IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING AND TRIMMING THE HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Haseltine at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents,, with his Petition, on the 6th January
1865. A communication from abroad by Charles Helms, of the City,
County, and State of New York, United States of America.
I, GEORGE HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 12, South-
ampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING AND TRIMMING THE HEELS OF BOOTS AND SHOES,"
a communication; to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in so constructing and arranging machinery that the
heel of a boot or shoe can be shaped and trimmed by the single operation of
turning the boot or shoe about half way round on the centres on which it is
adjusted in the machine.
To do this a fixed standard is adjusted on a suitable table. In this
standard is arranged a horizontal axis, on the outer end of which is a suitable
propelling pulley and fly wheel, and on the inner end of it is secured a series
of cutters or knives so as to form a rotary cutter, and also two loose rollers,
one at each side of the cutter stock. The inner one of these rollers acts as a
guage to limit the depth of cut of the rotary cutters in connection with a
pattern plate on the heel of the boot or shoe, and the outer one is to prevent
the rotary cutters from cutting the "counters" of the boot or shoe which is
adjusted on centres parallel to the axes of the rotary cutters in a. frame made

page_text: to slide up and down in grooves or guide ways in the face of the fixed
standard. To control the shape of the heel a pattern plate is employed, in
which one of the centres engages, while the opposite centre engages in the
shank of the "last," and thus holds the shoe with its toe downwards firmly in
its place. To keep the sliding frame up so as to bring the heel of the boot or
shoe in contact with the rotary cutters the leg of the sliding frame, which
works in the fixed standard, rests upon a spiral spring. And to enable the
operator to depress the sliding frame so as to admit of adjusting the boot or
shoe on the centres, a rod is attached to the lower end of the sliding frame,
and, passing through the spiral spring connects with a treadle on the floor,
so that by depressing the treadle the sliding frame is drawn down so as to
admit of adjusting the shoe in it. To enable the operative to keep the heel of
the boot or shoe firmly in contact with the rotary cutters, the outer bearing or
centre on which the shank of the shoe is centred is made of flattened steel
plate, so that by means of a rod conecting with it and a hand lever at the top
of the sliding frame, the "counter" of the boot or shoe may be "sprung up,"
and thus cause the cutters to perform their work accurately, to finish the heel
up to the crease or "round" formed by the joining of the heel to the body of
the shoe. Underneath the outer end of the sliding frame is a hollow standard
in which is a rod resting on a spiral spring. The object of this arrangement is
to support the outer end of the sliding frame and keep it steady while the
heel of the boot or shoe is being cut.