IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES FOR UNITING THE SOLES AND UPPERS OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES FOR UNITING
THE SOLES AND UPPERS OF BOOTS AND SHOES." A communication from
abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Forte Wayne, Indiana, United
States of America.
Sealed the 30th January 1872, and dated the 8th December 1871.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 8th December 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES FOR UNITING THE SOLES AND UPPERS OF BOOTS AND SHOES,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,.

page_text: administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and
have made solemn declaration that it has been communicated to me
from abroad by Lyman Reed Blake, of Forte Wayne, Indiana, United
States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings forming
a part of this Specification.
These improvements relate to some of the details of construction
of that class of sewing machines used for uniting the soles and uppers
of what are known as
"
❝ turns or turned shoes, and more particularly
to those known as the "Richardson" machines, which have in connection
with the stitch forming mechanism and work supporting plate the
following instrumentalities, viz., a foot that occupies the channel and
holds the needle entering part of the sole in position for the passage
of the needle point, a hook gauge into which the edge of the sole is
bent to ensure the exit of the needle point at the proper place, and
a bender that presses the edge into the hollow and over the point of
the hook.
One part of this Invention relates to the arrangement and method
of operation of the hook and the reciprocating bender. In the aforesaid
"Richardson" machine the hook is made adjustable, and the bender
has a positive throw, and in any variation of the thickness of the sole
the needle enters at the same distance from the inner surface of the
sole, but varies in distance from the outer or finished surface, the
hook having to be adjusted for varying thicknesses. This is not only
objectionable, but it is indispensable to the production of good work
that the position of the stitch in relation to the ultimate outer surface of
the sole should be constant, or remain unchanged, both as relates to
the “finish” of the boot and the proper entrance of the needle into the
bottom of the channel, the channel being gauged from the outer or head
surface of the sole.
In the present Invention the hook is fixed, being set in the first
place or before the sewing commences at such distance as will bring
the stitch to the desired distance from the edge, and then remaining
in this permanent or fixed position, and the bender having a thrust

page_text: or forward movement which, though given with sufficient force to
always bend the sole into the hook, is made so far yielding that it
moves only in accordance with the varying thickness of the sole.
One part of this Invention consists, therefore, in an unyielding hook
gauge, into the hollow of which the edge of the sole is bent (to determine
the point where the needle shall enter) in combination with a bender
and griper which bends the sole edge into the hook, and holds it in
position while the needle enters, and which is so far yielding, or is
actuated by mechanism so far yielding, as to be governed in its extent
of forward movement by the thickness of the sole.
Prior to this Invention the hook gauge and the bender and griper
had been arranged in a bed or frame that tipped in a vertical plane
at a right angle to the line of sewing in accordance with the inequality
in the thickness of the stock. Now as the path of vertical movement
of the needle is fixed, it followed that this vertical tipping movement
of the griping mechanism¸would vary the distance of the stitches from
the edge of the sole, or the relation of the griping points to the needle,
or the path of vertical movement of the needle. To remedy this very
serious defect provision is made in the present Invention for vertical
movement of the hook and bender frame or bed on a shaft parallel
to the vertical plane of the bender and hook, or so that the vertical
movement of the griping point shall be in a plane parallel with the
needle and the line of sewing instead of in a plane right angular thereto,
the effect of this is, that no movement of the bender and hook to
accord with variations in the thickness of material griped between.
them and the plate beneath them can result in changing their position
relatively to the path of movement of the needle or awl, or to the line
of feed. Such provision for movement of the griping bender constitutes
another part of the said Invention. The sole bent at the edge by the
bender and griped as. regards its opposite surfaces between the hook
gauge and the bender is also griped as regards the needle entering
point and the bottom of the channel (and at the times the needle
and the awl enter) between the channel foot and the slotted work
plate, or needle plate beneath, the needle plate in effect supporting
the work against the thrust of the awl, though in fact it also supports
the shank of the hook gauge, the sole resting directly upon the said
shank. The stress of both needle plate and channel foot upon the
work is removed when the work is fed, but when the awl is descending

