Improved Means of and Appliances for Cutting up Butts or Hides of Leather and such like Material into Blanks for Use in the Manufacture of Boots, Shoes, and the like.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Oct., 1886.
Complete Left, 13th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 30th Aug., 188"
DESER
Improved Means of and Appliances for Cutting up Butts or Hides
of Leather and such like Material into Blanks for Use in the
Manufacture of Boots, Shoes, and the like.
We, EBENEZER WHATCOTT, and EDWIN BRIDGEWATER of No. 5 Victoria Road
Northampton in the county of Northampton, Boot and Shoe Manufacturers, and
WILLIAM BRIDGEWATER of No. 1 Free School Lane Leicester, in the county of
Leicester, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
follows:-
as
This invention relates to improved means of, and appliances for cutting blanks for
use in the manufacture of boots, shoes, and the like, for producing soles, and other
such shapes, for forming the bottoms of boots, shoes, or other foot coverings, by using
knives of various shapes; in some cases they are constructed so that the convexed
portion at the front or Toe of the knife, fits exactly into a recess formed in the heel,
so that when the knives have cut alternately across the butt, or hide, or skin of
leather, in the following on; the toe of one fits the concave recess in the heel of the
other, and also the outside joint, fitting the inside waist of the other, or if it is not
deemed necessary to use the knives to fit in, heel and Toe, other shaped knives can be
used and by this means saving the trouble of first ranging the material to the lengths
and sizes required before the cutting operation can be performed, by the arrainge-
ment of the knife, or knives in the manner hereinafter described. The knife above
referred to is for cutting an outsole and may be used under an ordinary screw press
if desired, such knives may be straight or not, or to any desired pattern of which the
insole and outsole patterns have to conform with the last to produce the shape of the
boot, or other similar article. The press for effecting the cutting operation is con-
structed and arrainged in the following manner.
A suitable frame is made with a
foot treadle, or pulleys on the shaft to work by power, for bringing down the head,
which works in suitable bearings freely that it can be raised or depressed as it may
seem desirable and having a flat table upon which is placed, under the head, a block
Pine 871

page_text: made the length of the press and to the width suitable to the press in which it is
arrainged. The knives are fitted in on the upper and lower faces of the head in their
corresponding positions-and secured in a suitable manner that when the lower face
has been brought down and the cutting operation is performed, the head is allowed to
rise and turn over to bring the knife in the upper face down in the opposite position
for the cutting operation, and the blanks or shapes are cut close to each other in the
manner as before described if only one set of knives are employed they may be made
to traverse in the desired direction to cover the length or whole of the material
employed. That in cutting, the Toe of one is made to fit in the heel, and waist, or
joint of the other, if the head of the press is arrainged to hold a quantity of knives
sufficient to cover the entire length of the head they are so fixed than when the faces
have to be brought down to cut the material they are. tanged across from left to.
right and by this means, the whole, or part of a butt, skins or hide, or other suitable
material is cut up with only a minimum of waste. The ordinary knives may be also
employed in any number of shapes, or patterns of in-, middle-, or out-sole knives,
or knives for stiffeners, or heels, and can be arrainged to be used at one time for
producing the shapes or blanks, without having to range the material to the length, or
size of the article required.
Dated this 2nd day of October 1886.
WILLIAM BESTWICK MAXFIELD,
Agent for the Applicants.

page_text: DIEUITIVATION.
Improved Means of and Appliances for Cutting up Butts or Hides
of Leather and such like Material into Blanks for Use in the
Manufacture of Boots, Shoes, and the like.
We, EBENEZER WHATCOTT and EDWIN BRIDGEWATER both of No. 5 Victoria Road
Northampton, in the county of Northampton, boot and Shoe Manufacturers and
WILLIAM BRIDGEWATER of No. 1 Free School Lane Leicester, in the county of
Leicester, Machinist do hereby declare the nature of 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 relates to improved means of and appliances for cutting up butts, or
hides of leather and such like material into blanks for use in the manufacture of boots,
shoes and the like for producing soles, parts of soles; and other such shapes for
forming the bottoms of boots, shoes, or other foot coverings, we can use knives of any
desired shape, round or square at the toe of the ordinary kinds now in use, or by this
our invention, specially constructed that the convexed portions at the toe of the knife
fits in a corresponding recess formed at the rear part of the knife in cutting out the
blanks. The knives may be fixed either to cnt alternately across the butt, hide, or
skin, or lengthwise of the piece of butt, hide, skin, or any other such like material,
lining or textile fabric. The knives following each other during the cutting operation
that each cuts close after the other that no waste of the material takes place, and the
trouble of first ranging the material into sizes, is obviated, the out-sole knives
referred to are those which have a conoidal or concave recess in the back or heel of
the knife with the toe of the ordinary form. More than one knife can be put at one
time on the faces of the knife carriers, so that they come down on to the material in
the manner as shewn by figure 3 of the drawings herewith. The machines may be
worked either by power, hand, or foot, and are constructed, and arranged in the
following manner. A suitable frame is provided properly secured together with
suitable means for lifting, turning over, and bringing down a hollow case, or head,
provided with a knife holder, or holders with knives adjusted therein, a perfectly flat
and even table is used either screwed to the standards or may be adjusted to a given
height by set pins, or screws, to come at the desired distance under the head, and
upon which is placed a block or a combination of blocks bolted together, of Wood,
lead, or other material suitable for the purpose made to the width and length required.
The knives whether of the new construction or of the ordinary kind are fitted in the
faces of the holders, in their proper positions and secured in a suitable manner.
While the head is turning over the soles, or other shapes in the knives, are knocked
out automatically. The knives are adjusted in their holders that in cutting the toe.
of one fits in the concavity left in the back of the other, or the joint of one fits in the

