Improvements in Skiving Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Dec., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 6th Sept., 1898-Accepted, 29th Oct.,
1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Skiving Machines.
I, FREDERICK CUTLAN, of Castle Hill, Wellingborough, in the County of
Northampton, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
This invention relates to machines for skiving or thinning leather or the like.
The machine is of extremely simple and usually small description, being specially
adapted for the skiving of welts for boots and shoes; however, I do not restrict
myself to that application as the invention is applicable to many other purposes.
In carrying out the invention I employ a base or bed of any suitable construc-
tion, but preferably adapted to be screwed on to an ordinary work bench, the
lower part of the front being if desired cut away to make room for an adjusting
screw. Upon this base or bed is secured an adjustable plate or table, the position
of a portion of which can be varied by the before-mentioned adjusting screw
which is conveniently situated for use by the operator. Instead of a screw a cam
or other suitable device may be employed.
Upon the bed rise two pillars or standards carrying a cross bar or plate between
which and the presser is a helical or other spring which tends to force the presser
downwards upon the work. The presser comprises a plate with guides to work
upon the pillars and preferably with a projecting portion to enter a channel
formed in or upon the top of the bed, the work passing through this channel so
that the presser rests upon the work as it passes through. The guides may be
provided with anti-friction rollers. A spindle is loosely-as by a ball and socket
or other suitable joint-connected to the presser and passes upwards through the
helical spring and cross bar and carries a pin or projection which engages with
a sleeve upon which is a cam surface, the sleeve being turned by a suitable handle
so as to remove the presser or allow it to return on to the work under the influence
of its spring. Nuts may be placed upon the ends of the pillars to secure the
cross head.
Contiguous to the presser is the knife plate or bracket bevelled at the appro-
priate part to allow of the passage of the portion of leather removed by the
skiving and adapted to clamp the knife between the knife plate and the top of
the bed or plates which may be thereon; the knife plate is secured by screws,
wing nuts or other device, so that the knife blade can be removed for sharpening
or adjustment purposes. If desired screw or other means may be provided for
regulating the position of the knife. A portion of the regulating table previously
described lies underneath the knife.
In operation the instrument is secured to the work bench or other support, the
end of the piece of leather, strap, etc., to be reduced is bevelled so as to be inserted
into the machine, the thickness is adjusted by the adjustment screw and the
operator then pulls by hand the leather through the instrument the blade cutting
off the surplus material and reducing the leather to an even thickness throughout
its length

page_text: If desired the work may be pulled through the instrument by power, one or
more rollers grooved or otherwise as required being if necessary used for the
purpose, and driven by a belt or other suitable means.
This instrument may be adapted to bevel the material as well as or instead of
merely reducing its thickness or levelling its surface.
For this purpose any
convenient means may be employed to alter the angle of the table and fix it
as required.
Dated this 6th day of December 1897. -
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.
I, FREDERICK CUTLAN, of Castle Hill, Wellingborough, in the County of
Northampton, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:
This invention relates to machines for skiving or thinning leather or the like.
The machine is of extremely simple and usually small description, being specially
adapted for the skiving of welts for boots and shoes; however, I do not restrict
myself to that application as the invention is applicable to many other purposes.
In carrying out the invention I employ a base or bed of any suitable construc-
tion, but preferably adapted to be screwed on to an ordinary work bench, the
lower part of the front being if desired cut away to make room for an adjusting
screw. Upon this base or bed is secured an adjustable plate or table, the position
of a portion of which can be varied by the before-mentioned adjusting screw
which is conveniently situated for use by the operator. Instead of a screw a cam
or other suitable device may be employed.
Upon the bed rise two pillars or standards carrying a cross bar or plate between
which and the presser is a helical or other spring which tends to force the presser
downwards upon the work. The presser comprises a plate with guides to work
upon the pillars and preferably with a projecting portion to enter a channel
formed in or upon the top of the bed, the work passing through this channel so
that the presser rests upon the work as it passes through. The guides may be
provided with anti-friction rollers. A spindle is loosely-as by a ball and socket
or other suitable joint-connected to the presser and passes upwards through the
helical spring and cross bar and carries a pin or projection which engages with
a sleeve upon which is a cam surface, the sleeve being turned by a suitable handle
so as to remove the presser or allow it to return on to the work under the influence
of its spring. Nuts may be placed upon the ends of the pillars to secure the
cross head.
Contiguous to the presser is the knife plate or bracket bevelled at the appro-
priate part to allow of the passage of the portion of leather removed by the
skiving and adapted to clamp the knife between the knife plate and the top of
the bed or plates which may be thereon, the knife plate is secured by screws,
wing nuts or other device, so that the knife blade can be removed for sharpening
or adjustment purposes. If desired screw or other means may be provided for
regulating the position of the knife. A portion of the regulating table previously
described lies underneath the knife.
In operation the instrument is secured to the work bench or other support, the
end of the piece of leather, strap, etc., to be reduced is bevelled so as to be inserted

