IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING AND EVENING LEATHER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Harris Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING AND EVENING LEATHER."
A communication from abroad by Joseph Andress Safford, of Boston,
Massachusetts. United States of America, Manufacturer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Harris Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th August 1880.
HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING
AND EVENING LEATHER." A communication from abroad by Joseph Andress
Safford, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer.
This Invention relates to machinery for splitting upper leather and evening soles
or sole leather, and it consists partly in novel means for securing the knife in
position, whereby it may be more expeditiously applied and removed than when
secured in the manner heretofore employed.
It further consists in a novel arrangement and construction of devices for
imparting pressure to the material being split or evened, which will be readily
understood by reference to the description of the Drawings.
It further consists in a novel adjustable stop or stops for limiting the movement
of the pressure roll towards the knife and gauge-roll, as will be hereinafter
described.
It further consists in the combination with the pressure and gauge rolls and
knife of a leather splitting machine, of a hand-guard covering or partially covering
the said rolls, and provided with a longitudinal slot directly over or in front of the
throat between said rolls, through which slot the material may be fed to said rolls
and knife without any possible chance of the operator's fingers being drawn between
the rolls or into contact with the knife.
It further consists in a leather-splitting machine provided with a pivotted and
weighted pressure-bar adapted to wrap the material partially around and press it
upon the gauge-roll when in use, and to be turned away from said roll; also pro-
vided with a slotted hand-guard pivotted to the frame of the machine upon the
D
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page_text: side of the rolls opposite to the pressure-bar, and adapted to be placed over the rolls
when the pressure-bar is turned away, or to be turned back away from the rolls
to permit the pressure-bar to be brought into a position for use, whereby the
machine is adapted for splitting the thinnest upper leather when using the
pressure-bar, or to evening soles and sole leather when using the guard-plate
instead of the pressure-bar, thus adapting a single machine to do two kinds of
work, for which generally separate machines are used.
It further consists in a novel shipping device for controlling the operation of the
machine.
as a plan of a machine embodying my invention, with the hand-guard-
plate removed.
Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the right hand end of the machine.
Figure 4 is a partial horizontal section on the line x, x, Figure 3,
Figure 5 is a vertical transverse section on the line y, y, Figure 2.
Figure 6 is a partial vertical section on the line 2, 2, Figures 1 and 2.
In the views above described the machine is shown in condition for splitting
upper leather.
Figures 7 and 8 are a plan and a partial vertical section on the line v, v,
Figures 1 and 2, shewing the machine in condition for evening soles or sole-
leather.
Figure 9 is a partial section on the line 2, 2, Figure 5, showing the wedges or
cams for moving the shipper rod in elevation, and
Figure 10 is a plan of the parts shown in Figure 9.
A is the main frame or bed of the machine, supported upon the legs B, B, and
having mounted in suitable bearings a, a, formed thereon or secured thereto the
driving shaft C and shipper-rod D; E is the pressure or feed roll, and F the gauge-
roll, mounted respectively in the sliding boxes b and c fitted to and adjustable
horizontally in the housings A¹, the said rolls being geared together at their right
hand ends by the spur-wheels d and e, so as to compel them to rotate in unison
and in opposite directions.
The gauge-roll F has firmly secured upon the opposite end of its shaft the large
gear-wheel F', to which a rotary motion may be imparted by revolving the driving
shaft C, the said driving shaft having secured thercon the pinion C¹ gearing with
an intermediate pinion C², which in turn meshes with and imparts motion to the
gear-wheel F, and through it to the roll F; G is the knife fitted to a suitable seat
or bearing on the bed A in a vertical position, with its cutting edge uppermost, and
secured thereon by one or more clamping levers H, each provided with a longitudinal
slot f, through which the fulcrum bolt g passes and is screwed into the bed A, and
with a clamping screw H³ fitted to work in a female screw thread formed in the
lower end of the clamping lever H, with its inner end pressing against the bed A in
an obvious manner.
The position of the knife-edge relatively to the axes of the
feed and gauge rolls is determined by the hook-shaped gauges h, h, and the set-
screws, h. The gauge-roll F is adjusted towards or from the knife to determine
the thickness of the evened portion of the split stock or material by means of two
wedges i and ¹, connected by the rod and the adjusting screw j provided with
the hand-wheel j¹, the wedges i and i acting against the inclined projections c¹, c',
on the boxes c, c, in such a manner that an endwise movement of the wedges
i and towards the right hand will cause the gauge-roll F to be moved bodily
toward the knife, and when the wedges are moved in the opposite direction the
springs reacting against the boxes c, c, move the roll F away from the knife.
The boxes b, b, have formed in their rear sides recesses or notches to receive the
bearing heads of the studs 7, 7, the flattened shanks of which are fitted to the slotted
ends of the bar I, which extends across the machine in the rear of and parallel to

page_text: the roll E, which has its bearings in the boxes b, b. The bar I is provided with
two recesses I' to receive one end of the springs J, J, the opposite ends of which
are supported by the shoulder-hubs m, m, which in turn are supported by the
conical ends of the set-screws n, n, which work iu nuts or female screw-threads
formed in the yoke K, and serve to regulate the tension of the springs J, J, and
thereby control the pressure of the feed-roll E. The yoke K extends across the
rear side of the machine, and is secured at its ends to the housings A¹ by means of
screws o, as shewn in Figure 4. By this arrangement of the feed or pressure roll,
and the devices for controlling the pressure, the roll readily adjusts itself to
inequalities or variations in the thickness of the stock or material being acted upon
with an equalized pressure, thereby rendering it possible to feed uneven, irregular,
or soft and hard stock with equal facility.
