Improved Means for obtaining Water under Pressure to be used in the Manufacture of, Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 4th May, 1897-Accepted, 17th July, 1897
Improved Means for obtaining Water under Pressure to be used in
the Manufacture of, Boots and Shoes.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DORMAN, of Green Hall, Stafford, Engineer do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the improvement of the means used for obtaining
the pressure necessary for performing certain operations in the manufacture of boots
and shoes such as moulding or levelling the soles, building heels and attaching them,
moulding the stiffeners, stamping trade or other marks on the soles or other similar
operations.
I employ hydraulic presses with suitable inlet and outlet valves for the water,
operated, according to the nature of the machine either by hand o: automatically, the
water pressure being derived from any convenient source as from a town water supply
or from hydraulic pumps specially provided.
In order to avoid loss of time in filling the water cylinders and to escape the
necessity of employing a weighted accumulator I make use of an air spring to act
upon a reserve of water maintained between the hydraulic pumps and the pressure
cylinders of the various inachines.
The reserve of water may be conveniently maintained in a vertical vessel like an
air vessel having in its lower part an inlet from the water pumps and an outlet to the
press cylinders.
The air spring is obtained by forcing air into the upper part of this vessel until a
sufficient supply of compressed air is provided to balance the water pressure at a
proper height of water level to ensure the necessary reserve of water and capacity of
air spring. A guage glass or cocks may be fitted to indicate or ascertain the water
level and a pressure guage, safety valve and other usual fittings as required.
The air pressure may be conveniently derived from an air pump or pumps operated
by the driving gear of the hydraulic pumps and thrown out of action when the air
pressure is sufficient or the air may be compressed by employing a second vessel into
which water is pumped so as to drive its contained air into the vessel before mentioned
where it may be maintained by a valve while air is again admitted to the second
vessel and the water let out prior to the operation being repeated which may be done
as often as necessary to obtain the desired pressure.

page_text: Improved Mean's for obtaining Water under Pressure to be used in
the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DORMAN, of the Green Hall, Stafford, Engineer, 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 the improvement of the means used for obtaining
the pressure necessary for performing certain operations in the manufacture of boots
and shoes such as moulding or levelling the soles, building heels and attaching them,
moulding the stiffeners, pressing, stamping, marking or other operations.
I employ hydraulic presses with suitable inlet and outlet valves for the water, the
water pressure being derived from any convenient source as from a town water supply
or from hydraulic pumps especially provided.
In order to avoid loss of time in filling the water cylinders and to escape the
necessity of employing a weighted accumulator I make use of an air spring which acts
upon a reserve of water maintained between the hydraulic pumps and the pressure
cylinders of the various machines and by suitably proportioning the water passages
the water may be allowed to enter the presses so rapidly as to give the effect of a
blow as well as that of a press upon the work undergoing operation.
The reserve of water is maintained in a vessel, preferably of considerable size, having
in its lower part an inlet from the water puinps and an outlet to the press cylinders.
The air spring is obtained by forcing air into the upper part of this vessel until a
sufficient supply of compressed air is provided at the requisite pressure and with a
height of water level such as to ensure a sufficient reserve of water and capacity of air
spring.
A guage glass or cocks are fitted to indicate or ascertain the water level and a
pressure guage, safety valve and other usual fittings are provided.
The air is forced into the vessel by an air pump or pumps preferably driven in
connection with the hydraulic pumps. An arrangement is made by which the
pressure within the vessel is caused to act upon the driving gear of the pumps so as
to stop them when the pressure rises to a predetermined amount and to start them
again when the pressure falls to a certain point. I provide a cylinder in connection
with the vessel before mentioned and fit it with a spring or weight loaded ram which
is raised by the pressure generated. The ram is connected to a friction clutch which
is withdrawn from engagement with a driving pulley so as to stop the pumps when
the pressure within the vessel reaches a predetermined amount.
As the water is
worked off, by operating the various machines, the pressure falls somewhat and the
weight or reacting spring returns the ram and throws the clutch again into
operation.
As it is only necessary to supply air at intervals after the first air pressure has been
provided, while water is constantly being required as long as the presses are in
operation, it is found convenient to arrange the rod, which drives the air pump so
that it can be easily disconnected from its ram and connected to the ram of a water
pump and vice versa, so as to simplify the machinery.
If desired the air pump may be dispensed with and a second vessel be employed
into which water is pumped so as to drive its contained air into the vessel before
mentioned where it is maintained by a valve while air is again admitted to the second
vessel and the water let out after which the operation is repeated as often as necessary
to obtain the desired pressure.
My invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which