page_text: waist of the other so that the material may be cut with a less quantity of waste than
is, now the case, or the head of the machine may hold a series of knives in holders
that cover the length of the head so that the knives may cut the entire length or
width of material placed on the block, the whole being cut by the delivery of the two
blows of the hollow case or head. In this case the traverse of the knife carrier is not
necessary, suitable feeders can be provided for feeding the material on to the cutting
table, such as ordinary rollers working parallel on or up to the machines to feed and
press the material ready for cutting without having to be first pressed under other
or separate machines. That this our Invention may be well understood we will now
refer to the drawings accompanying this specification. The same letters of reference
represent like parts in all the figures. Figure 1 is a front view in elevation of a
machine constructed in accordance with this invention. In the sides of the frame A.
are provided key hole shaped recesses a¹ within which ride the horizontal screw
shaft a and hollow case, or head B. the screw shaft a² is provided with spiral
When
grooves C. within which the blocks e¹ project from the knife carrier D.
adjusted to facilitate the traverse, the knives d' are held in position by pins & fitting
in holes drilled out in the body of the knives; or by other suitable means, a block, or.
combination of blocks E. is placed on the table F. The lifting and falling of the
head B. is accomplished by the straps G. being secured on the case, or head B. their
lower ends screwed to the connecting rods H. which are attached to the eccentrics I,
or cams O. deriving their motion from the shaft J. The cams O. are pear shaped
preferably the spur wheel K gets its motion from the pinion L connected to the
clutch box N. on the crank shaft M. Inserted in the top of the straps G. are hooks
into which are put the ends of the chains P. and run over the pulleys Q down to the
cross bar R. to which they are attached, and with the balance weights S. steady the
rise and fall of the head B. The rack wheels g¹ loose on the tubular shaft of
the head B. have on their outer sides teeth to engage with the teeth of the sliding
clutch T. as shewn on the right hand side of the machine in the drawings, the rack
wheels being actuated that they make only half a revolution, by the vertical racks g³
and g³, or racks quadrant shaped, the vertical racks moving in holders, or guides g*
and actuated by the jointed levers g³ which have their lower ends threaded on to pins
projecting from the sides of the frame of the machine, which are put in motion by the
movement of the connecting rod, on cam, or eccentrics, from the main shaft, at one
motion of the rack the clutch teeth are engaged, and by the return motion the wheel
is caused to revolve, the sliding clutch T. being fitted on the shaft of the head B. by
a pin working in a groove in the clutch and slides back at the return action of the
rack wheel, the clutch revolving the head B. one way, when the clutch on the right
hand of the machine is in action the head B. revolves in one direction carrying the
shaft a² with it, with the exception that at the time the pawl at the end engages the
double rack wheel at the end of the shaft a' which is engaged and released by the up
and down action of the head B. When the clutch on the left hand of the machine is
brought into action and the right one thrown out, the head B. moves in an opposite
direction, and the reverse action takes place carrying the cutting holders back again,
as the cutting operation is performed. The sliding clutch T. is put out of action by
the operator taking hold of one of the handles U. attached to the forked levers V.
which move the plate at u¹ working on the centre pin and causes the end of the
forked lever V. to catch against the projection V2 in the lever V₁ which forces the pin
and holder W. out of the bracket X. On the end of the screw shaft a' is fitted a
double rack wheel Y having the teeth cut in opposite directions, that when the bed
revolves one way the screw is held stationary by one rack, which carries the knife
holder from right to left. When it revolves in the opposite direction the other rack
wheel is held stationary so causing the left to right movement. The traverse of the
knife carrier is caused by the shaft a being held stationary, to cause the knife carrier
to slide sufficient for the cutting operation. When this is done and the head is in
the act of turning over, or changing face, the levers Z. screwed on at the ends of the
rods catch against pins placed in the sides at the rear of the frame, but are not
shewn, which causes the lever fitted in the box of the knife carrier to strike the