page_text: every downward movement of the awl and upward movement of the
needle in the same unvarying relation to the path of vertical movement
of the awl and needle. Resting upon this gauge is the bender and
griper the point or points of which will play forward beyond the
needle plane and scam and back therefrom, the shank of the bender
resting and sliding upon a bed plate or surface and being kept in
place by suitable guides. The upper or rear end of the bender shank
is connected by a links to an arm t of a rocker shaft or sleeve u, at
one end of which is an arm v, from which arm a pin projects carrying
a roll 10 working in a cam groove a of a cam wheel y on the driving
shaft. By this cam the bender and griper is actuated throwing the
bender back to ungripe the sole, and throwing it forward to bend the
edge of the sole into the hook and gripe it firmly there while the
needle and awl are puncturing the work. As the thickness of stock
thus griped varies to some extent and the hook cannot yield, and as the
bender must therefore yield, I make. the part of the cam groove that
throws the bender forward wider than the roll w, and connect the arm
to the frame a by a stout spring a², the stress of which keeps the roll
firmly against the adjacent side of the cam. By this means the griper
is moved forward every time to the same extent unless the thickness
of the work exceeds the normal thickness, in which case the griper
points are not thrown so far forward, or are only thrown forward in
accordance with such thickness, the cam groove enabling the roll to
yield, but the stress of the spring being sufficient to practically carry
the griper points positively forward to bend the sole and gripe the
stock between the bender and the hook. Above the griper and bender
is a channel foot & formed on the end of an arm c², extending from a
rock shaft journalled in a stationary bearing e² above the bearing l.
At the inner end of the shaft & is an arm to which a slight spring
g is attached, the stress of this spring tending to keep the presser
foot down, but permitting it to yield freely for the feed movement
of the work. On the arm is an incline / upon which (at proper
times) acts a pin & projecting from a lever, which is pivoted at 1,
is forced down by the stress of a spring m³, and is raised by a cam n²
that acts on a roll o², placed on a pin extending from the lever k.
Before the feed takes place the cam raises the lever (against the force
of the spring m³) and releases the incline h², thereby leaving the shaft
free to turn and the presser foot to rise, the presser foot being only
held in place by the stress of the spring g', which is sufficient however

page_text: to keep the presser foot in the channel while permitting the work to
feed freely. But after the feed is effected the cam leaves the roll o
and the spring m³ then throws down the lever k, bringing the pin &
with force against the incline ², turning the shaft, crowding the presser
foot down into the channel, and griping the work tightly between
the presser foot and the shank of the hook gauge, the bender first
bending the edge of the sole into the hook, and the presser foot then
griping the sole and upper from the bottom of the channel to the
outer surface of the upper. The bed plate upon which the shanks
of the bender and griper are supported and slide is part of a frame
p, having an arm extending from a sleeve q², mounted on the rock
shaft d, the shaft running at right angles to the feeding plane, as
before described, so that any vertical movement of the bender does
not vary its position relatively to the vertical plane of the needle and
scam. From the side of the arm of the frame p² a pin projects, and
from a rings on the rocker shaft d² another pin projects, the two
pins being in contact, as seen in Figure 3. The rings is adjustable upon
the rock shaft, being fastened by a screw u², and by loosening this
screw the ring may be turned and set in any position, so that the
channel foot may be set to rise a distance just equal to the extent
of stock between the bottom of the channel and the hook gauge shank.
It will be observed that the hook gauge and the channel presser
foot are hung upon the same shaft, so that they move in one plane,
and the position of the presser foot relatively to the position of the
bender and the line of the scam is not disturbed. The shank of the
hook gauge and the bender and griper bar are shown as arranged in
or upon an inclined bed plate or frame, but in some cases they are
preferably arranged horizontally.
•
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I claim,―
First. The reciprocating bender and griper having a forward motion
governed partially by a spring in combination with an unyielding hook
gauge.
Second. The bender and hook gauge moving in the arc of a circle
in the vertical plane of the needle and seam or line of feed.
Third. The frame p² rocking on a shaft or pivotted axis right angular
to the vertical plane of the feed.

page_text: Fourth. In combination with the hook gauge and bender, the channel
foot made adjustable as to its extent of positive movement relatively
to the hook gauge shank between which and the said foot the work
is held for the passage of the needle.
Fifth. A channel foot and hook gauge m moving together vertically
as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. J. LOWE.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)