Patent GB-446605-A (GB)
Title: Automatic shoe polishing machines
IPC: G07F17/22
Filed: 1935-03-07
Abstract: 446,605. Shoe - polishing machines. FAIRBROTHER, H., 30, Ludgate Hill, London.-(Automatic Machine Manufacturing Co. ; 1102, Mercantile Trust Building, Baltimore, U.S.A.) March 7, 1935, No. 7183. [A Specification was laid open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, Sept. 28, 1935.] [Class 138 (i)] [See also Groups XVIII and XXVIII] An automatic shoe-polishing machine comprises rotary brushes for cleaning, polishapplying, and polishing which are adapted to travel in orbital paths around the shoes, oscillating brushes for polish-applying, and polishing, which are adapted to pass over the toes of the shoes, and pump means whereby polish is forced through apertured plates to the polish-applying brushes. In the construction shown generally in Fig. 1, a casing 10 adapted to house most of the operating elements of the apparatus is provided with a seat 11 on which the user of the machine sits, his shoes resting on a pair of foot-rests 19. Brush units 20 for cleaning, polishapplying, and polishing, are adapted to travel in orbital paths round the foot-rests. The toes of the shoes are cleaned by toe-brushing units, each consisting of brushes 150, 151, 152, Fig. 38, for applying polish, polishing, and buffing, respectively, the brushes being carried by a plate 149 adapted to oscillate across the top of the shoe. The apparatus is driven under coin-control mechanism by an electric motor 26, Fig. 4, which drives continuously a main shaft 33. Construction and operation of the brush units 20, Figs. 13 and 16. Each foot-rest 19 is mounted on a sleeve 197 carrying a flanged plate 264 which forms with the inner flange of a plate 270 an orbital trackway 266. Most of the trackway is closed by plates 274 connected by pivot pins 275, each carrying a roller 276 adapted to travel in the trackway. One of the plates 274 is connected to an arm mounted on a shaft 261 which is provided with a roller 278. This roller, on operation of the machine, is caused to travel in the trackway through the medium of a gear wheel 210 mounted indirectly on the sleeve 197 and driven by means of the main shaft 33. The wheel 210 supports a carrier 211 which supports a horizontal shaft 243, a vertical shaft 248, and associated bevel gearing. A second carrier 252 on the shaft 248 rotatably supports the shafts 261 and 257 with similar bevel gearing. Rotation of the shaft 261 is effected through the bevel gearing, as shown in Fig. 13, the bevel gear 206 being connected to a gear-wheel 201 which is driven from the main shaft. The shaft 261 drives a shaft 321 carrying a cleaning and polishing brush 322 and a shaft 312 adapted to be connected through a clutch 314 to a shaft 310 carrying a polish-applying brush 316. The shafts 321, 312 are carried by housings which are mounted on the shaft 261 and are under the influence of torsion springs tending to move the brushes inwardly towards the shoe. The brush 322 is always in contact with the shoe, and completes fourteen cycles round the shoe during the operation of the machine. The brush 316 is held out of contact for all except the third and fourth cycles, through the engagement of a cam 337 with a roller 296. Disengagement of the cam and roller is effected by means of a second cam which acts to lower the roller 296. At the same time the clutch 314 is operated to connect shafts 312, 310 whereby the polish-applying brush is rotated. Worm wheel 339 is also rotated to drive a pump forcing polish from a reservoir to a guard 388, Fig. 21, formed with an aperture 389 leading to the surface of the bristles. Construction and operation of the toebrushing units, Figs. 4, 6, and 38. Each unit comprises a segmental plate 149, having a segmental gear 154 meshing with a pinion 156 provided on a sleeve 155. The sleeve has an elongated pinion 157 meshing with a pinion 125 integral with a pinion 126 engaging a rack bar 113 which is adapted to be reciprocated by means comprising a link 115, a lever 104, a link 110, an eccentric shaft 111 and the main shaft 33. The pivot 105 of the lever 104 is carried by a crosshead 100 which is slidable to take up three positions, by means including a cam 70 engaging a roller 74. These positions determine which of the three brushes 150, 151, 152 is in position for engagement with the toe of the shoe. Cam means are provided for raising and lowering the shaft 127 carrying the pinion 157. During the first two cycles of operation of the machine the polish-applying brush 150 is oscillating across the top of an apertured plate 162<1> through which polish is pumped. Subsequently the brush unit is lowered and positioned so that for the next two cycles the brush applies polish to the toe of the shoe. During the next five cycles the polishing brush 151 is in engagement with the toe, to be followed for five more cycles by the engagement of the buffing brush 152 consisting of a lambs-wool pad. In these cycles while the travelling brush unit 20 is passing round the toe, the toe-brushing unit is raised out of the way. Supplying polish to the toe-brushing unit. A container 410, Figs. 26 and 28, is provided with a casing 411 fitted with a spring-pressed plunger 417. The container when filled with polish through an opening 415, with the casing in the position determined by the engagement of a lug 433 in a notch 432, is screwed to a pump housing 434. The casing 411 is then operated to move the lug 433 into engagement with a notch 431, against the action of spring 428. The pump comprises plungers 444 reciprocated by means of a cam 455 and a roller 450. On the outward movement of the plungers polish enters the channels 459, 439 through valve-controlled openings 460. As the plungers move inwardly they force polish through valve-controlled openings 451<1> to pipes leading to casings over which the brushes 150 are oscillated. As the polish is being plunped the casing 411 and stem 422 remain stationary while the plunger 417 moves inwardly under spring pressure until it contacts with the head 425 of the stem 422. Further operation of the pump causes the plunger together with the casing 411 to move inwardly, such movement being permitted by play between the lug 433 and the notch 431. In consequence a flange 476 engages a plunger 473 to cause it to touch a contact 469 thereby closing an electric circuit by means of which the collection of coins by the machine is prevented so long as the container 410 remains empty. The containers and casings for use with the brush units 20 are similar to those used with the toe-brushing units. Electric control system. A pair of line wires 505, 506, Fig. 39, are connected to a source of current. When a user of the machine sits on the seat 11, contacts 507, 508 are closed and a coin deflector 489 is permitted to be moved by gravity to the position indicated in dotted lines so that an inserted coin falls down the shoot 477. The coin actuates an arm 528 whereby contacts 526, 527 are closed momentarily so that a circuit is completed through the secondary 520 of a transformer 516 and through a magnet-operated switch 510. The switch connects wires 509, 511 and moves an arm 525 to the position shown. The circuit for the motor 26 is thus completed and the machine operates until the arm 525 is engaged by a pin 86 on the cam 70, whereby the motor circuit is broken. If the container for supplying polish to the toe-polishing units is empty, contacts 469, 473 are closed so that if the user takes his seat a circuit is completed whereby a signal 531 becomes operative and a solenoid 491 becomes energized, the plunger 492 moving the coin deflector 489 to return the inserted coin by way of the tray 487.