SHOE SOLE ATTACHING PRESS AND PAD BOX THEREFOR

Abstract: In a shoe sole attaching press a pad box (10) is provided having a forepart pad (12), a heel support arrangement (22, 24), a plurality of waist pads (18), and a heel breast line pad (20) intermediate the waist pads and the heel support arrangement. Each waist pad (18) is in the form of a plate-like element (72) comprising a first layer (72) of a relatively hard elastomeric material (60 DEG Shore A) and, accommodated in a central aperture formed in the first layer, a second, backing block or layer (74) of a relatively compressible material (40 DEG Shore A) whereby, when shoe sole attaching pressure is applied, the relatively hard material of the first layer is caused to deform thus to conform the shoe sole unit to the shoe bottom and bond it thereto, the second layer being compressed commensurately and thus accommodating the deformation of the first layer. Similarly, the forepart pad is a multi-layer pad the shoe-engaging surface portion of which is constituted by a first layer (76) of relatively hard material backed by a second layer (78) of relatively compressible material. The breast line pad (20) has an inclined heel breast locating surface (84) which serves to locate the unit (U) and thus the shoe (S) in the pad box. The pad (20) is reversible for left and right shoes.

Description: SHOE SOLE ATTACHING PRESS AND PAD BOX THEREFOR TECHNICAL FIELD This invention is concerned with a shoe sole attaching press, more particularly, but not exclusively, with a pad box for a shoe sole attaching press comprising a pad arrangement, comprising at least one pad having a shoe-engaging surface portion, for supporting a lasted shoe, bottom down, with a shoe sole unit located against the shoe bottom and for causing pressure to be applied to press such unit against the shoe bottom whereby, with adhesive applied between contacting surfaces of the unit and shoe bottom, to cause the unit to be bonded to the shoe bottom. BACKGROUND ART One such pad box is described in GB-A-2,042,868, wherein for supporting the shoe and sole unit and applying pressure thereto in the waist region of the shoe the pad arrangement comprises a plurality of pads each in the form of a plate-like element and arranged each with an edge portion thereof providing a shoe-engaging surface portion. In addition, for supporting the shoe and shoe sole unit and applying pressure thereto in the forepart region of the shoe the arrangement comprises a pad having a generally flat shoe-engaging surface portion. For operating on left and right shoes, conventionally sole attaching presses have two stations, one for each hand of shoe and each comprising a pad box and means engageable with the shoe in the forepart and heel crown regions of the shoe for applying a counter- pressure to the shoe when sole attaching pressure is applied thereto. Moreover, each pad box is "customised" according to whether it is for use in operating on left shoes or right. Such customising, which is usually carried out by the shoe manufacturer, includes shaping the shoe-engaging surface portions of the edge portions of the "waist" pads so as to accommodate to a left or a right shoe and also, shaping the shoe-engaging surface portion of the "forepart" pad according to whether the shoe to be operated upon is a left or a right. Once the pads have been conformed in this manner, the operator is then able to locate shoes in accordance with the shaped surface portions. One reason why it is necessary to provide shaped surface portions resides in that both the forepart pad and also the waist pads are generally made of relatively hard material, e.g. solid rubber, so that they are not readily deformable, even under sole attaching pressure, so as to conform to the shoe bottom shape, still less to deform so as to cause the sole unit to conform to the shoe bottom shape. It will, on the other hand, be appreciated that a certain degree of hardness is required in the or each pad in order to ensure that adequate pressure is applied to cause the unit to conform to the shoe bottom shape and thus to cause the unit to be bonded to the shoe bottom when sole attaching pressure is applied. Conventionally, and as described in e.g. GB-A-2,042,868, the support arrangement also comprises a further pad arranged adjacent and at a heelward side of the waist pads and engageable with the shoe in the breast line region thereof. Such pad also provides a location for engagement by the heel breast of the sole unit to be secured to the shoe bottom. In the rest condition of the press this "breast line" pad projects further upwardly than the waist pads in order to facilitate loading of the shoe into the pad box, and to this end the breast line pad tends to be more deformable than the intermediate pads with a view to the operator forcing the heel breast of the unit into the pad so as to be able to locate the shoe lengthwise, at the same time orienting it in order to align it with the shaped parts of the forepart pad and waist pads. Such an arrangement, however, it will be appreciated, relies heavily upon the operator accurately locating the shoe/ sole unit assembly prior to the operation of the press. It is one of the various objects of the present invention to provide an improved pad box which does not require the customising of the various pads and moreover which facilitates the accurate location of the shoe, whether a left or a right, without reliance solely upon the skill of the operator. