CERTAIN MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING BOOT SOLES, TAPS, AND ALSO FOR RIVET- TING LEATHER, HOSE, TRACES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME MAY BE USEFULLY APPLIED
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HARBOTTLE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the seventh year of
Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-
four, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Harbottle, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Harbottle, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Harbottle, my executors; admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of which I am in possession,
which has been communicated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad, of a
"CERTAIN MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING BOOT SOLES, TAPS, AND ALSO FOR RIVET-
TING LEATHER, HOSE, TRACES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME MAY BE
USEFULLY APPLIED ;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Thomas Harbottle, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be in-

page_text: rolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Harbottle, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in a novel arrangement and construction of
machinery or apparatus designed principally for the purpose of inserting
"rivets" in the soles, taps, or heels of boots and shoes, in order to economize
the wear and tear; and also for rivetting traces, leather hose, and for
other similar purposes to which the same may be usefully applied.
Such being the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to describe the
manner in which the same is to be performed, as communicated to me, refer-
ence being made to the Drawings attached to these Presents, also communi-
cated to me from abroad.
In Figure 1, A is a strong horizontal cast-iron bed frame, upon which a
shaft B is placed horizontally across its centre, supported in boxes C, C, on 2
each side of said frame. From near the centre of said shaft project five
cams, D, E, E, E, E, one of which D, represented detached at Fig. 6 (which
presents a vertical sectional view of shaft B and the cams aforesaid), by its
rotation actuates a plunger or driver F, which reciprocates back and forth
lengthwise upon the bed A, and horizontally at right angles with the shaft B.
One end of said driver passes through and is guided by the standard G upon
the bed. To the other end of the driver F is secured a flat cast-steel cutter
plate H, see also detached, Fig. 7, which is fitted to slide close upon a hori-
zontal plate I, of similar form, and is confined by an upper fixed cutter plate J,
which is secured at right angles over said moving cutter plate, and through s
which is inserted a steel tube cutter K, screwed into said fixed plate in a
vertical position, which tube is tempered, and forms a female cutter, and may
be screwed down as it is ground away (upon its lower end) in sharpening or
otherwise. The said cutter plate J may be made with corresponding bosses
centrally upon its upper and lower surfaces, thereby forming an entire cutter
plate, see Fig. 7, with set screws and binding screws at their ends, . by
which it may be brought down and regulated upon the sliding cutter as said
bosses are ground away. This plate may be perforated with a sufficient
number of holes (for the cutting of one, two, or more rivets) which may be

page_text: so situated that said plate may be turned over and end for end, by which
means all the cutting edges or corners of said perforations may be used before
it becomes necessary to grind said plate. Through the tube or tubes in this
plates is entered the bottom end of the wire or rod A*, see Fig. 5, to be made
into rivets, which rod (or rods) also passes down through a corresponding
hole or holes drilled through the sliding cutter plate, and rests upon the bottom
plate I, which forms a guage for the length of the rivets to be cut. The cutter
plate should be bored out on its upper surface, opposite the tube or tubes
in the fixed cutter) so as to receive a steel disc or button, which should
be square on its periphery, and nicely fitted into said recess, and about three
fourths of the thickness of the sliding cutter plate. Through this button
cutter holes are drilled (corresponding with those in the fixed cutter above),
and which button cutter may be reversed, and operate either side up, or end
for end; and as it is reduced (by grinding) in its thickness washers of thin
metal may be placed underneath, thereby keeping it even with the surface of
the plate in which it is inserted, or otherwise it may be raised by set screws
through the same bearing, on the bottom of the box aforesaid. In a line with
the driver F, and directly over the cutter plate, is placed what I term a
rider L, which is moved horizontally back and forward by a flange on the
bottom of the cap M, which flange is secured to the end of said driver.
Vertically, in said rider, are placed two punches N and O. The former is, a
female punch for punching the sole, &c., and the latter is a male, and designed
for inserting the rivets in the holes made by the former. Directly underneath
the lower ends of these punches is placed a stud or stake p, Fig. 2, secured in
the bed frame upon which the soles, &c. are punched, and the rivets driven
by said punches. Upon each side of the rider L is elevated a standard Q. Q,
between which, upon a fulcrum pin passing horizontally through the same, is
supported a punch lever R, the back end forming a forked lever, which
is raised by the cams E, E, twice in every revolution of said shaft. On the side
near the end of one of the forks of the punch lever R a pin or stud f projects,
which traverses in a groove formed on the inside face of an eccentric which
eccentric is fitted around, secured to, and moves with the shaft B. The groove
in said cam, into which the pin f projects, being so formed as to keep the
bearing ends or forks of such punch lever continually pressing upon the peri-
phery of the cams and the shaft B alternately, when the same is in motion.
Directly underneath the supporting plate I is placed a horizontal guide
wheel S, with a serrated rim or periphery, and which ranges horizontally in
a line with the space between the ends of the punches N, O, and the stake P
before described, which space is about three eighths of an inch. This guide
9₁

