Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sole Channelling Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 11th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by FRANCIS JOSEPH FREESE, of Lowell, in the
County of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Machinist.]
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sole Channelling Machines.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
teclare 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:-
The object of my invention is to provide an improved channelling machine, the
use of which ensures a true channel in the bottom of the boot or shoe sole, such
channel following the inseam closely, whether that seam be nearer to or further
from the centre of the shoe bottom.
The characteristic features of my machine are a serrated-edged feed-wheel
revolving with a vertical shaft mounted in fixed bearings, a knife-holder having a
limited horizontally yielding movement and formed with vertical ways in which the
knife is mounted, and a circular channel-guide rotatable by the friction of the shoe
and mounted on a lever which works in a vertical plane and is connected with a
slide which has the same horizontal movement as the knife-holder.
The lasted shoe which is being operated upon under my improved method of
channelling is held, sole uppermost, in the hands of the workman, the rotatable
channel guide, between the welt and upper of the shoe, pressing against the inseam,
while the shoe is pressed upwardly against the knife and the edge of the sole against
the serrated edge of the constantly revolving feed-wheel. Means are provided for
adjusting the knife-holder so as to bring the knife into the desired relation to the
working edge of the channel-guide, since both yield together toward and from the
edge of the feed-wheel. The channel-guide lever is arranged in a novel manner to
drop away from the knife-holder after a shoe is channelled and to approach it when
another is to be operated upon.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved channelling machine.
Figure 2 is a transverse section through the lasted and partly-made shoe and its
sole, showing the relative positions of the channel guide, the knife and the feed-
wheel, during the operation of channelling the sole, and
Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,
through the knife-holder.
A is the rotating vertical shaft on which is mounted the constantly revolving
feed-wheel B which has a serrated periphery against which the edge of the sole of
the lasted shoe is pressed by the operator.
C is the channel guide, a freely rotating circular disc tapering to a blunt edge
adapted to fit in between the welt and the upper of the lasted shoe and bear against
the inseam thereof. This guide is mounted by a central stud c upon the free end of
the channel-guide lever D.
The opposite end of this lever is connected to an horizontal slide E which moves
in ways formed in the main frame F, to give to the channel guide a backward and
forward movement. Simultaneously with this an upward and downward movement
is imparted to the channel guide and its lever D by means of an arm G pivoted to
said lever at d and cam-shaped as at g on its lower edge to move over a fixed
fulcrum pin H, while drawn downwardly at its rear end by a coiled spring 1.
J is the knife holder and K the knife which has a limited vertical movement in
ways formed in said holder, a spring L serving to hold it down to its work by

page_text: pressure on the projecting pink. The knife is mounted in knife-slide M which is
dovetailed and held in working position in the knife-holder J by the bevelled and
tapering adjusting piece N and the knife-clamp n. The pin k protrudes also rear-
wardly through a slot in the knife-holder J' which forms a stop, limiting the
downward movement of the knife.
The knife-holder, with parts mounted thereon, has an horizontal sliding movement
in the frame coincident with that of the slide E which carries the channel guide and
its lever D. In order that these movements may be simultaneous I connect slide E
and knife-holder J rigidly, at their rear ends, by the vertical yoke O, Fig. 1,
adjusting nuts P and p being arranged each side of such yoke on the threaded
extension of the knife-holder.
A spring having an adjusting screw bears with a yielding pressure against
the yoke O and tends to keep the knife K and channel guide C pressed forward
into the position shown in Fig. 1, a stop o on the frame or yoke limiting the forward
movement. A dovetailed cap R bolted to the top of the frame F completes the
ways in which the knife-holder J reciprocates.
The machine as shown is driven by power applied to a pulley on shaft S which
carries the worm T meshing with gear wheel U on shaft V which is connected by
bevel gears with shaft A which carries the positively-driven feed-wheel B; but
this arrangement of driving mechanism may be varied."
The operation is as follows: The knife K is properly mounted to project the
desired distance below the bottom of knife-slide M, and the knife-holder J is adjusted
by the nuts P and p so as to bring the knife even with or forward or back of the
working edge of the channel guide C as the operator desires. The pink of the
knife will be in the bottom of its slot in the knife-holder, where it is pressed
downwardly by the spring L.
