Machine for producing footwear

Abstract: A machine for producing footwear comprises support means on which a shoe last (4) is positioned, to which is attached an insole and over which is laid an upper (6), a projector (13) that emits a beam of light (14) towards the said support means so as to mark a line of reference (15) along which the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) are centred, a set of clamps for gripping and stretching the upper (6) over the shoe last (4) and a pad (18) that can move in an approximately vertical direction towards and away from the said support means in order to hold the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) in position so that subsequent operations can be carried out on the upper (6) and on the insole. Advantageously, the projector (13) can move between a working position in which it marks the said line of reference and a retracted position when the pad (18) is holding the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) in position, so that it is out of the way of the said pad.

Description: The present invention relates to a machine for producing footwear according to the preamble of claim 1. Document DE-C-646383 discloses a machine for producing footwear comprising support means on which a shoe last is positioned, to which is attached an insole and over which is laid an upper, a projector that emits a beam of light towards the said support means so as to mark a line of reference along which the shoe last and the upper are centred and means for gripping and stretching the upper over the shoe last. Machines are known comprising the above features and further comprising a pad that can move in an approximately vertical direction towards and away from the said support means in order to hold the shoe last and the upper in position for subsequent operations. Said machines are used extensively during the footwear production cycle to perform various operations such as, for example, fixing the upper to the insole. These machines are of semiautomatic type, since their operation requires the intervention of an operator who carries out the necessary operations and processes manually. These machines have to be able to allow the operator to carry out the operations required within a short period of time, while at the same time ensuring that these operations are carried out to a high standard and level of accuracy. The machines for producing footwear used today have the drawback of having particularly crowded work stations that restrict the operator's movements, thereby increasing the amount of time required to work to a high standard and level of accuracy. The abovementioned drawback is in particular due to the presence of the pad which impedes the positioning of the shoe last and the upper on the support means, and to the presence of the projector. This is because, as the latter has to emit a beam of light towards the said support means in order to mark the line of reference along which the shoe last and upper are to be centred, in known machines it is mounted on a supporting arm positioned towards the front of the machine so as to prevent the beam of light being intercepted by the pad. However, having the projector positioned in this way means that it gets in the way of the operator who then interferes, especially with his upper body, with it and is therefore obliged, during the positioning of the shoe last and the upper, to work a few steps back from the machine, with his arms outstretched. It goes without saying that working in this manner is far from ergonomic and also increases the amount of time required for the operator to work to a high standard and level of accuracy. In addition, having the projector mounted on the end of the supporting arm means that it is particularly subject to vibrations during the machine's operation, with a consequent reduction in the centring accuracy that can be obtained. The technical problem at the basis of this invention is one of devising a machine for producing footwear that has structural and functional characteristics that meet the above requirement, while at the same time overcoming the drawbacks of machines of the prior art. This problem is solved using a machine for producing footwear according to claim 1. The idea behind the solution to the problem is to make the projector movable so that, once it has been used to centre the upper and the shoe last as described above, it can be moved into a retracted position in which it does not bother the person using the machine or restrict his movements, and leaves room for the pad. Other particular embodiments of the invention are set out in claims 2-6. Additional characteristics and advantages of the machine according to the present invention will become clear in the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example and with reference to the appended figures, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a machine according to the invention, Figures 2 and 3 show a perspective view of a detail of the machine shown in Figure 1 in various stages of its operation. With reference to the appended figures, the numeral 1 denotes, as a whole, a machine according to the invention for producing footwear. The machine 1 comprises a support base 2 that supports a work surface 3 which is inclined with respect to the vertical by a predetermined angle. The work surface 3 comprises support means 5 which support a shoe last 4, to the base of which is applied an insole and astride which is placed an upper 6, and means for gripping and stretching the upper 6 over the shoe last 4. Preferably, these means consist of a set of clamps 19 arranged around the support means 5. The support means 5 comprise a base support 20 which is parallel to the work surface 3 and on which the shoe last 4 is supported, and a rear support 21 which prevents the shoe last 4 from sliding off the inclined work surface 3. A framework 7 extends transversely in a direction X-X above the work surface 3. The framework 7 basically consists of a crosspiece 8 having a square cross-section and extending in the transverse direction X-X and of two lateral supporting plates 9 which are hinged to the work surface 3 by means of respective pins 10. These pins 10 are aligned along an axis parallel to the direction X-X so that the framework 7 can be moved angularly towards and away from the support means 5 between a raised position (Fig. 2) and a lowered position (Fig. 3). The rotation of the framework 7 about the axis of the pins 10 is controlled through a predetermined limited angle A by means of a control rod 11 which is actuated by a pneumatic cylinder system 12 connected to a pressurized fluid circuit which is known per se and is not shown in the figure. The abovementioned framework 7 supports a projector 13 that emits a beam of light 14 directed towards the support means 5 in order to mark, using a line of reference 15, the centre line Y-Y of the support means 5 along which the shoe last 4 and upper 6 are to be centred, as will be explained more clearly in the rest of the present description, and a pad 18 which is designed to hold the shoe last 4 and the upper 6 against the support means 5 once the abovementioned operation to centre the shoe last 4 has been carried out. Advantageously, the projector 13 is mounted on a slide 16 which, under the action of a pneumatic cylinder system 17 connected to a pressurized fluid circuit which is known per se and is not shown in the figure, can move in the direction X-X along the crosspiece 8, this crosspiece 8 forming a guide for the slide 16. Also mounted on the slide 16 is a pad 18 which faces the support means 5 and is offset with respect to the projector 13 at a predetermined distance from it along the abovementioned transverse direction X-X. The machine 1 also comprises mechanical means for carrying out operations on the upper 6 and on the insole, for example stitching and gluing, which, since they are known per se, are not shown in the figure and are not described below so as not to make the present description unnecessarily tedious. The operation of the machine 1 will now be described with reference to the appended figures and with the machine 1 at the start of the cycle where the framework is in the raised position (Fig. 2) and the projector 13 is aligned along the centre line Y-Y of the support means 5 in a collimation operating position and emits the beam of light 14 (Fig. 2). In this operating position the projector 13 is advantageously positioned close to and above the support means 5. An operator assigned to operate the machine manually positions the shoe last 4 and the upper 6 with respect to the support means 5, centring them on the line of reference 15 marked by the beam of light 14 (Fig. 2). It should be emphasized that the crosspiece 8 and the slide 16 form a rigid and solid structure that supports the projector 13 so as to prevent the latter picking up the vibrations of the machine 1 during the abovementioned centring operation. Once the centring has been carried out, the upper 6 is laid and stretched over the shoe last 4 by the clamps 19, after which the operator starts up the operation to hold the shoe last 4 and upper 6 in position on the base support 20 and on the rear support 21 of the work surface 3 by means of an actuating system of known type, for example, a switch system. During this operation the slide 16, as a result of the action exerted on it by the pneumatic cylinder system 17, moves rapidly along the crosspiece 8 until the pad 18 is brought into alignment with the centre line Y-Y of the support means 5 and the projector 13 is moved out of the way (Fig. 3). Thereafter, the pneumatic cylinder system 12 causes the framework 7 to rotate towards the work surface 3 until the framework 7 is in the lowered position and the pad 18 is pressing against the upper 6 which is laid over the shoe last 4 (Fig. 3), thereby ensuring that it is held in position before the operations envisaged, for example gluing, are carried out. Once the abovementioned operations are finished, the machine's operating cycle is terminated and firstly the pneumatic cylinder 12, and then the pneumatic cylinder 17, return the framework 7 and the slide 16 into the abovementioned initial start-of-cycle positions. Advantageously, using the machine according to the invention, the operator can centre the shoe last and the upper without having his movements restricted by the presence of the pad, since the latter is moved transversely out of the way by the abovementioned distance L. Once the shoe last and the upper have been centred, the abovementioned projector is moved from the operating position into the retracted position in order to make room for the pad. From the above description, it is clear that the machine according to the invention enables the abovementioned requirements to be met, given that the operator can carry out the manual operation of centring the shoe last and the upper without being hindered by the pad and without needing to worry about interfering with the projector, as is the case in machines of the prior art. As a result, the amount of time needed to make each item of footwear can be reduced compared with that needed by machines of the prior art, while still working to a high standard and level of accuracy. Another advantage of the machine according to the invention lies in the fact that, during the centring operation, it allows the projector to be positioned close to and above the shoe last and upper to be centred, thereby increasing the centring accuracy that can be obtained. In addition, the structure supporting the projector, which consists of the crosspiece and the slide, stops the projector picking up vibrations from the machine during this centring operation. Another advantage of the machine according to the invention is that it is simple to build and to operate. Obviously a person skilled in the art will, should he need to satisfy contingent and specific requirements, be able to carry out numerous modifications and variations on the machine for producing footwear described above.

