US1741999A - Method of making shoes - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 31, 1929, V J. w. MAY 1,741,999

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES il 'F 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \nvenTor. LJOhn W. MC] b /2@w6 WkW ATTys.

Dec. 31, 1929. J. w. MAY 1,741,999

METHOD OF MAKING SHOES Filed Feb. 29, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ila/0,Inn/101111111 smmmmm "5 InvenTor. FlglO. is \John WMo g b mwuf gg Patented Bea 31,1929

UNITED s'rA Joan warren MAY, or amour, muenosn'r'rs rm'rnon or name snons Application fled February 29, 1088. flerial 1T0. 257,918.

This invention relates to a, novel shoe of the McKay-sewed type and also to a novel method of makiil, the shoe.

' One of the ob]ects of the invention is to 5 provide a novel shoe of this type which will have the desired stiffness and rigidity at both the shank portion and the toe portion to hold the shoe in proper place, while at the same time the portion of the sole which flexes or bends as'one walks is as flexible as? the sole of a turned shoe.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel method by which a shoe having this characteristic can be made.

Prior to my present invention various attempts have been made to produce a McKaysewed shoe with a flexible sole. One method which has been suggested and which is illustrated in Blake Patent No. 44,388, Septemher 27th, 1864, is to employ a temporary insole which is smaller than the last and to which the upper is stitched with the stitches extending outside of the temporary insole.

After the outer sole has been sewed on, the

insole may then be pulled out of the shoe leaving the shoe with simply the upper sewed to the outer sole. While a shoe of this type has a flexible sole yet it has not the desired strength and rigidity at the shank portion or the toe portion which is desirable in the type of ladys shoe such as is now commonly made, and moreover the manner in which the upper is lasted by this prior method is such that the pulling out ofthe insole is very liable to injure the shoe.

Another method which has been proposed is to last the upper to an insolesmaller than .the last as above described and then to stitch the outer sole to the upper outside of the insole and subsequently'to cut the edge of the upper between the stitches and the edge of the insole thus freeing the insole so that it can be removed. This method is illustrated in the Day Patent No. 440,994, November 18th, 1890. a

One disadvantage which is inherent in this method is that it is very difiicult to cut the upper so as to permit the insole to be removed without cutting or otherwise injuring the outsole.

Still another method of niaking a McKaysewed shoe with a flexible sole which has been proposed is illustrated in the Wood and Brown Patent-No. 374,029, November 29th, 1887; According to this method a temporary insole is employed which is smallerthan the last and in lasting the upper the edges thereof are secured to the temporary insole by headless tacks which are clinched over on the inside of the insoleby the metal bottom on the last. The outsole is then sewed to the shoe by stitches which extend outside of the temporary insole after which said insole may be withdrawn from the shoe and because headless tacks are used which are clinched over on the inside of the insole the tacks will all he pulled out of the u per by the removing of the temporary inso e. In order to produce a McKay-sewed shoe it is desirable that the stitching should be so performed around the convexly-curved or tions of the sole that there will be no li elihood of the seams openin up or grinning at-these points and one o the objects of my present invention is to provide a novel method by. which this end may be accomplished and at the same time a shoe may e provided in which the portion of the sole that bends as one walks 15 as flexible as that of a turned shoe.

In carrying out my invention I apply to the metal bottom of 'a last a shank member which extends to substantially the ball of the foot and also a two-part insole member, the two parts of which are separably connected together, one part of which is a toe F piece which is situated at the toe of the last and has an exterior contour corresponding to the toe portion of the last and the other part of which is a temporary insole member that extends from the toe piece back to and overlaps the shank member,'said temporary insole member being smaller than the last.

In lasting the upper the edges thereof are 7 drawn over the bottom of the last and temporarily secured to the shank member and the two-part insole member and thereafter the outsole is McKay-sewed t0 the shoe by stitches which extend through the shank member and through the toe piece but which extend outside of the temporary section of the insole, member. The temporary insole section is then detached from the toe piece and removed from the shoe thus leaving the portion of the shoe between the shank piece and toe piece with only the outsole on the bottom of the shoe. The shank member is so sha that at the edges of the shoe it ,exten s forwardly to or just beyond the convexl curved edge of the sole at the ball of the oot so that at these convexly curved portions the stitching is anchored in both the outer sole and the shank piece and there will be no danger of the upper pulling away from the outsole at this oint to such an extent as to expose the stitching. Similarly, around the convex curvature of the toe of the shoe the stitches are anchored in both the outsole and the toe piece and the upper will thus be firmly held so that there will be no danger of the upper pulling away from the outsole sufficiently to show the stitches, a condition which is sometimes referred to as grinning.

In order to give an understanding of the invention I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a shoe embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the insole member comprising the permanent toe piece and the temporary insole section;

'Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a shoe made in accordance with my invention which" has been lasted and before the outer sole. is sewed on;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a shoeembodymg my invention after the outsole has been sewed on;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6, Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7, Fig. 5

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8, Fig. 5;

Fig. 9'is a view illustrating the manner in which the temporary insole section is removed from the shoe;

' Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the headless tacks used;

Fig. 11 is a section on the line 11-11,

Fi 1; F Fig. 12 is a section on the line 1212,

In making a shoe according to my present method I employ an insole member '1 of special construction such as shown in Fig. 2. This insole member 1 comprises a toe section 2 which is permanently incorporated into the shoe and a temporary insole section 3 which is incorporated into the shoe for lasting purposes and then is subsequently removed. The toe section 2 has a shape corresponding to the shape of the toe of the last 4.- so that when the insole member is applied to the bottom of the last preparatory to. lasting the shoe the toe piece 2 will fit-the toe of the last,

the outer edge-of the toe piece 2 coinciding I with the outer edge of thela'st, as seenin Fig. 12. The temporary insole section 3 is detachably secured to the toe piece 2 and while it has a shape similar to the shape of the fore part of the last yet it is narrower than the last so that when the insole member is applied to the bottom of the last the edges 5 of the temporary insolesection will'be spaced from the edges of the last 4.

