Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sewing and Seam Finishing Machinery.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1898-Accepted, 28th Jan., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sewing and Seam Finishing
Machinery.
A communication from abroad by JOHN BENJAMIN HADAWAY, of Brockton, in
the County of Plymouth, and State of Massachussetts, in the United States of
America, Engineer.
I, ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES, of 55 and 56, Chancery Lane, in the County of
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:—
The present invention relates to combined boot or shoe sewing and seam finishing
machines, and more particularly to such machines wherein the same finishing tool
or device will automatically locate the intervals between the stitches during the
formation of the stitches in the work.
Prior to the present invention it has been proposed to combine with a shoe sewing
machine a tool to separate and indent the intervals between the stitches, but such
separating tool has been generally so arranged that its movements were in a fixed.
vertical plane, with reference to the stitch forming mechanism, and it has been
found in practice that when stitches of varying or unequal length occur in the
seam, that said separating tool, being movable in fixed plane, and positioned to
separate stitches of equal length only, would, when a variation in the length of one
or more stitches, in a seam occurred, come into contact with the crown of a stitch
instead of in the interval between two stitches, and would tend to cut said stitch
and otherwise damage and mar the appearance of the finished seam.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the difficulty above noted and
to produce combined sewing and stitch separating or stitch separating and
indenting machine, in which the intervals between the stitches shall be automatically
located, and separated, or separated and indented, whether said stitches be of
uniform or varying length.
To the above end the present invention consists of a shoe sewing and seam
finishing machine, comprising stitch forming devices, and a seam finishing tool, the
seam finishing tool constructed and arranged to have a lateral movement relative to
the stitch forming devices to automatically locate the intervals between the stitches
whether said stitches be of uniform or varying lengths, and it further consists of
the devices and combination of devices which will be hereinafter described and
claimed.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 illustrates a front elevation of a machine embodying the same.
Figure 2 is a detail front view of the lower part of the awl bar and the seam
finishing tool.
Figure 3 is a similar view showing the parts in side elevation.
Figure 4 is a similar view showing the back of the devices.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of the lower part of the tool carrying bar.
Dicus fi is a side view of the lower part of the tool carrying bar.

page_text: Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively front and side views of the seam finishing tool
removed from the bar.
Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are respectively front, back and side views of the spring
controlling the tool.
Figs. 12 and 13 are views illustrating the operation of the device in different
normal positions.
The arm A2 to actuate the awl bar, the presser bar B, the presser foot B¹, the
throat plate B2, the awl bar a, awl a', the tool, carrying bar b, the feeding mechanism,
and the means for actuating them, may be of any suitable form and arrangement,
and a detailed description of such parts berein is deemed necessary.
Secured to the lower end of the tool bar b is a seam finishing tool b¹, it being
preferably loosely ufounted upon a screw or stud 62 in such manner that it may be
free to move towards or from the vertical plane in which the awl a¹ recipro-
cates.
It is a common occurence in the operation of shoe sewing machines, to have the
feed mechanism of such machines impart a variable feed to the work, so that the
stitches in a single seam are of varing length, and in all prior machines the indenting
tool was fixed against lateral movement and moved in a fixed vertical plane with
reference to the awl, and should the stitches formed by the machine vary in length,
the tool would in its descent, strike and indent the crown of a stitch resulting in an
imperfectly finished seam. To allow the seam finishing tool to automatically
accomodate itself to stitches of varying length, and to seek and locate its point in
the intervals between snch stitches as said stitches are formed by the stitch forming
devices, in the machine of the drawing, the working end of the seam finishing tool 61
is permitted to have a movement towards and away from the awl a¹, whenever the
end of said tool meets an obstruction, such as the shoulder of a stitch, tending to
exert a lateral pressure thereon. In the machine of the drawing, this is accomplished
as before suggested, by loosely pivoting said tool b¹ upon a stud 62 carried by the
tool bar b, so that the working end thereof is free to move laterally towards and
from the plane of movement of the awl or other part of the stitch forming
devices.
In the machine of the drawings the seam finishing tool 61 is normally retained to
reciprocate in a fixed vertical plane, and returned to said normal position by a
suitable spring, such as the spring c, which is connected to the tool b', preferably
at the rear face of said tool, as shown in the drawing, the upper end of said spring
being suitably connected to the lower end of the tool bar b. The arrangement
described is such, that should the point of the tool in its movement towards the
stitches, come into contact with the shoulder of a stitch, it will move laterally to one
side or the other around the pivot 62, and slip off the shoulder of the stitch into the
interval between said stitch and the next adjacent stitch, and locate such interval
and upon the movement of said tool away from the stitches the spring c will imme-
diately return said tool to its normal position.
In order that the tool may be adjusted relatively to the stitch forming devices, to
accommodate itself to the adjustment of said stitch forming devices for forming
long or short stitches, and also to change the plane of reciprocation of the working
end of said tool to cause it to act upon the seam at different points relatively to
'said stitch forming devices, either to act upon the interval between two completed
stitches as shown in Fig. 13 or between a completed and a partially formed stitch
as shown in Fig. 12, the connection between the spring c, tool b¹ and rod b is prefer-
ably as follows:-
As shown in Figs. 9 and 10 and 11, the spring c has at its lower end an ear c¹,
provided with an eye c², through which a clamping screw 3 passes to adjustably
clamp said spring to the tool 61, the upper end of said spring being provided with
an arm c preferably elliptical in cross section, or rounded at its upper
and lower edges as shown, said arm c4 engaging a slot 63 in the end of the tool
bar b.
By the arrangement above described, the tool 6' may be adjusted for long or short