L is a weighted pressure-bar pivotted at p to the boxes c, c, so as to move there-
with, and extending back over the gauge-roll F, and curved downward around the
said roll but excentrically thereto, so that its rear and lower edge will press upon
the stock or material being fed between it and the roll F in such a manner that
any wrinkles contained in the material will be smoothed out by the action of said
bar thereon, and by reason of the fact that the material is partially wrapped
around the roll F before it reaches the knife.
The pressure-bar L is weighted by the supplementary bar L', in each end of
which is set the adjustable screw-stop q, by means of which the distance of the
rear edge of the bar L from the roll F may be gauged. This pressure-bar L is
used when thin flexible stock or material is to be split, but when soles or pieces of
sole-leather are to be shaved to an even thickness or split, the bar L is turned into
the position shewn in Figures 7 and 8, and the soles or the like are fed between
the rolls to the knife in substantially a vertical position, or without bending them
around either roll. In doing this there is danger of the operator's fingers being
drawn between the rolls and injured, to avoid which the guard-plate M provided
with the longitudinal slot r is pivoted to the rear portions of the housings A', and
supported at its front edge by the cars, 1, which rest upon the boxes c, c, in such
a position that the soles or pieces of sole-leather may be presented to the action of
the rolls and the knife in a vertical position by passing them through the slot 7.
When it is desired to use the machine for splitting thin upper leather the guard-
plate M is turned back away from the rolls, and the weighted pressure-bar L, L', is
turned back into position over the roll F, as shown in Figure 5. The movement of
the feed-roll E toward the knife is limited by the conical pointed stop-screws 8, 8,
set in the housings A¹, and adapted to be adjusted vertically therein with their
conical portions engaging with correspondingly inclined surfaces on the front sides
of the boxes b, b, as shown in Figure 6; N is the driving pulley mounted loosely
upon the shaft C, and provided with clutch-teeth to engage with corresponding
teeth on the collar N', rigidly secured upon the shaft C, and with a groove t to
receive the shipper-fork O mounted upon the shipper rod D, as means for moving
the pulley N on the shaft C to couple it with or disengage it from said shaft.
P and P¹ are two cam-plates or bars arranged in vertical positions just in front
of the shipper rod D, and guided at their upper ends in bearings in the stand Q,
and connected at their lower ends with the rear ends of the treadles R and R'
respectively, mounted loosely upon a stationary rod S in such a manner that either
treadle may be moved around the said rod independently of the other. Each of
the cam-plates P and P¹ is provided with an inclined or cam-shaped surface u,
which engages with a truck T or T¹ mounted on a stud attached to, and projecting
at right angles from, the shipper-rod D in such a manner that when the front end
of the treadle R is depressed and the cam-plate P is moved upwards, its inclined
surface acting upon the truck T forces the shipper-rod D and pulley N to the
right, uncoupling the pulley from the shaft C and stopping the machine, the same
motion of the shipper rod causing the truck T to force the cam-plate P' downward
and thereby raise the front end of the treadle R'. If now the foot be placed upon
the treadle R¹ to depress it the reverse action takes place, and the machine is set

page_text: in motion. By the use of this shipping device the driving pulley is held securely
in either position against any tendency of the driving belt to move it along
the shaft C in either direction, as is often the case when the shipper-rod is not
locked.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. In a leather-splitting machine the combination of the knife G, a supporting
bed or seat therefor, and one or more clamping levers, each pivotted to the stationary
clamping jaws by a fulcrum bolt in a position to bear at one end upon the surface
of the knife, and provided at its other end with a set-screw, all arranged and
adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.
Second. The clamp-lever H provided with the slot f and clamping screw H' in
combination with the knife-supporting bed A and the fulcrum-bolt g, all arranged
and operating as a means for securing the knife, substantially as described.
Third. The combination of the feed-roll E, the bar I, the springs J, J, the set-
screws n, n, and the yoke K, all arranged and operating substantially as and for
the purposes specified.
Fourth. The combination of the roll E, the boxes b, b, and the adjusting stop-
screws 8, s, all arranged and operating substantially as described.
Fifth. In combination with the rolls E and F and the knife G, a hand-guard
pivotted to the frame so as to cover the said rolls, and provided with a slot through
which the material may be fed to the rolls, substantially as and for the purposes
described.
Sixth. The combination of the rolls E and F, the knife G, and the weighted
pressure-bar L, L', pivotted to and movable with the boxes c, c, in which the roll F
has its bearings, substantially as above described.
Seventh. A leather-splitting machine provided with a weighted pressure-bar for
use in splitting thin leather, and adapted to wrap the material partially around
and press it upon the gauge-roll, and to be turned away from the said roll when
not desired for use, and with a pivotted hand-guard adapted to be placed in a
position to cover said rolls, or to be turned back away therefrom, substantially as
and for the purposes described.
Eighth. The combination of the clutch-pulley N, the shipper, the two cam-
plates P, P, the treadles R and R¹, and the trucks T and T¹, all arranged and
adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.
Ninth. The combination of the feed-roll E, the boxes b, b, the bearing studs 1, 1,
the bar I, and the mechanism for forcing the bar I and the roll E toward the
knife with a yielding pressure, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Harris Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
HENRY H. LAKE. (L.S.)