Improvements in Moulds for Levelling or Moulding the Soles of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd July, 1897
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Apr., 1898-Accepted, 7th May, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Moulds for Levelling or Moulding the Soles of
Boots and Shoes.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DORMAN, of the Green Hall, Stafford, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to improve the construction of the moulds used for
levelling or for moulding the soles of boots and shoes or for laying the channels
of the same, or for similar operations.
Such moulds are usually made of metal and consist of two parts, a male and a
female, between which a boot sole is placed and then subjected to pressure in a
suitable press.
In some cases, as when levelling soles or laying channels upon a boot, the male
mould is replaced by the ordinary iron last upon which a boot is made and the
sole is then subjected to pressure between the last and the female mould.
In order to avoid the necessity of carefully preparing a separate female mould
for each size and variety of shape of the boot soles requiring treatment and to
ensure that all parts of the sole shall be subjected to a uniform pressure I replace
the female mould with a flexible and elastic water bed or cushion which I prepare
in the following manner :-
I provide a metal case open upon one side and preferably with its edges shaped
approximately to the contour of the bottom of a last though somewhat larger and
this open side I close in with a flexible and elastic material such as indiarubber
jointing its outer edge securely down upon the edges of the metal case. I then
fill, or partially fill, the case with fluid, as water, and thus provide a water bed
which when pressed, in a suitable machine, upon the outer surface of a boot sole
and opposed on the inner side of the boot sole either with a last or with the usual
male mould, as the case may be, causes the sole to conform exactly to the shape
of such last bottom or mould and subjects the sole to a uniform pressure over all
its surface.
If desired an indiarubber water bag may be employed being enclosed on all sides
but one by the metal case so as to prevent it from giving way with the pressure.
In moulding soles the flexible bed may be either the round or male mould
or the hollow or female mould though the latter is preferable.
T1
1007

page_text: Improvements in Moulds for Levelling or Moulding the Soles of
Boots and Shoes.
22.
J
7
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 per-.
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The object of this invention is to improve the construction of the moulds used for
levelling or for moulding the soles of boots and shoes or for laying the channels
of the same, or for similar operations...
Such moulds are usually made of metal and consist of two parts, a male and a
female, between which a boot sole is placed, and then subjected to pressure in a
suitable press.
:
In some cases, as when levelling soles or laying channels upon a boot, the male
mould is replaced by the ordinary iron last, upon which a boot is made, and the
sole is then subjected to pressure between the last and the female mould.
In order to avoid the necessity of carefully preparing a separate female mould
for each size and variety of shape of the boot soles requiring treatment, and to
ensure that all parts of the sole shall be subjected to a uniform pressure, I replace
the female mould with a flexible and elastic water bed or cushion which I prepare
in the following manner :-
I provide a metal case open upon one side and preferably with its edges shaped
approximately to the contour of the bottom of a last, though somewhat larger, and
this open side I close in with a flexible and elastic material such as indiarubber,
jointing, its outer edge securely down upon the edges of the metal case. I then
fill, or partly fill, the case with fluid, as water, and thus provide a water bed upon
which the sole is laid; and an unyielding counter mould, of the shape the sole
is desired to receive is pressed down upon it in a suitable machine.
}
The incompressible fluid confined in the water bed or mould compels the elastic
surface to press the sole into exact conformity to the shape of the counter mould.
To lay channels, or level, soles already attached to the uppers, the water bed
is placed in a suitable machine in which it is caused to press upon the outer sur-
face of the sole while it is opposed on the inner side by an unyielding surface which
may be the last or a mould taking the place of the last. The sole is thus caused
to conform to the shape of the last bottom, being subjected to a uniform pressure
over all its surface.
:
If desired an indiarubber water bag may be employed, being enclosed on all
sides but one by the metal case, so as to prevent it from giving way with the
pressure.
In moulding soles, the flexible bed may be either the round, or male, mould
or the hollow, or female, mould; though the latter is preferable.
My invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of one form of sole mould.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.
Fig. 3 is a section of another form of mould.
Fig. 4 shews a mould for levelling a sole when the same is attached to a boot.
Fig. 5 shews a reversed arrangement of Fig. 1.
The metal case a, a³, a³, has attached to its open side an elastic flexible
bed b, 2, 3, preferably made of indiarubber; the same being securely jointed by
means of the ring c, c², c³, and the screws d. The space e, e², e³, is filled with
water.

page_text: The fellow mould for f³ may be made of metal and the boot sole g or g³ is
placed between the two moulds which are then pressed together by means of a
suitable press the presence of the water in the elastic mould causing the pressure
to be equally distributed over the surface of the sole, so as to make the sole-
as g³ Fig. 5-conform to the shape of the mould f³.
In Fig. 3 the indiarubber is in the form of a bag b' containing water e¹ and
is not attached to the metal case a¹.
Fig. 4 shews the sole g attached to a boot h upon a last which may be carried
on a suitable jack as j. A suitable press presses the mould and the boot towards
each other.
The pressure may be of any desired amount and the presence of the water
ensures that it shall be uniformly distributed all over the boot sole.
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 a machine for moulding soles or pressing shoe soles applied to shoes in the
course of manufacture, the employment of a flexible clastic bed supported upon
a fluid in co-operation with a rigid mould.