AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PASTING, CUTTING, FOLDING, AND PRESSING THE EDGES OF SHOE VAMPS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PASTING, CUTTING, FOLDING, AND PRESSING THE
EDGES OF SHOE VAMPS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES." A communication
from abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of
America.
Sealed the 13th April 1877, and dated the 21st October 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st October 1876.
"
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PASTING, CUTTING,
FOLDING, AND PRESSING THE EDGES OF SHOE VAMPS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES.”
A communication.
This Invention relates to a machine or mechanism designed to perform auto-
matically and at a single operation the labor of pasting, cutting, folding, and
pressing the edges of shoe vamps or other articles requiring to be so folded, whereby
an operative is enabled to perform such labor with unusual rapidity, ease, and
neatness, and with great economy.
The said machine has a strong bed, on which is mounted an arm or goose neck
which carries a driving shaft provided with a driving wheel. Upon this shaft is an
eccentric strap and a cam. In a head or cap which is attached to the goose neck I
fit three bars; namely, a cutter bar, a presser bar, and feed bar; these bars move
freely in vertical slots or grooves in the head. The feed bar has also a lateral
movement imparted to it in one direction by a cam and in the opposite direction by
a spring; the extent of this lateral movement and consequently the intermittent or
step-by-step progress of the material past the knives is regulated and controlled
by means of another cam, which may be set by the operator in any required
position, and against which a pin in the said bar is caused to act by the force of
said spring.
When the driving shaft is rotated the eccentric strap (attached also to the cutter
bar, which carries a vertically reciprocating cutting blade so arranged that it cuts
transversely to the edge of the material and across the path of the feed movement)

page_text: causes the said bar to reciprocate vertically, and as it reaches its extreme upward
movement it raises the presser bar sufficiently to remove its foot from the material
under it, while the feed bar is at the same time forced down upon this material by
a spring, one end of which is attached to the machine arm, while the other acts
freely in a notch in the connecting bar which is pivoted to the aforesaid three bars
at their top ends; and while the said feed bar is thus forced down upon the material
it is also moved laterally for feeding or carrying the material forward. When the
lateral movement of the feed bar has taken place the cutter bar has commenced to
descend, and in its downward movement and before any upward movement of the
feed bar has occurred it carries the presser bar down until its foot rests firmly upon
the material being folded, and thereby secures the same in position, and then
continuing its descent it raises the feed bar, and the said feed bar being so raised is
then carried backward relatively to the feed movement to renew its hold upon the
material at its next descent.
To raise both the feed and presser bars from the material at the same time for the
purpose of adjusting the work under the samethe lifting lever is employed. A feed-
ing device thus arranged in a vamp does not mar the finished surface of the material
upon which it operates, and this result is an important feature of this Invention.
Upon the bed is a plate which is slotted for the passage of the vertical reciprocating
blade, and upon this plate is a folding block for turning the edge of the material as
it is fed along past the knives, as before described. To the bed of the machine is
attached an adjustable guide for assisting in holding and directing the material in
its progress through the machine, and up through a slot in this bed projects the end
of the fold press, which is pivoted beneath the bed and connected at its opposite
end to a crank pin in the driving wheel, by which it is operated to press and
This fold presser
complete the folding of the edge passes by the said block.
acts upon a yielding block which is seated upon an elastic cushion or spring in a
recess in the bed of the machine.
as it
The edge of the material to be folded is first passed under the guide and the feet
of the feed and presser bars, and then by operation of the machine is carried upon
and over the shearing block across the path of said reciprocating blade which, in
conjunction with said shearing block, slits the edge against the folding block which
turns the edge partially over and under the fold presser which presses the fold down
smoothly.
The employment of a yielding pressure to close the fold constitutes another
important feature of this present Invention.
The reciprocating cutting blade is attached to the cutter bar, and has a back
which extends downward beyond its cutting edge through the slot and does not rise
entirely above or out of said slot; the edge of the work may be guided against
this back.
To the aforesaid eccentric strap on the driving shaft we attach a cup or fountain
which may be supplied with any suitable flowing adhesive substance, and as the
material is fed along under the said guide the brush inserted in the bottom of this
fountain is brought down by the action of the said eccentric strap in front of said
guide and upon the material in such manner as to properly apply the adhesive
substance to the edge of the material as it passes along, and when the edge is
finally doubled down by the fold presser it will firmly adhere and remain folded, as
desired.
It is obvious that a fountain may be constructed and applied to the machine in
various ways to automatically prepare the edge with a glutinous substance preceding
the operation of folding.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
April 1877.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PASTING, CUTTING,
FOLDING, AND PRESSING THE EDGES OF SHOE VAMPS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
A communication from abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Boston, Massachusetts,
United States of America.
This Invention relates to a machine or mechanism designed to perform auto-
matically and at a single operation the work or labor of pasting, cutting, folding,
and pressing the edges of shoe vamps or other articles requiring to be so folded,
whereby one operative is enabled to perform such labor with unusual rapidity, ease,
and neatness, and with great economy.
In the accompanying Drawing,-
Figure 1 is a side clevation of a machine constructed according to this Invention.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the head attached to the arm or goose neck of the
said machine, and containing some of the principal operative parts of the same.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the opposite side of the head showing the same
detached from the arm and the construction and arrangement of the parts within
the head.
Figure 4 shows the end of the arm or goose neck with the head and its enclosed
parts removed from the same, and with the excentric strap and cam attached to the
driving shaft for operating the feed and knife.
Figure 5 is a plan or top view of the bed plate and devices attached thereto;
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section on the line x, x, Figure 5; Figure 7 is a transverse
section on the line 2, 2, Figure 5.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A is the bed of the machine; B, the arm or goose neck; C, the driving wheel;
and D, the driving shaft. Upon the shaft D is an excentric strap E and a cam F.
In the head or cap which is attached to the goose neck are the cutter bar H,
presser bar I, and feed bar J; these bars constructed, arranged, and connected as
shown in Figure 3, move freely in vertical slots or grooves in the head G. The feed
bar J has also a lateral movement imparted to it in one direction by the cam F,
shewn in dotted lines in Figure 3, and in the opposite direction by a spring K,
shown in the same Figure. The extent of this lateral movement and consequently
the intermittent or step-by-step progress of the material past the knives is regulated
and controlled by means of the cam L, which may be set by the operator in any
required position, and against which the pin M in said bar J and projecting outward
through the slot in the cap G is caused to act by the force of said spring.
The excentric strap E is attached to the cutter bar H that carries a vertically
reciprocating cutting blade, so arranged that it cuts transversely to the edge of the
material and across the path of the feed movement, and the shaft D when rotated
causes the bar H to reciprocate vertically, and as it reaches its extreme upward
movement it raises the presser bar I sufficiently to remove its foot from the material;
at the same time the feed bar J is forced down upon this material by a spring N,
one end of which is attached to the machine arm, while the other acts freely in a
notch in the connecting bar O which is pivoted to the bars H, I, J, at their top ends;
and while the feed bar J is thus forced down upon the material it is also moved
laterally for feeding or carrying the material forward by the action of the cam F
against the bar at p, Figure 3. When this lateral movement of the feed bar J has
taken place the cutter bar H has commenced to descend, and in its downward
movement and before any upward movement of the feed bar J has occurred it
carries the presser bar I down until its foot rests firmly upon the material being
folded, and thereby secures the same in position, and then continuing its descent it
raises the feed bar J, and the said feed bar J being so raised is then carried back-

