessary to say that the clamps
above described may be advantageously employed for rotating other kinds of
rotary heels besides those herein set forth.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements applicable to Boots
and Shoes," and the means of carrying the same into effect, I claim, in
conclusion,―
First, the method herein shewn and described of constructing rotary heels
for boots and shoes.
Second, I claim the instruments above shewn and described, or any
mere modification thereof, for rotating or turning the rotary heels of boots
and shoes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Spires, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOSEPH SPIRES.
(L.8.)