page_text: into the machine, the thickness is adjusted by the adjustment screw and the
operator then pulls by hand the leather through the instrument the blade cutting
off the surplus material and reducing the leather to an even thickness throughout
its length.
If desired the work may be pulled through the instrument by power, one or
more rollers grooved or otherwise as required being if necessary used for the
purpose, and driven by a belt or other suitable means.
This instrument may be adapted to bevel the material as well as or instead of
merely reducing its thickness or levelling its surface. For this purpose any
convenient means may be employed to alter the angle of the table and fix it
as required.
The accompanying drawings illustrate one construction of machine according
to this invention,
Figure 1 being a perspective view of the machine
Figure 2 a longitudinal central section, and Figure 3 a front elevation partly
in section.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A base or pillar A forms the support for the working parts of the machine and
is provided with a basal flange A¹ extending in the rear of the machine and an
upper forward projection A³; the machine may be conveniently bolted to an
ordinary work-bench by screws passing through the flange A¹. The upper surface
of the projection A2 has a central bevelled portion A3 and upon the upper surface
of the pillar A lies a spring bed B having a downwardly deflected forward
portion which lies above the bevelled portion A3 of the projection A2. The
bed B is secured at its rear end by a screw to the pillar A.
On either side of the bed B is a plate C secured to the pillar A forming
guides for the work. The knife 1) rests on the ends of these plates C and bridges
the gap between them; it is secured in position just above the sloping portion BL
of the bed by a knife-plate D1 conveniently secured by screws to the side plates C.
The knife plate has a central bevelled portion 12 corresponding in width with the
spring bed B and the bevelled portion A3 of the projection A²; or the portion 1)²
may be wider, and correspond, say, with the width of the knife.
From the two side plates C rise pillars F supporting a cross plate F¹, through
a central hole in which passes a rod E' carrying a presser E. The presser E has
a projection E3 at its under surface either formed integral therewith, or, as shown,
formed by a separate plate E³ attached to the presser. The rod E is pivotted to
the presser E at E2 so as to permit the plate to be tilted transversely of the
machine if required. This oscillatory movement about the pin E2 allows the
presser to accommodate itself to pieces of material of different thicknesses at their
two edges. Between the plate F¹ and the presser E is a spring H which tends to
constantly force the presser E down upon the bed B. A cam G having a cam
surface G and handle G² serves by its operation upon a pin E in the rod E¹ to
raise or lower the presser from or on to the work. The sides of the presser are
preferably provided with rollers K which serve to minimise friction between the
pillars and the presser, the pillars serving as guides to the presser.
A screw B2 or equivalent device is provided whereby the forward end of the
spring bed may be adjusted to suit varying thicknesses of leather or to vary
the cut. In Figure 2, L represents a piece of leather in course of being passed
through the machine, a shaving L being shown partially removed. The presser
is shown in its raised position in Figures 2 and 3 and in its lowered position in
Figure 1.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
The end of a piece of leather to be skived is tapered sufficiently to allow of its
insertion in the gap between the knife D and bed B, the latter being then adjusted
to give the required cut. The presser E is then, by the rotation of the cam
handle G2, lowered on to the work so as to keep it flat upon the bed just behind
the knife edge. The leather is then pulled through the machine in the direction

page_text: of the arrow in Figure 2, that is, against the cutting edge of the knife which
therefore reduces the leather to a practically uniform thickness.
Should the material to be skived be thinner at one edge than at the other,
the presser will, by oscillation about the pin E accommodate itself thereto and
still keep the material pressed flat upon the bed.
The essential function of the presser is to press the material down on to the bed
just before or as it passes under the knife and the presser may therefore of
desired be made considerably narrower (in the direction of motion of the material)
than that shown in the accompanying drawings.
If the irregularities in the material are too great to be removed at one operation
the material may be passed through several times and the bed slightly raised after
each cut has been taken.
The machine will serve to bevel the edge of a strip of material if one side of
the bed B be raised. This may be readily effected by slackening the screw by
which the bed B is secured to the pillar A and inserting a piece of wire of the
requisite thickness or any convenient packing or wedge between the edge of the
bed to be raised and the pillar, and then again tightening the securing screw.
Various modifications may obviously be made in the construction of the machine
as shown in the accompanying drawings without departing from the spirit of this
invention, an important feature of which is the employment of a fixed knife and
a bed adjustable relatively thereto, whereas it has been usual hitherto in such
machines to make the knife adjustable relatively to a fixed bed.
For example an eccentric may be employed to raise the presser E instead of
the cam G or an eccentric or other cam may be employed in place of the screw B.
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 what I
claim is-
1. A skiving machine in which the bed is adjustable relatively to a fixed knife
attached to the frame.
2. A skiving machine having a spring bed such as B of which one end is
secured to the frame of the machine and the other end is adjustable relatively to
a fixed knife adjacent thereto.
3. A skiving machine having a presser such as E which will exert a yielding
pressure upon the work and is capable of oscillatory movement for the purpose
described.
4. In a skiving machine the combination with a fixed knife such as D of a bed B
adjustable relatively thereto and a spring presser such as E substantially as
described.
5. In a skiving machine the combination with a bed movable in the recess
through which the article to be skived passes of a knife such as D bridging
the said recess.
6. The complete skiving machine substantially as described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 6th day of Santambon 1800