Improvements in Machinery for Stitching the Soles of Boots and Shoes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Nov., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 9th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 9th Nov., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by SOCRATES KEATS, of Winterthur, Switzerland,
Engineer].
Improvements in Machinery for Stitching the Soles of Boots
and Shoes.
I ARTHUR KEATS, Machine Maker, of Marston Road, Stafford, in the County
of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the stitching of boot and shoe soles by machinery, the chief difficulty
experienced has been in laying the line of stitches close within the crease of the
boot, it having been found necessary, for strength, to use a straight barbed needle,
which, in its deep descent, was liable to strike against the upper. Hitherto this
difficulty has rendered it impracticable to operate upon the boot while stretched on
the last, and from this circumstance much time was lost in removing and replacing
the last, and the risk of the boot losing shape had to be met.
To avoid these inconveniences, it is now proposed to combine the straight barbed
needle with a curved awl, and to provide suitable means for laying the needle
thread within the barb, so soon as the barb of the needle has passed through the
sole and welt. The advantage of the curved awl, as is well known, is, that it
pierces the work deep in the crease, and the necessity for the straight needle is
that it will not yield to the strain of the thread. The needle and awl may be
worked, as usual, from a cam shaft, and the awl, which should strike as nearly at
right angles to the work as possible, may, if desired, be used to feed the work, in
place of a presser or other feed device.
To ensure the insertion of the thread in the needle, whose dip is contracted to
the utmost to prevent it striking the "upper," a looper is provided which has a
horizontal rocking motion, and also a slight vertical motion, and the action of this
looper is supplemented by a pusher. This pusher strikes the thread between the
looper and the table, to bring it into a proper position to be taken up by the
needle. The thread which is drawn up from below, is passed through a horizontal
groove made across the top of the looper, and thence to the work. The advance
of the pusher precedes the descent of the needle, and it serves to depress the
inclined thread, and present it to a horizontal notch made in the end of the looper.
The needle, in descending, passes the taut thread, and when the barb is clear of the
plane of the looper, the looper moves towards the needle, and at the same time
slightly rises, pressing the thread against the stem of the needle, so that the
needle, on rising, catches the thread, and the pusher then retiring, the thread lies
slack in the barb of the needle, to form the loop above the work for the reception
of the locking thread. The looper then retires to its normal position, to repeat the
advancing movement at the next descent of the needle.
Dated this 9th day of November 1891.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Stitching the Soles of Boots
and Shoes.
I ARTHUR KEATS, Machine Maker, of Marston Road, Stafford, in the County
of Stafford, 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:-
In the stitching of boot and shoe soles by machinery, the chief difficulty
experienced has been in laying the line of stitches close within the "crease" of the
boot, it having been found necessary, for strength, to use a straight barbed needle,
which, in its deep descent, was liable to strike against the upper. Hitherto, this
difficulty has rendered it impracticable to operate upon the boot while stretched on
the last, and, from this circumstance, much time was lost in removing and replacing
the last, and the risk of the boot losing shape had to be met.
To avoid these inconveniences, it is now proposed to combine the straight barbed
needle with a curved awl, and to provide suitable means for laying the needle
thread within the barb, so soon as the barb of the needle has passed through the
sole and welt. The advantage of the curved awl, as is well known, is, that it
pierces the work deep in the crease, and the necessity for the straight needle is,
that it will not yield to the strain of the thread. The needle and awl may be
worked, as usual, from a cam shaft, and the awl, which should strike as nearly at
right angles to the work as possible, may, if desired, be used to feed the work, in
place of a presser or other feed device.
To ensure the insertion of the thread in the needle, whose dip is contracted to
the utmost, to prevent it striking the "upper," a looper is provided, which has a
horizontal rocking motion, and also a slight vertical notion, and the action of this
looper is supplemented by a pusher. This pusher strikes the thread between the
looper and the throat plate, to bring it into a proper position to be taken up by the
needle. The thread, which is drawn up from below, is passed through a horizontal
groove made across the top of the looper, and thence through the throat plate to
the work.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shewn the invention as applied to a
boot-sole stitching machine, in which a vertical cam shaft is used for imparting
motion to the stitching mechanism, so much only of the machine being drawn, as
will suffice to explain the mode of supplying the barbed needle with thread, piercing
the work for the reception of the needle, and feeding the work.
'Fig. 1 is a partial front view of a "Fortuna" sewing machine, shewing the awl
and looper instruments, with the attachments for working the same.
Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, parts being partly in section; and
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the standard and throat plate, or stitching cap.
Figs. 3 show the looper detached, in front, back, and edge views.
Figs. 4 shew, detached, the pusher in front, side, and plan views.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a portion of the machine, illustrating the position of
the looper instruments when the thread is being laid in the needle; and Fig. 5ª is
a plan view of the looper instruments.
•
Fig. 6 is a cross section, showing the lowest position taken by the needle, to
receive the thread from the looper.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew the work being stitched on the last, the two extreme positions
of the curved awl being represented.
Figs. 9 and 10 shew the grooves of the awl and pusher cams laid out, and Fig. 11
the looper cams in plan view.
In Figs. 1 and 2, A is a standard, bolted to the table of the machine, and formed
with sockets at its upper part for the reception of a sliding and rocking pin B, to
which is keyed the holder or carrier B¹ of the curved awl b. A coiled spring inserted
[4]

page_text: in the right hand socket of the standard, bears against the head of the pin B, and
gives it a tendency to hold back the awl, and retain it in the plane in which it
rocks to pierce the work.
