Improvements in Combined Sole-channelling and Sole-trimming Machines for Use in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 3rd Apr., 1897
UMI DEIM
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN STANLEY PAINE, of 95 Church Street,
Brockton, in the County of Plymouth, and HENRY MARTIN ROWE, of
25 Kneeland Street, Boston, in the County of Suffolk, both in the State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentlemen.]
Improvements in Combined Sole-channelling and Sole-trimming
Machines for Use in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
1, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to he
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to machines for cutting a channel in the tread surface of
the outer sole of a welted boot or shoe after the sole has been tacked or otherwise
temporarily attached to the inner sole, said channel receiving the outer portions of
the stitches that connect the outer sole to the welt.
The invention has for its object to provide a machine of this class adapted not
only to channel the tread surface of the outer sole, but also to round or trim the
edge of the sole, the location of the channel and of the trimmed edge being
determined by the upper of the boot or shoe.
The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe
and claim.
Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,-
Figures 1 and 2 represent side elevations of my improved machine.
Figure 3 represents a front elevation.
Figure 4 represents a section on line 4-4 of Figure 3.
Figure 5 represents a section on line 5-5 of Figure 4.
Figure 6 represents a section on line 6-6 of Figure 4.
Figures 7 and 8 represent views similar to Figure 5, showing the channelling-
knife and its carrying-lever, in different positions.
Figure 9 represents a section on line 9-9 of Figure 1.
Figure 10 represents a perspective view of the channelling-knife and the block
to which it is attached.
Figure 11 represents a section on line 11-11 of Figure 1.
Figures 12 and 13 represent diagrammatic views, illustrating the form of the
knives of the cutter-head, and their action upon the edge of the sole.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
In the drawings-
a represents the supporting frame. 6 represents a slide movable in inclined
guides b¹² on the supporting frame, and connected at its upper end by a rod 63
with a lever b, which is pivoted at to the frame a and is normally held at one
end of its movement by a spring 6 connected at one end to said lever and at the
other end to the frame. To the slide b is affixed a stud 67, on which a lever 68 is
mounted to oscillate. On one end of said lever is a guide 6 for the knife-carrier 61°.
The other end of the lever 68 has a trundle-roll 612, which is arranged to be acted
on by a cam 61. Said cam is mounted on a shaft 64 journalled in inclined bearings
The channelling-knife 6 is secured to a knife-block 61, which is
on the frame a.

page_text: fitted to oscillate on the carrier 610, as usual in machines of this class, so that the
block tips automatically to enable the knife to conform to the inclination or
curvature of the portion of the sole on which it is acting. c represents a shaft
journalled in bearings on the frame a and provided with a pulley c¹, on which runs
a belt 2 driven by a shaft (not shown) and running over idle pulleys c³ ³ on a
shaft which is journalled in bearings in the frame a. To the upper end of the
shaft c is affixed a cutter-head d having knives d' d' arranged to trim the edge of a
sole which is interposed between the knife-block 618 and the feed-wheel e hereinafter
described. The shaft c has a worm c³, which meshes with a worm-wheel c on the
cam-shaft 614 and imparts rotary motion to the latter. The lever 68 which supports
the channelling-knife is oscillated by the rotation of the cam 613 when the work is
being pressed forward against the channelling-knife, this pressure holding the
trundle-roll 612 against the cam. The lever 8 has such freedom of movement,
however, that when there is no pressure of the work against the channelling-knife,
the trundle-roll 12 stands out of the path of the projections of the cam 613, as
shown in Figure 8, so that the knife-carrier and knife receive no movement, the
knife being positively reciprocated only when the work is being pressed against it
in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 7, thus pressing the trundle-
roll 12 against the cam. This is an
important feature of my invention, its object
being to prevent the knife from mutilating the channel by moving back and forth
therein when there is no actual pressure of the end of the channel against the
knife, as when the feed-wheel e slips on the work without moving it. This slipping
