Improvements in Leather Measuring Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: [This Print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 11 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883) as required
by the decision of the Law Officer of the 3rd day of August 1897.]
Date of Application, 24th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 7th Dec., 1895
COMPLETE
DEMUINICATION.
Improvements in Leather Measuring Machines.
I, JULES ERNEST FORTIN, of No. 135 St. Helene Street, in the City of Quebec,
n the County of Quebec and Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada, Machinist,
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:-
This invention has reference to improvements hereinafter described and claimed in
that kind of machine (patented by Joseph Place Tolton on his application No. 14347
of 1895) for securing automatically the surface measurement of sides of leather in
which, there are combined with a series of feelers or contacts for traversing the
leather, an indicator, and a receiver or accumulator of a mobile or variable nature,
adapted to receive from each of the feelers or contacts an impression or transfer of
its individual action and to transmit to the indicator the total sum or aggregate
of the impressions received after which such receiver can resume its normal
condition and be again acted upon by the feelers, probably to an entirely different
and varied extent, and in turn act upon the indicator, causing it to express the
different result.
Referring to the accompanying drawings,
Figure is a front elevation of a leather measuring machine constructed
according to my invention.
Fig. 2 a transverse vertical sectional view of same taken on line 2, 2, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 a rear elevation thereof.
Fig. 4 a transverse horizontal sectional view thereof taken on line 4, 4, Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the machine and
Fig. 6 a left hand side elevation thereof partly broken away.
In carrying out my invention, I construct an open rectangular frame of gas
piping, 1 1 and 2 2* being respectively the front and back vertical lengths at the
corners; 3 and 4 being respectively the lower front and back longitudinal lengths
extending horizontally between the vertical lengths; and 5 and 6 lower transverse
end lengths between the vertical lengths, the upper portion of the frame having a
front longitudinal length 7, a rear longitudinal length 7, and two transverse end
lengths 8, 8, each carrying a vertical length constituting standards 9, 9, supporting
between them another longitudinal length 10. The several parts are rendered
adjustable for facilitating the construction of the machine by means of collars a and
set screws b. Of the several lengths of piping it is only necessary that the vertical
5 length 1, the lower rear longitudinal 4 and the lower end one 5 be hollow to contain
the body of water, the rest being plugged or filled in any way and simply exercising
the function of framework. To the water-containing parts are added however a
series of receptacles in the form of smaller vertical tubes 11 arranged at the rear of
the machine and having their lower ends let into the rear longitudinal 4 and their

page_text: upper ends supported by a longitudinal bar 12 through which they pass, the water
spaces of the several tubes communicating with that of the tubular length 4.
The hollow parts just mentioned contain a body of water, one arm of which
extends up the vertical length 1 for such a distance as will be determined by the
position er positions of a series of weights, in the form of hollow tubes 13 with
closed ends, located and movable within the smaller vertical tubes 11 each of which
contains an arın of the body of water to be acted upon by a weight, and in the
length a floating indicator is arranged so that as the several weights rise or fall in
the tubes 11, the indicator is accordingly lowered or raised.
The floating indicator is composed of a hollow float 14 and a bar 15 with its
lower end set in a socket 16 on tlie top of the float, the bar passing through a slitted
cap 17 at the top of the length of piping 1 and its projecting portion bearing a
scale 18 expressing foot measurements with the units and a zero point at the lower
end, which zero point when the parts are in their normal position is opposite a
pointer 19 carried by the cap 17.
The movable weights 13 form one terminal of what I have chosen to call feelers
or contacts for the reason that the opposite terminal thereof consists of a series of
narrow discs or wheels 20 which make contact with and traverse the surface of the
leather being measured and the intermediate portions of the feelers are made up of
flexible connections 21 one end of each of which is connected to the head of a
weight and the other end to the periphery of a horizontal spindle 22 on which each
disc 20 is rigidly mounted, the flexible connection passing through a guiding eye 21.
depending from the longitudinal 7* of the framing.
Each of the several spindles 22 is carried independently in an adjustable
frame 23 having its rear end pivoted at 24 to a bracket 25 also pivotally carried
by the longitudinal 10 of the framing and its forward end is slotted and rests
on the head of an inverted adjusting screw 26 which passes up through the slotted
end thereof and takes into the horizontal flange 27 of a longitudinal face plate
or head piece 28 extending the full width of the machine.