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention thus provides, in one of its several aspects, a pad box for a shoe sole attaching press comprising a pad arrangement, comprising at least one pad having a shoe-engaging surface portion, for supporting a lasted shoe, bottom down, with a shoe sole unit located against the shoe bottom and for causing pressure to be applied to press such unit against the shoe bottom whereby, with adhesive applied between contacting surfaces of the unit and shoe bottom, to cause the unit to be bonded to the shoe bottom, characterised in that said at least one pad comprises a first layer of a relatively hard material, providing the shoe-engaging surface portion, and a second, relatively compressible, layer, providing a backing for the first layer, and in that when sole attaching pressure is applied the first layer is caused to deform and thus to conform the shoe sole unit to the shape of the bottom of the shoe in the region of engagment of said unit by said pad, the second layer being compressed to accommodate the deformation of the first layer. It will thus be appreciated that where one or more such pads are used in a pad box, it is no longer necessary to customise or shape the shoe-engaging surface portion thereof to suit the particular shoe to be operated upon or indeed to suit a selected left or right shoe, but rather reliance is placed upon the pad(s), by reason of their deformability, being capable of adapting to a wide range of shoe styles and sizes, regardless of whether the shoe is a left or a right. In the pad box of the present invention, as in conventional pad boxes, preferably for supporting the shoe and sole unit and applying pressure thereto in the waist region of the shoe the pad arrangement comprises a plurality of pads arranged each in the form of a plate¬ like element. Preferably, furthermore, each element has two opposed edge portions, the pad box providing a mounting for supporting each pad with a selected one of its edge portions in a shoe-engaging position. In a preferred embodiment the first layer of each element comprises a central aperture extending through the thickness of the element from one face thereof to the other, in which aperture the second layer is accommodated. Where each waist pad is so configured, furthermore, the two opposed edge portions thereof are preferably of different depths and thus of different deformability. It will be appreciated that, using waist pads of such configuration, it is possible to vary the deformability of each pad according to the requirements of the particular shoe. For example, in the case of a ladies' shoe, the bottom of which will tend to have a rounded transverse contour, it is desirable that the pads can "wrap" around the shoe bottom thus to conform the sole unit to the shoe bottom contour, and for this purpose desirably the edge portion providing the shoe- engaging surface portion is of relatively shallow depth. whereas in the case of a men's shoe, which tends to be flatter in transverse contour, it may be desirable to use the edge portion having a greater depth, since no wrap-round effect, and thus less deformability, is required. As already mentioned, in conventional presses for supporting the shoe and shoe sole unit and applying pressure thereto in the forepart region of the shoe the pad arrangement also comprises a forepart pad having a generally flat surface portion. In accordance with the present invention, moreover the forepart pad is preferably a multi-layer pad the flat surface portion of which is constituted by the first layer and provides the shoe-engaging surface portion thereof. Thus, again, when sole attaching pressure is applied the first layer is caused to deform and thus to conform the shoe sole unit to the shape of the shoe bottom in the forepart region thereof, the second layer being compressed to accommodate the deformation of the first layer. In this case also, therefore, it will be appreciated, the need to customise the forepart pad to the particular "hand" of shoe is dispensed with and the forepart pad can now be used, without modification, for both left and right shoes. The waist and forepart pads may be of any suitable material, e.g. rubber, and preferably the first layer has a hardness in the order of 60° Shore A and the second layer in order of 40° Shore A. In the pad box in accordance with the present invention, as in conventional pad boxes, a further, breast line, pad is preferably provided. In the present case, furthermore, said