Improvements in Machines for Attaching Heels to Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Mar., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Dec., 1892-Accepted, 28th Jan., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by HARRY BOARDMAN INGRAHAM, of Worcester,
State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Shoemaker.]
Improvements in Machines for Attaching Heels to Boots and Shoes.
I, CHARLES CARROLL COLBY, of 64 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Advocate, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to machines for attaching heels to boots and shoes and is
intended to be used chiefly with machines of the kind or class described in the
Specification of British Letters Patent No. 16546 dated 29th September 1891.
My said invention is however applicable to other similar machines which attach the
heel but do not drive in the slugs. For convenience I will describe my improvements
as applied to a heeling and slugging machine such as described in the Specification
above referred to.
The present improvements consist of a device by which the head holding the heel,
suspended over the jack and staple head upon which the inverted boot or shoe, to
which the said heel is to be attached, rests, is lowered before the process of
attaching occurs. By this means the operator may see whether or not the heel
which has been lowered to touch the heel-seat of the boot or shoe rests in the right
position thereon, and if it does not he can readily adjust the boot or shoe as
required.
The important part of my invention consists in mounting the slug driver plate on
a rod or spindle which is adapted to slide up and down for a limited distance within
the hollow bar instead of attaching it directly to the said hollow bar as heretofore.
This construction permits the said driver plate to be lowered for the purpose of
effecting the adjustment above referred to. My said invention comprises means for
retaining the driver plate in its raised position; for releasing the said driver plate ;
and for raising it by means of a foot lever as will be hereinafter set forth.
According to one method of carrying my invention into practice I provide a rod
or spindle having a head at its lower end adapted to receive the slug driver plate.
The said rod or spindle is adapted to slide axially in the hollow bar which is
connected to the head or cross beam of the machine and is prevented from rotating
in the said bar by a feather key. The said rod or spindle is continually pressed
downwards, towards the jack or staple head, by a spring or other suitable means.
I provide a foot lever and an adjustable system of links and levers connecting the
said foot lever with the spindle that carries the slug driver plate. The said
connection is made through a collar which is adapted to slide on the upper end of
the said spindle. An adjustable nut or similar connection being provided with
which the said collar is adapted to engage and throngh which the rod or spindle
can be raised to its highest position. The hollow bar through which the said rod
or spindle slides is furnished with a catch which engages with the rod or spindle
when in its highest position and when so engaged retains the said spindle and
prevents it from dropping. When the operator releases the said catch the rod or
spindle together with the slugger head and heel drop on the heel seat and are
pressed thereon by the spring above mentioned. If the position of the heel on its
seat is not satisfactory the rod or spindle and heel may be raised slightly by the
operation of the foot lever, thus relieving the pressure thereon, and the boot may
then be adjusted on the jack until the position is right. The operation of fixing the
heel may then be proceeded with in the usual manner. During this operation the
rod or spindle carrying the slug driver plate is forced up into its highest position

page_text: where it is retained by the catch above described. It is thus clear of the jack and
does not interfere with the removal of the heeled boot and the placing of another
boot on the jack.
I provide for adjusting the height of the rod or spindle as may be desired.
It is obvious that my improvements are applicable to a heeling machine of the
kind referred to whether or not such machine performs the additional operation of
slugging the heel and whether the heel is secured by staples or by nails.
Dated this 30th day of March 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Attaching Heels to Boots and Shoes.
I, CHARLES CARROLL COLBY, of 64 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Advocate, 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 :-
My invention relates to machines for attaching heels to boots and shoes and is
intended to be used chiefly with machines of the kind or class described in the
Specification of British Letters Patent No. 16546 dated 29th September 1891. My
said invention is however applicable to other similar machines which attach the
heel but do not drive in the slugs. For convenience I will describe my improve-
ments as applied to a heeling and slugging machine such as described in the
Specification above referred to.
The present improvements consist of a device by which the head holding the heel,
suspended over the jack and staple head upon which the inverted boot or shoe, to
which the said heel is to be attached rests, is lowered before the process of attaching
occurs. By this means the operator may see whether or not the heel which has
been lowered to touch the heel-seat of the boot rests in the right position thereon,
and if it does not, he can readily adjust the boot or shoe as required.
The important part of my invention consists in mounting the part which holds the
heel on a rod or spindle which is adapted to slide up and down for a limited
distance within the hollow bar, instead of attaching it directly to the said hollow
-bar as heretofore. This construction permits the heel to be lowered for the purpose
of effecting the adjustment above referred to.
My said invention comprises meaus for retaining the part which carries the" licel
in its raised position; for releasing the said part in order to lower the heel and for
raising it by means of a foot lever as will be hereinafter set forth.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a boot and shoe heeling and slugging machine
embodying my invention.
Figure 2 is an enlarged rear view of the upper part of the same.
Figure 3 is a section on the line x, x Figure 2 drawn to a still further enlarged
scale.
Figure 4 is a detail view of the spindle hereinafter described which carries the
heel to be fixed.
Similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the drawings.
a is the head of the machine which is carried by strong pillars a¹. 6 is a hollow
bar mounted in the said head to serve as a resistance block for the heel when
attaching the same to the boot or shoe. The said bar is capable of sliding in the
said head and is adjusted by means of a hand wheel b¹ by which it can be raised and
lowered, to suit heels of different thicknesses. The hand wheel is secured by a
pinching screw to a sleeve 6x screwed into the bar b. The said hand wheel rests
on the top of the head a and thus supports the weight of the bar b. 6 is a collar

