Patent GB-191516230-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Button Feeding Mechanism for Button Attaching Machines.
Inventor: ELLIOTT WILLIAM ELIJAH
IPC: A43D100/08
Filed: 1915-11-17
Abstract: 16,230. Elliott, W. E. Nov. 17. Setting buttons; buttons, feeding.-Relates to button-feeding mechanism for button-attaching machines and comprises a device for feeding a button from a hopper to the staple-forming position, means for preventing the button from being crushed or the machine broken, a finger for dislodging accumulated buttons on the button shoot within the hopper, and a button hopper pivotally mounted so that it and the button shoot can be tilted upwards to allow a separate shoot containing buttons of different size or colour to be inserted in the machine. The buttons are contained in a hopper 7, Figs. 4 and 5, pivoted in a forked bracket, and are fed by a wheel 8 having V-shaped fins 9, to a grooved ledge 10, down which and a shoot 13 attached to the hopper, they slide, the lowest button being retained by a spring-controlled stop 24. The shoot 13, or a spare shoot 105 containing different buttons, is guided into proper position by a plate 106, Fig. 19. The feed-wheel 8 is rotated by a pawl 62 engaging a ratchet 60, the pawl being pivoted on a disk 61 connected by an arm 63 to an extension 36<a> of a link 36, which operates a slide 34, the movement being transmitted from a pedal through a vertical rod 6 and bell-crank. The connexion between the arms 63, 36<a> comprises a stud on the arm 36<a> held in one end of a slot 64 by a spring-pressed arm 65, which, if the buttons become clogged in the hopper, yields, allowing the stud to travel in the slot and thus preventing crushing of the buttons or breaking of the machine. Accumulations of buttons on the ledge 10 are cleared by a finger 67, Fig, 7, controlled by a spring 67<b> and reciprocated by a cam 59<a> engaging a hump 67<a>. When the shoot 13 is in operative position, a latch 107 is hooked over a detent 108 on the shoot by a spring 109 during the working stroke of the pedal, so that the shoot cannot be moved during the operation of the machine. The lowest button in the shoot is transferred to, and held in, the staple-forming position by a finger 15 held downward by a spring 18 and pivoted to, and operated by, a bell-crank lever 16. The finger is guided in its movement by a roller 19 traversing the face of a guide-block 20 and a pivoted elevating-shoe 21 for lifting it over the lowest buttons in the shoot, the shoe 21 being held in position by a spring-pressed lever 22. The bellcrank lever 16 is operated from a projection on the slide 34, the projection having a stud 49<a> working in a slot 56<a> in one end of an arm 56, the other end of which has a slot 56<b> enclosing a stud 57 on the lever 16. The lever 16 is normally held forward by a spring 52 acting on a projection 16<a>, the spring being attached to, and coiled round, the hub of an arm 54, which is connected to the link 56 by a curved arm 55. In the first movement of the slide 34, the studs 57, 49<a> travel to the inner ends of the slots 56b, 56<a> respectively, the lever 16 remaining stationary. On the return movement, the studs first travel to the outer ends of the slots.