page_text: vertical pins and cross ties upwards, above the cutting edge of the knives and
knocks out the blanks, or pieces of material that are in the knives, the pins and cross
ties work in the slots. There are guages or scales in and upon each face of the
knife carrier so that any size of knife, or any shaped knife can be properly adjusted.
The knife holder is regulated by nuts on the screws coming through the slots in the
face. Figure 2 is a view, in section of the knife box, or holder D. The steel
blocks e project into the grooves c¹ of the screw C. on the shaft a² from the box B¹
secured to the plates D. Figure 3 is a diagram of the knives d' specially constructed
and their manner of cutting as hereinbefore described for saving the waste in cutting
out soles, from the material with the knife carrier working from left to right-Fig. 4
is a flat top view of the bracket X. with the hinged fork and lever V₁ and pro-
jection V the arms of the holder W. not seen from the Top, ride on the circumference
and against the shoulder of the sliding clutch T. when it is out of action. Figure 5,
is a side view of Figure 1. The toothed levers y¹ which come into the teeth of the
double rack wheel Y. are held down by the springs y³ the point of the denoting
handy in the guage plate, is set by the screw y. Figure 6 is a front view in
elevation of a smaller machine in a modified form, and may be employed to cut out
blanks from small pieces, lengths, or unequal pieces of material. The knives d' are
adjusted in their holders, as before described, the head C rises, turns over, and
descends to execute the cutting operation. The blanks are automatically thrown out,
the working parts being identical with those in the larger machine, except that the
throwing out levers Z. are fixed in the hollow case or head B. under the holder for
the knives. It will be well understood that the traverse of the knife carrier can be
effected by other equivalent means than by those described. For saving the waste in
cutting up material, we may not use both knives having the concavity in the back or
heel, but any ordinary knife may be used on one of the faces, with the special knife
on the other face, if desired, or it may be found desirable that the cutting operation
may be performed by the position of the machine being reversed that is to say, the
head and knife carrier may rise with the material placed on the cutting edge of the
knife as it comes up to the table, which in this case would have the cutting block
fixed on the under side, and would form the head of the machine, then the case or
head would return, and when turning over the knock out gear would throw out the
blanks, the opposite face would then come uppermost with the knife in the proper
position for the cutting operation; or the top could be made to rise and fall on to the
material, the cutting edge of the knife being in such a position so as to receive it,
by the means and appliances herein before described other material than leather can
be cut out from patterns fixed in the knife carrier, and may be used for cutting out,
from lengths, or layers of material, such as cloth, and the like, or blanks of upper
leather, and will cut up any material with a minimum of waste. Ordinary knives
may be employed in any number, shapes, of the different kinds such as middle, or
outsole knives, or knives for cutting out stiffeners, or heels, and they may be arranged
that they can be used at one time, it will be found useful also for cutting out socks, of
card or mill board. The cutting block and table may be made to rise or fall for
adjusting the block to a required distance from the cutting edge of the knife, so that
5 the blow is properly delivered.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :—
1st. The improved knife d' having a concavity in the back portion that the toe of
one, fits the recess in the other, in any desired shape, and fixed for cutting out
0 material such as out, or in soles, that the joint of one, fits in the waist of the other,
and obviating the necessity of ranging sizes, causing a great saving in the waste of
material as shewn in figure 3. of the drawings accompanying this specification.
5
2nd. The contrivances for throwing the clutch out of gear, as shewn in figures 1
and 4.
3rd. The arranged device for automatically knocking out the blanks, or shapes
from out the knives, in the manner severally as described.

page_text: 4th. The method of adjusting the knives & or cutters or patterns, for cutting out
blanks, in their respective positions on the faces of the knife carrier D. for the purpose
herein before described.
5th. The traverse of the knife carrier D. and in the means of effecting the same, as
described. Or by any equivalent means of operating the same.
6th. The improved means of and appliances for cutting out blanks, for cutting up
butts, hides, or skins of leather, and the like material, or blanks of other material,
cloth, or upper leather, substantially in the manner, and for the purposes, as herein-
before described and set forth.