page_text: wheel is placed centrally upon the upper end of a vertical shaft, and is moved
periodically by means of a ratchet wheel T upon the lower end of said shaft,
into the teeth of which ratchet a pall n catches at each recession of the driver
before described, and thereby moves the sole or other article which is to be
rivetted (which, being pressed by the hand of the operator against the toothed
periphery of the guide wheel), the required distances for the insertion of said
rivets is obtained.
Figure 2 represents a section, and Fig. 3 an underneath horizontal view, of
the machine and those parts which move the soles, &c. and regulate the
distance of the rivets and rows apart, as seen in Fig. 8, which represents
a boot sole with the rivets inserted. The guide wheel S, shaft, and ratchet
wheel T (which may be made in one entire piece) are supported by and turn
upon a pin which is screwed vertically through a guage slide V, see Fig. 5.
This carriage is placed horizontally, lengthwise and centrally, in the front of
the bed A, through an opening in the same under the stake P, and is supported
in front by the flange or bracket h, on which it is made to slide back and forth,
and be fixed in any required position by means of the index lever i, which
lever, passing through a gap near the centre of said carriage, acts upon a
fulcrum pin k, and is furnished at one end with a spur fitting into notches 1,
2, 3, in said flange h (see Fig. 1). On this slide (moving upon a fulcrum
pin H) is placed a trip or lever X in an horizontal position, with a light
spring Y upon its back, which forces the pall U into the ratchet wheel T, as
before described; the end of the said trip or lever X is drawn back at each
recession of the driver F by means of the tumbler Z, which tumbler is made
to play upon a pin or stud a, inserted in the end of the arm b; said arm is
secured to the under side of the front end of the driver F by means of the ring
bolt and nut c, which bolt passes through and binds together the cap M, the
cutter plate H, said driver F, and the arm b. The projecting end of the
tumbler Z is made to range in its back and forth movements so as to catch
the back end of the trip X with a sufficient hold to produce the required throw
of the pall U, and consequently movement of the ratchet wheel T and guide
wheel S, by which means the movement of the sole or other article is pro-
duced. The operator, holding the sole in one band, as above described, with
the other gives motion to the shaft B, by means of the crank d (or otherwise),
the various parts of the machine moving and operating in the following order:
The first quarter revolution of said shaft B raises the tail or forked end of the
punch lever R by means of the punch cams E, E, &c., which brings the
forward end of the hammer of punch lever down upon the female punch N,
making the required hole for the rivet in the sole or other article (the driver

