IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR NAILING BOOTS AND SHOES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th April 1880. A communication
from abroad by Albion Knowlton, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of
America.
"t
JOHN HENRY JOHNson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR NAILING
BOOTS AND SHOES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by Albion Knowlton, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
This Invention especially relates to machines for nailing soles to uppers in the
manufacture of boots and shoes by means of nails cut from a continuous strip of
wire, but it can also be used for other analogous purposes, and the Invention
consist in means under the control of the operator for regulating the extent of
the wire feed while the machine is in operation to produce nails. of the proper
length according to the thickness of the material into which they are driven, and
in the form, arrangement, and means for operating a reciprocating cutter and
carrier by means of which the proper length of wire to form the nail is first severed
from the continuous strip of wire and then conveyed to the point where it is in
position to be acted upon by the driver.
According to one modification of the machine it is proposed to employ a cam
having a tapered face, which cam according to its position upon its actuating shaft
determines the time that the wire feeding mechanism will be operative to feed the
wire;
and according to another modification of the machine the wire feeding device
consists of grasping jaws or dogs, one or both of which are movable, carried by a
reciprocating feed bar, whose movement in one direction is positive and always to
the same point, while its movement in the other direction is due to the reaction of
a spring, and may be varied so as to vary the extent of reciprocation and conse
quently the length of feed. The means which are used to vary the extent of
reciprocation consists of a tapered or wedge shaped slide bar or a cam mounted on
the machine frame, and arranged to project in the path of the feed bar so as to
act as a stop to limit the extent of movement of the said bar due to the reaction of
the spring.
With both of these devices a fine and gradual adjustment of the feed is rendered
possible instead of a determinate adjustment to fixed points, so that the length of
the nails can be made to exactly correspond to the thickness of the material.
.The Invention comprises the following features:-
1st. A wire feeding mechanism combined with a length-gaging cam having a

page_text: surface to determine the extent of movement of the wire-feeding mechanism for
nails of different length.
2nd. A wire feeding and cutting mechanism combined with an adjustable
length gaging cam and lever operated by it to release the hold of the wire feeding
mechanism from the wire and operate the cutter to sever the said wire.
3rd. An adjustable rotatable length-gaging cam provided with a tapering face
and surface combined with a lever, and its roller having a rounded face.
4th. A wire feeding roller supported by an arm combined with the cutter bar
actuating lever adapted to move the said roller away from the feed roller and stop
the wire feed as the cutter begins to sever the wire.
5th. A cutter bar with a hardened steel tube adapted to serve as the carrier to
place the nail in line. with, tho_driver combined with a stationary cutter to co-
operate with the said tube in the said bar.
6th. A cutter bar provided with a hardened steel tube to co-operate with a
stationary cutter to sever a nail from a wire and carry it into position below
the driver to be driven, combined with the driver and driver bar and shoc feeding
mechanism.
7th. An intermittently operating wire feeding mechanism adapted to feed the
wire for a greater or less distance according to the desired length of the nail,
combined with a carrier having a hardened steel cutter and a co-operating
stationary cutter to sever the wire at right angles to its length and place it in
position to be driven.
8th. A vertically reciprocating feed bar and pivoted spring dog carried by the
same, and adapted to act in conjunction with a fixed jaw on the said feed bar in
combination with a tapered slide bar for arresting the upward movement of the
said feed bar.
9th. The combination of a rotary feed wheel and the reciprocatory cutter and
carrier arranged to play back and forth through the said wheel.
10th. The rotary feed wheel in combination with the reciprocatory cutter and
carrier, a stationary wire guide tube with its lower end acting as a fixed blade in
conjunction with the carrier and the driver and passage through which the same
moves.
11th. A vibrating feed bar and wire grasping mechanism carried by the same in
combination with a rotary wiper, cam, or stud, a reacting spring and a tapered
slide bar.