Improvements in Button Setting Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 25th May, 1898-Accepted, 13th Aug.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Button Setting Machines.
I, ERNST BERNING, Partner of the Firm of Gustav Rafflenbeul, of Schwelm,
Westfalia, Germany, 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.
This invention has for its object to provide improved mechanisms for controlling,
turning, transporting and clenching the buttons in button setting machines when
they come from the button-hopper and go down the chute, so that one button
only at a time is allowed to fall into the transporting slide and that it will be turned
by 90 degrees while falling, so that then it can be transported in proper position to
the clamping die and clenched fast during the clamping operation.
I attain these objects by means of the mechanisms shown on the accompanying
drawing and described hereafter.
The general arrangement of the machine is that of the well known Wilkins
American button setting machine and only so much of it is shown as is necessary to
explain and understand my improvements.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the upper and main part of the machine;
Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a front view in an enlarged scale showing the transporting slide and
the pin tube;
Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the button chute looking towards the trans-
porting slide;
Figs. 6-10 are vertical sections of the transporting slide and clenching device
showing the turning, transporting and clenching operations;
Fig. 11 is a view of the lower end of the button chute with the controlling,
transporting and clenching device seen in plan:
Fig. 12 is a similar view, some of the said parts shown in section and the driving
and clenching bolt pushed forwards.
A and B are the chutes in which the buttons and the pins respectively are carried
down to the clamping apparatus; C is the button hopper from which the buttons
are fed in well known manner into the button chute.
Now in order that only one button of the many lying in the chute, can pass down
to the transporting device at a time, I connect to the crosshead D at its rear side
a bar E which at its upper end carries an oblique head piece F with a long slot
therein. An arm G reaches into the slot of the piece F and is held on the upper
side of the button chute by a pin H, so that it can be turned round this pin; a
projection T of the lower flange of the arm F is so arranged, that according to its
position it stops the passage of the buttons down the chute or allows them to pass
through and it is so worked that it always allows this passage for one button at a
time, closing the way as soon as one button has gone by. This is effected by the
D077

page_text: up and down motion of the crosshead D) and the slotted headpiece F, which causes
the arm G to oscillate round the pin H.
The button which has passed the controlling device slopes down the chute and
when arrived at the end of the chute it drops down on to the transporting slide M;
its shank or eye here pushes against the front edge L of the recess. L' worked into
the front part of the slide M and in consequence of this the button is caused to be turned
by 90 degrees, as is indicated in Figs. 6-7 so that it lies with its head in the
recess L', its eye standing horizontal.
If however it should happen accidentally that the button is not turned com-
pletely or not at all so that it rests upon the edge L, as indicated in Figs. 8 and 9,
the tuming is caused mechanically in the following manner: The slide M, as
will be explained hereafter, is pushed forwards, that is towards the right in
Figs. 6-10; the head of the button lying in the recess L₁ then strikes against
the corner of the die N and thereby causes it to be turned so that it takes the desired
position with the eye in horizontal direction, Figs. 9 and 10.
In this position the button can be clenched tight so that the clamping can be
done correctly. Now the transporting of the button and clenching it fast thereafter
is done by the following means:
At the rear side of the crosshead D) is fixed a guide roller Q. which presses
against a two armed crooked lever R having its fulcrum at R₁; the upper arm of
this lever is linked or similarly fixed to a bar S carried in the box T; in the box T
a spiral spring U is placed round the bar S bearing at the rear end against the
cover of the box and at its other end against the thick front end S¹ of the bar
and pressing the bar always towards the right. At the extreme right end of the
thickened part S¹ of the bar a wedge shaped head V is fixed thereto, bearing with
its oblique side against the rear edge of the slide M.
From this it will be understood that when the crosshead is going upwards the
lower part of lever R is allowed to go towards the left and then the spring U
can push the bar S and its wedge head V towards the right, and so the slide M
is pushed forewards from the position shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 11 into that of
Figs. 10 and 12; thus transporting the button under the die N and clenching it
fast there with its head between the corner of the die and the inner edge of the
recess L¹.
The slide M is held and guided in the slide holder W, which is suspended on a
bolt X of a bracket Y, forming part of the main frame; a spiral spring % is wound
round this bolt, one end of it being fixed in the bolt, the other in the slide and
having the tendency for pushing the slide away from the die to a certain extend,
whilst a spring Z¹ keeps the die holder in proper position, but allows it to be turned
out of its normal position together with the slide, as indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 6, so that a button being accidentally wrongly placed, may be conveniently
taken out of the recess L¹.
The other parts forming part of the machine, which are not especially mentioned
are not new and do not form part of my invention; thus the pin tube a with its
connection and the gate b and the main frame with the crosshead D in it and
carrying the other parts are all the same as in the well known Wilkins machine.
The working of the machine with regard to the new mechanisms described, is
as follows: The gate braises the buttons in the hopper C and discharges them into
the chute A where they slope down until they reach the projection T of the con-
trolling arm G, which is turned to one side when the crosshead rises and then
allows one button to pass through, closing the passage immediately again and this
button then glides down the chute until it reaches its end where it drops into the
recess L thereby making a quarter turn by its eye striking against the edge L;
then the slide M is pushed forwards, that is towards the die N, setting the button
right, if such should be required, and clenching it fast and now the pin in the tube a,
which had previously come down the pin chute B, is pushed upwards and clamps the
button fast to the shoe in the same manner as it is done in the original Wilkins
machine.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my. said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is: -
1.) In a button setting machine in combination with the button chute A an
arm G held thereon movably by a pin H, the flange of said arm having a pro-
jection S stopping the passage of the buttons or allowing a single button to pass by
according to its position; the upper end of said arm reaching into the slot of a
reciprocating oblique head piece F of a bar E, said bar being fixed to the cross-
head D of the machine, which moves up and down the hopper gate b and the
clamping device, the whole as described and illustrated and for the purpose set
forth.
2.) In a button setting machine the arrangement at the lower end of the button
chute A of a slide M held in a slide holder W and having a recess L₁ the edge of
which normally lies exactly in front of the button chute, the slideholder being
pivoted on a bolt X of a bracket Y of the machine frame, so that it can be turned
on said bolt, whilst the slide can be pushed forwards by a wedge piece V at the
front end of a bar S, which by its rear end is linked to the upper end of a lever R,
the lower end of which bears against a guide roller Q of the cross head D. A spiral
spring T pushing the bar S and the wedge picce V forwards against the slide M
and a spiral spring Z tending to hold the slid in normal position, the whole as
described and illustrated and for the purpose set forth.
3.) In a button setting machine arranging the transporting and clenching slide M
opposite the die N in such a manner that a button resting with its head on the
edge L of the recess L¹ of the slide, when being transported towards the die with
the slide, strikes against the corner of the die and is thereby turned with its eye to
stand horizontal so that the latter can pass underneath the lower edge of the die
and the head of the button can be clenched fast between the slide and the die
during the clamping operation, the whole as described and illustrated.
Dated this 50th day
May Toyo.
ERNST BERNING,
Partner of the Firm of Gust. Rafflenbeul,
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.