Patent GB-1066417-A (GB)
Title: Heel and sole trimmer
IPC: A43D27/00
Filed: 1965-10-08
Abstract: 1,066,417. Trimming &c. shoe soles. WOLVERINE WORLD WIDE Inc. Oct. 8, 1965 [Oct. 26, 1964], No. 42819/65. Heading B4B. A machine for trimming and bevelling the peripheral edges of shoe soles comprises driven rotary cutters 32, 34, clamping devices 36, 38 each supporting a pair of shoe soles inwardly of their peripheries, each clamping device being rotatable at varying controlled rotational rates about an axis substantially perpendicular to the planes of the soles supported thereby so as to present the whole of the peripheries of the soles sequentially to a cutter and being movable perpendicular to this axis towards and away from the cutter under the control of a template 208 to cause the trimmed &c. edges of the soles to have the necessary shape. The clamping devices are carried by a carriage 30 slidable on guideways 240, 242 and connected to the piston-rod 252 of a fluid-pressure cylinder 250. Stacks (14, 16, 20, 22, Fig. 1) of untrimmed combined soles and heels (S1 to S4) are provided, one pair of stacks (14, 20) being in alignment with loading mechanisms 18, 24, Fig. 2, having fixed support plates 96, 96<SP>1</SP> respectively on which soles S2, S4 from the one pair of stacks (14, 20) rest, soles S1, S3 from the other stacks being moved endwise by fluid-pressure means so as to lie below the plates 96, 96<SP>1</SP>. Each loading mechanism comprises side plates 90, 92, or 90<SP>1</SP>, 92<SP>1</SP>, connected by a plate 94, or 94<SP>1</SP>, the plates being movable by fluid-pressure means to move the pairs of soles into the corresponding clamping device. Each clamping device comprises upper and lower clamping plates 138, 140, Fig. 4, and an interposed spacer plate 150, or 150<SP>1</SP>, the plate 138 being connected to the piston-rod of a fluid-pressure cylinder 136, or 136<SP>1</SP>, supported by the carriage 30. The plate 150, or 150<SP>1</SP>, has recesses (160 162, Fig. 8) and ledges (164, 166) co-operable with fingers (170, 172) pivotally mounted to the plates (96<SP>1</SP>, or 96), the fingers being spring- biased into engagement with the ledges, while the soles are being transferred to the clamping devices, and being disengaged, when the soles are in clamping position, by means of pneumatically-operable piston plugs (184, 186). The clamping plates 140 have extending downwardly therefrom shafts 200 which extend into differential gear-box housings 144 supported on a bearing 204 and on a gear-box 206, the gearbox receiving the drive shaft of a reversible electric motor 214 attached to the carriage 30. Mounted on the shaft 202 connecting the housings 144 are a template 208 and a cam 210. The cam controls a potentiometer (POT 1, Fig. 5) to vary the current to the motor 214 so as to slow the motor speed when the toe and heel areas of the soles are being trimmed. When the carriage 30 approaches the cutters, the template 208 engages a cam follower (270, Fig. 3) to operate a valve (274) which controls the supply of fluid to the cylinder 250, Fig. 2. While the carriage 30 is moving towards the cutters, the motor 214 is operated in the reverse direction of rotation to turn the soles through an angle (y, Fig. 12) from their normal centre lines and is then operated in the normal direction of rotation during the trimming operation to turn the soles back through 360 degrees plus an angle (r). When the trimming operation has been completed, and as the carriage 30 returns to the loading position, a potentiometer (POT 2, Fig. 11A) is actuated to cause the soles to be rotated through an angle q to their normal centre line position. The operation of the machine is controlled by circuitry (Figs. 11A and 11B).