IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR BOOTS AND SHOES, GLOVES, BELTS, PURSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Handley and Michael Draper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd March 1876.
WILLIAM HANDLEY and MICHAEL DRAPER, both of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Boot and Shoe Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR
BOOTS AND SHOES, GLOVES, BELTS, PURSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES."
The
Our Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in fastenings
for boots and shoes, gloves, belts, purses, and other articles, by which improvements
a fastening of great simplicity in construction and efliciency in action is produced.
We will describe our Invention as applied to the fastening of a shoe.
fastening consists of two parts, one attached to one side of the shoe and the other
to the other. The part attached to the flap or overlapping part of the shoe consists
of a disc of sheet metal having at one side a narrow strip or plate of a length
somewhat greater than the diameter of the disc. At the opposite side of the disc
is a small projecting piece or tongue. The strip or plate is pierced with three holes
two of a size and shape proper to receive the head of the other part of the fastening
herein-after described. The third hole near the end of the strip is of a size and
shape proper to receive the end of the tongue on the opposite edge of the disc. The
tongue described is bent into a plane at right angles to the plane of the disc, and
the strip or plate is bent over upon the back of the disc until it is nearly parallel
therewith. The hole near its end is then immediately over the tongue described.
In order to attach this part of the fastening to the flap of the shoe two small
incisions are made in the flap at a distance apart equal to the diameter of the disc,
and the strip or plate is first passed through one of the said incisions and the
tongue through the other. The strip or plate is pressed upon the tongue which
passes through the end hole therein, and the said tongue being turned down upon
the strip this part of the fastening is securely attached to the flap of the shoe.
The disc is on the upper side of the flap and the strip or plate with its two holes
is on the under side of the flap.
The other part of the fastening consists of a disc with a central stem terminating
in a head or button. The disc is fixed between the lining and the leather of the
other side of the shoe, the stem projecting through a hole in the leather to the upper
side thereof. When the two parts of the shoe are brought together, and the flap so
pressed as to bring the large part of one of the holes in the strip or plate over the
head of the stem the said head enters the said hole, and on the pressure being

page_text: relaxed the stem slides to the other end of the hole out of which the head cannot
pass the two parts of the fastening are thus connected together. As the strip or
bar has two holes the head on the stem may be made to enter either of them, as
occasion may require.
In order to give elasticity to the part of the shoe to which the fastening is
affixed the disc or under part of the fastening may be fixed on a piece of elastic
fabric inserted between the leather and the lining, and the hole in the leather
through which the stem passes may be made oblong to give a little play to the
stem.
The disc on the upper side of the flap of the shoe may be ornamented in any
desired manner, and in order to give greater range of accomodation in the fastening
the disc of the last described part of the fastening may be provided with two stems
with heads.
One, two, or more of the fastenings may be applied to the shoe in place of the
one, two, or more buttons commonly employed.
The application of our Invention to gloves, belts, and other articles differs in no
essential respect from its application to shoes.