This arrangement allows for the adjustment of the several discs to and their
maintenance in a uniform position as well as to accommodate a side of leather
of uneven thickness.
A rotating feed roll 29 is located beneath the contact discs and in rear of a
supporting table 30 for the sides of leather, the roll being journalled in bearings 31
carried by the upper transverse lengths 8, 8, of the framing and the journals
thereof extending on either side to carry a driving pulley 32 with either of which
a driving belt can be connected.
In order to arrest the rotation of the contact discs immediately the leather
passes out of contact therewith brake mechanism is used in the form of a gravity
drop or finger 33 for each contact disc such fingers having their upper ends pivoted
at 34 to a rod c carried by the longitudinal 7 of the framing and their lower ends
which are tipped with rubber, resting on the peripheries of the discs. The several
gravity drops are located in their respective positions relatively to the discs by means
of washers d interposed between them on the rod c. To release the discs from the
brakes after the measurement is completed all the drops or fingers 33 are
simultaneously raised from contact with the discs by means of a common horizontal
lifting rod r extending beneath them all and carried by arms 35 pivoted at 36 to the
upper ends of supporting pins 37 carried by the longitudinal 10 of the framing, an
operating rod 38 being rigidly connected with the central one of such arms and
extending forward through an opening in the face plate 28 of the machine.
A suitable apron 39 is arranged to extend frontwards from the longitudinal 10
to a point beneath the table and forward of the framing in order to return or
guide the leather outward again after being measured its outer end being sup
ported by chains w from the table, and a roller 40 is located along the front edge of
the table to facilitate the feeding of the leather to the machine.
The water space of the framing is filled by removing the cap 17 from the
vertical column 1 and pouring water into the latter and in order to regulate the

page_text: normal level of the water in such column so that the indicator will register
precisely at the zero point I use regulating devices as follows:-
To extra tubes and f are added to the series connected with the rear
longitudinal 4 but instead of containing weights operated by the contact discs, the
one e contains a number of fine rods e¹ one, two or more of which can be removed
and consequently allow the arm of water in the tube to rise, thus correspondingly
lowering the water in the column 1 should its normal level happen to be too high,
this arrangement giving a finer adjustment or regulation than can be obtained in
the other tube f which contains a single weight g similar to those 13 in the tubes 11
and operated by means of a chain h connected to its upper end passing through an
eye on the longitudinal 7 of the framing and having any one of its links clipped
over a retaining hook m at the front of the inachine.
As a further means of control of the level of the water, if necessary, a graduated
series of tubes n n¹ can be used, these being connected at their lower ends with the
end water length 5 and their upper ends supported by a bar o, these tubes n¹ being
smaller in diameter than the ones n. Each tube is provided with a valve p so that
a varying quantity of water can be cut off or added to the working body.
Any suitable outlet such as the drain cock q can be provided whereby the
machine can be emptied when required.
In operation, the side of leather passes as is well understood between the feed roll
and the contact discs, the latter rotating so long as the leather is in contact therewith
and consequently as the side of leather is usually of irregular contour and sometimes
even with central portions absent several of the contact discs will remain idle
while others are rotating, thus raising the weights 13 to various heights as
indicated in Fig. 3. This elevation of the weights 13 will of course allow the
water to rise in the tubes 11 and the water in the column 1 to fall accordingly
and with it of course the indicator, thus registering the distance traversed by
the feelers or contact discs, and naturally, the area of the leather.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I make no claim
to anything covered by the specification of Letters Patent No. 14347 of 1895 of
Joseph Place Tolton hereinbefore mentioned but what I claim is :-
1. In a hydraulic leather measuring machine of the kind herein referred to,
mechanism for regulating the level of the body of the water therein consisting of a
vertical tube containing a quantity of the water and a number of rods each of which
is movable into and out of the water for the purpose set forth.
2. In a leather measuring machine of the kind herein referred to the combination
with a frame having water carrying sections formed in part of vertical tubes in
communication with each other at their lower ends, a body of water contained
therein, a floating indicator in one of the tubes, a supporting table and means for
traversing the leather to secure a measurement thereof and acting upon the water
in said tubes, of a graduated series of additional tubes containing a portion of said
body of water and valves for controlling the water in such additional tubes for the
purpose set forth.