page_text: formed on the sleeve to bear against an internal flange a of the head a for the
purpose of taking the upward thrust on the bar 6 when the heel is being attached.
According to my invention instead of mounting the slug driver plate which carries
the heel directly on the bar b, I mount it on a rod or spindle c which is adapted to
slide up and down in the bar b for a purpose hereinafter described.
The said spindle is shewn in detail in Figure 4. On the lower end of the spindle
is mounted a head c' which is slotted as shewn at c' in order to receive the dovetail
projection on the slug driver plate, the central aperture 6 in the bar bis enlarged
at its lower end to receive the part of the said head which part fits and is adapted
to slide in the said enlargement but is prevented from turning therein by a feather
key and keyway c. is a collar secured on the spindle, and is a spring which
when the spindle is inserted in the bar bears at its upper end against the top of
the enlarged central aperture in the said bar, and is compressed between the said
bearing surface and the collar cand thereby tends to force the spindle downwards
through the hollow bar b. The part c7 of the spindle is screw threaded and provided
with a wing nut which as shown in Figure 2 when in position rests on the top of
the boss of the hand wheel b. c is a loose collar adapted to slide up and down on
the upper end of the spindle but is prevented from sliding off at the end by the
nut c** The hollow bar b shewn in cross section in Figure 3 is provided with a
radial hole in which is placed a pin d. The said pin dis provided with a collar d',
and with a spring d² one end of which presses against the said collar and the other
end of which abuts on a bracket e fixed to the bar b. The spring tends to keep the
said pin pressed in towards the spindle c. e is a lever pivoted at to the said
bracket e and secured by a pin e³ to the pin d, as shewn clearly in Figure 3. c10 is
a hole formed in the part of the head e' to receive the end of the pin d.
Instead of forming the said hole directly in the part I prefer to form it in a
hardened steel bush c" which is screwed or otherwise fixed in the said part. This
bush when worn can be easily removed and replaced by an unworn bush and a good
fit is thus preserved. When the spindle c is raised to its highest position the pin d
is opposite the hole 10 and the end of the said pin is thus free to be forced into the
said hole by the spring d. By this means the spindle can be locked in its raised
position.
Attached to the head or cross beam a is a bracket f to which is pivoted at f¹ a
pair of levers, or a single forked lever. The ends of the said lever or levers f
is or are slotted as shown at f' to receive the pins or trunnions c* which radially
project from the collar c. To the other end of the lever fa link is attached
which connects the lever f with a foot lever g. f is an adjusting nut provided at
some part of the rod f in order to permit the length of the said rod to be regulated.
The foot lever g is provided with a spring g' which tends to keep the lever in a
raised position.
The operation of my improved device is as follows. Assuming the spindle c is in
g and
the position shown in Figure 2 the workman first presses down the foot-lever
thereby raises the rod or spindle c through the medium of the link flever f' and the
collar cuntil the head c¹ of the spindle is close against the lower end of the bar b,
and as before mentioned the hole c10 is opposite the pin d. The pin d being then
pressed inwards by its spring d² enters the hole co and holds the rod or spindle up.
The operator now releases the foot lever and places the boot to be heeled on the
jack, and then attaches the nail or slug box with the heel fixed thereto to the
bottom of the rod c. The lever el is now pressed back to withdraw the pin d from
the hole or recess 10 and the rod c falls by its own weight assisted by the pressure
of the spring c bringing the heel on to its seat on the boot. If the position of the
heel on its seat is not satisfactory the rod or spindle and heel may be raised slightly
by pressing on the foot lever g thus relieving the pressure thereon and the boot may
then be adjusted on the post until the heel is in its right place on the boot. The
operation of slugging and staple driving are then proceeded with in the usual
manner. During the act of fixing the heel, the rod or spindle carrying the slug
driver plate is forced up into its highest position where it is retained by means of

page_text: the locking pin d as above described. It is thus clear of the jack and does not
interfere with the removal of the heeled boot and the placing of another boot on
the jack.
By means of the wing nut which can be turned on the hand wheel b' the tension
of the spring may be adjusted together with the distance between the part c¹ and
the bar when the rod or spindle is in its lowest position, and by turning the said
hand wheel 6' the distance between the bar and the jack is varied as heretofore to
suit heels of different heights.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, 1 declare that what I claim is :-
1. A boot or shoe heeling machine in which the spindle holding the heel to be
attached is adapted to slide up and down for a limited distance relatively to its
adjustable supporting bar and with or without a spring for pressing down the spindle,
for the purpose specified.
2. In a boot and shoe heeling machine, the spring actuated pin for retaining in
its highest position the spindle which holds the heel, in combination with a lever for
disengaging said pin from the bar when required, substantially as described for the
purpose specified."
3. A boot and shoe heeling and slugging machine constructed substantially as
described with reference to the accompanying drawings and operating as specified.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.