IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOT AND SHOE STIFFENINGS, AND IN MOULDS OR DIES FOR FORMING SUCH STIFFENINGS OR OTHER HOLLOW ARTICLES OF PULP
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Scrymgeour, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk,
and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOT AND
SHOE STIFFENINGS, AND IN MOULDS OR DIES FOR FORMING SUCH STIFFENINGS
OR OTHER HOLLOW ARTICLES OF PULP."
Sealed the 27th October 1877, and dated the 6th September 1877.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said David Scrymgeour at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th September 1877.
DAVID SCRYMGEOUR, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of
Massachusetts, in the United States of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOT AND SHOE STIFFENINGS, AND IN MOLDS OR
DIES FOR FORMING SUCH STIFFENINGS OR OTHER HOLLOW ARTICLES OF PULP."
The first portion of these improvements relates to the process of producing
counters, insoles, box toe stiffenings, etc., for use in the manufacture of the boots or
other hollow or irregular articles of pulp which shall possess the qualities of lightness,
cheapness, and capability of being provided in any suitable shape; and such process
consists in producing the base or foundation of the counter or other stiffening or
article of a flat sheet of pulp, whether such sheet of pulp be formed on a reticulated
mold or on a paper-making machine, and then pressing such sheet while in a moist
and plastic condition in a suitable mold, and afterwards drying it upon a block.
In carrying this first portion of my Invention into practice I provide, as before
stated, as sheet of pulp, and I cut this sheet into such a shape as shall best adapt it
to the shaping mold, and economize material, after which it is subjected to gentle
pressure within a mold, of the form which it is to definitely assume. The matrix of
this mold I preferably line with woven wire cloth in order to permit the water,
which is expressed from the pulp in this preliminary molding to escape through its
meshes. The sheet of pulp having by this means been molded into the proper shape
and relieved of surplusage of water, is next placed, still adhering to the block or
male portion of the mold, in a suitable drying room or oven, where it is allowed to
remain until thoroughly dry. The counter is now taken from the dry room and
removed from the block, and after being trimmed in a suitable machine is placed in

page_text: a metal mold of the same shape as the first, and subjected to powerful pressure,
which solidifies and compacts its fibres, and renders it stiff, strong, and smooth. The
article is now removed from the last-named mold in a completed and finished state,
unless it should be desirable to render it waterproof.
As I mold the flat sheet of pulp, while in a moist condition, immediately after it
is formed, I do not break or disturb its fibres to any injurious extent, and I obtain
several advantages as to economy and convenience of manufacture never before
possessed.
The second portion of these improvements relates to means whereby I avoid the
great and almost insurmountable obstacles which have heretofore existed in the
production of hollow articles of pulp, by reason of the difficulty experienced in
removing the water, which is expressed from the pulp in the act of pressing the
latter in the mold.
Molds have been made with openings of various forms for escape of water, or lined
with ribs, each of which to a great extent obstructs free escape of water.
This part of my Invention consists, briefly, in lining molds with finely woven
wire cloth, through the interstices of which the water finds its escape from such mold,
without carrying with it any portion of the pulp.
The Drawings accompanying this Specification represent, in Figure 1, a section of
a mold exemplifying the second portion of my Invention, while Figures 2 and 3
represent respectively a plan and section of a portion of a Fourdrinier paper machine
for carrying out the third portion of my Invention, as herein-before explained.
In said Figure 1 of the Drawings A2 represents a metallic matrix or hollow
mold, which, in use encloses a male die or block upon the article to be pressed is
placed.
In carrying this portion of my Invention into effect, I provide myself with a
piece B of finely woven wire cloth, the size of the meshes of which are to be deter-
mined by the character of the pulp employed, and I line the interior of the matrix A³
with this wire cloth. When the mold A2 with its lining B2 is placed over the
counter die or block, with the sheet of pulp interposed between, and pressure is
applied to the mold, the water expressed from the pulp by such pressure escapes
through the meshes of the lining, and about the corrugations of the wires of
which such lining is composed, and flows freely from the mold.
I have demonstrated the feasibility and utility of my Invention in the production
of boot counters, and I find the wire cloth lining to entirely obviate the objections
heretofore existing by reason of the obstruction to the escape of water from the
mold.
The third portion of this Invention relates to means for providing a more effectual
method of extracting water from paper pulp, in Fourdrinier paper machines, than
the suction boxes now universally employed to effect such object, and the Invention,
which may be employed as a substitute for, or in combination with such suction
boxes, consists in an endless reticulated or foraminous apron disposed over the
ordinary wire cloth apron of the machine, and traveling in the same direction, and
preferably at the same rate of speed as the latter, the space which intervenes between
the two aprons being adjusted to the desired thickness of the sheet of pulp, and
being of such depth that as the web of pulp after traveling from between the
"deckle straps," so called, and saturated with water, passes between such aprons, the
the water in the pulp is expressed by the pressure, and escapes through the inter-
stices of the two aprons.
The purpose of this portion of my Invention is to produce a homogeneous sheet
of pulp for the manufacture of boot and shoe stiffenings, and other hollow or
irregular articles, which shall be very much thicker than has heretofore been
produced in paper-making machines, and I have found, in extended experiments on
a large scale, that the mechanical pressure between the two reticulated aprons above
alluded to has the effect of expressing water from a much thicker body or sheet of
pulp than is possible to produce by the suction principle.
In the Drawings Figures 2 and 3 A, A, represent upright housings composed of

