Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Channelling Soles in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1893

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means or Apparatus for Channelling Soles in the
Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
A communication by ZACHARY TAYLOR FRENCH, of No. 10, Wabon Street, and
WILLIAM CRISTIAN MEYER, of No 106, Brookside Avenue, both in Boston,
in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the United States of America,
Machinists.
of
I ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of 55 & 56 Chancery Lane in the County o
London, Chartered Patent Agent 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:-
This invention has for its object to improve that class of machine employed
more especially for channeling out soles while on the last, and after having been
fitted to the upper.
One part of the present invention relates to the knife which cuts the channel,
having combined with it suitable devices to impart to it a vibratory motion.
There is also devised a novel support for the sole, it consisting of a bevel faced
wheel having gear teeth and driven positively, the said bevel face serving to
support the outer edge of the sole outside the channel.
Co-operating with this wheel is a bevel faced or conical presser wheel rotated
positively, said bevel faced wheel grasping the welt and sole edge, and aiding in
feeding the same.
Co-operating with the uppermost of the said wheels is an upper-gauge, or gauge
to bear against the upper on the last.
The machine is adapted to cutting a channel more or less distant from the edge
of the last, the edge of the last covered by the upper, in connection with the upper
gauge, determining the line of the channel to be cut in the sole attached to
the shoe.
Herein is shown and will be described one well known form of knife for cutting
a channel, and it will be understood that this invention is not limited to the
particular form of knife shown, as instead there may be used any other equivalent
or well known knife or knives commonly used for cutting or grooving a channel in
a sole, and by the term channel knife, as herein used in the claims I intend to
include any suitable channeling or grooving knife or tool.
Fig. 1, in front elevation represents a channeling machine containing the
improvements.
Fig. 2, a right-hand side elevation thereof.
Fig. 3 a much enlarged longitudinal section of the upper part of the machine
shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
Fig. 4, a detail showing the upper end of the knife-frame and knife; and
Fig. 5, shows the centre support for the sole, and the frame to which it is
attached.
The frame-work consists essentially as shown, of a head A, supported on a
suitable column A', the head having suitable bearings and being properly shaped
to receive the working parts to be described.
The column, as shown, receives a power-shaft A' provided with suitable fast and
loose pulleys A³, A', co-operating with which is a driving belt A³, said belt in
practice being driven and controlled in usual ways.
The power shaft has two pulleys B, C, the one B driving a belt B', which,
extended over suitable idler pulleys, is passed about a pulley B' on a short shaft B³,
shown best in Fig. 3, and provided with a suitable crank pin B, extended
preferably in a loose block or roll B' entering a slot in the lower end of the

page_text: knife lever Be provided at its upper end with the channel knife or blade B', the said
lever having its fulcrum on a hollow sleeve B8 attached to or forming part of the
stand D firmly secured to the head by a suitable set screw D', the rotation of the
shaft giving a rapid vibratory motion to the knife greatly facilitating its action
and enabling it in its cutting action to reduce the resistance which it would
otherwise offer to the feeding movement of the outer sole and lasted upper.
The belt C¹ extended over the pulley C is made to rotate the pulley C' loose on
a stud C³ and provided with a pinion C, the latter engaging a gear C³ on a shaft C
having at its outer end a bevel pinion C7 which engages a crown bevel C
surrounding the centre of rotation of the supporting wheel C' having a smooth
bevel face a, against which bears the bottom of the outer sole outside the channel,
said bevel faced part of said wheel also acting as one member of the feeding
mechanism.
The supporting wheel C has its shank extended through a diagonally arranged
bearing in the stand D, the inclination of the bearing and of the face a, of the
wheel C being such as to bring the face a, when uppermost and next the knife
referred to in a substantially horizontal plane.
The stand D also receives and guides a frame E on which is pivoted to rotate a
centre support E' for the sole to be channeled, said support, shown as a roll,
serving to aid the operator to keep the face of the sole always in the same position
with relation to the knife.
The frame E has an adjusting device shown as a screw b, which may be turned
as desired to enable the roller E' to be set at the proper level.
The shaft C has a gear d which engages a gear d¹ fast on a shaft 2 having its
bearings on a yoke d³ pivoted at its rear end by a pivot d to the upper end of an
elbow lever d pivoted at d on the head, said elbow lever having jointed to it a
rod d' attached at its lower end to a treadle 8, said elbow lever being acted upon
by a spring which normally serves to keep the treadle elevated.
The front end of the yoke d is provided with a conical seat 2 which serves to
guide a wheel e which performs two functions, viz. ;-that of a presser to bear on
the welt outside the upper of the shoe and also one member of the feeding
mechanism.
This wheel e has crown bevel teeth e¹ which are engaged by a bevel pinion e²
fast on the shaft d².
The wheel e is kept in place on the seat 2 by a suitable stud screw e³.
The outer end of the yoke has attached to it the upper gauge et which acts as a
guide for the upper on the last to which the sole to be channeled is attached, the
said upper gauge being substantially in contact with the wheel e.
The yoke dis acted upon near its outer end by a suitable spring made
adjustable and to enable the wheel e to be lifted from the welt, when it is desired to
put in, or take out, a shoe, there jointed to the yoke, by means of the part g and
intermediate parts g* a rod gl which is attached at its lower end to a treadle g².
The channel to be cut in the outer or face side of the lasted outer sole, in some
classes of work, has to be thrown in farther from the edge of the sole as in the
shank, and to provide for this the parts have been arranged so that they stand
normally in the position for shank work.
The upper gauge has been made adjustable horizontally with relation to the
channel knife, so that when the channel is being cut about the fore part of the sole,
the operator, by putting his foot on the treadle ds will throw the upper gauge e to
the left viewing Figs. 2 and 3, thus causing the said gage to move the shoe in a
direction to enable the knife to cut closer to the edge of the sole.
To limit the distance from the edge of the last at which the knife shall cut the
channel in the sole, the yoke is provided with a forked arm which embraces a
screw ¹ shown chiefly by dotted lines in Fig. 3, said screw being fixed in suitable
bearings at one end to the head, and receiving upon it at each side said arm h
suitable adjusting nuts or levers h³, 1³.
The adjustment of these nuts on the said screw towards or from each other,