further pad preferably comprises a rigid support plate and a block of compressible material having a horizontal cross-section which is generally trapezoidal and presenting a face engageable by the heel breast of the shoe supported by the pad arrangement, said face being inclined transversely to accommodate the offset of the longitudinal centre line of the heel end of the shoe to the longitudinal centre line of the forepart region thereof. It will be appreciated that using such a breast line pad, the inclined surface serves now to locate the shoe/sole unit assembly in a desired longitudinal orientation, without reliance upon the skill of the operator. Moreover, since it is now no longer necessary to locate the shoe in relation to any shaped portions of the shoe-engaging surface of the waist pads, a reasonable degree of latitude can be used in locating the shoe in the pad box, the deformability of the waist pads ensuring that adequate pressure is applied to conform the sole unit to the shoe bottom contour. In a preferred arrangement, moreover, there is provided for the breast line pad a mounting which enables the pad to be accommodated selectively in one of two positions whereby the inclination of the opposed face thereof can be selected according to whether the shoe is a left or a right. It will thus be appreciated that it is now possible to consider a shoe sole attaching press having a single station in which both left and right shoes can be operated upon using the same pad box with the same pads, since the forepart and waistpads are no longer customised to a left or a right and further the breast line pad is reversible. In order to facilitate the location of the heel breast against the surface of the breast line pad without exerting undue pressure to deform the pad, as was the practice with conventional presses, preferably the edge portion of the breast line pad, adjacent the inclined surface, is provided with a radiussed corner. The radiussed corner will be essentially a compromise to accommodate a variety of heel breast contours, but alternatively, in a single-station machine as contemplated above, a plurality of breast line pads may be provided with corners of different radii to accommodate different shoe styles. Breast line pads configured as referred to above may also of course be used in two-station presses. In such a case preferably the breast line pad of each support arrangement has a radiussed courner formed along each of its edge portions adjacent the inclined face thereof, the radii being of different values, and the breast line pads are interchangeable between the two stations, whereby to enable the correct inclination and radius to be selected for each station according to whether the shoe to be operated on is a left or a right. Another of the several aspects of the present invention will be found set out in appended Claim 10. There now follows a detailed description, to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, of a sole attaching press and of a pad box forming part thereof, said press and pad box being illustrative of the invention in its press and pad box aspects. It will of course be appreciated that this press and this pad box have been selected for description merely by way of non-limiting example of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings:- Fig. 1 is a side elevation view, with parts broken away, of the pad box in accordance with the present invention, showing details of a forepart pad thereof, together with a forepart jack and a heel end jack constituting counter-pressure applying means of the sole attaching press of which the pad box forms part; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view through an waist pad forming part of the pad box shown in Fig. 1; and Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a plan view and a side view of a breast line pad of said pad box. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The sole attaching press in accordance with the invention now to be described comprises a pad box generally designated 10, the pad box itself comprising a so-called forepart pad 12 mounted in a support 14 for pivotal movement about an axis 16, whereby to accommodate to the angle of the shoe bottom in the forepart region thereof, a plurality of waist pads 18 engageable with the sole unit/shoe bottom assembly in the waist region thereof, a breast line pad 20, a heel support 22 and a heel abutment pad 24, to which reference is made hereinafter. The forepart pad 12 of the pad box 10 has an initial or rest position about the axis 16 determined by an adjustable stop pin 26. Moreover, typically the pad box will be locked in a position according to the angle of the shoe bottom, e.g. as described in detail in GB-A-2,042,868, when the press is in use. The waist pads 18, which are thus disposed intermediate the forepart pad 12 and the breast line pad 20, are relatively narrow, so that they can conform to the "spring" of the last, i.e according to the heel