Improvements in Cutter Guards.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1.94
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cutter Guards.
I, SAMUEL HEY of 56 Low Street, Keighley in the County of York, Patent
Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention, as communicated to me from
abroad by George Henry Peck Flagg of 122 Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts,
United States of America, Gentleman, 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 a guard adapted to cover the acting
portion of a rotary cutter such as is used for trimming parts of boots and shoes,
for the purpose of preventing injury to the article to be trimmed while said article
is being presented to the cutter.
The invention is particularly intended for use in connection with an inseam-
trimming machine comprising a rotary cutter adapted to trim the upwardly-turned
edges of the welt and upper of a welted boot or shoe.
In the practical operation of machines for this purpose it has been found that
there is more or less liability of contact of the article to be trimmed, which is
hereinafter called the work, with the cutter, before the work is in its proper
position relatively to the cutter, so that there is liability of the work being injured
by improper presentation to the cutter.
This invention prevents liability, and consists mainly in the combination with a
rotary cutter of a guard normally held in position to cover the acting portion of
the cutter, a slide moveable on a fixed guide and provided with a rest which is
located near the cutter, and occupies such position that the work in being presented
to the cutter, first bears on said projection and necessarily displaces the latter
before it has come in contact with the cutter; and intermediate mechanism
connecting the said slide with the guard, whereby displacement of the slide by the
contact cf the work with it will cause a displacement of the guard, so that, just as
the work reaches a position to receive the action of the cutter, the guard is
withdrawn and exposes the acting portion of the cutter.
The invention also consists in certain mechanical contrivances incidental to the
general purposes above mentioned.
Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this Specification,
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a portion of an inseam-trimming machine
provided with my improvements, the guard being shown in its normal position,
covering the acting portion of the cutter.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation, the guard being in the same position as
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 represents a view similar to Figure 2, showing the rest and the guard
displaced by the work.
Figure 4 represents a section on line 4, 4 of Figure 1.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all of the figures.
In the drawings,
A represents the shaft which supports the rotary cutter E and the feed wheel N
and D represents the yieldingly-supported disk which maintains the welt of a boot
or shoe in engagement with the feed wheel.
a represents the guard which, as here shown, is composed of a curved plate
formed to partially encircle the perimeter of the cutter and to cover the lower or
acting portion thereof in such manner as to prevent the work from touching the
cutter when the guard is in its normal position.
;
'

page_text: The guard is affixed to a segmental plate or carrier a¹, formed on a collar a²,
which is fitted to turn loosely on a sleeve a³ affixed to the feed roll N. The guard
is therefore adapted to move in a circular path, which is preferably concentric with
the axis of the cutter.
The guard may be normally held in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2 by
any suitable means. I have here shown a spring b adapted to accomplish this
purpose, said spring acting on the guard. through mechanism hereinafter described,
although it may be otherwise arranged to act directly on the guard, the essential
thing being the yielding maintenance of the guard in its normal position, and its
return to said position when the force applied to remove it therefrom is
discontinued.
c represents a movable projection or rest, which is yieldingly supported in a
position adjacent to the cutter and projecting somewhat below the same, the
arrangement being such that the work, in being presented to the cutter, will bear
on the rest before it reaches the cutter, and will necessarily displace the rest before
it comes in contact with the cutter. The rest, as here shown, is composed of a roll
journalled on a slide e' which is fitted to move vertically in guides formed on a
bracket F affixed to the frame of the machine, said slide being here shown as
connected with said bracket by means of screws c² * passing through slots c³ ³ in
the slide. The spring & above mentioned is attached at one end to the bracket F
and at its other end to the slide c².
The slide c¹ is connected with the guard carrier al by the following devices:
e represents a lever pivoted at el to the bracket F and engaged at one end with the
slide c¹ by means of a pin e passing through a slot e³ in said lever and secured to
an arm on the slide c'. represents a rod, connecting the other end of the lever e
with a pin or stud f' on the carrier a¹.
It will be seen that the spring presses downwardly on the slide c', thus holding
the same, together with the roll c, depressed as far as the screws c² and slots c³ will
permit, the arrangement being such that the roll c is held below the lower portion
of the cutter, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
When the work is being moved upwardly toward the cutter, it first comes in
contact with the roll c, pressing the latter and the slide cupwardly, and thus
causing the intermediate parts ef to move the guard carrier and guard in the
direction required to withdraw the guard from under the acting portion of the
cutter, so that, by the time the work reaches the cutter, the guard is removed from
the acting portion thereof, as shown in Figure 3. All liability of injuring the
work by the cutter during the presentation of the work to the cutter is therefore
obviated.
The bracket F is used to guide a vertically movable spindle G, which is intended
to impart a downward movement to the roll when the operator desires to decrease
the depth of the cut in the upwardly turned edges of the work, a lever 1 being
provided which may be operated by a treadle, to press downwardly on the spindle G
and thus depress the roll or rest c.
-To enable the roll or rest to be depressed by the operator, for the purpose of
varying the depth of cut, I provide the spindle with a shoulder j and the slide
with a corresponding shoulder j', said shoulders being arranged so that, when the
spindle is depressed by the act of the operator, the shoulder will strike the
shoulder j and thus depress the roll or rest c and cause the depression of the work.
The depression of the slide and roll or rest e accomplished for this purpose is
very slight, and is not sufficient to move the guard into position to cover the acting
part of the cutter, the guard being in its displaced or raised position when the
operator exerts downward pressure on the spindle G to vary the depth of the cut.
A spring is provided to normally raise the spindle G, so that the shoulders j
and are normally separated, as shown in Figure 2.
I do not limit myself to the described details of construction or to the particular
intermediate mechanism used for connecting the rest or projection with the
cutter guard, as I desire to include within the scope of my invention any

