Improvements in the Method of and in Machinery for Manu- facturing Seamless Loops and other Articles of Leather.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 27th Jan., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and in Machinery for Manu-
facturing Seamless Loops and other Articles of Leather.
A communication from abroad by FRIEND JOHNSON BRINGHAM, of 911, McAllister
Street, Harness Maker, and GEORGE BARGATE, of 14, Post Street,
Gentleman, both of San Francisco, California, United States of America.
I, ROBERT ALEXANDER SLOAN, of the Firm of Sloan & Lloyd Barnes, of
Castle Chambers, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Patent
Agent, 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 relates to the manufacture of leather articles such as loops for
harness, saddlery, trunks, straps and other kinds of goods in which such loops are
employed, and articles formed from pockets of leather such as harness blinds
spectacle cases, pistol holsters, sword scabbards, etc.
Such articles are usually now made from pieces of leather bent into shape and
joined by stitching; and the object of this invention is to provide a simple method
of manufacturing such articles, and a machine for carrying out such method, by
which the stitching is dispensed with, the cost of the article materially decreased,
and by which such articles can be produced of better quality as to strength and
durability than those at present manufactured.
The method consists, speaking generally, in slitting a piece of leather for a
portion of its extent, edgewise, so as to produce an endless slitted blank and then
finishing it by forming it into proper shape for a loop, or such other article as may
be desired.
It also consists in a method by which such articles can be made successively from
a continuous strip of leather, and by which at one operation, the leather is slitted
and also cut off into proper lengths ready for finishing.
It also consists in apparatus or machinery designed to carry out the method above
referred to, which machinery is fully hereinafter described.
The manner of making these articles will be best understood by the following
description in connection with the accompanying drawings which represent a
machine for carrying it out, and in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a front view; Fig. 3, a half section in
perspective of the male finishing die;
Fig. 4, a like view of the female finishing die;
Fig. 5, a separate view of a blank for a loop before finishing;
Fig. 6, a view of a completed loop;
Fig. 7, a separate view of the movable jaw of the machine.
In describing this machine I have considered it as applied to the manufacture of
loops, although I have hereafter set forth how the process and machine may be
employed to produce other seamless leather articles.
The machine shown in these drawings is provided with interchangeable mechanism
for making and for finishing the loops. It should be understood, however, that the
making and finishing of the loops, although they form parts of one complete
process, may be done on separate machines; and also, that separate machines may
be used for making and finishing different sizes and styles of loops, and also that
one machine may be provided with adjustable or interchangeable mechanism for
making all sizes and styles of loops.

page_text: Referring to the drawings, A, represents a table which supports the operative
parts of the machine. B, is a standard on the table, in the upper end of which is
pivotted the beam C, from which a connecting rod D, extends to the treadle K.
In a slot 1, of the beam, is hung a rod E which works vertically in guides 2, forming
part of the standard B. Below the guides and removably secured to the rod E by
a set screw 3, is a cutter head 4 in which is set the central dividing knife F and the
cutting knives 5 and 6, one upon each side of and at right angles to the blade F.
The knives derive a simultaneous vertical reciprocation from the movement of the
treadle and its connections. The distance between the knives 5 and 6 is the length
of the loop (Fig. 5) before finishing, and the knife F projects a little below them as
shown. These three blades acting together, divide the leather edgewise, and
at the same time cut it off near the ends of the division, so as to form the unfinished
loop blank shown in Fig. 5. The leather, whether a continuous strip or a single
piece, is held during the operation of dividing and cutting, by mechanism upon the
table, best illustrated in Fig. 2. A removable throat plate 7 is dovetailed into the
table and is slotted to permit the passage of each knife (dotted lines, Fig. 2). An
adjustable jaw 8, the base 9 of which moves in guides 10 (Fig. 2) is moved by a
nut 11 on the screw shank 12 which works in standards 13 on the table. This jaw
is intended to be adjusted toward or from the throat plate according to the thickness
of the leather. A movable jaw 14 slides in similar guides upon the table at the
opposite side of the throat plate, the shank 15 of which is surrounded by a spring 16
which tends to keep it constantly away from the throat plate. This rod is actuated
by a pivoted bell crank 17 connected to the treadle lever by a connecting rod 18
at a point which will give the limited movement required. The downward motion
of the treadle will thus depress the knives and at the same time move the jaw 14,
inward against the pressure of the spring.