The lasted shoe, upon which the bottom sole has been fastened in the customary
manner, is then taken in the hands of the operator and presented, sole uppermost,
to the machine for its action. The outer edge of the channel guide C is placed
between the welt and upper of the shoe. The operator now presses the shoe
against the channel guide, causing its lever D and slide E to move rearwardly
against the resistance of the spring Q and simultaneously with the like movement
of the knife-holder J. This rearward movement causes the cam-edge g of the
arm G to move over its fulcrum pin H, see Figure 1, and the spring I drawing
down upon the rear end of this arm raises its front end which is pivoted to the
lever D.
These movements bring the channel guide up close to the knife, and both of
them into close proximity to the serrated edge of the revolving feed-wheel B.
The operator now presses the bottom of the shoe sole up against the knife until
the knife enters it, and then holds the sole edge firmly against the edge of the
feed-wheel, the rotation of which turns the shoe about in the operator's hands,
the channel guide C being rotated by the friction of the shoe upon it, while
the knife cuts the channel over or parallel to the inseam, as will be clear from
Figure 2.
After a shoe is channelled, the reaction of the spring Q moves the knife and
channel guide away from the edge of the feed-wheel and the cam-form of arm G,
permits said guide to drop away from the knife, as in Figure 1.
The feed-wheel being mounted between and independently of the knife-holder and
guide-holder, it follows that the edge of the sole may project more or less
irregularly outside of the inseam or the last, the position of the channel being
perfectly controlled by the guide roll with reference to the inseam and not with
reference to the edge of the sole.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a sole channelling machine. a single power-driven feed-wheel having a

page_text: roughened surface in position to engage the outer periphery or edge of a shoe
sole, and a channelling knife supported at a little distance from the edge of the
wheel, and extending in a direction to enter the face of a sole when the
periphery of said sole bears against the periphery of the feed wheel, substantially
as described.
2. The serrated feed-wheel mounted on a shaft adapted to revolve in fixed
bearings, in combination with a channelling knife and a movable channel guide,
said knife and guide having a simultaneous yielding movement toward and from
said feed-wheel, substantially as set forth.
3. A vertically adjustable channelling knife and a horizontally-adjustable koife-
holder in which it is mounted, in combination with a positively driven serrated
feed-wheel, and with a circular channel guide rotatable by the friction of the shoe
thereon, substantially as set forth.
4. A positively-driven serrated feed-wheel, in combination with a channelling
knife and a carrier or holder therefor above said feed-wheel, and with a rotatable
channel-guide and lever or holder therefor below said wheel, substantially as set
forth.
5. A positively-driven serrated feed-wheel and a channelling knife having a
horizontally-yielding movement with relation thereto, in combination with a
rotatable channel-guide, a pivoted lever on which said guide is mounted,
a horizontally-yielding slide to which said lever is pivoted, and a cam-formed arm
pivoted to said lever and spring-actuated to raise the channel-guide when its slide
moves rearwardly, substantially as set forth.
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6. In a shoe-channelling machine, the knife holder J and the channel-guide
slide E, adapted to reciprocate horizontally in suitable ways in the frame F, in
combination with a transverse yoke connecting these parts for simultaneous move-
ment toward and from the feed-wheel, and with a spring acting upon said yoke
in opposition to the force exerted by the workman, substantially as set forth.
7. The improvement in the art of channelling boot and shoe soles, which
consists in holding the edge of the sole of the lasted shoe by hand against a
continuously-rotating feed surface, producing a feed movement and suspending the
same by manual pressure of such edge against said rotating surface, and by
cessation thereof, and forming the channel by a suitable knife as the boot or shoe
is thus rotated, substantially as set forth.
8. The herein described method of channelling the sole bottoms of lasted shoes,
such method consisting in holding the shoe and its enclosed last by hand with
pressure against the circular edge of a rotatable channel-guide and simultaneously
pressing the sole-edge against the periphery of a rotating feed-wheel and the sole-
bottom upwardly against the bottom of a knife-holder from which the channelling
knife protrudes, whereby such knife is caused to enter the sole-bottom, and the shoe
is turned about in the workman's hands and channelled by the action of such
mechanism and pressure, substantially as set forth.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.