132 is a rock lever fulcrummed on the standard A, and bearing, at its upper end,
against the head of the pin B, for the purpose of pressing the pin forward in the
direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, when the awl is in the work, and causing it to feed
the work forward after every stitch. This lever B2 is actuated by a rock lever B³
fulcrummed on the table of the machine, and actuated by a tappet cam B* (see
Fig. 9) on the vertical cam shaft. This rock lever B³, besides having the
horizontal reciprocating motion, receives, through a bowl which it carries, a rocking
vertical motion from the cam groove B' (Fig. 9) for the purpose of rocking the
awl on its axis. The awl holder is connected by means of a link B with the
forward end of the lever B³, and as the cam shaft rotates, the awl will be thrust
upwards into the work, and withdrawn therefrom when the feeding action is
completed.
c is the barbed needle, which receives its vertical motions, in the ordinary way,
by a cam on the vertical cam shaft. a is the support for the work, and it con-
stitutes also the throat plate, or stitching cap, of the machine. The position of
the work upon its support a, will be best understood by reference to Figs. 5 and 6,
which illustrate the manner of solving the problem of stitching with a straight
needle, while the last is retained within the work.
a
D, Figs. 1 and 2, is the looper which supplies thread to the barb of the needle.
This looper is shown detached at Figs. 3, the course of the thread up the looper
being indicated in the front view. The round stem of this looper fits in two
sockets a¹ and a² of the standard A, the object of thus mounting it being to leave
the looper free to receive an upward and downward movement, and also a rocking
movement. The opposite ends of the socket a² are made cam shaped, and they
are embraced by collars d and d', which, travelling over the cam surfaces as the
looper is rocked, will raise and lower it slightly, to bring a horizontal notch in the
end of the looper into line with the taut thread to be delivered to the needle, and
to release it therefrom when the needle has taken up the thread. The construction
of this looper is somewhat peculiar, as will be seen by reference to Figs. 3.
Standing out at right angles from the stem D, is a finger D', the face of which
carries the horizontal notch d before mentioned. In the top of the stem, a
vertical groove d³ is cut, to form a guide for the thread, and it is led up to by
curved groove d*, which receives the thread in its passage to the head of the
looper. Attached to the lower collar d' of the looper, is an arm d³, pivotted to a
rod D, which slides in suitable guides on the table of the machine. A bowl
carried by this rod D² enters a grooved, cam D³ (see Fig. 11) of the cam shaft. As,
therefore, this shaft is rotated, a rocking axial motion is imparted to the looper,
which, as its finger approaches the depressed needle, will rise, and press the thread
which it carries against the stem of the needle immediately above its barb. To
enable the looper to do this, a pusher E is employed, the construction of which is
clearly shewn in Figs. 4. This pusher is keyed to a horizontal shaft E', carried
by fixed bearings, one of which projects from the standard A. An arm from the
rear end of this shaft carries a bowl which enters a grooved cam E³ (see Fig. 10)
on the cam shaft, and, on the rotation of this shaft, a slight rocking motion is
imparted to the pusher E. The end of this pusher, which terminates in a curved
cranked piece, is notched, to enable it to strike against the taut needle thread
(which extends from the looper to the work), and press it down to a horizontal line,
to bring it level with the notch of the looper finger. So soon as the thread has
taken this position, the looper will, in advancing, rise, strike the thread, and hold it,
as already explained, against the stem of the depressed needle. It should be
remarked, that the advance of the pusher E precedes the descent of the needle c.
The needle, in descending, passes the taut thread, and when the barb is clear of
the plane of the looper thread, the looper rocks towards the needle, and, at the
.

page_text: same time, slightly rises, pressing the thread against the stem of the needle, as
illustrated by Figs. 5, 5, and 6.
It will now be understood that the needle, on rising, catches the thread in its
barb, and the pusher then retiring, the thread lies slack in the barb of the needle,
to form the loop above the work for the reception of the locking thread. The
looper then retires, under the action of its cam D³, to its normal position, to repeat.
the advancing movement at the next descent of the needle.
On referring to Figs. 7 and 8, it will be seen that the awl, in striking the work,
will enter well within the " crease," it being for this purpose that a curved awl
actuated by a rock shaft is commonly used, and as it has been heretofore the
practice to give the needle the like form and motion, no difficulty was found in
making it follow the movement of the awl. It was only when the straight needle,
possessing the well known advantages, was required to be applied, that the problem
how to use it when the last was in the work, was created.
From the foregoing explanation it will be understood, that the dip of the needle
below the throat plate is, according to this invention, reduced to little more than
the length of the barb, and thus the possibility of the needle striking the upper
while the last is in the work, is removed.
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. The means above described whereby a straight barbed needle may be used in
combination with a curved awl, for stitching boot soles well within the " crease
while the last is retained in the work.
2. The combination, in a sole-stitching machine, of the pusher and looper
constructed as above described, for presenting the thread to the barbed needle
(after its descent through the work), for the purpose above set forth.
3. Imparting a rising and falling and a reciprocating axial motion to the looper,
as and for the purpose above set forth.
Dated this 9th day of August 1892.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.