Improvements in Treeing Machines for Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 18th May, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 12th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 14th Mar., 1896
Improvements in Treeing Machines for Boots and Shoes.
We, HARRY WILLIAM MOBBS and ALFRED LEWIS, both of Kettering in the
County of Northampton, Boot Last Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
In the wholesale manufacture of boots & shoes, as a final operation the goods
are brushed and cleaned, expanded, sleeked, polished, and set into form, and for
this purpose they are placed upon wooden trees, which form part of what is called
a treeing machine.
To suit the great variety of shapes and sizes of boots and shoes which have to
be dealt with, the machine must be provided with trees that can be changed from
time to time, as required, to correspond as nearly as possible with the lasts upon
which the boots were made.
The tree in common use consists of three parts, viz., the toe and the heel, which
are of wood, and can be changed, and a middle part, or arm, of metal, to which the
toe and heel are attached, and which constitutes itself the waist of the foot. This
middle part is permanent, and cannot be changed, like the toe & heel, to suit
different shapes and sizes of boots. It therefore happens frequently that the toe
and the heel do not fit the middle part or waist, and there is an unevenness in the
contour of the tree foot, which is a serious disadvantage, when the goods are being
boned or rubbed.
To overcome this disadvantage, trees have been made with expanding and
contracting waists, which are however very expensive.
According to our invention, we arrange the tree foot in such a manner, that the
arm or support for the toe and heel does not form the waist of the foot, so that the
disadvantages incidental to a waist or middle portion of permanent dimensions, or
to one capable of contraction and expansion, are obviated.
In carrying out our invention, we make the tree foot, so far as its contour or
surface is concerned, of two parts only, the waist being made preferably in one
with the toe. The arm or middle supporting piece is still retained, but it is so
reduced in lateral dimensions, as to be entirely encased within the toe part before
mentioned, which is lengthened in a backward direction towards the heel, so as to
meet the latter when the tree is out of action.
The usual devices for forcing back the heel, to extend the boot, are retained,
but the division or gap between the toe and heel parts thus made, is of little
consequence, because it is entirely within the stiffening of the heel.
The toe of the tree may be detachably connected to the supporting arm in any
convient manner; the following, however, is the plan we prefer to adopt.
The toe part, which includes the ankle and waist, is bored vertically in a suitable
position, and a metal tube is inserted and secured in the hole. This tube, which
extends some inches out of the wood, and is slotted longitudinally in its upper part,
fits and slides upon a guide rod placed in front of, and forming part of the metal
supporting arm of the machine. The said tube is provided with two recesses or
nicks, which engage with suitably arranged catches, which hold the toe part in
two positions, as required, in the manner well understood in treeing machines; or
the catches may be released, and the tree withdrawn, for substituting another, in
the usual way.

page_text: This mode of securing the toe part of the tree is convenient for manufacture,
and gives a secure and satisfactory attachment for the parts.
Dated this 18th day of May 1895.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.
improvements in Treeing Machines for Boots and Shoes.
We HARRY WILLIAM MOBBS and ALFRED LEWIS, both of Kettering in the
County of Northampton, Boot Last Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the wholesale manufacture of boots and shoes, as a final operation the goods
are brushed and cleaned, expanded, sleeked, polished, and set into form, and for
this purpose they are placed upon wooden trees, which form part of what is called
a treeing machine.
To suit the great variety of shapes and sizes of boots and shoes which have to
be dealt with, the machine must be provided with trees that can be changed from
time to time, as required, to correspond as nearly as possible with the lasts upon
which the boots were made.
The tree in common use consists of three parts, viz., the toe and the heel, which
are of wood, and can be changed, and a middle part or arm of metal to which the
toe and heel are attached, and which constitutes itself the waist of the foot. This
middle part is permanent, and cannot be changed, like the toe and heel, to suit
different shapes and sizes of boots. It therefore happens frequently that the toe
and the heel do not fit the middle part or waist, and there is an unevenness in the
contour of the tree foot, which is a serious disadvantage when the goods are being
boned or rubbed.
To overcome this disadvantage, trees have been made with expanding and
contracting waists, which are, however, very expensive.
According to our invention, we arrange the tree foot in such a manner that the
arm or support for the toe and heel does not form the waist of the foot, so that the
disadvantages incidental to a waist or middle portion of permanent dimensions, or
to one capable of contraction and expansion, are obviated.
In carrying out our invention, we make the tree foot, so far as its contour or
surface is concerned, of two parts only, the waist being made preferably in one
with the toe. The arm or middle supporting piece is still retained, but it is so
reduced in lateral dimensions as to be entirely encased within the toe part before
mentioned, which is lengthened in a backward direction towards the heel, so as to
meet the latter when the tree is out of action.
In the accompanying drawings, we have illustrated our invention as applied to
the arm of a treeing machine.
Fig. 1 shows a side view of the arm, with the foot portions removed therefrom.
Fig. 1 is an end view of Fig. 1, seen from the right.
Fig. 2 is a side view, partly in section, with the foot portions attached.
Figs. 3, 4, and 5, are back, side, and top views of the toe portion of the foot.
A is the metal arm, to which the toe and heel portions of the last are to he
attached. This arm is hollow, and contains the usual spring-encircled rod a, having
a shackle at one end connected to a treadle or other device for giving it an endway
pull, and at the other end a dovetailed projection a', which works in the inclined
grooves of the detachable heel portion B, to move the latter outwards and
inwards, to stretch and release the boot in the manner well understood.

page_text: B is an adjustable spring catch which holds the heel portion B of the last, in
conjunction with the projection a' and grooves b, to the arm A.
Referring now to the prominent feature of our invention, C is the toe part of
the last, which is so formed as to embrace entirely the reduced end A¹ of the
supporting metal arm A (see Fig. 2). The form of the toe part C is well shown
at Figs. 3, 4, and 5, where c is the recess, which is the same in feet of all sizes, and
into which the end A' of the arm fits.
The attachment of the toe part C to the supporting arm may be variously
effected without departing from the arrangement just described, whereby the
inconveniences of a permaneut supporting arm, in conjunction with removable
toe and heel parts, are obviated. We prefer, however, to adopt the following
method :-
The toe part C, which includes the ankle and waist, is bored vertically in a
suitable position, and a metal tube c¹ is inserted, and secured in the hole (sec
Figs. 3, 4, and 5). This tube c, which extends some inches out of the wood, and
is slotted longitudinally in its upper part, fits and slides upon a guide rod a placed
in front of, and forming part of, the extremity A' of the metal supporting arm A
of the machine. The said tube is provided with two recesses or nicks ², which
engage with a suitably arranged catch d which holds the toe part in one of the
two positions, as indicated by drawn and dotted lines in Fig. 2, in the manner well
understood in treeing machines; or the catch d may be released, and the tree with-
drawn, for substituting another of different size and shape in the usual way.
This mode of securing the toe part of the tree is convenient for manufacture,
and gives a secure and satisfactory attachment for the parts.
It will be seen that the foot of the tree, being divided only in one place, and
that far back, near the heel, the division occurs within the heel stiffening of
the boot, and consequently no unevenness of surface is caused when the boot is
being treed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. For treeing machines for boots and shoes, a removable toe part in combination
with a removable heel part, and a sustaining and supporting arm, the latter being
encased within the removable portions in the manner explained with reference to
the drawings, and for the purpose set forth.
2. In treeing machines for boots and shoes, a removable toe part, and metal tube
socketted therein, a guide bar for receiving the metal tube, and a supporting arm
arranged to be encased within a recess in the removable toe part, all as explained
with reference to the drawings.
Dated this 12th day of February 1896.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.