The operator now feeds the leather, edge up, over the throat plate and depresses
the treadle. Before the knives have reached the leather, it is clamped between
the jaws, and firmly held on the throat plate until the treadle is released. The
centre knife divides the leather edgewise, while the side knives cut it off near
the ends of the division. A strip of leather may thus be very rapidly cut into
unfinished loop blanks (Fig. 5) each blank as it is separated, being pushed out of
the way by the end of the strip following it. Small leather scraps are of course
fed in separately.
With such a machine as is here described to illustrate the process, the work of
making the unfinished loops will be continued until a sufficient number have been
produced ready for finishing; and then, by the use of the interchangeable
finishing mechanism, the whole quantity of loops will be successively finished.
To accomplish this, with this machine, the cutter head and knives, the jaws,
and the throat plate are all removed, and the compressing and finishing dies H, I,
substituted for them.
Fig. 4 represents a female die H, having a base formed so as to dovetail into
the place before occupied by the throat plate. The interior shape of this die is
that of a completed loop, so that the insertion of the unfinished loop within it
will cause it to open out slightly.
In place of the cutter head is secured to the rod E the male die 1 (Fig. 3).
The depression of the treadle now brings down the die I which enters the slit in
the blank, and the blank is fully opened out and compressed between the part 21
of the die I and the part 22 of the die H into the shape shown in Fig. 6, which
represents an endless and seamless leather loop, ready for attachment as a billet,
loop, or box loop, or slide loop, as the case may be, and of superior strength and
durability to the stitched loop now in use.
It is better to secure to the jaw 14, a spring 20, such as that shown in Fig. 7,
which bears upon the leather and holds it before the two jaws come together, and
is forced back against the jaw or into a recess formed in it when the two jaws are
closed.
The machine shown in the drawings is capable of modification to some extent.

page_text: For instance, duplicate knives can be used operating toward one another. The
knives can move horizontally instead of vertically; and of course power of any
kind can be employed for operating the machine, instead of the treadle shown.
These loops produced by this method, can thus not only be made with great
rapidity from leather strips, but can also be made from leather scraps and waste
which are ordinarily useless; and, as the process is purely mechanical and the
machinery for carrying it out automatic in action, the skilled labour now employed
for cutting out and sewing the loops can be dispensed with, while the loops are
made far more rapidly, and are of superior quality.
In making other seamless articles from leather, such as bridle blinds, spectacle
cases, coverings for spindles, holsters, etc., the same process is employed, excepting
that the leather is not slitted entirely through, but only far enough to form a
seamless pocket of the general shape and dimensions of the article required;
which pocket is afterward expanded to make the finished article.
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 process of making seamless leather articles which consists in slitting the
leather edgewise and then forming it into a finished article, substantially as
described.
2. The process of making endless leather loops which consists in slitting the
leather edgewise, and then forming it into a finished loop by compression,
substantially as described.
3. The process of forming blanks for leather loops which consists in slitting a
piece of leather edgewise and cutting said leather off near each end of the division,
substantially as described.
4. A machine for making seamless articles from leather, consisting of one or
more knives for slitting the leather, knives for cutting off the leather near the ends
of the slit, and means for operating said knives, substantially as described.
5. Machinery for making seamless articles from leather comprising one or more
knives for slitting the leather edgewise, knives for cutting off the leather near
the ends of the slit, dies for expanding and finishing the article, and means for
operating said knives and dies, sub stantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of August 1893.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26, Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.