Apparatus to be Used therein.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Mar., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 5th Feb., 1889
Apparatus to be Used therein.
I HENRY LION of 45 Golden Lane, Barbican, in the County of Middlesex, Boot
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates chiefly to the manufacture of cheap boots and shoes,
particularly children's boots, which have to be put upon the market at a very low
rate, and has for its object to promote economy by saving time and labour in the
manufacture.
According to my present invention, the "upper" is lasted on a wooden last (to
which an inner solo has already been attached) by stitching the "upper" over the
inner sole, which is preferably channelled to facilitate sewing. The wooden last
having been removed, a metal one is inserted in its place. The unfinished boot is then
placed in a machine, wherein the securing of the outer sole and heel to the inner sole
and upper is effected.
form.
This machine contains a mould, wherein is laid the sole and heel. Upon the sole
and heel is placed the boot upper containing the metal last, which is pressed down by
means of a suitable screw arrangement, in order to bring the sole to its proper
The bottom of the mould is perforated at intervals for the admission of nails driven
by plungers, which are situated below, and operated by cams, excentrics or their
equivalent. As the nails for securing the heel are longer, and therefore must be
driven further than the nails of the fore part and waist, the plunger for driving the
heel nails has an independent movement. In like manner, the plunger for driving the
nails into the fore part of the boot must be independent of the plunger for nailing
the waist, which is the thinnest part of the sole. The nails are driven quite through
the sole to the metal last within the upper, which turns and clenches the points.
It will thus be seen that the soleing and heeling and forming the sole is effected at
one operation, and a material economy is thereby effected. Moreover, the sewing of
the upper over the insole upon the wooden last, in the manner I have described, can
be effected at a cheap rate by unskilled workers, and the costly and difficult operation
of lasting as hitherto carried out can be dispensed with.
Dated this 3rd day of March 1888.

page_text: Apparatus to be Used therein.
I HENRY LION of 45 Golden Lane, Barbican, in the County of Middlesex, Boot
Manufacturer, 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 boots and shoes in which the soles and
heels are secured to the uppers by pegs or nails, the object of the invention being to
promote economy by saving time and labour in the manufacture.
According to my invention, the "upper" having been lasted and attached to an
insole, is placed on a metal last, and thereby forced into a mould containing the outer
sole and heel. The pressure of the metal last upon the sole within the mould, blocks
the same to shape. The nails or fastenings for securing the sole lie within the mould,
and are driven through the soles, and clenched against the metal last.
The apparatus for effecting this blocking and nailing is illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings, of which:
Fig. 1 is a front elevation.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation.
Fig. 3 is a sectional front elevation of part of the machine, on a larger scale.
Fig. 4 is a plan of the mould and mould frame, and
Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line aa of Fig. 3.
Fig. 6 is a plan view of a detail to be hereafter described.
The machine consists of a strong metal frame having in the upper part a bracket A,
wherein is a threaded hole for the screw B. Upon the upper end of the screw B is a
hand wheel, and upon the lower end a follower, steadied by vertical guide rods,
passing through the bracket A, and secured together, and to the screw head, by the
cross head 12. The follower b has upon its lower face horizontal guides for the
reception of the metal last C, which may be of any desired size, and may be changed
for another to suit the size of boot under treatment. The horizontal holes in the
follower shown in Fig. 1, are for the insertion of a pin to arrest the endway movement.
of the last in its guides.
D is the table of the machine, on which is placed the mould frame E. The frame is
provided near its four corners with rods e e e el passing upward through holes in the
follower b. Two of these rods, viz., ee¹, are provided on their edge with ratchet
teeth, into which take retaining pawls attached to the follower, thereby locking the
follower and the mould frame together.

page_text: The mould F is chosen to suit the size of the last, but whatever its internal
dimensions, the external breadth of the mould is such as to lie upon the supporting
strips of the mould frame E.
The bottom of the mould is provided with a series of plungers or punches, arranged
as shewn in Figs. 3 and 4, the lower ends of which rest within a plate G connected to
the mould, and the upper ends lie within the mould bottom, sufficiently far below the
surface to permit of the fastenings or nails being just below the boot sole when blocked
in position.
Within the plate G, the plunger ends, which are provided with heads, are permitted
to have a sliding movement sideways, to accommodate the plungers to the oblique
direction in which some of them have to be driven, and for this purpose, the plate G
is built up of a series of layers, slotted (see the detached view Fig. 6), and with
bevilled bearing surfaces for each inclined plunger (see Fig. 5).
The boot upper having been placed on the last, and the last slidden into its guides
on the follower, and the sole having been placed in the bottom of the mould provided
with nails, the last is advanced by the screw, until it presses onto the sole and blocks
the same to the shape of the mould. This having been done, and the mould and the
follower having become locked together by the rods e¹e and retaining pawls, the
screw is turned back sufficiently to lift the plate G, and allow the blocks HI, sliding in
horizontal guides on the table, to be advanced beneath the said plate. The screw is
then again turned forward, and the block H bearing against the back of the plate G,
drives the latter up against the back of the mould, and forces forward the plungers
resting therein, and the nails resting upon the plunger tops are driven through tho
solo, thereby attaching it to the upper.
-The
The nailing of the heel is effected separately in the following manner :-
mould F is cut away at the heel, and a separate heel block I is provided, containing
plungers for driving the nails. The block I is supported upon a spindle and spring
within the piston K, and when in position, really forms part of the mould, though
separate from it. Each mould has a heel block of suitable size. The plate J, bearing
the ends of the heel plungers in a manner similar to the plate G, which bears the other
plungers, rests near the end of the piston K.
The piston K passes through guides in the table D and in the bracket L upon the
framing, between which bracket and the fixed collar k is a powerful coiled spring 1,
which forces the piston K in an upward direction. The spring is compressed by a
lever arrangement about to be described, and when let go, causes the piston K to
strike a blow against the plate J at the back of the heel block I, and force the plungers
within the latter, to drive the nails into the boot heel pressed down on the heel block
by the post C.
The compression of the spring is effected by the foot lever M; pivotted to the
framing, and weighted at its end to bring the pedal to a raised position. N is a star
wheel rotating upon a dead axle on the framing near the collark of the piston K,
and O is an arm loose upon the same axle, and carrying the swinging pawl on is an
adjustable link rod connecting the arm O and lever M, so as to communicate the
movement of the latter to the former. The star wheel N is so arranged that the points
thereof bear against the upper side of the collar k above the spring, while the latter is
in a normal position, and the pawl o is arranged to tip aside when the arm is lifted
by the weight on the lever M, and to overlie one of the points of the star wheel when
the lever M is in its fully raised position.
A depression of the lever M causes the star wheel to be rotated by the pawl o, and
the spring to be compressed. A retaining pawl m¹ is provided on the framing (see
Fig. 1), by means of which, the spring may be maintained compressed, and let go
suddenly, when the blow of the piston K is required:
It will thus be seen that the blocking of the sole, and the nailing of the same to the
upper (two distinct operations), can now be performed without removing the upper
from the nailing last, or the sole from the mould, and thus an appreciable economy in
the manufacture of boots is effected.

page_text: 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 mode of manufacturing boots and shoes in which the soles are blocked in a
mould by a metal last carrying the upper, and in which the attachment of the soles
and heels to the upper is effected while the sole is still between the pressing
surfaces.
2. The machine for blocking and nailing the soles of boots and shoes constructed,
arranged, and operating substantially as herein shewn and described.