The temporary insole member and the toe piece may be detachably secured together in any approved way. One simple construction is that shown in Fig. 2 wherein they are secured together by a piece 25 of paper or other thin easily tearable material which is adhesively secured. to both pieces.

In making the shoe an insole member, such as above described, is applied to the last hav ing a metal bottom 6 and a shank piece 7 is also applied to the bottom of the last, such shank piece having a shape to fit the last so that the edges 8 thereof come flush with the edges of the last. This insole member and shank member may be attached to the last in any usual way as by temporary fastenings 9. The upper 10 is then lasted over 'the last during which operation the edges 11 thereof are secured to the shank member 7 by lasting tacks 12 all as usual and the edge 13 at the toe portion is also secured to the toe piece 2 by other lasting tacks 12. The portion 14 of the edge of the upper which overlaps the temporary insole section 3, however, is attached thereto by specially formed fastenings which are anchored more securely in the temporary insole member than in the edge of the upper.

While various fastening devices having this characteristic might be used I have herein shown for illustrative purposes a fastening device in the form of a headless tack 15 such as shown in Fig. 10. When these headless tacks are driven through the edge 14 of the upper the points will be clinched over on the inside of the temporary insole section 3 and since the tacks have no heads they will thus be more securely anchored in the insole section than in the edge of the upper. They are, however, sufliciently well anchored in the upper to hold the edges 14 in place duringthe further operations on the shoe.

After the shoe has been lasted as above described the outsole 16 is sewed thereto by the well-known McKay process and in performing this operation the stitches 17 along the shank of the shoe extend through both the outsole 16 and the shank portion 7, and around the toe of the shoe they also extend through both the outsole 16 and the toe piece 2 while at the portion of the shoe between the v shank piece 7 and toe piece 2 said stitches extend outside the edge 5 of the temporary insole member 3. When the outsole has been thus sewed to the shoe the temporary insole section 3 is detached from the toe piece 2 and removed from the shoe as illustrated in Fig. 9.

The operation of removing the temporary insole member also results in withdrawing all the headless tacks 15 from the upper because said tacks'are clinched over on the inside of the temporary insole member and are thus so securely anchored therein that the headless ends thereof will pull out of the upper before the clinched ends will pull out of the temporary insole section. This removal of the temporary insole section may be accomplished in any suitable way, as for instance by employing pincers 18.

When the temporary insole section has been thus removed the shoe will have incorporated therein the toe section at the toe of the shoe and the shank portion at the shank of the shoe while at the portion of the shoe between the shank member and the toe section there will be only the thickness of the outer sole at the bottom of the shoe. When the shoe is used the portion of the sole which flexes and which it is desirable to have flexible is that just at or in front of the ball of the foot and with my invention this portion of the sole is flexible because it has only the stiffness in it proxided by the outsole. At the toe of the shoe the stitches 17 are anchored in both the outsole 16 and toe section 2 and, therefore, they are firmly held and there is no possibility of the upper being pulled away from the outsole at this point sufficiently to show the stitches.

It will be noted that the shank member 7 is so shaped that at its forward end it presents portions 19, 20 which extend around the convex curvature of the sole at 21 and 22 and, therefore, at these convexly-curved portions of the sole the stitches 17 are also anchored in the shank piece on the interior of the shoe and are, therefore, firmly held at this point so that as the shoe is worn the upper cannot pull away from the sole and thus produce what is called a grinning seam; The only places where the stitches 17 are anchored only in the edge of the upper is along the relatively straight portions'23, 24 of the sole between the convexly curved toe end and the convexly curved portions 21, 22. Since the stitches are firmly held at either side of the straight portions there will be no particular tendency for the upper to pull away from the sole at such portions sufficiently to show any grinning stitches.

In a shoe where there is no insole and the upper is sewed directly to the outsole, as in the case of a turned shoe, the point where the upper tends to pull away from the sole and show a so-called grinning scam is'at the convexly-curved portions of the sole. In my improved shoe these portions are protected by reason of the fact that at such points the stitches are anchored in" the portions 19, 20 of the shank and in the toe piece section 2.

The toe piece is preferably skived along its rear edge so that after the temporary insole member 3 has been removed there will be no abrupt shoulder formed at the end of toe piece, the skived end of the latter forming a smooth surface with the outsole.

I claim:

The process of making a shoe which consists in forming a two-part insole member comprising a toe section having an exterior shape corresponding to the toe section of the last on which the shoe is to be made and a removable insole section which is ofi less width than said last and which is temporarily secured to the toe section, applying said insole member and a separate shank member to the metal bottom of a last, lasting an upper over the last and in so doing fastening the edges thereof to the shank member and to the toe section of the insole member in usual manner, and fastening the edges of the upper to the removable section of the insole member by fastenings which are more securely an- ('horcd in the removable section than in the edges of the upper, removing the last from the shoe. stitching an outsole to the shoe by stitches which extend through the shank member and toe section of the insole member but which extend outside of the removable insole section, and then removing said removable insole section trom'the shoe and by this operation pulling from the edges of the upper the fastenings by which said edges are united to said removable section.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN WALTER MAY.

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