page_text: ward relatively to the feed movement by the spring K to renew its hold upon the
material at its next descent; thus the bars H, I, J, are caused to move relatively
to each other and carry forward and cut the edges of the material as required.
To raise both the feed and presser bars from the material at the same time for the
purpose of adjusting the work under the same the lifting lever Q is employed. A
feeding device thus arranged in a vamp folding machine to operate entirely from
above, and which therefore comes in contact with the material upon one side; that
is to say, upon its unfinished side only, does not mar the finished surface of the
material upon which it operates, and this result is an important feature of the said
Invention. Upon the bed A is a plate R slotted at S for the passage of the vertical
reciprocating blade b which effects its cutting transversely, as aforesaid, in con-
junction with the inclined shearing block T; and upon this plate is a folding block U
for turning the edge of the material as it is fed along past the knives, as above
described. To the bed of the machine is attached an adjustable guide V, which
assists in holding and directing the material in its progress through the machine,
and up through a slot in this bed projects the end of the fold presser W which is
pivoted beneath the bed and connected at its opposite end to a crank pin in the
driving wheel C, whereby it is operated to press and complete the folding of the
edge as it passes by the block U. This fold presser acts upon the surface of the
yielding block X which is seated upon an elastic cushion or spring Y in a recess in
the bed of the machine, as shown in Figure 6.
W
The edge of the material to be folded is first passed under the guide V and the
feet of the feed and presser bars, and then by the operation of the machine is
carried upon and over the shearing block T across the path of the said reciprocating
blade b which, in conjunction with the said shearing block slits the said edge in
the manner herein-above described; the edge is then carried and pressed against
the folding block U, which turns the edge partially over and under the fold presser
which presses the fold down smoothly. This last operation is performed upon the
yielding surface X to avoid breaking the finished surface of enamelled or other
easily marred and fractured materials upon the edge of the fold; such yielding
pressure may be made adjustable, or more or less elastic, to adapt it to the various
materials used for the purpose specified.
The employment of a yielding pressure to thus close the fold constitutes another
important feature of this present Invention.
The reciprocating cutting blade b is attached to the cutter bar H, and has a back
which extends downward beyond its cutting edge through the slot S and never
rises entirely above or out of said slot; the edge of the work may be guided
against this back, which will thus serve to gauge or limit the extent of the cut in
said edge to the depth or width of the blade b.
The method of cutting herein described has several important advantages over
other methods which may be employed, such as cutting down through the material
with a single knife driven upon a soft metal block. In the latter case the knife will
be very quickly blunted, will run harder, make more noise and jar, soon imbed
itself in the block so as to prevent its making a clean cut, will require very
accurate adjustment relatively to the vertical movements of its bar, and will be
troublesome and expensive to keep in running order by reason of its destruction of
blocks and frequent necessity for sharpening. This method of cutting with a
vertically reciprocating blade through a slot in the table and in conjunction with a
shearing block, as described, obviates the numerous disadvantages referred to in the
employment of the usual methods of cutting.
To the excentric strap E 1 attach a cup or fountain f, which may be supplied
with any suitable flowing adhesive substance; as the leather or other material is
fed along under the guide V a brush inserted in the bottom of this fountain and
suitably supplied with the paste or adhesive substance is brought down by the
action of the said excentric strap in front of the guide V and upon the material in
such manner as to properly apply the adhesive substance automatically to the edge
of the material as it passes along to be subjected to the succeeding operations of

page_text: cutting and folding. The said material is thereby so prepared that when the edge is
finally doubled down by the fold presser W it will firmly adhere and remain folded
as desired.
It is obvious that a fountain may be constructed and applied to the machine in
various ways to automatically prepare the edge with a glutinous substance before the
operation of folding the leather or other material.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim, the machine consisting of the parts or devices shown in the accom-
panying Drawing, and constructed, combined, and operating, as above set forth, for
automatically performing the above specified work or labor, and for other like
purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
W“. ROB“. LAKE. (L.S.)