Shoe Horn With a Rolled Tubular Tang, Cut From One Sheet (Williams, 1901)

"I construct the tang by extending the sheet metal from the upper or smaller end of the horn in a tongue of suitable width to roll into a tubular tang and form integral with such tongue lateral wings or flanges upon the upper end of the horn, which can be folded or curved upon the edges of the horn to stiffen the same at its junction with the tang."

Cut the paper blank out and lay it on 0.8 mm brass sheet. Scribe round it. Cut just outside the line with tin snips, then file to the line. Keep the tongue an even 15 mm wide.

Round every edge of the body with a file and sandpaper. The mouth slides against the heel and the sock, so it must be smooth all round.

Lay a 4 mm rod along the middle of the tongue. With round-nose pliers, curl one edge of the tongue up round the rod, then the other, a little at a time along its length, until the edges meet: his "close-rolled cylindrical" tang c'. Slide the rod out.

Fold each wing b along its dashed line a' over the edge of the horn, onto the underside, with the flat-nose pliers and then light taps of the rubber mallet, until it lies close. His Figs. 3 and 4 show the horn turned over, with the wings b' lying on the edges and running into the tang.

His body is "slightly concave transversely". Lay it, inside up, across a rod held in the vice and tap the edges down with the rubber mallet, working from the neck to the mouth, until it is evenly hollow across its width. Keep the curve slight; it should still lie nearly flat on the bench along its length.

Saw 75 mm of hardwood handle stock (ours) and shape it with a rasp and sandpaper. Drill a 6 mm hole 40 mm deep in one end, straight down the middle, to take the tang. His handle is "more for ornament than for support", so any shape you like will do.

Roughen the tang with sandpaper, mix the epoxy, fill the hole and push the handle onto the tang until it meets the wings. Line the handle up with the horn and leave it to set as the epoxy's label says.

Polish the horn with polishing compound on a soft cloth.

**Alfred G. Williams** of Newark, New Jersey, assignor to Havell Manufacturing Company, US 685,548, dated 29 October 1901, filed 26 June 1901. He claimed "the shoe-horn having integral tang c', of close-rolled cylindrical form, with integral wings b' extended from such tang and folded over upon the edges of the horn". He meant it for "ornamented handles" in "mounted toilet sets". He gives no sizes, no metal and no way of fixing the handle: the brass, all sizes, the hardwood handle, the epoxy and the order of work are ours.