page_text: leaves more or less space in which the said arm may move, and consequently the
said nuts determine the extreme position of the gauge e' with relation to the knife.
A. roll e carried by the yoke d³, pivoted on the pivoted elbow lever d³, may, it
may be readily understood, be made to move longitudinally through the action of a
suitable treadle towards and from the edge of the channel knife, so that when the
distance of the channelling from the edge of the sole is to be varied, and also that
the yoke carrying the roll may rise and fall, and as herein shown, the said gange
mounted upon and carried by the yoke is made to partake of the movements
of the yoke.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
In the manufacture of boots and shoes.
1. The use in a channelling machine, of a channel knife; a beveled face work-
supporting wheel adapted to sustain the outer sole to be channeled; the said
wheel being provided with gear teeth; a movable lever; a yoke pivoted thereon;
a rotating bevel faced presser wheel provided with gear teeth and mounted
on said yoke and adapted to bear on the welt; a shaft carried by said yoke and
having a gear to engage the teeth of said presser wheel; a shaft having a gear
to engage the teeth of the said work-supporting wheel, and suitable gearing to
rotate the said shafts and actuate said wheels at substantially the same surface
speed to thus feed the sole and shoe through the machine, substantially as described.
2. The use in a channelling machine, containing a channel cutting knife, of
means to reciprocate the same; a bevel faced wheel adapted to support the outer
sole to be channeled, and provided with teeth; a presser wheel having a beveled
face to bear on the welt, and provided with teeth; gears engaging the teeth of
said bevel wheels, and suitable gearing to rotate the said wheels in unison at
substantially the same surface speed to feed the sole and shoe through the
machine.
3. The use in a channelling machine, of a feeding and supporting wheel adapted
to act upon and sustain the edge of the sole outside the line of the channel, combined
with an opposed presser wheel or roll to bear on the welt portion of the shoe at the
opposite side of the sole; a bearing yoke or carrier for the said presser wheel or
roll; and an upper gauge located near the said presser wheel or roll and carried by
the said yoke and adapted to bear against the upper on the last and rise and fall
with the presser roll, substantially as described.
4. The use in a channelling machine containing a channel knife; of a wheel-like
support for the side of the sole to be channeled; and a beveled face presser wheel
to bear on the welt portion of the shoe at the opposite side of the sole, combined
with devices to move the presser wheel substantially at right angles to the channel
knife during the cutting of the channel, to thereby vary the distance of the channel
from the median line of the sole, substantially as described.
5. The use in a channelling machine containing a channel knife; of a wheel-like
support for the outer face of the sole outside the channel, a bevel faced presser roll
to bear against the welt portion of the sole, an upper gauge to bear against the
upper next the edge of the last, and devices to move the presser roll and upper
gage in unison toward and from the vertical plane occupied by the edge of the
channel knife, substantially as described.
6. The use in a channelling machine containing a channel knife ; of a wheel-like
support for the outer face of the sole outside the channel, a bevel faced presser roll
to bear against the welt portion of the sole, an upper gauge to bear against the
upper next the edge of the last, devices to move the presser roll and upper gauge
in unison toward or from the vertical plane occupied by the edge of the channel
knife, and devices to determine the extent of the lateral movement of the said
presser roll and upper gauge, substantially as described.
7. The use in a channelling machine containing a channel knife, of a bevel faced

page_text: feed wheel C adapted to engage and support, near its edge, the outer sole to be
channelled, and provided with teeth C; a presser wheel e having a bevelled face
to bear on the welt, said presser wheel being provided with gear teeth e¹; a
movable arm d²; to support a stud forming the centre of rotation of said wheel e ;
two parallel shafts; gearing to connect said shafts together, and gearing. carried by
said shafts and engaging the teeth of said feed wheel and said presser wheel to
rotate them and effect the feeding of the sole and shoe through the machine; and
an independent support for the central part of the sole, substantially as described.
8. The stand provided with a diagonal bearing, the bevel wheel C having its
shank extended through said bearing, combined with the frame E having the roller
support E', and an adjusting device for said frame, substantially as described.
9. The combination or arrangement of parts
channelling out soles while on the last and after
substantially as and for the purpose set forth &
Dated the 16th day of June 1893.
of means or apparatus for use in
having been fitted to the uppers
shown by the drawings.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.