Patent GB-631845-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to lasting machines for the manufacture of footwear
IPC: A43D21/18
Filed: 1947-08-07
Abstract: 631,845. Lasting ; stapling. KAMBORIAN, J. S. Aug. 7, 1947, No. 21629. Convention date, June 20, 1945. [Classes 17 (i) and 89 (iii)] The top face of the jaws of the grippers of a lasting machine operate in the plane of the last bottom and act as wipers as the upper is pulled over the last. As described, a lasting machine has combined gripper, wiping and stapling units which pull over, last and secure the upper in one operation without the use of tacks. It is specially suited for lasting open-toe shoes. The machine primarily operates at the toe portion but can be adapted for use at the shanks. A table 1 having a recess 4 is sloped upwards towards the toe to give an unrestricted view thereof to allow the shoe position to be adjusted if necessary, by adjustable heel and toe rests 7, 9. The lasting units 16, Figs 1 and 2, are pivotally mounted on slides 10 at 17, with which they reciprocate, and have gripper jaws 21 surfaces of which serve as wipers, and slots 25 for inserting fasteners. The jaws are closed by operation of a treadle (not shown) through a rod 24 and an arm 22. The slides 10 are reciprocated in guides by rollers 15 carried on arms 14 and engaging in slots 12 of a cam 13 attached to a shaft 2 supported in bearings 3 on the table 1. The arm 18 pivoted to the unit 16 has a pin 19 engaging a slot 20 to swing the grippers through an angle of about 25 degrees when the slide moves forward so that the units 16 follow arcuate paths. The stapling mechanism, Figs. 5 and 6, contained in a chamber 27 in the units 16, inserts staples, formed from a continuous wire, through the slots 25. A plunger 35 operates on a central block 31 of a slide also having side blocks 32 with a recess 34 between the blocks and in which a pair of drivers 29 operate in grooves in the sides of the blocks 31, 32. A lever 38 pivoted to a rod 37 supported in a sleeve 36 in the block 31 is held in a notch 39 by a spring 40 so that the slide and drivers 29 move together until the lever 38 strikes a bar 41, withdrawing it from the notch 39 and freeing the drivers 29. A bell-crank lever 42 withdraws an anvil 28 when operated by ears 45, 46, on the side of the block 32. The slide and drivers are normally held downward by springs 47 attached to the bar 41. In a stapling operation, a wire is fed, by a known nipper mechanism operated by a bell-crank lever when the grippers 21 close, through an orifice 51, into the top groove in the blanks 31, 32. A cam 60, Fig. 2, on the shaft 2 raises the plate 66 through a lever mechanism to actuate the plunger 35 in timed relationship to the gripper movement. The slide and drivers 29 move upwardly against the spring 41 and the wire is cut between blades 48, 49 and the slide, and formed into shape over the anvil 28. The trip 38 then operates and the anvil 28 is withdrawn by the lever 42 and the staples are driven by the drivers 29. In a toe-end lasting operation, a last 5 is placed on the rests 7, 9, and the upper 6 is gripped by operating the treadle. The shaft 2 is rotated and the slides 10 move the units 16 inwards in arcuate paths, the top of the grippers 21 acting as wipers, until the grippers have lasted the toe portion and the stapler then operates to fix the upper. The cam 13 then retracts the slides 10 and the cam 60 returns the stapling mechanism to its original position. In a modification for lasting the shank portion, the units 16 are rigidly fixed to the slides 10 and a single stapling slot 25 only is provided, with a correspondingly simplified mechanism.