page_text: having been previously thrown back by its respective cam D); the wire or
rod A, previously described, falls into the hole in the cutter plate H. The
next quarter revolution of said shaft brings the cutter forward by means of the
cam D on said shaft B, the plate cutter H at the same time separates a rivet
from the bottom end of the wire before described, and carries the same
forward over the punch hole in said sole, and the stake underneath the same.
The rider L is brought forward by the same motion, bringing with it the
rivetting punch O into its place, upon which punch the hammer or punch
lever R now descends (by the impingement of the opposite cams E, E, &c.),
and forces the rivet from its position in said cutter plate down into the sole,
and clences the same firm in the leather between the said punch O and stake P,
by which means the rivet is expanded and a partial head formed upon the
inside of the sole, which is placed downwards when being rivetted, the whole
being smoothed afterwards by rolling or hammering. The guide wheel S,
before described, is made to slide back and forward with the carriage or gauge
slide V in which it is supported, in order to gauge the sole for different rows
of rivets or otherwise. There may be duplicate sets of punches, which
arrangement I design to adopt, and by means of which both rows of rivets
may be cut and inserted by the same motion of the machine, and in the same
time that is required to fill one sole with a single set of rivets, as before
described. I would here remark, that said punches (whether one or more)
should be raised by means of a stirrup or lifter 1, which is supported pendant
upon a pin through its upper end, which fits in a mortice cut in the under
front end of the punch lever R. Two horizontal pins, one from each of the
puuches N and O, pass through corresponding slots in the bottom end of said
lifter, by which means the punches are raised with and by the punch lever,
and are kept up alternately by spiral springs m, m, except when forced down
by the lever aforesaid.
In addition to the manufacture of soles, taps, &c. by the above-described
machine, it is applicable to the manufacture of leather hose, belts, traces, &c.,
where the seams or joints are to be made by rivetting. In the manufacture of
leather hose or pipes a horizontal mandril must be substituted for the stake P,
around which the leather belt may be curved and lapped directly under the
punches aforesaid, bearing against the guide roller, and thereby moved and gra-
duated in the same manner as the soles, taps, &c., as herein-before described.
For the latter purpose the point of the riveting pune should be formed into a
blunt centre punch, having a stake of similar form inserted, point upwards,
directly underneath in the upper surface of said mandril, by which means the
ends of said rivets are sufficiently expanded to form the requisite heads for said

page_text: purpose, the rods or wire being made of copper, which should be previously
passed through a fine screw plate, or prepared in the same manner as used for
my improved soles, &c.
The above-described machine being especially constructed for an entirely
new purpose (viz, that of making and inserting metallic rivets in leather, &c.,
as above set forth), and consequently novel in the form, arrangement, and
operation, I shall, therefore, include the combination of said form and
arrangement in my claim for the above named and all other purposes to which
the same may be applied.
I especially claim, therefore,-
Firstly, the combined forms of the cams D, E, E, E, E, as arranged upon
the shaft B, in the manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Secondly, the combined forms of the cam D and shaft B, as shewn in the
sectional view of Diagram, Fig. 6, the peculiarity of which consists in the
uniform diameter of said shaft and cam (when measured together through
the centre of said shaft), which uniformity of diameter allows to the friction
rollers p, p, which have fixed centres in said driver, to bear continually upon
the opposite sides of said shaft and cam through an entire revolution of the
same, and by means of which the said driver is thrown back and forth, and
brought to two dead rests, while the shaft is making one revolution, and which
allows the two sets of caurs E, E, immediately and alternately to perform their
office upon the lever R, as before described.
I claim the following as separate and distinct combination of parts in said
above specified machine, viz., the button cutter q, as constructed to be reversed
in the different ways, and adjusted in the cutter plate H, as above set forth,
whether the same be circular or angular in its superficial form.
Further, I claim the combination and arrangement of the guage slide or
carriage V with the ratchet T, guide wheel S, trip X, pall U, and tumbler Z,
in the manner and for the purposes above set forth.
Lastly, I claim the combination of the forms and adjustment of both the
moveable and fixed cutter plates H and J, the rider L, and punches N and O,
which conjointly perform the process of cutting the rivet, punching the hole, and
inserting said rivet in the leather aforesaid, whether the same be operated or
set in motion by means of the shaft and cams before described, or by means of
levers or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Harbottle, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
THOMAS (L.s.) HARBOTTLE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day o
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Harbottle came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form abov
5 written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year above written.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year above written.