of the feed-wheel is liable to happen, it being necessary to employ a comparatively
weak feed in a machine of this character. e represents the feed-wheel operating
shaft, which is jornalled in a bearing e² on a slide e³, the latter being movable in
guides ee on the supporting frame. Said shaft has at one end a gear e, which is
connected by an intermediate gear e with a gear e on the cam-shaft 64, the feed-
shaft e receiving motion from the cam-shaft 4 through said gears. On the
opposite end of the feed-shaft is formed a bevelled pinion e, which as here shown
is integral with the shaft, and meshes with a bevelled pinion elo affixed to the short
shaft (Figure 4) which carries the feed-wheel e. The said shaft e¹² is journalled
in a bearing in a downwardly projecting ear e¹³ formed on the bearing e². The
relative arrangement of the feed-wheel e, knife-block 61, and cutter-head d is such
that when the portion of the sole to be channelled is inserted between the feed-
wheel and knife-block in position to receive a channel from the knife 61, the edge
of the sole will be presented to the cutter-head d, the knives of which are formed
to trim said edge at a distance from the channel determined by the adjustment of
the knife-carrier 6,10. Said carrier is adjustable by movements of the slide 6 in its
guides, the slide being normally held at the upper extreme of movement by the
spring 6 and movable forward by a treadle (not shown) connected with the lever b
by a rod i connected. with said lever at 2, a lever affixed to a rock-shaft 2 which is
journalled in the frame a, said lever being connected with the rod i at 3, and a
connection between the lever and the treadle. The rod i has an arm i', which
is movable between two stop-screws on the frame a. The stop limits the
movement of the channelling-knife by the spring 66, and the stop limits the
movement of the knife in the opposite direction by pressure of the operator's foot
on the treadle. The cutter-head d has no adjustment, and when the slide bis
adjusted to move the knife-carrier toward the cutter-head, the trimmed edge is
formed nearer the channel than is the case when the slide b is adjusted in the
opposite direction. The feed-wheel e is also adjustable toward and from the cutter-
head by movements of the slide e³ and bearing e², in the guides ees. The slide 3
is normally held at the upward extreme of its movement (the feed-wheel being at
the minimum distance from the cutter-head d) by a spring which is attached at one
end to the frame a and at its other end to a lever 1, which is pivoted at to the
frame, and engaged with a stud on an arm j affixed to the bearing e².
A stop-
screw limits the movement of the slide by the spring j. A bell-crauk lever j³,
pivoted at j' to the frame a, has one of its arms connected by a rod 18 with the

page_text: lever, its other arm projecting downwardly in position to be moved by the knee
of the operator. When the lever is moved in the direction indicated by the
arrow in Figure 3, it moves the feed-wheel outwardly from the cutter-head d.
To the rod is adjustably secured, by means of a set-screw, a collar jo, which is
provided with a stud or screw 22 adapted to engage a slot in a lever, which
is affixed to the rock-shaft previously referred to: The object of the collar jo,
stud and lever jl is to enable the operator, by moving the bell-crank lever j
in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 3, to simultaneously move the
feed-wheel and the channelling-knife in opposite directions, the feed-wheel being
moved inwardly and the channelling-knife outwardly, to adjust them at their
maximum distance apart when the shoe-sole has an edge of varying width, as in the
so-called "Scotch-edge" soles. To accomplish this resuit, the stud is passed
through the slot 23, so that an upward movement of the rod will cause a corre-
sponding movement of the lever 12, rock-shaft 22, and lever . In other words, the
collar and lever 12 enable the channelling-knife to be moved inwardly by the
operator at the same time that he moves the feed-wheel outwardly. The knife-
carrier 60 is movable longitudinally in the socket or guide 6, so that the channelling-
knife can be moved away from the feed-wheel to permit the insertion and removal
of a sole, and to adapt the knife to soles of different thickness. The carrier 60 is
provided with a downwardly projecting stud 620, having a nut 62 which receives
pressure from a spring seated on a fixed bracket 23. The spring norm illy holds
the channelling-knife at its highest position. A treadle (not shown) is connected,
through a rod k, bell-crank lever k¹, and link 2, with the stud 620, and is arranged
so that a pressure of the operator's foot causes the depression of the knife-carrier
and the channelling-knife.