height of the shoe, each pad having associated therewith a piston-and-cylinder arrangement 28 so that the pads are movable individually. As shown in Fig 1, the breast line pad 20 is in an advanced condition in relation to the waist pads 18 even when the press is in its rest position and serves in this way to determine the position of the shoe lengthwise of the pad box during loading, the arrangement being such that the heel breast engages or the heel breast region is otherwise aligned with the heelward side of the breast line pad 20. The heel support 22 is mounted for heightwise movement into and out of engagement with the heel end portion of the sole unit/shoe assembly under the action of a piston-and-cylinder arrangement 30; this support is conventionally used in the case of men's shoes, where the heel is relatively low, and indeed of relatively large area, and thus applies an upward clamping force to the assembly. The heel abutment pad 24, on the other hand, is used in the case of ladies' shoes or high- heeled shoes and is so shaped as to apply a pressure to the shoe with both lengthwise and heightwise components. The heel abutment pad is mounted on a slide 32 which is carried on a column 34 mounted for pivotal movement about an axis 36 of the pad box. Moreover, the column 34 is caused to pivot through a pin-and-slot connection 38,40 with the heel support 22, as the latter is caused to rise under the action of the piston-and-cylinder arrangement 30. (When the heel abutment pad 24 is not required, the pin 38 can be withdrawn, and the column then swings to a rest position determined by an abutment 42. At the same time, a pad (not shown) is placed on the heel support 22 and provides a shoe-engaging surface for the support; when, on the other hand, the abutment 24 is in use, the pad is removed from the support 22 so it does not interfere with the shoe as the support is caused to rise. ) The arrangement is also described in greater detail in GB-A-2,042,868. The sole attaching press also comprises a forepart jack 50 and a heel end jack 52. The heel end jack 52 is arranged in opposed relationship with the pad 20 so that pressure applied by the heel end jack to the sole unit/shoe assembly is in the region of the heel breast of the assembly. Supported on the jack 52, by a pin-and-slot connection 54, is a heel pad 56 which engages with the crown of the last L of the lasted shoes. By arranging for the pad 56 to engage the crown of the last as closely as possible to the joint region of the last, any tendency for the shoe to tip rearwardly by reason of the pressure applied through the heel end jack to the shoe assembly is militated against. The forepart jack 50 supports a forepart pad 60 which is moved into engagement with the shoe at or adjacent to the bottom of the instep region thereof. The forepart pad 60 is made of a deformable elastomeric material having a Shore A hardness in the region of 20 to 55; thus, the forepart pad 60 will tend readily to deform when brought into pressing engagement with the forepart region of the shoe and thus spread the applied pressure over a relatively large area. Ideally the pad should be so dimensioned that, when it thus deforms, its contact is nevertheless solely with the shoe, and in particularly contact should not be made with the forepart pad 12 of the pad box 10, since this would diminish the applied pressure. The forepart pad 60 is bombe-shaped; this is regarded as an optimum shape for ensuring a good spread of applied pressure while avoiding contact between the deformable pad and the forepart pad 12, regardless of the amount of pressure applied. In this case the shape is generally conical and tapered sharply to the apex. Other shapes for the deformable pad of the forepart jack may also be used, e.g. as described in our co-pending Patent Application No. GB95/00063. As can be seen from Fig. 2 each waist pad 18 is a plate-like element 72 of generally rectangular shape, but with rounded corners. The upper edge portion of the pad 18 shown in Fig. 2 provides a first flat, or substantially flat, shoe-engaging surface portion 18jι while the lower edge provides a second flat, or substantially flat, shoe-engaging portion 18b. For supporting each pad 18, furthermore, its associated piston-and-cylinder arrangement 28 supports a shaped carrier 70 in which the pad 18 can be supported selectively with either one of said surface portions 18a, 18b in an operative position. Viewing Fig. 2, the plate-like element 18 comprises a first layer 72 of solid relatively hard elastomeric material, typically with a hardness in the order of 60° Shore A, having a central aperture in which a second, backing, block or layer 74 is located, extending through the thickness of the plate-like element 72 from one face thereof to the other. The second layer 74, moreover, is also made of an elastomeric material, but in this case the material is relatively compressible, having a hardness in the order of 40° Shore A. This second layer serves to