IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING OR UNITING LEATHER AND OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Baulch, of the City of Bristol, Boot Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING
OR UNITING LEATHER AND OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES."
Sealed the 18th August 1865, and dated the 21st February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Baulch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
February 1865.
I, CHARLES BAULCH, of the of the City of Bristol, Boot Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY POR SEWING OR UNITING LEATHER AND OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES,
PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing machinery, as hereafter described,
for sewing or uniting the soles to the uppers of boots and shoes, and for
sewing or uniting other hard substances, also for causing the boot or shoe to
move into proper position as the sewing is performed.
I proceed to describe my Invention as applied to sewing soles to the uppers
of boots and shoes. On a table or bed I erect a standard or bracket which
carries two carriages into which fit the axes of a plate having on its surface
two cheeks into which fits a sliding piece with arms which carries cog gear
and spindles, here-after mentioned; the sliding plate has two upper and two
lower arms which act as guides to the rods of two piercers, that is to say,

page_text: that each piercer rod passes through one of the upper and one of the lower
arms; the piercer rods are free to rotate to facilitate the passage of the
piercers through the leather;, the rotation is effected by bevil pinions on the
piercer rods gearing into bevel wheels on a horizontal shaft carried by the
sliding plate; this horizontal shaft is driven by toothed gearing connected
with a main horizontal shaft carried by an arm behind the sliding plate. The
first-named horizontal shaft has between the bevel wheels a worm in gear
with a worm wheel, which said worm wheel is attached to another wheel
below having cogs around only one half of its circumference; this wheel imparts
motion alternately to two wheels moving by cranks the rocking levers by
means of connecting rods; the outer end of the rocking levers is connected
by links to the top of the piercer rods; the drawing down and raising of the
rocking levers takes place at every revolution of the haif-geared wheel and
depresses and raises the piercers; this wheel also depresses and raises another
rod connected to a rocking lever to which is attached a spindle carrying a
needle; the said needle and piercers move alternately according as the half-
geared wheel gears into their respective crank wheels; this needle works
parallel to one of the piercers and enters the hole made by that piercer. The
lower part of the sliding plate carries a foot which presses on the work; the
pressure may be regulated to any desired extent by weights; the axes of the
sliding plate have a screw passed through and working in them for the pur-
pose of adjusting the depth the needle and piercers are required to pass
into the work, the descent being dependent on the thickness of the material
to be sewn. Beneath the top plate of the table or bench is a bracket to which
one side of a frame is pivoted, and to which is attached another frame in a
similar manner, the other end of which frame supports a vertical spindle
which carries a drum on which a chain or cord is wound; one end of the
chain is secured to the drum and the other end is connected to a winder for
moving the work and regulating the length of stitch. Above the drum is. a
plate formed with a groove corresponding with the line of stitch to be produced;
a small roller or pin fixed firmly runs in this groove, and two other rollers or
pins run on the outside of the grooved plate. The grooved plate has con-
nected to it by uprights holders for holding the last on which is the boot or
shoe during the sewing. The last is formed with a channel corresponding
with the line of stitches to receive the ends of the piercers and needle when
they pass through the leather. The piercers are placed at an angle to each
other.
The action is as follows:-The last with the unsewn boot is placed between the
holders and the machine put in motion; the piercers descend through the leather

