IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR DRIVING TACKS OR NAILS IN THE OPERATION OF LASTING BOOTS AND SHOES, AND FOR OTHER. LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR
DRIVING TACKS OR NAILS IN THE OPERATION OF LASTING BOOTS AND SHOES,
AND FOR OTHER. LIKE PURPOSES."-A communication from abroad by
Lyman R. Blake, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Pétition,
on the 25th October 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY
FOR DRIVING TACKS OR NAILS IN THE OPERATION OF LASTING BOOTS AND SHOES,
AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," a communication, to be as follows:-
1
My said Invention relates to apparatus to be used in lasting the
uppers of boots or shoes to their inner soles preparatory to securing

page_text: the outer sole to the vamp and inner sole, and also for uniting the
outer sole to the welt, or to the inner sole and upper, and for general
use in the manufacture of boots and shoes; it is chiefly designed for
use in connection with the lasting tacks or nails described in the
Specification filed with my application for Letters Patent, No. 3470,
A.D. 1873. The said tacks or nails are formed in a "blank" which
resembles an ordinary comb, that is to say, the said "blank" consists
of a series of taper teeth, each of which forms the shank of a nail
or tack, and which are united at the heads by a bar or top piece.
The said Invention consists in mechanism whereby the said tacks or 1
nails are cut from the blank one by one, and are driven one by one into
the work as they are cut.
-
The said apparatus has a cylinder wherein is fitted a plunger or
piston, at the bottom of which is a driver. This driver works through
a nail tube, and the latter slides in the said cylinder.
In using this apparatus the lower extremity or nose of the said nail
tube is pressed against the material to be nailed. A stationary cutter
is secured to one side of the aforesaid nail tube.
1
The said cutter is preferably made slightly taper, with its opposite
edges dovetailed, and it is fitted in a similarly taper and dovetailed 2
groove. The descent of the cylinder forces the cutter against the top
bar or head of the aforesaid nail blank, and severs the nails or tacks
from the same. The separated, nail is left in the tube and is driven
into the last by the descent of the driver.
'
The said apparatus also has a feed spring or spring pawl which
presents the nail blank to the said cutter, the blank being held by
the cutter while the said pawl moves back, and being released and fed
forward as the piston rises.
The said apparatus also has a box or holder for containing the blank
comb or ribbon from which the nails are to be cut, and an opening is
formed in this box through which the said blank passes to the nail
tube.
I modify this Invention by constructing the said apparatus as
follows, that is to say, I provide it with a cylindrical or tubular
handle, at the foot of which is an arm or plate; to the front of
this plate is attached the blank holder. which has a channel or
0

page_text: passage T shaped or otherwise suitably formed to receive the blank.
The nail tube is placed below the aforesaid channel or socket; the
said holder or the handle is held up by a spring. In the tubular
handle is fitted a plunger whose lower end, as above described, carries
the driver. The said plunger is held up by a spring, and when forced
down against the stress of the spring the said driver acting in con-
junction with the aforesaid cutter severs a nail from the blank, and
then drives the said nail into the last or material to be nailed or
tacked.
I combine with the above mechanism feed apparatus consisting of
two spur wheels, a pawl and slide, and a lever, which operate to move
the blank intermittently forward to the cutter and driver.
I further modify the said Invention as follows, to better adapt it
for working with a blank or tack comb which has the flanged head
forming portion all on one side of the shanks or teeth:-The driver
consists of a cylinder which constitutes the handle, at the lower end
of which is attached the nail tube. The inside or "bore" of the
latter is sufficiently large to allow one of the tacks to pass when
severed from the comb and driven with its point foremost. A little
above the lower end of the nail tube the end of the said comb is intro-
duced into the chamber or bore of the nailer.
À peculiarity in the introduction of this comb is its passage through
an aperture of the same sectional figure with its head uppermost, but
the shank part is not vertical or parallel with the axis of the nail
tube. And while the flange part or head of the tack is directly over
the bore of the nail tube the shank is inclined away from it at the
bottom, the bore being enlarged on that side to permit the entrance
of the tack. This enlargement extends above the aperture and slightly
below its bottom. There is a plunger in this enlargement which comes
down and bends the shank of the tack into a vertical position in the
first part of the bore or directly over the nail tube; but the tack is
still united with the comb by the flanged head, which occupies such a
position that a plunger acting in the chamber of the nail tube will
sever it from the comb; for this purpose there is a second plunger
which at one blow severs the flange and carries the tack thus cut off
into the work at the end of the tube. The two plungers act in rapid
succession one after the other by the same blow of the hand, and the
.

