CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING SHEET RUBBER AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS INTO SHAPES OR BLANKS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Pitt, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, for the
Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTING SHEET RUBBER AND SUCH
LIKE MATERIALS INTO SHAPES OR BLANKS." A communication from abroad
by Charles Ford, Jarvis Morgan Slade, and Franklin Baylies, all of the City of
New York United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Sydney Pitt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th May 1878.
SYDNEY PITT, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey.
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
FOR CUTTING SHEET RUBBER AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS INTO SHAPES OR BLANKS."
A communication from abroad by Charles Ford, Jarvis Morgan Slade, and Franklin
Baylies, all of the City of New York, United States of America.
The Invention relates primarily to the manufacture of rubber shoes, and the
improvements are intended to be connected with the rolls now used to make the
rubber into sheets.
Previous to the Invention rubber had been made into sheets passed through
calendar rolls and printing rolls to mark out the lines to be followed by the
hand in forming the shapes or blanks for rubber shoes or such like articles.
The object of the Invention is to dispense wholly or in part with the hand labor
in cutting the rubber sheet into shapes after leaving the printing rolls, and to cut
said sheets into continuous strips, shaped and cut ready to be made into blanks, by
simply separating the duplicated shapes crosswise of the strip.
The Invention is applied close to the calendar rolls or to the printing rolls, if
such be used, and the Invention consists in certain new combinations of mechanism
specifically set forth at the end of this schedule, by means of which I cut the
rubber sheet into shape while the sheet is in motion, thus preparing it for immediate
use and avoiding the expense and a large part of the hand labor in rubber-shoe
manufacture.

page_text: In order that persons skilled in the art may understand, make, and use the
improvements, I will proceed to describe the same as embodied by me, referring to
the Drawing annexed, in which,―
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the mechanism with rolls A and B in the
upper part of the frame which represent calendar rolls; Figure represents a top
view of said mechanism.
Figure 3 represents a side elevation of the mechanism, showing the gears for
communicating motion from one roll to the other.
Figure 4 is a vertical section at right angles to the axis of the rolls on the line.
x, x, Figure 1; Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the same.
C is a cutting roll under which the sheet of rubber, passes after leaving the
calender rolls A and B, the speed of its circumference being that of the rubber
sheet; this roll C, as well as all the other rolls of the mechanism, are mounted on
shafts provided with bearings in the end frames D, D; under this roll C are two
vertical spindles E, E, mounted in bearings in the carriages F, F, in such a manner
as to enable them to move back and forth in a horizontal direction in a vertical
plane, passing through the axis of the roll C, and also to rotate on their own axes.
Connected to the upper ends of the said spindles E, E, are sleeves G, G, extending
above the spindles nearly to the lower surface of the roll C, and they contain short
sleeves H, H, which carry the revolving knives K, K, on horizontal pins which find
bearings in the said sleeves.
The stems H, H, have a square horizontal cross section and fit into square sockets
in the upper part of the sleeves in order to compel them to turn with the spindles
and sleeves; under these stems in the sockets are spiral springs resting on the top
of the spindles, which serve to continuously press the stems upward, and with them
the revolving knives against the roll C or the rubber sheet under it.
The spindles E, E, extend downward below the carriages F, F, and their ends are
flattened on the sides to fit into the cam grooves L, L, in the roll O; this flattening
is to prevent the spindles from turning around and to compel the revolving knives,
which are set in a vertical plane parallel with the flattened sides to assume the
same angle in reference to the axis of the roll C as the flattened sides of the bottom
of the spindles bear to the axis of the roll O during the changes effected by the
shapes of the grooves L, L, while the roll O revolves.
The roll O is located in the frame under the roll C, and its axis is in the same
vertical plane and parallel to it. Cam grooves L, L, are cut in its surface extending
entirely around its entire circumference, and are so shaped that they will give the
desired shape to the blanks cut from the sheet rubber by the revolving cutters or
knives as it passes along in the direction of the arrow, Figure 4.
The speed of the sheet of rubber and the speed of the circumference of the roll O
should be the same, in which case the lines cut on the sheet of rubber extending
over a length equal to the circumference of the roll O will exactly correspond with
the track of the groove on the circumference of said roll, and the revolving
knives K, K, will always stand at the same angle as the walls of the grooves at the
point of contact between the lower ends of the spindles and said walls.
The carriages F, F, are arranged to slide in a horizontal direction parallel with
the axes of the rolls C and O in slides or ways N, N.
On the side of each carriage, towards the cam roll M, is a pin P fixed in the
carriage and extending horizontally into cam grooves Q, Q, cut in the surface of the
roll M, and having the same configuration as the grooves L, L, in roll O.
The grooves Q, Q, on roll M however are connected with the grooves L, L, on
roll O by means of the gears R, S, T, U, so that they can give the same motion to
the carriages, through the pin P, as is given to the said carriages by the spindles
E, E, and grooves L, L; the object of the cam roll M and its grooves is to give a
more positive motion to the carriages and spindles and to relieve the spindles in
part from the duty of driving the carriages, and to depend on the grooves L, L, only
to give the proper angle to the revolving knives.
The operation is as follows:--Power being applied to one of the train of rolls is

page_text: communicated to the others of the series by means of gears, and it is desirable that
the speed of the surface of all rolls should be alike.
The rubber having been made into a sheet by rolls, not shown in the Drawings,
but in the usual way, and the sheet being passed through between the calender
rolls A and B, is carried under the roll C; the sheet meets the revolving knives K, K,
at a line on the under surface of the roll C vertically under its axis, and is cut into
any desired form, depending on the shape of the cam grooves of the rolls M. and O;
the sheet of rubber thus cut is left in continuous lengths so that it will pass the
rolls when it is discharged from the machine, then the duplicated blanks are cut
apart and made up into the articles for which they are adapted.
.I propose in certain cases to pass the rubber over the roll C and place the cutters
and rolls O and M above, but as the rubber sheet will adhere to the roll C suffi-
ciently to allow the revolving knives to operate, I have adopted the arrangement
herein described as more convenient in many respects, particularly as to the com-
pactness of the parts.
The cams may be made of any desired form, and four spindles with cutters and
cams may be used to give shape to the interior of the blank which forms the upper
edge of the rubber shoe or other article, also the shape here shown being the part
of the shoe which is attached to the sole.
If a printing or ornamenting roll is to be used, it should be the roll B; in such
case the roll B should be separated from roll C a sufficient distance to prevent roll B
from pressing the sheet of rubber hard against roll C.
I am aware that revolving knives have been used to trim the sheet of rubber on
its edges, but I am not aware that the said cutters have ever been moved in
any manner along the surface of the roll to cut the rubber sheet into shapes or
blanks.
Having now fully described the Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,-
First. The combination, substantially as herein-before set forth, of the cutter
roll, one or more carriages and spindles provided with cutters or knives, and one
or more revolving cams, shaped and connected substantially as described, to move
the spindles and the cutters or knives along the surface of the cutter roll
parallel with its axis, all arranged to operate in the manner and for the purposes
set forth.
Second. The combination, substantially as herein-before set forth, of the cutter
roll, one or more carriages and spindles provided with revolving cutters or knives,
and two revolving cams for each carriage and spindle, one cam for presenting the
cutters at the proper angle to the rubber sheet, and one for giving the cutter a
motion along the surface of the cutter roll parallel with its axis, all constructed and
arranged to operate in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
Third. The combination, substantially as herein-before set forth, of the cutter
roll, one or more carriages and spindles provided with revolving cutters arranged
to move parallel to the axis of the cutter roll, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sydney Pitt, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight
SYDNEY PITT. (LS.)