page_text: of the sole and upper and enter the channel of the last; the piercers then rise
and the sliding plate moves forward, bringing the needle over one of the
holes, down which it passes; a wire or bristle is next passed down the other
hole into the eye of the needle, the needle then draws it up, when it is received
by a holder on the surface of a drum, which rotates and completes the-stitch,
at the same time cutting off and straightening the end of the wire; the work
then moves forward the distance of a stitch, the sliding plate moves back, and
the aforesaid operation is again repeated, the wire or bristle being always
passed down through the hole made by the piercer at an angle to the needle.
The machine may be worked with a hemp thread waxed, or wire, or wire and
hemp combined.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Baulch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BAULCH, of the City of Bristol, Boot Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Baulch, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Baulch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Baulch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the. Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING OR UNITING LEATHER AND OTHER HARD
SUBSTANCES, PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Baulch, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Baulch, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in constructing machinery, as hereafter described,
for sewing or uniting the soles to the uppers of boots and shoes, and for sewing
or uniting other hard substances, also for causing the boot or shoe to move
into proper position as the sewing is performed.
I proceed to describe the machine as applied to sewing soles to the uppers
of boots and shoes.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Figure 2 a side elevation of the
machine.
a is a table or stand on which is mounted a bracket or standard 6 having
two bearings c, c, in which two axes d, d, are free to slide vertically; to these
two axes a plate e is attached in which a sliding piece e¹ with dovetail or
other slides works; it carries a front plate f. The sliding piece and the front
plate receive a horizontal movement as hereafter explained, and the axes d, d,
and the whole of the front of the machine receive a vertical movement, also as
hereafter explained. On the front plate f is a shaft g supported by two bearings
and having at each end a bevel cog wheel g', and in the middle an endless
screw or worm g²; this shaft is made to rotate, and the endless screw g³, by
working into a toothed wheel h, imparts a rotary motion thereto at the rate of
one revolution for each stitch made. To the wheel his attached a disc i having
on its circumference at proper distances two sets of teeth, as shewn, which
alternately work into two small wheels j, j', causing them to revolve once each
to every revolution of the wheel h. The wheel j gears into another wheel j³,
to which a crank is connected; this crank works two levers k³, k¹, by means
of two connecting rods k; these levers work, by means of connecting links 1,
two rods m, m, each of which carries a piercer. The wheel j¹ has connected
thereto a crank which works, by means of a connecting rod k³, a lever k³,
which in its turn is connected by a link 12 with a rod m¹ which carries a
needle. To facilitate the penetration of the piercers the rods m, m, are caused
to rotate by means of bevel pinions n, n, which gear into the wheels g', g', on
the ends of the shaft g; the pinions n, n, are free to slide on the rod m, m,
to admit of the movement of the rods; the rods are each turned by a tooth
on the bevel pinion n working in a groove on the side of the rod; the rods
m, m, are thus free to receive a sliding movement, and at the same time a
rotary motion to admit of their turning, and yet of receiving motion from the

page_text: connecting rods k¹. The ends of the links 1, l, are forked to receive a collar,
which is held in its place by two centres, to allow of an oscillating movement;,
these collars fit on the end of the rods m, m, which are thereby free to rotate..
To effect the various movements in the front of the machine there is a.
shaft A which has a toothed wheel o gearing into another wheel o¹ on. the
shaft 93 the shaft A has a pulley o' at its end, over which passes a band or
chain which also passes over another pulley o' on the end of a shaft B sup-
ported by two standards p. The shaft B has mounted thereon a wheel r in
gear with another wheel r¹ on a shaft r which also carries a wheel in gear
also carries a wheel in gear with.
with a wheel; the shaft of this wheel
a wheel on the main shaft C. The main shaft is driven by a crank handle
D or otherwise. On the shaft B is a cam disc q which produces, by means
of a lever q', the horizontal movement of the front plate f; the disc q or the
shaft B carries a projection of (shewn in dotted lines) which, in its rotation,
presses upon a lever q³, the opposite end of which bears against the lower
axis d and raises the front of the machine. To effect the moving of the boot
or shoe there is also attached to the table or stand a a bracket E carrying
between centres a frame ; this frame carries a second frame a¹, also on
centres, so that its end may be moved in any direction. The frame x¹ has at
its end, one above another, two bearings a³, in which a spindle v is free to
move; this spindle has at the lower end a drum w and plate y, and at the
upper end a plate v₁ with a dovetailed plate u on its surface, so that the last t
with the boot or shoe (the leg t¹ of which last has a corresponding dovetail
slide) can be slid in, and when pushed in tight be in its place. To the plate y
a shape or form y' (shown separately in Figure 3) is fastened; the shape or
form is so made that by turning it it will do for either a right or left boot or
shoe. A groove corresponding to a channel in the last is formed in the
shape y', and in the groove a pin or roller z fixed to the plate 8 runs; the
plate 8 is adjustable so that the sewing may be performed nearer to or further
from the edge of the sole of the boot or shoe, as required. Against the
outside of the shape or form y¹ two rollers z¹ run; they are also fixed to a
slide and are acted upon by a weighted lever 2³; the pressing of these two
rollers against the shape or form keeps it in its proper position. The boot is
moved the length of the stitch by the following means:-Around the drum w
a chain or cord is passed, the two ends of which are carried to two drums 3, 3,
round which it is wound alternately, as required, according to the direction in
which the boot is to travel, by means of a double pinion 5 gearing alternately
into the pinions on the drums 3, 3; the rod which carries the pinion 5 is
moved to and fro by a lever, not shewn in the Drawings.