page_text: stitches, or to normally position its working end with reference to the stitch forming
devices, to locate the interval between a completed and a partially formed stitch,
or the interval between the last two completed stitches, as desired by loosening the
screw which clamps the ear c¹ of the spring c to the tool 61, releasing said spring,
and permitting the working end of said tool to be moved laterally towards or from
the stitch forming devices, the rounded arm ct of the spring c turning slightly in
the slot 63, to permit of the lateral movement of the lower end of the spring with
the tool, the lower end of the spring turning loosely upon the screw c³ as said tool
is moved laterally, or adjusted, after which the screw c³ is tightened, thus clamping
the lower end of the spring to the tool to fix and hold the tool b¹ in its adjusted
position. The operation of my invention as shown in the drawings is as follows:-
Upon a downward movement of the awl bar a, and awl a¹ to puncture the work
for a new stitch, the tool bar b is carried down and with it the tool 61, towards the
seam, and if the feed of the sewing mechanism has been correct and has fed
the work the length of a uniform or standard stitch, then the point of the tool b¹
will enter and locate the interval between the last completed and partially formed
stitch, or between the two last completed stitches, accordingly as it has been
adjusted, and will separate or separate and indent the same, but should the work
have been improperly fed, resulting in a stitch varying in length from the standard
stitch, then the point of said tool b¹ will, in its movements towards the work, contact
with the shoulders or crown of such stitch, and will move laterally to one side or
the other accordingly as the stitch is longer or shorter than the standard stitch,
and will automatically locate the interval between such varying stitch and the next
adjacent completed or partially formed stitch, as hereinbefore set forth. Upon the
upward movement of the awl bar and awl a¹, the tool bar b and tool b¹ are lifted,
and the spring c acts to return the point of the tool 61 to its normal position,
which operations are repeated throughout the formation of the stitches forming
the seam in the particular piece of work in hand.
I have described my present invention as it is applied to one form of shoe sewing
machine, and in describing the operation thereof, I have employed terms descriptive
of the operation of devices in said machine, which impart to the awl and tool their
movements towards and from the work, but I desire it to be distinctly understood
that my present invention is not limited to any particular shoe sewing mechanism,
nor to any specific means for imparting to the seam finishing tool its movements
towards and from the work, nor to the imparting of such movements to the tool by
any portion of the stitch forming devices, nor to the moving of said tool towards and
from the work in any particular time relative to any portion of the shoe sewing
mechanism, and it is immaterial so far as the present invention is concerned, whether
the seam finishing tool be arranged for movement from an upper position, downward
towards the work, or from a lower position, upward towards the work, the arrange-
ment depending entirely upon the operation of the particular style of shoe sewing
machine with which my improved seam finishing tool shall be combined; neither
do I consider my invention as limited to the exact construction and arrangement of
devices shown and described for rendering the seam finishing tool automatically
adjustable to locate the intervals between the stitches whether said stitches be of
uniform or varying length, but in so far as I am at present advised of the state
of the art, it is broadly new to combine with shoe sewing mechanism a seam
finishing tool which will automatically locate the intervals between the stitches as
such stitches are formed, whether said stitches be of uniform or varying length,
and I therefore claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent.
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
1. In a boot or shoe sewing and seam finishing machine, the combination with
the stitch forming mechanism, of a seam finishing tool, and means to permit said
tool to automatically locate its point in the intervals between the stitches, whether

page_text: said stitches are of uniform or varying length, during the sewing operation,
substantially as described.
2. In a boot or shoe sewing and seam finishing machine, the combination with
the stitch forming mechanism, of a seam finishing tool and means to permit the
point of said tool to move laterally varying distances towards and from the stitch
forming mechanism during the sewing operation, to automatically locate the
intervals between the stitches, substantially as described.
3. In a boot or shoe sewing and seam finishing machine, the combination with
the stitch forming mechanism, of a seam finishing tool, means to permit the working
end of said tool to move laterally toward and from the stitch forming mechanism
and a spring to return said tool to its normal position, substantially as
described.
1030
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55/56, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.