Improvements in Leather Skiving Machinery.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 26th July, 1892-Accepted, 27th Aug., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Leather Skiving Machinery.
I CHARLES HENRY BAYLEY of No. 21 Lincoln Street, Boston, in the
State of Massachusetts in the United States of America, Manufacturer 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 improve and simplify that class of leather
skiving machines having circular or disc knives.
In that class of machine wherein the leather to be skived rests on or is supported
by a rotating feed wheel or roll it is customary, in order to provide for wear of the
cutters, which are quite expensive, to mount the cutter shaft in a frame adapted to
be turned about a substantially vertical pivot, and to enable this to be done and
yet keep the bevel gear on the cutter shaft in mesh with the bevel gear on the
driving shaft, it was necessary to locate the centre of rotation of the said cutter
shaft a little to one side of the centre of rotation of the driving shaft, in practice,
about one eighth of an inch, and as the cutter was reduced in diameter by grinding,
the frame was adjusted to thus enable the cutting edge of the cutter to be kept up
properly to its work and with its cutting edge in a plane nearly vertical to the
centre of rotation of the feed roll.
This plan is by some considered objectionable, and especially when the centre of
rotation of the cutter shaft. is not radial from the centre of rotation of the driving
shaft which is the case for most of the time, the objections being the loud noise of
the gears, they not meshing truly, and the greater wear on the said gears, and the
extra power required.
To obviate this objectionable noise and unnecessary wear of the gears and at the
same time save power, I have devised a novel swing frame or support for the knife
shaft, and have so mounted it that it may be swung about a centre substantially
parallel to the centre of rotation of the feed roll, as thereby the centre of rotation
of the cutter shaft is always radial to the centre of rotation of a gear on the driving
shaft, which gear engages a gear on the cutter shaft.
In this way the mesh of the gears is always the same and correct mechanically,
and as a result thereof, the machine is rendered substantially noiseless.
One part of this invention, therefore, consists in the use in a machine for skiving
leather, of the following instrumentalities, iz.:-a rotatable support or feed wheel:
a cutter shaft provided with a disc cutter; a rotating driving shaft; gearing
between it and the cutter shaft to rotate the latter; a swing frame in which the
cutter shaft has its bearings, and bearings for the said swing frame parallel to the
centre of rotation of the said work-support or feed wheel, the frame being hung
from said bearings and about which it is free to be oscillated as a centre, as will be
described.
The other features of the invention are hereinafter fully described and set forth
in the claims annexed hereto.
Fig. 1 in side elevation represents a skiving machine embodying my invention.
Fig. 2, is a partial section in the line of Fig. 3.
Fig. 3 is a section in the line '; and
Fig. 4, is a section in the line, Fig. 1.
A, is the frame-work containing bearings A' for the main shaft A provided with
a suitable belt pulley A3 and having a worm B, a bevel gear B, and a worm B2.
The worm B engages the worm gear B3 on the vertical shaft B' having at its
lower end a bevel gear B³ which engages the bevel gear B on the shaft B7 provided
at its opposite end with a work support or feed wheel B. 0

page_text: The worm B engages a worm gear C fast on the upper end of a shaft C¹ adapted
to be rotated in suitable bearings C, the said shaft being provided at its lower end
with a work-clamping or presser-disc C³.
The shaft Chas upon it a collar C, and between the collar and one of the
bearings C, is a spring C³.
This collar may be left loose on the shaft, in which case the spring will not act
to force the presser-disc C³ down upon the work so as to exert a friction thereon
beyond the force due to the gravity of the disc and the shaft; but in case extra
pressure is desired then the collar may be lifted and the spring compressed more or
less and the collar may be secured by a suitable set screw 2.
The frame-work has, as represented, attached to it in an adjustable manner by
set screws a, a bracket a', upon which is adjustably attached by a clamping
screw a², a gauge a³ having a spring presser at the force of which upon the work
may be regulated by an adjusting screw a°.
The two central bearings A have extended portions A* which receive about
them the hubs D of the hanger bracket D', one of the said hubs being broken away
in Fig. 1, to show the extended portion of the bearing about which the hanger
turns.
The hanger may be kept upon the hub extensions by means of a collar D²
secured in place by a set screw 3, said set screw abutting against a portion of the
bearing extension."
The hanger D has adjustably connected with it a bearing plate D³ provided at
one end with suitable bearings for the cutter shaft d, provided at its upper end
with a bevel gear d² which is connected and rotated by the bevel gear B, before
described.
The shaft d is kept properly seated in its bearings by means of the hinged
caps d³, made adjustable toward and from the bearings for the shaft by set
screws 5.
To enable me to compensate for wear of the cutter shaft in its bearings, I have
provided the bearing plate with stop screws 6 having suitable check nuts 7 by
which to retain them in the position in which they may be put.
In practice, as the bearing wears, the stop screws will be withdrawn slightly
so as to let the set screws keep the bearing caps pressed constantly against the
cutter shaft.
When new, the bearing caps stand off from the bearing plate for about one
thirty-second of an inch, more or less.
In order to skive the material at a greater or less bevel, I have mounted tlie
bearing plate D upon a pivot screw e, and I have provided the said plate with a
slot e through which is passed a set screw e², the said set screw being screwed into
the hanger D':
By loosening this set screw, the bearing plate may be turned more or less about
the pivot screw e, the gear BI being set front or back on its shaft A² to accommodate
the adjustment, the formation of the teeth of the two gears being such as to permit
such slight necessary change in the angle of the two shafts.
It is necessary at times to adjust the cutter shaft d longitudinally, and to provide
for this, the said shaft has fastened upon it by a set screw, see Fig. 2, a collar d³,
and just below it there is bound in suitable manner to the shaft a second collar do,
the space between the said collars being entered by a finger 10 of a clutch d' having
a threaded hole to be entered by the threaded portion 12 of a spindle ds, said
spindle having fast upon it a collar 13 which rests upon a projection 14 of the
bearing plate D³, the lower end of the spindle having fastened to it by a suitable
set screw 15 a collar 16; the said collar being adjustable on the end of the spindle
to compensate for wear to prevent any looseness or shake in the direction of the
end of the spindle.
The spindle may be clamped as against rotation by means of a suitable set
screw 18.
The hanger mounted loosely on the bearings referred to is free to turn about' a

