Improvements in Soles for Boots, Shoes, and the like.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 12th July, 1892-Accepted, 13th Aug., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Soles for Boots, Shoes, and the like.
I, WILLIAM WATSON, of 24, Whitehill Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Cashier, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said invention has for its object the making of soles of boots, shoes, and
the like, in an improved manner and so as to be of superior durability.
In carrying out my invention I form a sole with a skeleton of wire embedded in
gutta percha, or rubber, or any analogous artificial material such as, dermatine,
woodite, vulcanised fibre, linoleum, or other substance or compound which whilst
flexible and sufficiently tough in its finished condition is yet capable of being worked
in a plastic state, or of being otherwise incorporated with the wire skeleton.
In forming the wire skeleton for a sole according to one modification I take wire
of iron, steel, or other suitable metal, of about 4inch diameter and form it
by means of well known apparatus, into a spiral or helix of a diameter of
about inch, and about inch, pitch. I combine a suitable number of the wire
spirals by the well known mode of screwing them into each other so as to form a
kind of open wire fabric. The wire spirals to form a sole skeleton may be disposed
longitudinally, or diagonally, or transversely, the transverse arrangement being
probably preferable as imparting more flexibility to the sole. I purpose using
right-hand transverse spirals for the right-foot sole and left-hand spirals for the
left-foot sole, as I believe that with such an arrangement each foot will have a
better grip of the ground. The ends of the wires may be bended over or clinched
to prevent displacement; or a strip or band of suitable material may for that
purpose be fixed round the edge of the sole. The wire skeleton for each sole may
be formed of separate suitable lengths of spiral; or each skeleton may be cut out
of a sheet of interwoven spirals.
The gutta percha, or rubber, or other material to be combined with the wire, is
taken in a suitable plastic condition and is forced by pressure into the wire skeleton
or fabric, so as to fill the meshes or interstices as completely as possible. The sole
material or compound thus formed is attached to the boot or shoe in any suitable
known manner.
The size of wire and dimensions of the spirals may be varied in different cases,
and even in different parts of the same sole if desired; and it is to be understood
that the combined material is applicable for the heel part as well as the other parts
of a boot or shoe sole.
Dated this Thirteenth day of October 1891.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION..
Improvements in Soles for Boots, Shoes, and the like.
I, WILLIAM WATSON of 24 Whitehill Street Dennistoun, Glasgow in the
County of Lanark, North Britain Cashier, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
My said invention has for its object the making of soles of boots, shoes and the
like in an improved manner and so as to be of superior durability.
In carrying out my invention I form a sole with a skeleton of wire imbedded in
[Price 8d.1

page_text: gutta-percha, or rubber, or any analogous artificial material, such as dermatine,
woodite, vulcanised fibre, linoleum, or other substance or compound which whilst
flexible and sufficiently tough in its finished condition is yet capable of being worked
in a plastic state or of being otherwise incorporated with the wire skeleton.
In forming the wire skeleton for a sole, according to one modification I take
wire, of iron, steel, or other suitable metal, of about 4inch diameter, and form
it by means of well known apparatus into a spiral or helix, of a diameter of
about inch, and about inch pitch. I combine a suitable number of the wire spirals
by the well known mode of screwing them into each other so as to form a kind of
open wire fabric. The wire spirals to form a sole skeleton may be disposed
longitudinally, or diagonally, or transversely, the transverse arrangement being
preferable as imparting more flexibility to the sole. I prefer to use right-hand
transverse spirals for the right-foot sole and left-hand spirals for the left-foot sole,
as I believe that with such an arrangement each foot will have a better grip of the
ground; I do not however restrict myself to that arrangement. The ends of the
wires may be bended over or clinched to prevent displacement; or a strip or band
of suitable material may, for that purpose, be fixed round the edge of the sole.
The wire skeleton for each sole may be formed of separate suitable lengths of spiral;
or each skeleton may be cut out of a sheet of interwoven spirals.
The gutta percha, or rubber, or other material or compound to be combined with
the wire, is taken in a suitable plastic condition, and is forced, by pressure, into the
wire skeleton or fabric, so as to fill the meshes or interstices as completely as
possible. Thus the separate wire skeletons or a sheet of the wire fabric out of
which the soles are to be afterwards cut, may be laid on a plate and a sheet of the
flexible material may be placed on it, and the requisite pressure may be applied by
means of an upper plate, hydraulic or other apparatus being employed. Or the
wire fabric and the flexible material may be passed between rollers. I prefer to
apply the pressure with two or more successive operations, first acting on the
flexible material with a metallic or other suitable hard surface and afterwards
acting on it with a plate or roller covered with felt or similar soft material. One
of the plates or rollers employed for the compressing operation may be grooved or
indented so as to produce a ribbed or embossed surface on the soles.
The soles formed as hereinbefore described, and which may be appropriately
described as metelastic soles, may be attached to the boot, or shoes, or like articles
in any suitable known manner.
The size of wire and dimensions of the spirals may be varied in different cases,
and even in different parts of the same sole if desired; and it is to be understood
that the combined material is applicable for the heel part as well as the other parts
of a boot or shoe sole.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Improved soles for boots, shoes, and the like, consisting in each case of a skeleton
of interwoven spiral wires combined with a flexible material or compound, sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.