Claims: Machine (1) for producing footwear of the type comprising support means (5) on which a shoe last (4) is positioned, to which is attached an insole and over which is laid an upper (6), a projector (13) that emits a beam of light (14) towards the said support means (5) so as to mark a line of reference (15) along which the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) are centred, means (19) for gripping and stretching the upper (6) over the shoe last (4), characterized in that the machine comprises a pad (18) that can move in an approximately vertical direction towards and away from the said support means (5) in order to hold the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) in position for subsequent operations and that the projector (13) can move between a working position in which it marks the said line of reference (15) and a retracted position in which it is out of the way of the pad (18) when the pad (18) is holding the shoe last (4) and the upper (6) in position. Machine (1) according to Claim 1, in which the projector (13) is mounted on a slide (16) that can move transversely with respect to the said support means (5). Machine (1) according to Claim 2, in which the pad (18) is mounted on the slide (16) in a position transversely remote from the projector (13). Machine (1) according to Claim 2 or 3, in which the said slide (16) is slidably attached to a crosspiece (8) that extends over the said support means (5), and that can move towards and away from the said support means (5) between a raised position and a lowered position. Machine (1) according to Claim 4, in which the movement of the crosspiece (8) between the raised position and the lowered position is a rotary movement. Machine (1) according to Claim 1, in which the said support means (5) comprise a base support (20) and a rear support (21).

Inventors: BIANCHI CARLO, BIANCHI, CARLO
Applicants: OHG MOLINA & BIANCHI S P A, OFFICINE MECCANICHE MOLINA & BIANCHI S.P.A.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A43D1
IPC codes: A43D119, A43D21