Improvements in Tack-driving Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1994
Complete Specification Left, 19th Feb., 1895-Accepted, 13th Apr., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tack-driving Machines.
I, GEORGE FERGUSON, of 100 High Street, Boston, State of Massachusetts,
United States of America, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to tack driving machines and has for its object to construct
an improved machine more especially intended for use in boot and shoe making.
According to my invention I provide for driving tacks by means of com-
pressed air.
In order that the nature of my invention may be clearly understood I will by
of example describe one method of carrying the same into practice.
I provide a cylinder having a piston the piston rod of which extends up through
a stuffing box and terminates in a suitable head. Between the bead of the piston
rod and the stuffing box I provide a spiral spring which always tends to raise the
piston to the upper end of the cylinder. Attached to the underside of the piston
is a rod which forms the driver and is adapted to move up and down in a tube
into which the tacks are fed. The pipe from the air compressor or compressed air
reservoir leads into the top of the cylinder above the highest position of the piston.
Said air supply pipe is fitted with an inlet valve which is operated through an
arm and link connected to a sleeve embracing the cylinder. Said sleeve can
slide a limited distance up and down the cylinder but not turn thereon and I
preferably arrange that when the sleeve is at the bottom of its travel the air valve
is opened and when said sleeve is at the top of its travel the air valve is closed.
I also provide an exhaust port arranged to be opened and closed by the same arm
and link as the air inlet valve in such a manner that when the valve is open the
exhaust port is closed and when the valve is closed the exhaust port is opened.
A suitable spring is provided which tends to maintain the sleeve at the top and the
air valve closed, the exhaust port being open.
The tacks are fed by any suitable means down an inclined shoot and at the end
of every stroke of the driver a tack is automatically fed into the tube in front
thereof in readiness for the next stroke.
The operation of my improved machine is very simple. When the sleeve is
depressed by the operator, the air inlet valve is thereby opened, and air is admitted
to the cylinder above the piston. The latter is thereby forced down the cylinder
and thus drives home a tack. The operator now allows the sleeve to rise, shutting
the inlet valve and opening the exhaust whereupon the spring round the piston
rod raises the driver. The feeding mechanism at the same time places another
tack in position in front of the driver.
My improved tack driver is intended principally for use in boot and shoe
making as aforesaid and by its use the work of tacking is greatly expedited, the
operation requiring the expenditure of very little force on the part of the
workman.
Dated this 10th dow of Max 1894-

page_text: Improvements in Tack-driving Machines.
1, GEORGE FERGUSON, of 100 High Street Boston, in the County of Suffolk
and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, 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:—
My invention relates to tack driving machines, and has for its chief object to
provide a machine that is to be operated by compressed air or gas and that includes
certain new and useful constructions and combinations substantially as hereinafter
described.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section through the machine.
Figure 2 is a side elevation looking from the rear of Figure 1, and showing.
part of the interior by dotted lines, and the sleeve hereinafter described in a
different position from that shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal central section of the valve or tap.
I is the body of the machine, which is tubular, and the upper part of which
serves as a cylinder 30. 2 is the head of the cylinder through which moves the
piston rod 4 provided with the head 3. 5 is an ordinary packing gland. 6 is the
piston made of two plates of metal with a leather packing between them.
The piston is furnished with an extension 31 that slides in a part of the body 1 of
smaller bore than the part serving as the cylinder. 7 is a plunger which is inserted
into the lower end of the aforesaid extension and there fixed in any suitable
manner.
8 is a removable nose piece, which may be substituted by a longer one for
special kinds of work where the tack is to be driven only partly home and
afterwards pulled out. 9 is the valve or tap through which the cylinder is supplied
with compressed air, gas or steam. 10 is a tubular projection from the valve casing
connected to any suitable source of gas, air or steam by the flexible pipe 24.
The head 2 is screwed to the cylinder, and is secured from turning by the
check out 11. Owing to the fact that the work must be turned in tacking around
a shoe for example, while the supply pipe tends to retain it in one particular
position, this check nut is especially valuable, as without it the head would soon
work loose.
12 is a spiral spring fitted around, the piston rod and confined between its head 3
and the gland 5, so as to return the piston and plunger into position for a new
stroke as soon as the air or gas in the cylinder is allowed to escape.
13 is the tack raceway, of the usual, pattern, leading into the channel in which
the plunger works. The tacks are checked and admitted one by one into the
channel from the raceway by the gate 14, which is worked, by the piston at every
stroke. This gate is in the form of a spring attached at its upper end by screws 15,
to the body of the machine. When the piston is descending it pushes back the
spring, gate and allows a tack to escape past the end of the gate and rest against
the side of the plunger. This tack slides into the exit channel below the plunger
when next the plunger ascends.
16 is a sleeve which slides upon the body 1 and which is held up normally
against the check nut 11, by means of a spiral spring 17, introduced between the
head of the sleeve and an enlargement 18, on the body 1. To the said head of
the sleeve is pivoted the link 19 which is attached to a rocking, arm 20, fixed to
the valve 9. When the sleeve is pushed down to the position shown in Figure 1 the
valve is opened and air or gas is admitted to the cylinder. The piston
and