accommodate the deformation of the first layer. It will further be noticed from Fig. 2 that the depth of the first layer between the first shoe- engaging surface portion 18a and the central aperture is much greater than the distance between the second such surface portion 18b and the central aperture. Thus, although the material of the first layer 72 is inherently hard, the region thereof providing the second surface portion 18b will tend to deform much more readily than the portion of the element in the vicinity of the first surface portion 18a. In use, when either surface portion of the pad is pressed, under sole attaching pressure, against a shoe bottom, the shoe-engaging surface portion (18a or 18b) provided by the first layer 72 will tend to deform under the applied pressure, thus causing the pad to urge the shoe sole unit U to conform to the shape of the shoe bottom in the waist region thereof, while the second layer is compressed commensurately.. Turning to Fig. 1, the forepart pad 12 will be seen also to have a multi-layer construction, including a first layer 76 providing an upper flat, or substantially flat, shoe-engaging surface portion, said first layer being of a relatively hard elastomeric material, typically of 60° Shore A, and being backed by a second layer 78 which is of relatively compressible elastomeric material, typically having a hardness of 40° Shore A. If desired, moreover, the multi-layer arrangement may comprise a sandwich, the two layers referred to above being in turn supported by a further layer (not shown) of a material having a similar hardness to that of the first layer. Also as can be seen from Fig. 1, the breast line pad 20 serves to locate the shoe lengthwise of the pad box by engagement of the breast line of the shoe heel with the heelward face of the pad 20. The particular configuration of the pad can be seen more , clearly from Figs. 3 and 4. With reference to these latter Figures, the pad 20 comprises a base plate 80 of metal which extends transversely of the shoe bottom and on which is bonded a shaped pad 82 having a central region providing a transversely inclined heel breast- engaging surface 84. The angle subtended between the base plate 80 and the inclined surface 84 is preferably in the order of 8°. Such an angle has been found to accommodate most conventional shoe styles, where the longitudinal centre line of the heel end of the shoe tends to be offset by a similar angle to the longitudinal centre line of the forepart of the shoe. Thus, by locating the heel breast of the appropriate "hand" of shoe (i.e. left or right, as the case may be) against the surface 84, the forepart of the shoe S is correctly located in relation to the forepart pad 12 and waist pads 18, i.e. generally aligning the longitudinal centre line of the forepart with the longitudinal centre line of the pad box itself. As can be seen more clearly in Fig. 4, the upper edge 82a provides a first shoe-engaging surface portion and the lower edge 82b provides a second such surface portion. By providing a mounting 86 (Fig. 1) which can accommodate the breast line pad 20 in either orientation, i.e. with either of its surface portion 82a, 82b at the top, the inclined surface 84 can be arranged either for a left shoe or a right selectively according to such orientation. Also as can be seen in Fig. 4, each surface portion 82a, 82b terminates in a radiussed corner 82x, 82y_ adjacent the inclined surface 84. In one embodiment (not shown), suitable for use in a single-station press, the radii 82x, 82y are of the same value, so that the pad need be merely reversed in its orientation so as to be able to operate on left and right shoes selectively. In an alternative embodiment, however, as shown in Fig. 4, where the pad is to be used in the more conventional two-station press, more particularly where one station is for use in operating on left shoes and the other on rights, the radius at the top of the pad is different from that at the bottom, e.g. the top radius 82x is of the order of 12mm, while that of the lower surface portion, 82y_, is in the order of 19mm. With such an arrangement it will now be appreciated that a simple reorientation of the pads for left and right shoes in one pad box will produce an upper edge having a different radius. On the other hand, if now the pads 20 of the two pad boxes are interchanged and their orientation is reversed, then selectively either both will present the smaller radius or both will present the larger radius. It will of course be appreciated that the purpose of the radius in each case is to allow the pad to enter the angle between the heel breast and the bottom surface of the sole unit thus to apply adequate bonding pressure in the operation of the press in said region. It has been found that, using the press in accordance with the invention, without customising any of the pads, shoes of various styles and sizes can readily be accommodated, as well as left and right shoes using the same pad configurations.

