Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1887
Complete Left, 9th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 13th Jan., 1888
I ARTHUR KEATS of 41, Gaol Road, Stafford, in the County of Stafford, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to effect an economy in the manufacture of the heels
of Boots and Shoes, while at the same time an improvement is secured in the
manufactured article.
The seat of the heel, as is well known, is made concave on its upper face, to corre-
spond with the tread of the natural heel, and this concavity produced by the
employment of chamfered strips of leather or "split lifts," which have hitherto been
moulded by hand and nailed on to the heel lifts.
Hitherto these chamfered strips have been cut out from sheet leather provided for
the purpose. I now propose to utilize the waste obtained from chamfering the edges
of the stiffening piece used to strengthen the back of the Boot or Shoe.-The stiffening
piece, which usually measures from 6 to 8 inches in length, I submit to a machine
similar to that used for channelling soles, but I apply to it a knife suitably shaped to
chamfer the edges of the stiffening piece when presented to its action, and take off a
comparatively broad strip therefrom.
On applying the leather stiffening piece to the bite of the feed rolls, the knife,
which has been suitably adjusted on an incline, will shave off from that side of the
leather presented to it, a bevilled strip, termed a skiving, and on the stiffening piece
being turned end for end, and re-introduced into the bite of the rolls, a second skiving
will be obtained, while at the same time the stiffening piece is suitably chamfered.
The operation of chamfering the stiffening piece has hitherto been effected partly
by hand and partly by machinery, and the result has been the production of chips
and short shavings of leather, of no use whatever in the manufacture of Boots and
Shoes.
The skivings which I obtain in lieu of these chips, I employ in the manufacture of
the heel seat. For this purpose I provide a moulding press, with a blocking mould or
moulds suitably shaped to produce the heel seat. The skivings having been softened by

page_text: water, I take one, bend it round, and lay it in the bottom of the mould as flat as may
be. I then place upon it a softened heel lift, and upon this I arrange a second bent
skiving. Over this I place a convex block, and apply pressure thereto to bring the
heel seat to shape. In order to secure these parts together, I perform the "tingling"
operation while the heel seat is under pressure.
For this purpose I pierce the bed of the press with a curved line or lines of holes
circumscribed by the mould, and close these holes by plungers carried by a cross head
or plate situate below the bed.-By means of a treadle motion, I cause these plungers
to rise simultaneously, and tingling pins or brads having been inserted in one or other
of the lines of holes in the bed, before placing the leather in the mould, I cause the
pins to enter the leather, and firmly secure the layers together.
To provide for the press acting upon heel seats of various sizes, I make the blocking
mould by preference double, and connect it to the bed of the press by a stud, on
which it is free to swivel, to bring the moulds alternately under the action of the
pressing plunger.-Stops will be provided for regulating the position of the moulds
on the bed.
The convex blocks which are brought down upon the leather and transmit the
pressure thereto, I mount upon rocking arms pivotted to the base of the mould; thus,
the two moulds may be made of different sizes, as each will have its own pressing
block. When the sizes of the heels are to be varied, the moulds may be lifted off
the bed of the press, and replaced by others of the required size.
As a further improvement in the manufacture of the heels of Boots and Shoes,
effect the joining of the pieces known as the sole and heel pieces (and commonly
used in place of "through" soles), by a tongue and groove joint, and this I effect by
the machine used for skiving the "split lifts."-By the use of this joint I am enabled
to prevent the separation, at the edges of the sole, of the sole and the heel piece,
under the strain to which the Boot is subject during its manufacture.
Dated this 9th day of March 1887.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: I ARTHUR KEATS of 41 Gaol Road, Stafford, in the County of Stafford, Machine
Maker 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:
The object of this invention is to effect an economy in the manufacture of the
heels of Boots and Shoes, and also to secure an improvement in the manufactured
article.
The seat of the heel, as is well known, is made concave on its upper face to corre-
spond with the tread of the natural heel, and this concavity is produced by the
employment of chamfered strips of leather known as "split lifts," which have
hitherto been moulded by hand, and secured to the heel seat by sprigs, which pass
through the outer sole, upper, and insole.
Hitherto these chamfered strips have been cut out from sheet leather provided for
the purpose, but I now propose to utilize the waste obtained from chamfering the
edges of the stiffeners or stiffening pieces, which are employed to strengthen the
back of the boots and shoes.-The stiffening piece, which usually measures from
6 to 8 inches in length, and takes the form shown at Fig. 1 of the accompanying
drawings, I submit to a machine similar to that used for channelling soles, preferably
the machine manufactured under the patent of Keats & Greenwood dated October 11th
1869 No. 2955. To such machine I apply a knife suitably shaped to chamfer the
edges of the stiffening piece when presented to its action, and take off a comparatively
broad strip therefrom, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. On applying the leather
stiffening piece to the bite of the feed rolls the knife, which has been suitably adjusted
on an incline, will shave off from that side of the leather presented to it a bevelled
strip termed a skiving, one of which is shewn in plan and cross section at Figs. 2.
On the stiffening piece being turned end for end, and re-introduced into the bite of
the rolls, a second skiving will be obtained, thus, while chamfering the edges of the
stiffener, I form skivings suitable for use in the manufacture of heel seats.
The chamfering of the stiffening piece has hitherto been effected partly by hand
and partly by machinery, and the result has been the production of chips and short
shavings of leather, of no use whatever in the manufacture of Boots and Shoes, but
in lieu of these chips, I now obtain the skivings which I employ in the manufacture
of the heel seat, and thereby secure a material economy in the manufacture of Boots
and Shoes. To work up the skivings so prepared, I provide a moulding press with a
blocking mould suitably shaped to produce the heel seat.
Fig. 3 shows in side elevation à press fitted with a heel-seat mould and block

