USRE1292E - Improvement in boot-trees - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES CHARLES T. EAMES, OF M IMPROVEMENT Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,951, dated May 27, 1856; Reissue No. 1,292,

ILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

k|`N BOOT-TREES..

dated March 25, 1862.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, CHARLES T. EAMES, ot' Milford, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Boot-Trees and IA do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following speciiication and the accompanying drawings, of whichv Figure l denotes a side elevation of` one of my improved boottrces; Fig. 2, a vertical central and longitudinal section of the same 5 Fig. 3, a transverse section taken through its operative cam and inclined plane.

My improvement is not suited to boot trees operated by hand only.

In the drawings, A B indicate, respectively, the back and front of the hoot-tree. G is the foot part; ff, thejournal, to be supported in suitable bearings. Within the front B of the leg and extending` out of its upper end is a rod, D, which is enveloped by a helical spring, E, whose ends bear against shoulders a b, arranged on the rod and the part B, as seen in Fig. 2. The lower end of the said rod carries a cam or projection, F, which works against an inclined plane, G, formed with lips c c to embrace projections d on` the outer end ofthe cam F, as seen in Fig. 3. When the cam is moved upward, it will separate the two parts A B. Vhen pressed downward, it will draw them together. Theinelined plane is arranged within the leg part Ain a position opposite to or at about the same elevation with the instep of the foot ofthe tree. The cam F will thus work either above or below the level of the instep, or both above and below, and I consider the best position or elevation of the incline to be such that the cam F shall traverse both above and below this level; but Ido not confine myself to this precise position, since slight variations therefrom will not essentially ai'ect the action of the tree 5 but the inclined plane must always be located below the middle of the back A-i. e., nearer to its foot end than its top. The rod D is operated by means of the swiveling link h.

In order to maintain the foot C in place on the leg portion B, a bent lever-catch, H, turning on a fulcrum, I, is applied within the leg part B, and arranged with respect to the foot C and the cam F as seen in Fig. 2, the upper arm of the lever H working against a spring,

K and an incline, L, the said spring K being arranged as seen in Fig. 2. When the rod D is raised upward, the locking-catch H will be forced byits spring K into a recess, M, formed in the foot (l, the catch serving, to confine the foot U to the leg B. During the depression of the rod D and the cam F the catch H will be moved out of the side recess, so as to enable the parts B and Gr to separate.

In operating with my improved boot-tree, after placing it within the boot the journal is inserted in suitable hearings, and there held while the rod D is pulled or drawn out, so as to move the cam F upward-that is, toward the top of the boot. During the first portion ot' the movement of the cam F, and owing to its position in the lower or foot end of the tree, it will separate the parts A and B, so as to crowd the i'oot part U into the foot of theboot heel of the boot. After this is done, the further elevation of the cam will not only continue the strain upon the leather of the foot, but will separate the two parts A B at their boot-leg suiciently. A single traversing wedge, carried by a stretching-rod, which is attached permanently to the front B and moves the wedge longitudinally against an inclined plane, was never before used in a boottree, to my knowledge.

Lapping brasses N are attached byscrews to each side of the'front B, to cover or bridge over the gap caused by the separation of the parts A `B when distended, and lby means et' a set-screw fastened to the front B, at or near its top, and extending backward therefrom through a slot in the top of the back A, the expansion of the back A may be checked or stopped by a nut on the screw, so as not to pass beyond the lapping brasses, and the extent of expansion of the tree at its top limited or regulated. These devices are not new nor claimed as such. No check or stop is necessary in my tree.

strain is brought to bear simultaneously throughout its length from top to bottom, the weakest parts are of course subjected to all the force or strain necessary to fill and distend the strongest parts, and much injury is caused by the bursting or tearing of the boot in its -When, in trceing a boot, the same degree of nl@ l and force the heel of the part A close in to the top in such manner as to expand or strain the t vfar as I am aware, is free from this objection.

In order to remedy this defect in boot-trees,

and to furnish a boot-tree which will adapt itself to the varying forms of boot-legs more perfectly than any heretofore used, and to graduate the force employed according to the requirements of the different parts of the boot, I have contrived my improved boot-tree, which operates so as to strain the foot of the boot first, and to employ the foot (it being the strongest part of the boot) as a fulcrum for the .leverage which may be employed to eX- pand the leg portion. In this way I avoid all danger of bursting open the side seams of the leg, and am enabled, after straining the foot,

to bring sufficient strain upon the leg portion vof the boot without bringing so much force to bear directly upon that part ofthe boot as is required in the foot part.

I do not claim the employment of two levers or cams arranged so as to operate simultaneously against both the upper and lower parts of the leg of a boot-tree 5 but What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A boottree distended by means ot' a single cam or wed ge attached to a stretchingrod, D, at its lower end, and traversing upon an inclined plane located in the back A at or near its lower end, the same operating substantially -in the manner as above set forth.

UHAS. T. EAMES. Witnesses:

F. A. BRooKs, J. R. BAMPToN.

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