Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 5th Nov., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JAMES WILLSON BROOKS, of Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, United States of America.]
Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 enable a heel to be attached to a boot or
shoe through the instrumentality of a heeling machine, while the boot or shoe is
on the wooden last on which it was made, without liability of injuring or crushing
the said last by the force used in driving the heel-attaching nails.
The invention consists in the hereinafter-described improvement in attaching
heels to boots and shoes, the same consisting in alternately storing up an elastic
force, and distributing and expending said force percussively on the gang of
attaching nails in the direction required to simultaneously drive said nails, so
that, after the nails have been driven and have become rigid parts of the heel,
there will be no severe or crushing strain upon the shoe-support, as I will now proceed
to describe.
Of the accompanying drawings, forming part of this Specification:
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a portion of a heel-attaching machine by
which my improved method may be practised.
Figure 2 represents a section on line 2-2, Figure 1, showing the hammer or
device for yieldingly driving the nails in its raised position, preparatory to the
attaching operation.
Figure 3 represents a side view, showing the hammer in the position it occupies
when it has driven the nails.
Figure 4 represents a side view, showing the templet, which holds the nails in
position to be driven into the heel, raised after the driving operation and provided
with a top-lift preparatory to spanking the same on to the nailed heel.
Figure 5 represents a side elevation, showing the said templet in the position it
occupies when it has spanked the top-lift on to the heel.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
In carrying out my invention, I employ any suitably-organized heel-nailing
machine having a support or supports for a wooden last a, and a hammer f which
is adapted to strike a yielding blow and thereby drive all the nails in a heel g
simultaneously home. I use the term hammer to designate any device which is
adapted to simultaneously drive a gang or group of nails, and I intend by this
term to designate the group or gang of drivers f which are shown in the drawings
as affixed to and projecting downwardly from the block f which constitutes the
body of the hammer. In all cases, when the nails are driven into the heel by the
power of the heeling machine, the drivers f will be essential parts of the hammer;
but, in case the heel has been previously loaded and charged with nails driven sub-
stantially through the entire thickness of the heel by a previous or independent
process, a hammer without drivers would be employed.
In the drawings, I have shown the hammer as affixed to the lower end of a
guide-rod f, which is adapted to slide in a fixed cross-head e attached to fixed
supporting uprights a' a'. The hammer f is arranged so that, when depressed, it
will act upon the heel g, which has previously been placed in position upon the heel-
seat of a boot or shoe on the last a.
In the present case, I show as the means for operating the hammer f, a spring f³,
bearing at its lower end on a collar affixed to the rod f¹ and at its upper end on a

page_text: fixed plug rigidly attached to the cross-head e, said spring being so arranged
that, when the hammer and the rod fare raised, as shown in Figures 1 and 2,
the spring will be put under increased tension, so that, when it is permitted to act,
it will drive the hammer against the heel with sufficient force to properly engage
all the nails with the sole or heel-seat of the boot or shoe. The hammer may be
held in its raised position against the stress of the spring f³, by means of a latch
or detent, adapted to engage a suitable fixed support, suitable means being
provided to displace said latch or detent and remove it from its engagement
with the support, so that the spring will be permitted to act in driving the
hammer.
The nails that are simultaneously driven by the drivers f* may be held in
position for the action of said drivers, by means of a templet t, which is adapted
to move vertically, and is interposed between the hammer and the heel. Said
templet has a series of nail-holes coinciding with the drivers . Said holes may
be charged with nails by the use of any suitably-constructed loading device adapted
to drop a charge of nails simultaneously into the nail-holes of the templet while
the latter is in place on the heel, as shown in Figure 2. The templet is here
shown as secured to vertical rods t¹ adapted to slide in the fixed cross-head e at
opposite sides of the guide-rod f¹. Springs t³ ³ are provided, to depress the tem-
plet t and cause it to strike the heel g with a yielding blow, said springs being
attached at their lower ends to ears on the cross-head e, and at their upper ends to
a cross-bar t³ affixed to the upper ends of the rods t't. The templet may be held
in a raised position, as shown in Figure 4, by means of detent devices similar to
those described for holding the hammer f. In case it is desired to use the
templet as a means for spanking on the top-lift, as hereinafter described the
under side of the templet may be provided with top-lift-holding devices of any
suitable construction.
