AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HOLDING OR SUPPORTING BOOTS OR SHOES DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME
Year: 1884

page_text: I CHARLES HARE, of Norwich, in the County of Norfolk, Chairmaker, do
hereby declare the nature of said invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
HOLDING OR SUPPORTING BOOTS OR SHOES DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF THE
SAME" to be as follows
My invention relates to an improved apparatus for holding or supporting boots
or shoes during the manufacture of the sanie. It is chiefly designed to enable the
boot or shoe to be firmly held in any desired position and to be easily moved from
one position to another, and to thereby facilitate the lasting, pegging, sewing and
soleing of boots or shoes and other operations necessary in their manufacture.
In carrying my said invention into practice I provide an arm for carrying the
last or last-shaped anvil, which arm is adjustably held in a suitable stand or
support so that it can be rotated on its axis and can also be adjusted to make any
desired angle with the stand or support, and suitable means are provided for fixing
the said arm in the desired position.
I prefer to make my improved apparatus as follows that is to say ;-The stand
or support consists of a vertical standard from the lower end of which project
three brackets or feet which can be secured by screws or other suitable means to
a bench or floor. At one side of the vertical standard I arrange an adjustable
piece or jaw, which is connected to the standard by a screw-bolt passing through
it and the said standard and provided with a nut having a handle to facilitate its
manipulation. The lower end of the said movable or adjustable arm is made in
the form of a ball or sphere. This ball or sphere fits between the upper ends of
the standard and the said adjustable piece or jaw, which are suitably shaped to
receive and hold the said ball or sphere. The said standard and adjustable piece
thus constitute jaws similar to those of an ordinary vice.
When the aforesaid nut is slackened the movable or adjustable arm carrying
the boot or shoe can be rotated on its axis and set at any desired angle to the
vertical standard and by again tightening the said nut the said arm will be firmly
held.
The said arm is usually made with a projecting piece below the said ball or
sphere. This piece rests upon a curved ledge or shoulder of the standard so that
the strain caused by hammering will not be borne entirely by the said ball or
sphere; and the said piece fits between two faces on the said standard and the

page_text: adjustable jaw so as to prevent the said arm from being moved to or from the
operator, when in its vertical position or nearly so.
I sometimes provide the vertical standard with a projection on each side thereof
to prevent the said arm from descending below its horizontal position.
I may if desired employ two or more adjustable arms of different sizes made to
fit the stand or support so as to adapt the apparatus for use with boots or shoes of
various dimensions.
I CHARLES HARE of Calvert Street in the city and county of Norwich, England,
do hereby declare the nature of above Invention for AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR HOLDING OR SUPPORTING BOOTS OR SHOES DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF
THE SAME. and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
"
The apparatus may be briefly described as an iron last-holder, rotating on a
solid base, by means of what is known as a " universal or "ball-joint"; the object
being to bring and secure the boot in any desired position during the process of
manufacture.
It consists of two parts in chief, the upper being a shank or stem of iron shaped
as a holder for the ordinary iron or wood lasts at one end; while the other end is
globular, forming the ball of the joint.
The lower portion of the apparatus consists of a strong pair of iron jaws or
clamps, hollowed to take the ball end of the last-holder, which jaws are capable
of being brought powerfully together by means of a bolt which passes through
them, one end being screwed and having a flanged nut, which is extended into a
lever or handle by which the said nut may be turned.
Various sized shanks may be fitted to the same base so that work of every kind
may be done upon it.
By the means above described I effect instantaneously any desired alteration in
the position of the boot, enabling the operator to work upon it, in a healthy
standing position instead of the unhealthy stooping position, necessary when the
last is held between the knees. .
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
my claim is:-
I claim
A last holder rotating and being secured to a base by means of a
"ball joint" substantially as set forth.
Loth 1
72
"universal" or