Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Pattens

PATTENS, are a contrivance serving as a substitute for wooden shoes: they are furnished with an iron ring, and worn by women during wet weather, to protect the feet from moisture.

As pattens formed upon the common construction are liable to break, in consequence of which frequent accidents happen, various expedients have been devised by those who manufacture these articles, with a view to prevent such misfortunes. The following patent only has come to our knowledge: it was granted in 1798, to Mr. Jethro Hornblower, of Whitehall, in the county of Cornwall, engineer, for a method of making pattens (to be worn by women); by altering the composition and clumsiness of their shape; preventing them from breaking; and removing the uneasiness they occasion to the feet.—Not having seen the specification of this contrivance, we cannot state the principle on which it is conducted.