Operation: Supposing the boot or shoe to be in place on a wooden last a, and the
latter supported by the last supports with which the machine is provided, the heel
is then properly located on the boot or shoe and the templet t is brought to bear
upon the heel, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The templet may be then loaded with
nails, the hammer f being at this time held in its raised position. The hammer is
now released, and caused by the spring to descend and cause the drivers to give
a quick yielding blow upon the nails, and simultaneously drive the entire charge
into the heel and clinch the same upon the metal bottom-plate with which the last
is provided, the position of the hammer, when the nails have been driven, being
indicated in Figure 3. The hammer and templet may be now raised together, as
shown in Figure 4, and held in an elevated position until a top-lift g' has been
applied to the under side of the templet, as shown in Fig. 4. The templet may now
be released and caused by its springs t to descend and yieldingly spank the top-lift
upon the projecting ends of the nails in the heel g, the yielding blow of the templet
also serving to compress the heel to some extent.
It is found that, by thus driving all the nails simultaneously home by a yielding
blow, the injurious or crushing strain upon the last is so reduced that it is feasible.
to nail heels upon wooden lasts, the expense involved in the wear and injury to the
laste being less than that involved in removing the boots or shoes from the lasts on
which they are made and placing them upon a metallic last or work-support, an
operation which has heretofore been necessary on account of the impracticability of
using wooden lasts in a heeling machine.
It is obvious that the templet t may be depressed by the action of the hammer-
depressing spring f³, instead of by an independent springs t2, in which the hammer
and templet would be released together preparatory to spanking on the top-lift, the
spring acting on the templet through the hammer.
It will be understood that, when the heel is to be provided with a blind-nailed
top-lift, the drivers f* will be made of such length that they will not drive the nails
entirely into the heel, but will leave the ends of the nails projecting sufficiently to
engage the holes in the top-lift; but, if the heel is to be flush-nailed, the drivers

page_text: will be made longer, so that they will drive the nails flush with the top surface of
the heel.
In case the heel has been loaded with nails by a previous operation, the nails being
driven substantially through the heel or possibly a little more, the templet t will
not be required, and the hammer f may be used without the drivers f*.
The force of the hammer-impelling spring or springs is expended in driving the
nails, so that said force practically ceases when the nails have been driven home,
and their independent motion in or through the heel and sole is arrested by the
surface that clinches their points. The action of a spring on a hammer or a gang
of drivers, in the manner described, in its effort to regain its normal condition of
pressure after being put under increased pressure, is peculiar to a spring, because
the movement imparted to the hammer is so quick that the nails are driven partially
before the inertia of the heel can be overcome sufficiently to impart the full force
of the spring through the heel to the last, and also because the force is yielding and
is absorbed in driving the nails, so that, when the nails become fixed parts of the
heel and can no longer move independently in or through the heel, no injurious
or crushing force is exerted by the spring through the hammer and nails on the
last.
I am aware that it has been proposed to drive nails by the action of compressed
air on a piston connected with a gang of drivers, also that it has been proposed to
drive nails by the pressure of the atmosphere on one side of a piston similarly
connected, the air being exhausted from the opposite side of the piston. 1 do not
find, however, in such propositions, an equivalent of the action of a spring or springs
on a hammer or gang of drivers, because the air pressure is practically constant and
unvarying, so that, after the nails have been driven and have become fixed parts of
the heel, practically the same force is exerted through the nails on the last that was
exerted in driving the nails, there being no such absorption or expenditure of force
as there is in the use of a spring. It is true that the force or pressure exerted by
compressed air on a piston is somewhat yielding, in consequence of the elasticity of
the air, but the fact remains that the force is constantly and uniformly exerted, as
well after the nails have been driven as during the driving operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents I declare that what I claim is :
1. That improvement in the art of attaching heels to boots and shoes which
consists in exerting simultaneously on a gang of attaching nails, a percussive
yielding pressure, the force of which is absorbed in driving the nails, as set forth.
2. That improvement in the art of attaching heels to boots and shoes which
consists in alternating storing up an elastic force, and distributing and expending
said force percussively on the gang of attaching nails in the direction required to
Bimultaneously drive said nails, as set forth.
3. That improvement in attaching heels to boots and shoes which consists in first
securing the heel-blank by driving all the attaching nails simultaneously with a
percussive yielding blow, and then spanking on the top-lift with a yielding blow, as
set forth.
"
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.