The Toe-Holding Bootjack: A Shaft That Pins the Boot Down

"A is the body of the ordinary boot jack. B are two side bars, pivoted to the jack at the point a. These side bars are connected together by the shaft C, which is permitted to revolve around the points b, and into which is mortised the bar or handle D." "f, is the bar or bridge upon which the jack rests as usual for the purpose of raising the forked end from the ground."

**Body.** Saw a board 40 × 12 cm from hardwood board. Cut a V-notch 7 cm deep and 7 cm wide in one end with the coping saw: the jaws. Glue and screw a 3 cm block across the underside 12 cm from the notch: the bridge. **Side bars.** Saw two strips 28 × 3 cm. Bolt one to each side of the body 3 cm behind the bottom of the notch, loose enough to swing, with a washer each side. **Shaft and bar.** Cut 16 cm of hardwood dowel to span between the side bars' free ends, about 20 cm back from the pivot, and screw it on. Drill its middle, glue in 50 cm of dowel as the bar, and drill a hole near the bar's top to hang the jack up. **Test.** Wearing a rubber boot, stand on the jack with the other foot, heel in the jaws, and time taking the boot off without touching the bar. Then do it again pulling the bar so the shaft presses the toe; hook the spring scale to the bar once to read your pull. Compare with a plain bought boot jack.

**Samuel B. Sumner** of Grantville, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, signed US 10,016 on 5 April 1853; it is dated 13 September 1853. His claim is the side bars, shaft and bar arranged on an instrument for taking off boots. **Honest limits.** Bolts, a screwed-on dowel and a glued dowel stand in for Sumner's pivots and mortise. The notebook treats the hand's pull as square to the bar; its pull and lengths are examples. Your times and pull are the result.