IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF THE HEELS OF BOOTS OR SHOES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Grimes, of Leicester, in the County of
MACHINERY OB
Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF THE HEELS
OF BOOTS OR SHOES."
Sealed the 16th September 1873, and dated the 19th March 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Grimes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1873.
I, JOHN GRIMES, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF THE HEELS OF
BOOTS OR SHOES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the making up of heels or "lifts" of
boots and shoes in a mould of metal or other suitable material formed
with one or more recesses on either or both sides of a plate of the
thickness or thereabouts of the heel or lift required, and of the form
of heel at the back part of each recess. Opening are formed at the

page_text: bottom of each recess to receive the ends of the dowels or pins when
they are forced through the heels to hold the parts forming the heels
together. The recesses are filled or packed with pieces of leather or
other material for forming the heel pieces. A front plate is then brought
up with a screw or lever to press the back part of each heel and the
front together to form a solid heel. Dowels, pins, or screws are then
passed through the heels to hold the parts together and a covering
piece of leather or other material is then placed over the whole. The
plate with the heels therein is then moved upon a sliding table under an
ordinary screw press by which the series of heels are firmly compressed.
One of the advantages of this Invention is that instead of the heels
being held by finger and thumb during construction, they are by this
machine held so firmly that the dowels or pins may be driven in through
the lift without any chance of spoiling the lift by its "tilting" as often
happens in the old method of building lifts.
Another advantage is that small pieces or half lifts may be used with
greater certainty and usefulness than when introduced by hand built
heels.
The whole is mounted on a cast-iron table, the working parts being
planed and fitted so that the heel plate can be pushed or pulled as
required under the vertical press, and operated upon on either or both
sides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Grimes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th September 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
GRIMES, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Grimes, Her special license
that I, the said John Grimes, my executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said John Grimes, 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE
OF THE HEELS OF BOOTS OR SHOES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Grimes, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 I, the said John Grimes, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the making up of heels or "lifts" of
boots and shoes in a mould of metal or other suitable material formed
with one or more recesses on either or both sides of a plate of the
thickness or thereabouts of the heel or lift required, and of the form of
heel at the back part of each recess. A loose block of metal is inserted
in the bottom of each opening to regulate the size and form of the top
or broad part of heol; it is preferred to have this part convex in the
block, so that the heel will be concave, thereby saving the split lift
generally used. The recesses are filled or packed with pieces of leather
or other material for forming the heel picces. A front plate is then
brought up with a screw or lever to press the back part of each heel and
the front together to form a solid heel. Dowels or pins or screws are
then passed through the heels to hold the parts together, and a covering
piece of leather or other material is then placed over the whole. The plate
with the heels therein is then moved upon a sliding table under an
ordinary screw press, by which the series of heels are firmly compressed.
One of the advantages of this Invention is that instead of the heels
being held by the finger and thumb during construction, they are by
this machine held so firmly that the dowels or pins may be driven in

page_text: Figure 1 shews a front view, and Figure 2, an end view of a machine
for building up and forming the heels of boots and shoes arranged and 1
constructed in accordance with my Invention.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew separate views of the plates or moulds in
which the heels are made up and pressed into shape.
A is a cast-iron frame and table accurately fitted and planed; B is a
cast-iron or other metal plate planed and fitted to slide under the part G,
and on which are placed the parts marked D, which contain the moulds
for forming the heels%3B C are metal plates, by preference cast iron, fitted
to slide on the plate B and actuated by screws E, E, when the heel
pieces are fitted up to the required thickness; D are metal plates, by
preference cast iron, screwed and fitted to the plate B containing the 2
moulds for the largest portion of the heel pieces; E are screws for
tightening and compressing the heel pieces; F is a screw for horizontal
press for tightening and finishing the pressure of heels when completed;
Gis the moveable portion or pressing plate of the finishing press; H are
loose cast pieces of metal for giving the required shape and thickness to 3
top part of heel.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing or carrying the same into practice, I would remark that I
do not confine myself to the exact details herein-before described and
shewing in the Drawing hereunto annexed, so long as the novel features of 3

page_text: my improvements are retained, but what I claim is, the improved arrange-
ment and construction of machinery or apparatus for forming, shaping,
and pressing the heels of boots and shoes, substantially in the manner
herein-before described and shewn in the Drawing hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Grimes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.