Patent GB-737088-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to machines for tagging laces
IPC: A43D98/00
Filed: 1952-01-23
Abstract: 737,088. Moulding tips on laces. SPACH, A. Jan. 23, 1952 [Jan. 23, 1951], No. 1880/52- Class 87 (2). [Also in Group VII] A machine for tagging shoelaces with moulded plastic material comprises a series of identical lace-cutting and tag-moulding stations arranged on a stationary table around a central rotating shaft and adjustable radially relative to the shaft, the length of a lace being determined by the distance between two adjacent stations. The central shaft 36, which is belt driven by a motor below the table 1, carries a loosely mounted reel 22 of lace 51 which is guided over a small pulley 9 and through an eye 50 carried by a bracket 12 mounted on an arm 35 extending radially from the shaft 36. The rear portion of the arm 35 is bifurcated so that it can be straddled upon the shaft 36 and its radial length adjusted and secured by a pin 25. In the example a tag moulding and applying station is located at each corner of a square table, each station comprising an electrically heated container 46, Fig. 2A, for thermoplastic material with a passage 60 leading to a valve-controlled outlet 59 to a die channel 32. The'container 46 is supported upon a slideway 2 secured to the table 1 by bolts 55 and arranged to be adjusted radially in accordance with the radial adjustment of the arm 35, so that two different faces on a cam 18 at the extremity of the arm may be maintained in the correct position relative to members with which they co-operate on the moulding unit. A sliding member 4 associated with the slideway 2 is provided with a roller 56 which is forced against the face 53, Fig. 3 (not shown), of the cam 18 by a spring 3, and a central slot is provided in the member 4 to receive a lever 30 which is mounted therein on a transverse pivot and is movable between two adjustable stops 29 on the fixed slideway 2. The upper end of the lever 30 is engaged in a slot in a member 31 which is secured upon the sliding member 4 and has a front end shaped to provide a central knife 57 with a die portion 58.at each side of it, and arranged to co-operate with the die channel 32. In operation, the rotation of the shaft 36 brings the bracket 12 just past a work station and lays the lace on an inclined face 63 below the container 46, whereupon one face of the cam 18 bears upon the roller 56 and forces the sliding member 4 rearwardly, thereby compressing the spring 3 and opening the die to enable the lace to engage therein. Immediately afterwards the slide valve 15 is forced inwardly by the second face 54, Fig. 3 (not shown), of the cam 18, thereby aligning the opening 62 with the outlet passage 59 and ejecting the material 61 from behind the piston into the die. The cam 18 continues to advance in a circular arc and disengages from the sliding member 4, whereupon the latter is actuated by the compressed spring 3, so that the die portions 58 compress the plastic material upon the lace while the knife 57 cuts the lace between the two die portions. The rear end of one lace length and the forward end of the following length are thus tagged simultaneously. An operator may be positioned at each station to withdraw one tagged lace at each rotation, or automatic gripping and extracting means may be provided. In a modification a single central cam mounted on a rotating vertical axis operates in turn upon four horizontally slidable members arranged radially relative thereto and spaced 90 degrees apart, with a knife and die adjustably mounted thereon. Fig. 5 shows one of the slidable members 71 which is movable upon a fixed radial guide 72, both members being provided with a series of equally spaced holes 73 and 82 respectively. The sliding member 71 supports a block 76 provided with two base studs 74, 75 which enable it to be located by any registering pair of holes in the sliding member 71 according to the length of the laces required to be cut and tagged. The block 76 supports a knife 79 which is apertured to engage the upper end of a vertical lever 77 pivoted at 78 in a depending lug in the block 76 so that its lower end extends through a hole 82 in the fixed guide 72. Reciprocation of the member 71 by the action of the central vertical cam of the machine thus produces pivoting of lever 77 and reciprocation of knife 79. In addition, movement of the block 76 with the sliding member 71 brings the front end of the block against a push rod 90 in the base of a fixed support for a container 86 for thermoplastic material, thereby operating a rocking lever 88 which operates the plunger 87 of a pump associated with the container 86. In operation, with the knife in a retracted position, a lace is laid in the space between the front end 97 of a die plate 80, (which is slotted to provide passage for the knife) and a pair of spring-loaded grippers 96 disposed one. on each side of the path of the knife, the arrangement being such that the lace is severed before the pump plunger 87 is operated, so that plastic material is injected on to the cut ends of the lace. The amount of plastic material injected may be regulated by providing the pump plunger with a helical groove 92, Fig. 8, so that by rotation of the plunger about its axis the stroke required to place a feed conduit 94 in communication with an outlet 95 can be modified. Alternatively the end of the plunger may be bevelled.