page_text: recoil of the plungers actuates a lever and pawl to introduce another
tack from the end of the comb to be cut off at the next descent of the
said plungers.
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 25th April 1874.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR DRIVING TACKS. OR NAILS
IN THE OPERATION OF LASTING BOOTS AND SHOES, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES,"
a communication to me from abroad by Lyman R. Blake, of Brooklyn,
New York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal. Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in. and

page_text: apparatus; Figure 2 is an elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical
section on the line x, x, Figure 1; Figure 4 is a horizontal section on
the line x, x¹, Figure 2. The remaining Figures are herein-after
described.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, a is a tube or cylinder in which is fitted a
reciprocating plunger or piston 6; at the bottom of the latter is a
driver c which works through the bore of a nail tube d; this tube
also sliding in the tube or cylinder a, and the point or nose c of the
nail tube being pressed against the edge to be nailed. On one side
of the tube or cylinder a, and fixed to the cylinder by a clamp or
coupling f, is a box for containing the coil ribbon or blank from
which the nails are to be cut; this box has a swinging gate or plate /
which forms the bottom thereof, but which, by being swung around
upon the pin i, opens the box for introduction of the blank. On onc
side of the box is an opening k through which the end of the blank
passes; it is led from the box between the lips of a guide l, and through
a slit m into the nail tube. The nail blank n is formed something like
a comb, that is to say, it is composed of a series of taper teeth o united
by a top piece p, as seen in Fig. 2, cach tooth being the shank of a
nail, the head of which is formed of the part to be cut off with the

page_text: shank. The blank is then fed by the point or tooth q of a spring or
spring pawl r, which being fastened at its upper end to the cylinder a
extends down therefrom and is bent around, and has its point lying or
pressing against the blank. The feed spring is pressed outward by the
action of one arm of a lever s, whose other arm extends into a slot t
in the shank of the nose piece or nail tube d.
When the cylinder a is pressed down the lever throws out the
spring r, and draws back the blank; when the cylinder is thrown up
the spring is released from the lever, and by its recoil thrusts the
end of the blank forward through the slit and into the nail tube.
Just below this slit a cutter u is fixed on one side of the nail tube
which is cut away, the upper or cutting edge of the cutter lying in
the plane of one side of the nail tube. bore, so that as the cylinder
is pressed down the cutter enters between the tooth forced into the
nail tube and the adjacent tooth. The descent of the cylinder forces
the cutter against the top piece between the two teeth and severs
the end nail from the blank, the separated nail is thus left in the
tube and is driven by the descent of the driver upon it; the descent
of the cylinder to cut off the nail, and the blow of the driver to drive
the severed nail, are effected by one blow of the hand, or of a hammer
upon the top of the piston b. The cylinder in descending first brings
the cutter between the end nail or tooth and the next one thereto, and
then forces the lever s against the feed spring or pawl carrying back
the pawl tooth, and as the cutter is between the teeth of the blank the
blank is thereby held while the pawl tooth slips back; the pawl tooth
thus coming into position against the blank to again feed the blank
at its next forward movement.
The cylinder a and the driver piston 6 are both held up or in
their normal positions by the stress of a spring w, the upper end
of which bears against a flange on the piston, and its lower end
against the top of the nail driver tube, as seen in Fig. 3. The cutter u
is made slightly taper and (with its opposite edges dovetailed, and it
fits in a corresponding taper and dovetail groove in the side of the
nail driver tube; as the cutter edge becomes blunt the cutter is removed,
ground down a little, and again driven into its socket, bringing a new
portion of the cutting edge into position; or the edge of the cutter
and the grooves may be made parallel, and the cutter be driven endwise