page_text: plunger 7 are thereby pushed down and drive the tack, (fed into the channel from
the raceway) into the work against which the nose 8 of the machine is placed.
Upon releasing the sleeve, the spiral spring 17, will return it to the position shown
in Figure 2, thus closing the inlet through the valve and at the same time allowing
the air or gas to escape through the passage 32, holes 33, and a hole 21, in the
centre of the valve, (see Figure 3) whereupon the piston and plunger will be
returned, by the pressure of the spiral spring 12, into position for a new stroke,
A part of the body I and the raceway 13, are shown as not sectioned in
Figure 1 because they consist of two registering portions, one of which is
represented as removed so as to expose the flat face of the other. They are fixed
together by means of screws through the two upper screw holes 22, 22. The
nose 8 has two flanges 23, 23, one on each side overlapping the body 1 and attached
thereto by screws through the lower screw holes 22, 22. This is to prevent the
nose from twisting and becoming loose, as it would quickly do without the
flanges.
The operation of the machine as applied to driving tacks in boots and shoes is
as follows: The operator takes the instrument in his left hand, holding it by the
sleeve 16, and with his right hand manipulates the pinchers by which he draws
the leather of the upper firmly over the edge of the insole. When he has drawn
it just far enough he applies the nose 8 of the tack driver to the place where he
wishes to drive the tack in and pushes down the sleeve thereby admitting air or
gas to the cylinder through the valve 9, as before explained. The plunger 7 is
thus driven down with the tack ahead of it. By releasing the pressure on the
sleeve the nose 8 of the tack driver is withdrawn from the face of the leather and
the sleeve 16 and plunger 7 are returned into position for a new thrust in the
same manner.
The operation of the instrument with compressed air by means of the sleeve
possesses many important advantages. In the old form of tack driver the workman
had to hold the instrument in one hand, stretch the leather into proper place with
the pinchers, hold it there by pressing the nose of the tack driver down upon it,
or by some other device, drop the pinchers, pick up his hammer and strike the
head 3, of the piston rod, driving home the tack. By the use of compressed air
instead of a hammer to actuate the piston and plunger, the necessity of shifting
or changing the tools is done away with.
By the use of the sleeve 16, the workman is able to grasp the instrument firmly
and with the same motion by which he applies the nose to the leather, the plunger
is automatically actuated. No separate motion, such as pressing a lever with the
thumb or finger while holding the instrument, is necessary; nor does the hand
have to be held in any particular position relative to the instrument, as would be
the case if the thumb or finger had to be always in position for pressing such a
lever, but as the instrument is moved around the shoe the hand can be turned
without turning the instrument and without moving the supply tube or the tack
raceway in the way of the workman. There is a substantial gain, therefore, both
in simplicity and in rapidity of operation.
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. A tack-driving machine furnished with a cylinder and a piston to which the
tack driving plunger is connected and adapted to be operated by air or gas under
pressure.
2. Such a machine wherein the valve for controlling the admission and exhaust
of the air or gas to and from the cylinder is actuated through a spring-controlled
sleeve which serves as the handle for holding the machine.
3. The combination of the cylinder 30, the plunger 7, the piston 6, the spring 12,
and the valve 9 connected with and operated by the spring-controlled sleeve 16,
substantially as described.

page_text: 4. A machine constructed substantially as described with reference to the
drawings and operating as specified.
Dated this 19th day of February 1895.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.