page_text: The operation of sewing is as follows:-The boot or shoe having been
placed on the last t the last is screwed to the leg t¹, which slides into the
dovetails u; the sole of the boot is held firmly down by a foot s projecting from
the front of the machine and capable of adjustment by a screw, so as to raise
or lower the machine according to the thickness of the work to be done. The
machine is then put in motion, the piercers descend, owing to the rotation of
the cranks fixed to the pinions j¹, j, and make two holes in the leather
through to the channel in the last at an angle with each other; they are
then drawn up out of the leather by the rotation of the cranks fixed to the
pinions j,j; the front plate f is made to slide horizontally by the lever q¹
riding on the cam q, so that the needle is brought over the hole made by one
of the piercers, into which it descends. A wire point on the end of the thread
used is passed by hand down the other hole and goes through the eye of the
needle, which in its ascent takes it up with it. A winder or drum, hereafter
described, receives the thread from the needle, and drawing it tight completes
the stitch, at the same time preparing the wire point for the next stitch. The
front of the machine is then raised by the cam 9³ and lever q³, and the front
plate fis moved back by the cam 9 and lever q¹ so as to bring the piercers
into their first position. The boot or shoe with the last is moved along the
required distance by a treadle 6 working a ratchet wheel 2 on the shaft which
carries the double-bevel pinion 5; the same operations are repeated until
the sewing of the boot or other article is completed. 4 is a weight for pre-
venting the boot moving a greater distance than is produced by the action or
pull of one of the drums 3, 3; 7 is a weight for keeping the lever q' against
the face of the cam q.
The winder or drum herein-before mentioned for tightening the thread
after being drawn up by the needle is represented in side elevation in Figure 4,
and in end elevation in Figure 5.
a is a conical drum; b, b, are spokes for pushing off the thread or wire;
and 9, 9, grooves for the spokes to slide in; d is a rod moved by a handle e
for working piercers c and for drawing the winder into position and gear
when required; f is a shaft on which is fixed, at the opposite end to the winder,
a bevel cog wheel corresponding with another wheel on the shaft B, Figures
1 and 2; i is a tightening screw; h is a disconnection or break in the shaft f
to allow of one part moving while the other remains stationary.
The action is as follows:-The point of the wire having been drawn up by
the needle, as before described, the winder is pulled forward by the handle e, so
that the piercers c are made to clip and cut the wire point, and at the same time
the cog wheel is brought into gear with the bevel cog wheel on the shaft B,

page_text: Figure 1 and 2. The winder, by being brought into gear, rotates and winds
the thread, and when the thread has been wound sufficiently tight the tension
screw i slips on the shaft f. The handle e is then pushed back, liberating the
wire from the piercers c, pushing back the conical drum a, and the spokes b
having only sufficient lateral movement to put the cog wheels out of gear,
push off the thread from the drum a; it is then ready for the next stitch.
The whole of the winder is held in position by two bearings from the main
bracket.
Figure 6 is a section of a piece of material stitched by the machinery
herein-before described, and showing the direction of the stitch.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the combination and employment, in machinery for sewing or uniting
leather and other hard substances, of two piercers and a needle arranged and
acting substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Second, the employment in such machinery of the apparatus or appliances,
arranged and acting substantially as herein-before described and represented
in accompanying Drawings, for causing the boot or other article to move
into proper position as the sewing is performed.
Third, the employment in such machinery of what I have herein-before
termed a winder or drum, arranged and acting substantially as herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Baulch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.