page_text: suitable for carrying out the compound operation of moulding and tacking or tingling
together the parts used in forming heel seats.
Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view of the press so fitted, taken in the line 1, 2 of
Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the mould detached, and Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation
of the same taken in the line 3. 4 of Fig. 4.
Fig. 7 is a plan view of the heel seat, moulded and ready for use, and Fig. 8 is a
section of the same taken in the line 5. 6 of Fig. 7.
The skivings, or it may be split lifts, having been softened by water, I take one,
bend it round, and lay it in the bottom of the mould as flat as may be. I then place
upon it a heel lift, softened by water, and upon this I arrange a second softened and
bent skiving or split lift. Having placed the mould thus charged in position in the
press, I bring down the plunger fitted with a suitable convex pressing block, and
press the heel seat into shape.
In Figs. 3 and 4, A is the bed of the press, and B is a standard bolted thereto. In
the head of the standard is mounted a hand wheel shaft C formed with a crank, and
connected to this crank, by means of a short link, is a compound plunger rod D,
carrying a plunger F. This rod works in guides formed by brackets projecting from
the standard. Below this plunger rod is situated the compound mould E, which is
mounted on a sliding plate E*, fitting in guides a on the bed plate A.-The outer
part of this compound mould is composed of two curved hinged cheeks flanged at
bottom, and slotted vertically to receive sliding pins e, which connect the cheeks with
curved pieces E' E' constituting loose internal parts of a divided mould. These
parts E rest upon a spring E² set on the flanges of the outer mould, and when
pressure is applied to the mould, the spring yields, and allows the parts E¹ to bo
depressed in the outer mould E, for the purpose to be presently explained. The
hinged cheeks forming the outer mould are attached to the sliding plate E* by their
hinge pin, which stands up from the plate, and they are further connected together
by a toggle coupling E' having a screwed rod which passes through a fixed lug on
the plate E*, to receive the threaded hub of the hand wheel E-By turning this
hand wheel, the compound mould may be expanded or contracted at pleasure.-In
the base of the curved pieces E', a curved line of holes is drilled to receive plungers e',
which rest upon the flanges of the cheeks E, and are of such length as to leave room
within the holes for the complete insertion of tacks or tingles when the divided
internal mould is at its highest position.
The mould, when thus fitted and adjusted for its work below the plunger F, is ready
to receive the pieces of softened leather of which the heel seat is to be composed.
These pieces, consisting, as already explained, of a lift, and say two skivings or split
lifts, having been placed in the mould by the attendant, and a suitable block F having been
fitted to the plunger rod, the attendant turns the hand wheel shaft C, and bring sdown
the block into the moulding die. By the descent of this block, the divided mould E¹
is forced down, the supporting spring yielding for that purpose, and the plungers
resting on the flanges of the cheeks will cause the pins or tingles which they severally
support, to enter the leather pieces, and unito them together while the pressure of
the descending block F is moulding them to shape. In this way I am enabled to
produce at one operation, heel seats similar to that shewn at Figs. 7 and 8. In order
to regulate the dip of the block into the die, to meet various thicknesses of the heel
seat, the plunger rod D is composed of two tubes, which are connected together by a
right and left handed screw plug & fitted with a hand wheel for turning it. Thus,
the length of the plunger rod may be contracted or enlarged at pleasure; by
simply turning the hand wheel which is keyed to the coupling screw plug.
As a further improvement in the manufacture of the heels of boots and shoes, I
effect the joining of the sole and heel pieces which form what are known as pieced
soles (in contradistinction to through soles) by a tongue and groove joint, as illus-
trated in the edge view Fig. 9. This tongue and groove joint I cut by the machine
used for skiving the split lifts, fitting it with a suitably shaped cutter. By the use
of this interlocking joint, am enabled to prevent the separation, at the edge of the

page_text: sole, of the sole and the heel piece under the strain to which the boot is subjected
during its manufacture and to avoid the unsightly appearance, now so common, of an
open joint.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. Producing skivings from a stiffening piece, in the manner, and for the purpose
above set forth.
2. Manufacturing heel seats in the manner, and for the purpose above set forth.
3. The means above described for effecting, at one operation, the moulding of heel
seats, and tacking or tingling together the parts composing such heel seats.
4. The method of connecting together the parts composing "pieced soles."
Dated this 4th day of Dasamban 1007
Dated this (th
Jacombe 1007
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Fig.