Patent GB-474676-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and apparatus for the shaping of uppers of boots and shoes
IPC: A43D21/12
Filed: 1936-05-04
Abstract: 474,676. Shoe-upper shaping. HABER, C. F., and HAUMANN, E. May 4,1936, Nos. 12566 and 12567. Convention dates, May 3, 1935 and April 21, 1936. [Class 17 (i)] A shoe upper with an adhesively-coated toe puff and counter stiffener is placed on a mould of metal or other material corresponding in shape to the heel or toe portion or both the heel and toe portions of a shoe last, and which is preferably heated. After being drawn about the mould, it is inserted into a collar of leather, rubber or other deformable material and, by high pressure, preferably hydraulic, is pressed against the mould, the projecting portion being moved inwardly over the edge of the mould by bracing tongs which are vibrated rapidly during their closure by a single movement, and then the margin of the upper is smoothed by a strong pressure against the face of the mould to unite the upper, stiffening insertions and lining together. It is then removed and placed on an extensible last and stretched to fit the size of shoe for which it is intended, sole attaching and finishing operations being then performed while the upper is on the last. A moulding apparatus, may, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 comprise a base plate 1 supporting two moulding devices which are alternately operated. Columns 6 support a counter pressure plate 21 between U-shaped rails 23. A carrier 11 carrying a mould 18 is connected to a piston rod 9 of a cylinder 2 supplied with oil under pressure from a pump 5 driven by a motor 4. Also connected to the carrier 11, through a link member 12 and drawbars 30 connected to a crossbar 32 and a connecting member 13, is a piston rod 34 of a fluid pressure operated cylinder 31, by which the mould is drawn against the pressing devices 17. Alternatively, three pressing devices 17 may operate with a cylinder having a drawing effect. The pressing member 17 is in three parts each comprising a casing containing steel balls 61 by which pressure is transmitted to small prismatic members 15, the upper row of which have small self-adjusting flexible plates attached thereto to enable them to conform to the curvature of the mould 18. The side members 17a of the pressing member are moved to press the collar 49 on the mould 18 by bellcranks 50 actuated by a fluid-pressure cylinder 52 and piston 53. In a modification, the pressure-member housing is in one piece and is not filled initially with the steel balls which are forced into the housing under pressure and, after filling the space behind the members 15, are subjected to additional pressure by inserting a wedge body into the ball space. In a further modification, the housing is in two parts. Bracing tongs 47, Fig. 7, above the pressure member 17, are advanced to turn-in the upstanding marginal portion of the upper, by a fluid-pressure cylinder 27, piston rod 25, and connecting rod 20. These tongs during their forward closing movement are very rapidly vibrated by an eccentric 24 driven by a pulley 22, and to which they are hinged, and are fully closed at the end of the travel of the piston of the cylinder 27, when the drive to the eccentric 24 is stopped. The closing motion of the tongs 47 is controlled by pins guided in curved slots. Additional pressure is then exerted by the piston 53, and finally the piston 8 is caused to press the material between the mould 18 and tongs 47 against a counter pressure plate 21. The pistons 8, 26, 53 and 33 are then reversed. The mould carrier is then tilted out of the machine and a toe pressing member 71, Figs. 10, 11, with a felt support is substituted for the heel pressing member which, preferably, is employed first. It is pressed against the toe mould 18 by a spring 72. A guide plate 67 which is capable of vertical movement by means of a wedge 68 and fluid-pressure cylinder 62, supports tong-holders 65 with interchangeable pressure tongs 64 attached thereto and these are moved by means similar to those employed with the tongs 47, when the piston of the cylinder 62 is moved against the mould 18. The tongs 64 during their closing movement in which they are vibrated are moved upwards and force the material upwardly against the sides of the mould. The toe is otherwise moulded in a similar manner to that employed during counter moulding, and the upper removed and placed on an extensible last and finished.