page_text: construction and arrangement of parts which includes a guard movable over the
perimeter of a rotary cutter, a slide movable on a fixed guide adjacent to the cutter,
and a rest on said slide normally held in position to bear upon the work before the
latter reaches the cutter, the arrangement being such that movement imparted by:
the work to the rest is caused to impart to the guard a movement away from the
cutter while the work is approaching the latter.
My invention is not limited to use in connection with the cutter of an inseamn
trimming machine, and may be adapted to rotary cutters for various other purposes
without departing from the spirit of the invention.
The spindle G is adjustable vertically by means of nuts G2, G3, G4, so that the
shoulder may be raised or lowered to vary the height of the rest e when the latter
is raised to its highest position, the object of such variation being to make the
maximum depth of cut greater or less.
As any adjustment of the spindle G would vary the distance between the
shoulders and the throw of the guard, without a corresponding adjustment of
the slide e, I provide means whereby the slide may be adjusted without changing
the positions of the connecting devices e, said means comprising a plate
adjustably secured to the slide by screws c c passing through slots c'c' in said
plate, the plate being connected with the lever e. By loosening the screws c, I am
enabled to adjust the slide and the roll e up or down, and thus compensate for any
adjustment of the spindle G.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination with a rotary cutter, of a guard movable over the perimeter
of the cutter and normally held in position to cover the acting portion of the
cutter, a rest-carrying slide movable on a fixed guide and adapted to be moved by
the pressure of the work against it, said rest being adjacent to the cutter, and
intermediate connections between said guard and slide whereby a inovement of the
rest and slide is caused to displace the guard and expose the cutter.
2. The combination with a rotary cutter, of a guard movable over the perimeter
of the cutter and yieldingly held in position to cover the acting portion of the
cutter, a rest-carrying slide movable on a fixed guide and yieldingly supported in
position for the rest to come in contact with the work before the latter comes in
contact with the cutter, the rest being adapted to be displaced by a movement of
the work toward the cutter, and connections between the slide and guard whereby
movement is imparted from the rest and slide to the guard, as set forth.
3. The combination with a rotary cutter, of a movable guard mounted to move
over the cutter, a yieldingly supported slide movable on a fixed guide and having
a rest which normally projects below the acting portion of the cutter so that the
work in being presented to the cutter will first strike the rest and displace the same,
and connections between the slide and guard whereby the guard is displaced with
the rest and slide, as set forth.
1. The combination of a rotary cutter, a movable guard mounted to move over
the cutter, a slide movable on a fixed guide and provided with a rest c, connections
between the slide and guard, and a spring which yieldingly holds the slide, rest and
guard in their normal positions, as set forth.
5. The combination of a rotary cutter, a movable guard mounted to oscillate
over the cutter, a rest or projection such as c, a slide supporting said rest, a fixed
guide for said slide, connections between the slide and guard, a vertically movable
spring-supported spindle or rod adapted to be depressed into contact with the slide
and to depress the latter, and a spring which yieldingly holds the slide, rest and
guard in their normal positions, as set forth.
6. The combination of a rotary cutter, a movable guard mounted to oscillate
a lever e
over the cutter, a slide having a rest such as c, connections including
between the slide and guard, means for adjusting the slide vertically with relation

page_text: to said lever, a vertically movable spring-supported spindle or rod adapted to be
depressed into contact with the slide, and means for vertically adjusting said
spindle, as set forth.