Claims: Claims ; 1. Pad box (10) for a shoe sole attaching press comprising a pad arrangement (12,18), comprising at least one pad (12;18) having a shoe-engaging surface portion, for supporting a lasted shoe (S), bottom down, with a shoe sole unit (U) located against the shoe bottom and for causing pressure to be applied to press such unit against the shoe bottom whereby, with adhesive applied between contacting surfaces of the unit and shoe bottom, to cause the unit to be bonded to the shoe bottom, characterised in that said at least one pad (12;18) comprises a first layer (72;76) of a relatively hard material, providing the shoe-engaging surface portion, and a second, relatively compressible, layer (74;78), providing a backing for the first layer, and in that when sole attaching pressure is applied the first layer (72;76) is caused to deform and thus to conform the shoe sole unit (U) to the shape of the bottom of the shoe (S) in the region of engagement of said unit by said pad (12;18), the second layer (74;78) being compressed to accommodate the deformation of the first layer. 2. Pad box according to Claim 1 wherein for supporting the shoe (S) and shoe sole unit (U) and applying pressure thereto in the waist region of the shoe the pad arrangement (12,18) comprises a plurality of pads (18) each in the form of a plate-like element (18), characterised in that an edge portion of each pad (18) is constituted by the first layer (72) and provides the shoe-engaging surface portion thereof. 3. Pad box according to Claim 2 characterised in that each plate-like element (18) has two opposed edge portions, each being constituted by the first layer (72), and each providing a shoe-engaging surface portion of the pad, in that the pad box (10) provides a mounting for supporting each pad with a selected one of its edge portions in a shoe-engaging position. 4. Pad box according to Claim 3 characterised in that the first layer (72) of each element (18) comprises a central aperture extending through the thickness of the element from one face thereof to the other, in which aperture the second layer (74) is accommodated. 5. Pad box according to Claim 3 characterised in that the two opposed edge portions are of different depths and thus of different deformability. 6. Pad box according to Claim 1 wherein for supporting the shoe (S) and shoe sole unit (ϋ) and applying pressure thereto in the forepart region of the shoe the pad arrangement (12,18) comprises a pad (12) having a generally flat surface portion, characterised in that the flat surface portion is constituted by the first layer (74) and provides the shoe-engaging surface portion thereof. 7. pad box according to Claim 1 characterised in that the first layer (72;76) of said at least one pad (12;18) has a hardness in the order of 60° Shore A and the second layer (74;78) in order of 40° Shore A. 8. Pad box according to Claim 1 comprising a further pad (20) arranged at a heelward side of the pad arrangement (12,18) for engagement with the shoe in the breast line region thereof, characterised in that said further pad (20) comprises a rigid support plate (80) and a block (82) of compressible material having a horizontal cross-section which is generally trapezoidal and presenting a face (84) engageable by the heel breast of the shoe supported by the pad box (10), and further in that said face (84) is inclined transversely to accommodate the offset of the longitudinal centre line of the heel end of the shoe (S) to the longitudinal centre line of the forepart region thereof. 9. Pad box according to Claim 8 characterised in that a mounting (86) is provided for said further pad (20), enabling the pad to be accommodated selectively in one of two positions whereby the inclination of the inclined face (84) thereof can be selected according to whether the shoe is a left or a right. 10. Shoe sole attaching press comprising two stations, one for operating on left shoes and one on right shoes, each station comprising a pad box (10) according to Claim 9 and means (50,52,54,56,60) engageable with the shoe (S) placed on the shoe-engaging surface portion of the pad arrangement (12,18) in the forepart and heel crown regions of the shoe for applying a counter-pressure to the shoe, characterised in that said further pad (20) of each pad box (10) has a radiussed corner (82x,82y) formed along each of its edge portions adjacent the inclined face (84) thereof, the radii being of different values, and in that said further pads (20)of the two pad boxes (10) are interchangeable whereby to enable the correct inclination and radius to be selected for each station according to whether the shoe to be operated on is a left or a right.

Inventors: HANSON RAYMOND, HANSON, RAYMOND
Applicants: BRITISH UNITED SHOE MACHINERY, HANSON RAYMOND, USM ESPANA SA, BRITISH UNITED SHOE MACHINERY LIMITED, HANSON, RAYMOND, USM ESPANA, S.L.
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A43D25
IPC codes: A43D25