page_text: the nails.
In Figures 5 to 8. I have illustrated various modifications of the above-
described apparatus, which I will now proceed to describe.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of this modified apparatus; Figure 6
is a plan of the same; Figure 7 shows the mechanism in sectional
elevation; Figure 8 is an end view of the blank holder.
a is a tubular handle, at the foot of which is a horizontal arm or
plate b. To the front of this arm is fastened the nail blank holder c;
this holder has a horizontal and T shaped passage d opening to the
outer end of the plate for the admission of the blank. The opposite
end of this passage extends under the tube a, and opens into a socket e
of a nail receiver and holder f. This holder has below the socket a
nail tube preferably square or rectangular in cross section, and of
a size to admit and pass the head of the severed tack; the bottom
of this foot rests upon the material into which the tacks are to be
driven. The holder. f is forced down by the stress of a suitable..
spring h, or the nail tube foot being stationary the handle a is forced
down against the stress of the spring, and by this movement the shank
of the unsevered tack at the end of the blank projected into the
socket e is carried into the nail tube g, bringing the head part between
it and the next shank or tooth över an edge i. The point of the tack
will then be near the bottom of the tube, and the tack is in position
to be severed and driven. Into the top of the tube a extends a
plunger with a driver m. at its lower end. This plunger is held up
by the spring h, and is forced down against the stress of the spring. :
When the shank of the tack is in the tube g, and the driver is
ready to be forced down against the tack head to sever it from the
blank and drive the tack, the point of the driver stands just above
the head. The plunger being then driven down by a blow the driver
strikes the head and severs it at the cutting edge, and at the same
time drives it into the surface or material beneath. After the tack
s thus severed and driven the springs restore the parts to their normal
positions, as seen in Figure 7, and in their movement toward such
5 position the blank is fed forward to again thrust its end into the
socket e beneath the nail driver as follows:-Through the wall n of
the blank holder the teeth on the inner sides of two spur wheels o, P.-

page_text: project into the passage d, and these teeth enter between adjacent
teeth of the comb-like blank. Engaging with the outer teeth of these
two wheels are two pawls q, r, which are jointed to a slide s, and are
pressed against or toward the teeth by springs t. At one end of this
slide is jointed an arm of a lever u, whose other arm extends between
two projections v, w, of the nail holder f.
i
* When the apparatus is operated to drive the nail the projection w
strikes the lever arm and draws the pawls forward over the spur
teeth, one or more suitable retainer pawls preventing the spur wheels
from rotating. The nail having been driven and the socket emptied,
the tube a being thrown up by the spring brings the projection w
into contact with the lever arm, and the slides is thrown back, turning
the spur wheels, and causing the teeth to feed forward the comb like
blank or blanks, bringing the end of the blank into the nail socket in
position to be severed to form the next nail.
By this apparatus lasting tacks may be rapidly formed and driven
without any attention being given to the mechanism, except to press
the tool down to the work, and drive the plunger 7 by a blow so long
as blanks are supplied to the passage.
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,—
First. The combination of a stationary cutter, a sliding nail blank
holder, and a sliding nail driver, arranged to operate as above described.
Second. In a machine for cutting and driving nails, the cutting of 2
the said nails separately from a nail blank composed of a series of
shanks or teeth united at the top; and the driving of the said nails
separately, as herein described.
Third. The feed spring or spring pawl operating to present the end
of the nail blank to the action of the cutter, as herein described.
3
Fourth. The combination with the nail socket the head supporting
and severing edge, and the nail tube of a driver, which, in conjunction
with the severing edge, severs the nail head and then drives the nail.
Fifth. In combination with the severing and driving mechanism the
straight arm with its T shaped passage for the blank, and the blank 3
feeding mechanism, substantially as above described..

page_text: Sixth. The spur wheels, pawls, slide and lever operated and operating
to intermittently move the blank forward, as above described.
Seventh. The construction and arrangement of the various parts of
the mechanism, substantially as shown either in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, or in
Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)