US1725749A - Waterproof seam and method of making same - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 27, 1929. G, w, BLAIR 1,725,749

WATERPROOF SEAM AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed D90. 15, 1924 e t; Ge gzye- 715310327 Patented Aug. 27, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,725,749 PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. BLAIR. OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, ASSIQNOR T MISHAWAKA RUBBER & WOOLEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, A CORPORA- rron or INDIANA.

WATERPROQF SEAMI AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed December 15, 1924. Serial No. 755,830.

My invention has reference to the waterproofing of stitched seams and is particularly useful in connection with articles of footwear. 7

a It is a common practice to make heavy shoes of leather or part leather and part rub ber, waterproof so that they keep out the moisture in wet weather and when used in wet places. It has been found,'however, that 10 the stitched seams in shoes of this character oftentimes are not entirely waterproof, as thewater and moisture works its'way between the lapped edges and through the openings through -whichthe stitches are passed. It is the purpose of this invention to avoid this leakage in footwear by providing a method and means for thoroughly sealing the lapped joint and the openings through which the stitches are passed.

On the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side View of a shoe embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View on. the line 22 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a section verv much enlarged,

taken on the line 3'3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates the foot portion of a shoe, said portion being made of rubber in so the particular shoe which is illustrated, and preferably provided with a fabric lining 2 on the inner side. The upper 3 of the shoe is made of leather and consists of quarters which may be unitary or sewed together along their rear edges, as shown, with a tape 4 overlying the joint, and these quarters have their front edges secured to a tongue 5, which is usually of a bellows form.

It is customary in shoes of this character, to secure theoupper 3 to the foot portion 1' of the shoe by a number-of lines of stitches 5, a tape 7 of fabric being usually interposed between the two parts so that the oil from the leather will not injuriously affect the &5 rubber of the foot portion 1. The stitching ofthe upper to the foot portion does not always draw the parts together tight enough to form a waterproof joint, and as the stitching is made with rather coarse thread so as to insure a substantial connection, it sometimes happens that the openings through which the threads are passed, are not closed '0. sufficiently tight to prevent water leaking tfierethrough. Moreover the water or moisture which works its way into the semen ppenings'docs not dry out readily and has an 111]l11l011S effect on the thread. To avoid these disadvantages I employ a tape 8 of leather upper 3 as indicated at 9 in Fig. 3

and protrudes slightly from the outer ends of the stitch openings. This has a further effect of preserving the threads as the sealing of the openings in the leather upper 3 prevents the moisture from penetrating into the stitch openings where it naturally dries more slowly than on the exterior and afiords a greater opportunity therefore for rotting of thethreads.

It is to be understood that this waterproofing may be employed at any points where stitching or other fastening of the parts together affords openings through which leakage may occur. In practice a strip 10 of soft rubber is interposed for sealing purposes between the strip 4': at the back of the shoe and thejupper 3, and this rubber scaling is also applied between the lower portion of the tongue 5 where it is W connected with the foot portion 1 and also where the tongue is connected to the lower portion of the upper 3 so as to insure a perfect waterproof connection betweenthe foot portion 1 and the upper portion of the shoe.

While l have shown and described my in- .vention in a preferred form, ll am aware that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of my invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The methodof connecting a layer of leather and a layer of rubber to form a waterproof joint which comprises interposing a strip of softer rubber between the layer of leather and the layer of rubber and intcrposing a strip of fabric between the strip of soft rubber and the layer of rubber and then applying a plurality'of rows of stitches through the layers of leatherand rubber and the strips of soft rubber and fabric and thereby compressing the soft 'rubber and forcing portions thereof into the stitch openings of the layer of leather.

2. In a shoe, a foot portion, an upper having its lower edge overlapping the top of the foot portion, a thick soft rubber sealing element between the overlapped portions of said upper and said foot portion, and a pluralit of substantially parallel rows of stitc es extending through the overlapped upperandfoot portion and also through the soft rubber and holding said parts under compression, the outer ends of the stitchopenings being exposed at the exterior of the shoe portions of said rubber sealing element being extruded by thecompression into and closing the ends of the stitch openings.

3. A shoe seam, comprisin overlapped shoe upper members, a thick so t rubber sealing element between the overlapped shoe members, and a plurality of substantially parallel rows of stitches extending through the overlapped shoe members and the rubber sealing element and holding said parts under compression, the outer ends oflthe stitchopenings being exposed at the exterior of the shoe, portions of said rubber sealing element being extruded by the compression into and closing the ends of the stitch openings.

4. The method of forming a stitched waterproof shoe upper seam wherein the outer ends of the stitch-openings are exposed at the exterior of the shoe, which consists in interposing a soft rubber sealing element between overlapped shoe members, and stitching a plurality of substantially parallel rows ofstitches through theoverlapped shoemembers and the sealing element and drawing the stitches tight and thereby extrudingportions of the sealing element into and closing the ends of the stitch openings,

GEORGE w BLAIR,

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