US1439564A - Composite heel for boots and shoes - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 19, 1922. 1,439,564.

- H. J. LUCIER.

COMPOSITE HEEL FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

FILED FEB-7.1921.

01 12 fa/z Patented Dec. 19, 1922..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I HECTOR J. LUCIER, OF fiTOUGHTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMPOSITE HEEL r03 oo'rs' AND SHOES;

Application filed February 7, 1921. Serial No. 443,045.

appertains to make and use the invention,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

The invention has relation to rubber heels for-boots and shoes, and it consists in the novel construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter set forth.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes, it is frequently desirable to apply rubber heels to them during the manufacturing operation, so that when the boot or shoe is completed. it is provided with a rubber heel instead of with a leather heel. In so making 'boots and shoes, it is common practice to employ a heel made entirely of rubber and provided with a concave upper face to fit theheel seat portion ofthe shoe. Such a heel is referred to in the trade as a whole heel.

It; is also commoii practice to provide a shoe with a rubber heel having a less thickness than the entire height of the heel and commonly referred to as half heels.

These half heels are usually made with afiat topsurface and in order to applyithem to a shoe, it is necessary to build a base of leather or its equivalent on the heel seat portion of the shoe to form a proper support for the attachment of the half heel.

The operation of attaching, either a wholeheel or a half heel to a shoe involves the step of cementing the heel either to the heel seat portion of the shoe or to said leather base, and this cementing operation requires a certain length of time for the cement to set or dry, and therefore when the heel is attached to the shoe during the process of manufacture, the shoe must of necess-ity be laid aside for a time while the cement is drying. This delays the manufacturing operation and also necessitates the use of considerable storage space for the shoes while the'heel cement is drying.

The use of a whole heel of rubber is not always satisfactory, because of the difliculty of making a good joint where the top peripheral edgeof the heel meets the edge of the heelseat portion of the shoe. A rubber heel is more or less elastic and yielding,

and because of the fact that the heel seat portions of different shoes vary somewhat 1n contour, it is not always possibleto attach the heel to the shoe so as to provide a permanently tight joint between the rubber and the heel seat portion of the shoe. For this reason there are some advantages in the half heel, with its leather base, because the leather base can bemade so that it will always make ta tight joint with the heel seat portion of the shoe, and one which will be invisible and will not open as the shoe is used. Moreover, since rubber is considerably heavier than leather, the half heel with its leather base weighs considerably less than a whole heel of rubber, and this 1s also an advantage. K

.It is one of the objects-of this invent-ion to provide a composite rubber and leather heel which can 'be manufactured separately from the shoe and can be applied to the shoe by a nailing process and. without the necessity of going through the operation of cementing the heel to the shoe, with the consequent loss of time required for the cement to .dry, and which also has the advantages of the half heel above recited.-

Other novel features or objects will be more particularly pointed out in the follow,- lng description of a selected embodiment of my invention. Y

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating an embodimentof the invention:

Figure 1 is acentral longitudinal section of the invention as applied.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the invention, with the leather lift partly in section. Filgure 3 is a section on the line 33', Figure Figure 4 is a detail central longitudinal section of the. leather lift. Y

Figure 5 is a similar view'of the rubber heel. V

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the invention, similar to the showing of Figure 3, but before attachment to the shoe.

In these drawings the numeral 1 designates a heel body of rubber orrubber compound, and 2 is atop lift of leather or leather substitute, The heel body 1 is mold ed'to the desired shape, and is of less thickness than the complete or whole heel and of greater-thickness thanthe half heel. The heel body 1 is molded with its top face 3 concavcd in scoop fashion, as will be noted the curved shape of the heel seat portion of the shoe.

If it were attempted to have the lift 2 of uniform thickness throughout, with its top face concaved as above stated, the top face of the rubber body 1 would, for a proper concavity to fit the heel seat portion of the shoe, have to be concaved to such an extent as to reduce said body somuch in thickness that it would interfere with the Washers 5, and if it were attempted to form the concavity in the top face of the leather top lift 2 alone, leaving the top face of the rubber body 1 flat or plane, said top lift would be reduced to a rand formation, which is common practice today and- Which would .sacrifice an advantage of the leather top lift 2 in that it is relatively stiff and serves to hold:

the rubber body or heel proper-from undue spreading when it isapplied to the shoe.

Applicant therefore makes the concave top face 6 of the lift2 the sum of the concavity of said top face and of the concavity of the top face 3 of the rubber body, the curvature.

of the lower face 7 of the lift 2 being'such, relative to the curvature of the face 6, that the lift is thinner at the middle than at the edges thereof. The convexity ofthe said lower face 7 is of the same degree as the concavity of the upper face 3 of the rubber body 1.

The bottom or wear face 4 of the rubber body 1 is formed slightly convex transversely of the heel, and especially at the breast of the heel, said convexity being of less degree than that of the concavity 3. Said body is provided with'the usual washers 5, imbedded thereinfor the purpose of receiving or backing up the heads of the nlails by which the heelis secured to the s 0e.

The lift 2 is of leather or leather-substitute, being of a material that can be molded or formed into the desired shape either in-U dependently of the rubber body 1 or in the 4 same mold as said body, andwhich' will retain such shape. The top face 6 of the lift 2 has its curvature of greater rather than less degree than the curvature of the heel seat portion of the shoe, whereby the driving of the nails through the holes or Washers adjacent to the breast of the heel will flatten the lift 2 slightly in conforming it to the shape of the heel seat portion of the shoe, and will press the peripheral or outer edges of said lift firmly against the outer edges of the said heel seat portion. In driving the nails as stated to flatten the top section 2, the convex portion or convexity of the wear face 4 of heel will have a flat wear face when secured to the shoe.

When the composite heel is nailed to the shoe it is. necessary that the leather top lift 2 shall be trimmed oflmarginally, to make a neat and tight or flush joint with the innersole 8 of the shoe to which it is nailed, and for this purpose said top lift is extended marginally of the rubber body 1, except at the breast of the heel, this marginal extension being shown at 9. In order that the marginal extension 9 shall be capable of being trimmed off to the best advantage in making a flush .joint as stated, the peripheral edge 10 of said extension is made normally vertical, this being of advantage also in avoiding a groove or any trace of a groove between the rubber body 1 and the inner sole 8, along the upper edge of the lift 2, as

rubber body. having a concave scoop-shape upper face and a leather top lift having a concave upper face and aconvex lower face cemented to the upper face of said body,

said lift being thinner at the-middle than at the edges thereof. 2

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

. HECTOR. J. LUCIER.

Witnesses: v

E. B LAH' RIDEOUT, ESTHER A.'JACKSON.

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