Improved Machine for Use in the Manufacture of Seamless Leather Loops.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 6th Mar., 1897
[Communicated from abroad by ELLIS SPEAR and FRANK LEANDER MIDDLETON,
both of 1003 F. Street, Washington, United States of America, Patent Attorneys.].
Improved Machine for Use in the Manufacture of Seamless
Leather Loops.
I, ERNEST RICHARD ROYSTON, of 15 Water Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, C.E., Fel. Chart. Inst. P.A., 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:-
My invention is a machine for use in the manufacture of seamless leather loops
which are used in harness and in like situations.
In making seamless leather loops, a long strip of leather of proper width is taken,
its edges are trimmed and then it is cut up transversely into rectangular pieces or
loop blanks. These are then taken and slitted from edge to edge leaving intact end
edges and after being thus slit the blank is blackened and then upset or pressed into
loop form. My present machine relates particularly to the cutting and slitting
mechanism and to means for packing the loops in a series ready to be blackened, and
to be fed to finishing mechanism.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a view of the slitted loop blank;
Figure 2 a front view of the machine with parts in sections;
Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views on lines 3-3, 4-4 respectively of Figure 2 ;
Figure 5 is a detail view;
Figure 6 a plan view of the machine, and
Figure 7 a side view;
Figure 8 is a detail of a part of the tray for holding the loops.
The loop blanks such as shown in Figure 1 are formed by taking a long strip of
leather, passing the same through the grooved guides 1 Figure 2, until its end strikes
the stop 2 of the adjustable table, Figure 3, whereupon the knife 3 descending will sever
a blank from the strip and this blank will then be forced laterally from the cutting
table 4 to the slitting mechanisin, entering, for this purpose, between the grippers of
clamps 5, Figures 2 and 4, which will then come together clamping the end edges of
the blank rigidly, while the body part of the blank will be pressed upon by yielding
jaws or clamps 6 carried within the hollow grippers and under pressure of the
springs 7. The clamps have the edges 8 Figure 5 for guiding and retaining the
leather blanks and the yielding jaws are normally held and guided in the hollow
grippers by the screws 9.
While held by these clamps the leather blank is slit by the knives 10 and 11, one
of which advances and performs its slitting operation and then retracts, the other
knife advancing from the other side as the first one retracts and completing the
slitting operation. Only the body portion of the leather is slit, the spring jaws
yielding, but at all times pressing the leather closely to the knives. The end edges
held rigidly by the outer hollow clamps are not slit but are left intact.
Figure 1 represents the blank as it leaves the slitting mechanism.
D

page_text: The slitted blank is pushed out of the slitting mechanism by the newly cut blank as
this latter blank is pushed from the cutting table by the pusher bar 11* and said
slitted blank passes onto a table 12 having guides 13 and at the next action of the
pusher this blank will be pushed still further to the right, Figures 2 and 6, and will
pass into an opening 14 in the table 12 whence it passes into a packing trough 15
which curves down from the opening 14 and extends to the front. Each loop is
pressed upon by a pusher plate 16 which rises and falls and thus the slitted loop
blanks are packed in the trough from whence they are discharged into a removable
tray Figure 8, which will be supported on the table 17, with its open end under the
trough and its closed end 20 in line with the discharge mouth of the trough so as to
receive the loop blanks on edge. Each time the packer plunger moves down a loop
blank is forced into the tray and the tray, through this pressure, is moved one step.
While in this tray the exposed edges of the blanks are blackened.
From this tray the blanks are taken by the attendant and are then blackened on
their other edges and fed to a suitable finishing machine.
The cross head of the cutting knife is reciprocated in guide ways 18 by a link 19
connected to a pivoted lever 21 operated from a grooved cam 22 on the shaft 23 by
the cam slide 23*.
The gripper jaws are operated by an oscillating cam ring 24 having slots Figuro 2
receiving pins projecting from the shanks or plates 25 of the grippers, and the
arm 26 of the cam plate is connected by a slot and pin with the pivoted lever 27
operated from the cam 22 by a cam slide 28, which thus operates the gripper jaws.
The reciprocating slitting knives are carried by slides 30 operated by peripheral
grooved cams 31 through the rollers 32 and sliding brackets 33. The knives may be
adjusted by the screws 34.
The pusher bar 11* is carried by a post 35 on a slide 36 which is reciprocated by a
lever 37 operated from a cam on the main shaft by the cam slide 38.
The packer plate or plunger 16 is carried by the arm 26 of the oscillating cam and
is: operated by the movement of said arm.
The cutting table 4 has a series of holes 4 to permit it to be adjusted forwardly or
rearwardly to change the stop 2 in relation to the cutting knife and thus vary the
size of the loop blanks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. A machine for forming loop blanks from a strip of leather comprising cutting
mechanism for severing the strip into blanks and mechanism arranged to receive and
slit the blanks after being cut.
2. A machine for forming loop blanks comprising a cutting table with guides
adapted to receive a leather strip, a cutting knife, slitting means to receive the blank
from the cutting table and a pusher for moving the blanks laterally from the cutting
table into the slitting means, substantially as described.
3. Mechanism for slitting the blanks comprising the slitting knife, clamps for
holding the blank rigidly by its edges to keep the same intact and means intermediate
of the clamps to press upon the opposite sides of the body portion of the blank.
4. In connection with the holding clamps of Claim 3 for holding the blanks by
their edges, the yielding intermediate plates or presser means for engaging the body
of the leather blank, the said yielding plates allowing the knife to enter between
them.
5. In connection with the machine of Claim 1, packer mechanism for packing the
slitted loop blanks side by side.
a
6. In combination with the loop blank forming mechanism, packing trough
arranged to receive the loop blanks therefrom and a packer plunger to force the
blanks into the trough, substantially as described.
7. The arrangement of the slitting mechanism to one side of the cutter, and the

page_text: arrangement of the packer to one side of the slitting mechanism with the pusher
plunger for forcing the loop blanks from the cutter to the slitter and thence to the
packer.
Dated this 9th day of November 1896.
CHEESBROUGH & ROYSTON,
15 Water Street, Liverpool, Applicant's Patent Agents.