Improvements in elastic cushion tread for boots and shoes, crutches and the like / [Charles Freeman Brown].
- Brown, Charles Freeman.
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Improvements in elastic cushion tread for boots and shoes, crutches and the like / [Charles Freeman Brown]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
1/6
![N° 22,819 A.D. 1901 Dale of Application, 12th Nov., 1901 Complete Specification Lett, 12th Aug., 1902 —Accepted, 16th Oct, 1902 PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. Communicated from abroad by Charles Freeman Brown of No. 53 State Street, Boston in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentleman. “Improvements in Elastic Cushion Treads for Boots and Shoes, Crutches and the like/’ 1, Henry Harris Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:—* This invention relates to elastic or cushioned treads, such as elastic-rubber 5 heel-shaped cushions or lifts, which are now considerably used on the heels of boots and shoes, such elastic lifts constituting the tread or bottom portion of the heel, and coming in contact with the pavement when the wearer walks. These elastic treads are usually made of vulcanized india-rubber, a material which is quite liable to slip when pressed against a wet or muddy pavement. 10 The invention, which may be embodied also in other elastic or cushioned treads, such as rubber soles for the fore parts of boots and shoes, and rubber tread-pieces used on crutches, canes, etc., has for its object to enable the elastic tread-piece to cling firmly than heretofore to wet and slippery pavements and other surfaces, without sacrificing to any material extent the elasticity of 15 the tread-piece. The invention consists in the improved elastic or cushioned tread which will be hereinafter described. The improved elastic or cushioned tread comprises a body portion of suitable form and thickness, made of suitably elastic material, such as vulcanized rubber, 20 having a tread surface which bears on the pavement when the device is in use. A recess is formed in the lower portion of said body, said recess being preferably circular, and extending preferably about half-way through the body, or from the bottom about half-way to the top surface. In this recess is inserted a frictional plug composed of layers or convolutions of textile fabric, such as cotton duck ‘25 or canvas, the layers or convolutions being assembled in such manner that their lower edges collectively form a part of the tread surface. The plug is preferably formed by taking a strip of the textile fabric, and winding it to form a closed coil or cylinder, the edges of the strip forming the ends of the cylinder. The strip is preferably cut so that the warp and wTeft threads extend diagonally or 30 obliquely across the strip, and cannot therefore be ravelled from the strip. The strip is saturated with rubber cement, or a solution of unvulcanized rubber, before it is wound, so that the vulcanizing process to which it is subsequently subjected cures the said cement and causes the convolutions to adhere firmly together. The length of the cylinder, or the distance between its ends, is 35 preferably about equal to the depth of the said recess in the body, and its diameter is such that it closely fills the recess. The body is formed with the described recess, from unvulcanized rubber, and after the said plug is inserted in the recess, the whole is vulcanized, thus causing the plug to adhere firmly to the walls of the recess, the outer end of which is surrounded by the material of the 40 bodv, so that the friction-plug is surrounded except at its lower end, by the elastic body, the latter forming a confining wall which encloses the perimeter of the plug. When the elastic body is a sole or heel cushion, suitable orifices are or may be provided for the reception of attaching nails or screws, and if desired, metal washers or plates may be embedded in the body, between its [Price 8d.] , _ _](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3074085x_0001.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