page_text: top horizontal rails B, B, end standards C, C, and cross bars D, D, cach housing
being formed with two hangers E, E, to support a pair of horizontal parallel
stretching rollers F, F, whose journals revolve in boxes in said hangers, such boxes
being adjustable in order that the slack of the endless woven wire apron proper of
the paper machine, which is shown at G, may be taken up and the apron kept
taught.
At each end of the housings A, A, are disposed horizontal, parallel, guide, or
support rollers H, H, whose journals revolve in bearings or boxes affixed to the
rails B, while intermediate between these rollers and with their upper surface in the
same horizontal plane as those of the rollers H, H, are a series of idle rolls I, I,
which serve to support the upper part of the apron G. The said apron G travels
about the rollers F, F, H, H, and I, I, etc., as shown in Figure 2 of the Drawings,
and is to represent a portion of the ordinary woven wire apron universally employed
in paper machines to receive the wet pulp from the "screen," and guide the web
until the water is practically extracted from it, the auxiliary or additional apron
which constitutes the subject of my present improvement being saturated preferably
immediately after the deckle straps or the "dandy" roll, which may be employed
thereat.
My auxiliary apron is shown at K in the accompanying Drawings as composed of
woven wire cloth like the lower apron G, and travels about three support rolls a, a,
and b, the two former being displaced horizontally and in parallelism over and
slightly above the lower apron G, and with their journals revolving in boxes c, c,
affixed adjustably to the top of the rails B, while the third roller b is likewise
horizontal and parallel to the others, and is disposed over them, and has its journals
supported in boxes d, d, applied adjustably to standards e, e, erected upon the top
of the rails B. The manner of applying the boxes of the rollers a, a, and 6 to the
housings of the machine enabling the apron K to be kept in a taught condition.
A heavy idle roll f may be disposed over and resting upon the top of the lower
portion of the apron K, and guided in upright bearings g, such rollers serving, in
addition to the tension of such apron, to keep the latter down upon the web of
pulp which passes between the two aprons, and two or more of such rolls may be
employed if found desirable.
The adjustable manner of applying the boxes of the various rollers which support
and guide the two reticulated aprons enables the space intervening between such
aprons to be varied as occasion requires, in order to accomodate webs of pulp which
may vary in thickness, or to change the degree of pressure exerted upon such pulp.
As the main purpose of my present machine is to manufacture large quantities of
shoe stiffenings or other articles which require a pulp of uniform thickness, the
positions of the various rolls would be seldom changed except to take up the slack
of the apron. Heretofore it has been found impossible with any paper machine in
use to produce a single sheet of pulp of the desired thickness, but have been
compelled to unite several sheets.
As before stated, I am enabled by the employment of the apron K to produce a
much thicker homogeneous web or sheet of pulp than has been possible prior to my
Invention, and I consider my Invention to consist in the employment, in combination
with a Fourdrinier or other analogous paper-making machine, of an auxiliary or
additional reticulated or foraminous apron, substantially as stated.
The extended surface which the apron K presents to the web of pulp prevents
the crushing or displacement of the latter, which would occur were rollers merely
employed to obtain a pressure, and such apron may be employed in connection with
the ordinary "suction boxes," or take the place of the latter, as shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
A limit to the functions or powers of suction boxes consists in the fact that the
pulp in the lower part of the web, which passes over them, clogs or obstructs the
escape of water from the upper part, and the suction is not of sufficient power to
overcome it. By the employment of two reticulated aprons, between which the
web passes, and thus affording an escape for the water upon both sides the web, as

page_text: well as exerting great pressure upon such web, I am enabled to thoroughly extract
the water from all the pulp which will flow upon the apron proper of a machine.
CLAIMS.
First. The process of making molded shoe stiffenings or other hollow irregular
articles by first providing a sheet of pulp, pressing and drying such sheet on a block,
and subsequently pressing in a finishing mold, substantially as and for purposes
stated.
Second. I claim a mold having a woven lining of wire or other hard and durable
material, substantially as and for purposes stated.
Third. The combination with a Fourdrinier paper-making machine of an auxiliary
or additional reticulated or foraminous endless apron operating in connection with
the reticulated apron proper of the machine, to produce results substantially as and
for purposes stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Scrymgeour, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August 1877:
Witnesses,
F. HUNNEWELI..
L. A. CURTIS.
DAVID SCRYMGEOUR, (LS.)