•
Operation. The operator in presenting a sole to the channelling-knife and
edge-trimming cutter-head, first depresses the knife-carrier 600, then inserts the
sole edge between the knife-block and feed-wheel, the latter bearing against the
side of the upper and the top surface of the welt. The knife-carrier and feed-
wheel are then adjusted relatively to the cutter-head, as the operator may desire,
by the means described, and the machine is set in motion. The feed-wheel moves
the shoe forward, causing the channelling-knife to cut a channel in the face of the
sole, and the cutter-head to trim the edge of the sole. In case the feed-wheel slips
on the work, thus causing a temporary cessation of the feed movement, the
oscillating motion of the channelling-knife also ceases, because there is then no
pressure against it to keep the trundle-roll 612 operatively engaged with the cam b³.
Mutilation of the sole, such as would be likely to occur if the channelling-knife
were allowed to move positively in the channel while the sole is at rest, is thus
prevented.
The edge-trimming knives d' are provided with cutting edges which are inclined
relatively to the axis of the cutter-head and therefore give a shearing cut which
enables said knives to trim the edge more neatly and with less liability to form
burrs or ragged edges on the corners than would be the case if the cutting edges
were parallel with the axis of the cutter-head.
The inclination of each cutting edge is preferably the reverse of that of the next
cutting edge, so that in one kuite the part which acts on the welt will be in
advance of the part that acts on the edge of the body of the sole, while in the
next knife the part that acts ou the body of the sole will be in advance of the part
that acts on the welt. In Figure 12, I show the relative inclinations of the cutting
edges d', one being shown in full lines and the other in dotted lines. These
inclinations I term longitudinal, to distinguish them from the lateral inclinations
hereinafter described. The said cutting edges are als slightly inclined laterally,
so that one will trin from the welt partly across the sole s, but not down to the tread
surface, while the next will trim from the tread surface partly across, without
trimming the upper corner of the welt w. Figure 13 shows, in full and dottel
lines, the relative lateral inclinations of two cutting edges.
The described longitudinal and lateral inclinations enable the cutter to trim the

page_text: edge of a sole with a shearing cut, which exerts a pressure from each corner of the
sole-edge inwardly toward the center of the edge, thus avoiding the formation of a
burr on either corner. If desired, the cutter-head may have one or more blades,
the cutting edges of which are vertical, or parallel with the axis, to remove the
slight angle formed on the center of the sole-edge by the lateral inclination of the
-cutting edges above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to ine
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:
1. In a machine of the character specified, the combination of a rotary cutter-
head provided with sole-edge trimming-knives, a feed-wheel movable toward and
from the axis of the cutter-head, means for rotating the feed-wheel, a knife-carrier
also movable toward and from the axis of the cutter-head and provided with a
channelling-knife, and means for oscillating said carrier.
2. In a machine of the character specified, the combination with a rotary cutter-
head provided with sole-edge trimming-knives, and a feed-wheel adjacent thereto,
of a knife-carrier provided with a channelling-knife, a lever supporting said carrier,
a slide to which said lever is pivoted, means for oscillating said lever, and means
for moving the slide to adjust the channelling-knife toward and from the cutter-
.head.
3. In a machine of the character specified, the combination with a rotary cutter-
head having sole-edge trimming-kuives, and a feed-wheel adjacent thereto, of a
knife-carrier having a channelling-knife, a lever supporting said carrier, a slide to
which said lever is pivoted, a rotating cam adjacent to the lever and arranged to
co-operate with the feed-wheel in oscillating the lever and channelling-knife, and
means for moving the slide to adjust the channelling-knife toward and from the
cutter-head.
4. In a machine of the character specified, the combination with a rotary cutter-
head having sole-edge trimming-knives, and a channelling-knife and its holder or
carrier adjacent thereto, of a feed-wheel, a sliding or movable support in which
said wheel is journalled, means for rotating said wheel, and means for moving the
said slide to adjust the feed-wheel toward and from the cutter-head.
5. In a machine of the character specified, the combination of a feed-wheel, a
knife-carrier having a channelling-knife, an oscillatory lever supporting the knife-
carrier, and a rotating cam arranged to act on said lever, the lever and cam being
relatively arranged so that there is no operative engagement between them when
the work is not moved by the feed-wheel, substantially as and for the purpose
⚫specified.
6. In a machine of the character specified, a rotary cutter-head having longitu-
dinally and reversely inclined cutting edges.
•
7. In a machine of the character specified, a rotary cutter-head having longitu-
dinally and reversely inclined cutting edges which are also inclined laterally.
Dated this 26th day of January 1897
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.