US485813A - Boot or shoe - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

G. B. HOOPER.

BOOT OR SHOE.

No. 485,813. Patented Nov. 8, 1892.

ygI'NE EJEEE.

UNITED STATES GEORGE l3. I-IOOPER, OF STO PATENT OFFICE,

neuron, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOOT OR SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,813, dated November 8, 1892.

Application filed December 1, 1891.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. I-loornn, of Stoughton, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide an improvement in boots or shoes whereby the heel of the wearer can be yieldingly supported, so as to make the act of walking easier, particularly on pavements and other hard surfaces.

The invention consists in a boot or shoe having that portion of its foot-bearing surface which supports the heel of the wearer, and hereinafter termed the heel-seat,made with a deeper concave than usual, its central portion being depressed to a greater extent than would be required to conform to the bottom of the wearers heel, and a metallic spring-plate of cruciform shape attached at one end to the shank portion of the sole and extended across the heel-seat, the free end of the spring bearing on the raised margin of the heel-seat, while the main portion of the spring extends across the deep concave and is permitted by the depth of the concave to rise and fall sufficiently to relieve the foot from. the jar which attends the descent of the heel of the boot or shoe upon a paveinent.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 represents alongitudinal section of a shoe provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 represents a top view of the same.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In carrying out my invention I construct a boot or shoe so that the heel-seat a, which is under the heel of the wearer of the boot or shoe, has a deeper cavity than that required to fit the bottom of the heel, said heel-seat being usually formed so that it will conform closely to the shape of the bottom of the heel, while in my improved boot or shoe the cavity or heel-seat a is made of such depth that when the wearers heel is in its natural po- Serial No. 413,685. (No model.)

, sition in the boot or shoe there willbe aspace of some depth between the bottom of the heel and the central portion of the heel-seat.

To the shank portion of the sole of the boot or shoe thus formed I attach at Z) a springplate I), which is formed to extend across the heel-seat a and to bear on the raised rear portion of the same, said plate being formed so that normally its contour will fit the bottom of the wearers heel, the upper surface of the plate corresponding to the form ordi- 6o narily given to the heel-seat of the boot or shoe, so that the plate normally occupies a position considerably above the depressed heel-seat formed in accordance with my invention. I provide the spring I) with lateral extensions 19 79 which extend across the heelseat and bear at their outer ends on the raised side portions of the heel-seat.

It will be seen that when the wearers weight is brought to bear on the plate 17- the central portion of the'latter will yield and sink into the cavity of the heel-seat, the spring being of such stiffness that when the weight of the wearer is distributed between both feet, as when the wearer is standing equally on both feet, the plates b will occupy substantially their normal position, thereby supporting the bottom of the heel above the heel-seat a, each spring yielding only when the entire weight of the wearer is thrown upon it.

This construction makes the boot or shoe much easier to the wearer, particularly in walking over pavements or other hard surfaces. The improved construction also tends to produce a circulation of air under the Wearers heel by reason of the movements of the spring toward and from the heel-seat.

The cost of construction of the boot or shoe is not materially increased by the de scribed improvement, as will be readily seen.

I claim The improved boot or shoe having a heelseat formed with an excessive concavity and a single metallic spring-plate of cruciform 5 shape attached at one end to the shank portion of the shoe-sole and extended across said concavity, the free ends of the spring bearing on the raised margin of the heel-seat,

] two subscribing witnesses, this 21st day of whereby said spring-plate may yield under November, A. D. 1891. the pressure of the wearers heel until the I plate fits said. concavity, substantially as de- I 5 scribed.

\Vitnesses: In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of GEORGE B. HOOPER.

O. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON.

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