page_text: Fig. 1 is an end view and Fig. 2 is a side view shewing as much as is necessary to
explain one method of carrying my invention into effect.
Fig. 3 is an end view and Fig. 4 is a side view partly in section shewing the
automatic stopping arrangement.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2. The machine t is a heeling machine having one
double acting hydraulic press al above and another a below, the two being connected
together by tie rods a3 a4. Water under pressure is conveyed to the machine by a
pipe as which communicates with an upper valve a", for the purpose of operating the
ram a of the upper press a¹, and with a lower valve as, for the purpose of operating
the rama of the lower press 2, the pipes alo a' connect the upper valve with the
upper press and the pipes a 3 connect the lower valve with the lower press. The
work to be done is placed between the two rams and a and is operated upon by
either or both as desired, suitable attaching or building devices as a a being
employed as required by the nature of the work.
The water pressure is obtained through the operation of hydraulic pumps b b which
are placed upon a water tank 6 and operated through connecting rods bb by means
of cranks bb, gears b' b', and a pulley bº.
Between the inachine as « and the pumps as bb' is placed a vessel c preferably of
large capacity relatively to the supply from the pumps and into the lower part of this
vessel the pumps b b through the pipe 60 deliver the water which is afterwards
supplied to the machines by the pipe a' already referred to.
The vessel c acts as a reservoir for the water which supplies the machinery and in
order to maintain the pressure of the water fairly uniform during variations in its
level, due to the difference between the constant supply from the pumps and the
variable demand of the intermittently acting machines, compressed air is pumped
into the upper part of the vessel c by means of an air pump d so as to provide an air
spring which acts upon the surface a' of the water.
The air pump d is conveniently operated by means of the rod b which is
disconnected from its pump b by withdrawing the pin d¹ and connected to the air
pump by reinserting the pin in the rod b and the ram d of the air pamp & and
the pipe d³ conveys the compressed air to the vessel c. The guage glass d' indicates
the height of the water level ' and the pressure guage d' shews the pressure within
the vessel c.
The arrangement for stopping the pumps when the pressure reaches a certain point
aud for restarting them when the pressure falls to a certain point is as follows:-
The cylinder e (see Figs. 3 and 4) is in communication with the vessel c by the
pipe el so that the pressure in the one rises and falls with that in the other and the
cylinder e is fitted with a rain loaded with springs (or it may be weighted)
sufficiently to balance the desired pressure of working.
The extension e' of the ram e takes against the under side of a bell crank lever e'
which is mounted on a pivot e" and is connected to a sliding pulley 6", before referred
to, which runs loose upon the shaft e and on its inside is coned to match a fellow
cone e secured upon the shatt e' which drives the pump bb, Figs. 1 and 2, before
mentioned.
A hook e' is provided upon the rod e' which takes on the upper part of the lever e'
when the rain e descends. When the pressure in the vessel c and cylinder e rises
to the predetermined point the rod e rising against the springs e pushes up the
lever e' and withdraws the pulley b' from the cone e so as to stop the pumps b b and
when the pressure falls again the springs react and bring down the hook e' upon
the lever a' and press the pulley & into engagement with the cone e' so as to again
drive the pumps bb.
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 :-
In machinery used in the manufacture of boots and shoes:-
1 The use of an air spring produced by forcing air into a vessel in communication.

page_text: with the water supply to a hydraulic press so that it constitutes the medium by which
the water is kept under pressure, as described.
2. The combination of air pumps and water pumps delivering into a vessel for the
purpose of providing a supply of water under pressure for use in hydraulic presses, as
described.
3. The apparatus consisting of the hydraulic pumps, air pump, air vessel, valves
and driving gear, as herein and for the purpose described.
EM 1907