page_text: centre substantially parallel to the centre of rotation of the rotary support or
feed wheel B8, the centre about which the said hanger turns being the longitudinal
centre of the main shaft.
To provide for swinging this hanger and its attached bearing plate D³, constituting
as I shall herein denominate, a swing-frame for the shaft of the cutter-carrier. I
have provided an adjusting device herein represented as a hollow screw, the
threaded shank of which is passed loosely through an opening in the bearing plate D³
and screwed into a threaded hole in the hanger D' and through said hanger, the
inner end of the screw abutting, as herein shown, against a washer, resting as
herein shown, against the frame-work, and having preferably a somewhat round
back, see Fig. 4, where it rests against the framework.
This hollow screw receives through it a set screw which is extended loosely
through the washer ", then loosely through the frame A, and screwed into a
nut f
To adjust the swing-frame, the operator will loosen the set screw and then by
turning the adjusting screw will cause the inner end of the latter to project more
or less, and it acting against the washer will put the swing frame in the desired
position so as to enable the cutting edge of the knife d' to act in a vertical plane
substantially in line with the centre of rotation of the supporting or feed wheel B,
and then the set screw will be rotated into the nut to lock the swing frame in
position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The use in a leather skiving machine of the following instrumentalities,
ciz. a rotatable support or feed wheel; a cutter shaft provided with a disc
cutter; a rotating driving shaft; gearing between it and the cutter shaft to rotate
the latter; a swing frame in which the cutter shaft has its bearings and bearings
for the said swing frame parallel to the centre of rotation of the said work-support
or feed-wheel, the frame being hung from said bearings and about which it is free
to be oscillated as a centre, as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The use in a leather skiving machine having a swing frame mounted con-
centrically to said main shaft and its bevel gear, whereby said hanger is free to
be oscillated about the centre of rotation of the said main shaft, of a bearing-
plate D pivotally connected therewith; a work-support; a cutter shaft mounted
in bearings in the said bearing plate; a disc cutter attached to said cutter shaft ;
a bevel gear on said cutter shaft in mesh with the bevel gear on the driving shaft ;
and devices to adjust the said swing frame about the centre of rotation of the main
shaft, the centre of rotation of the cutter shaft being always radial to the centre of
rotation of the driving shaft, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. In a leather skiving machine, the bearing plate; means to support it; a
shaft mounted in bearings on the said bearing plate; and adjustable caps for the
said bearings and a disc cutter on said shaft; set screws and adjustable stops for
and to act upon said caps whereby wear on the cutter shaft may be compensated
for; and means for driving the cutter shaft, substantially as described.
4. In a leather skiving machine, the bearing plate; the hanger upon which
it is adjustably mounted; the cutter shaft having a disc cutter, and a bevel gear;
means to rotate the said shaft; a collar on the cutter shaft; a slide plate pronged
to embrace the cutter shaft; a threaded spindle to adjust the slide plate; and
devices to compensate for wear between portions of the spindle and the bearing
plate, substantially as described.
5. In a leather skiving machine, the hanger; means to support it; and the
bearing adjustably mounted thereon and adapted to receive and support the cutter
shaft, and means to rotate said shaft; a hollow screw; and an abutment against
which the inner end of the set screw acts; and a set screw extended through the
said hollow screw, to operate, substantially as described.

page_text: 6. In a leather skiving machine, a driving shaft and bearings therefor, a cutter
shaft, its cutter, and bearings therefor pivotally supported to rotate about the axis
of rotation of the driving shaft, whereby the axis of said cutter shaft is made to
intersect and adapted to be radially adjustable about the axis of the said driving
shaft, and actuating connections between said driving and cutter shafts, substantially
as described.
Dated the 25th do of L. 1900
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.