Improvements in Rotary Cutters, chiefly, designed for Trimming. the Soles and Heels of Boots and Shoes..
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1895-Accepted, 16th Nov., 1885
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rotary Cutters, chiefly, designed for Trimming.
the Soles and Heels of Boots and Shoes..
I, AMBROSE STEVENS VOSE, of No. 13 High Street, Boston, Massachusetts..
United States of America, Mechanic, 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 a rotary cutter especially designed and adapted, among
other uses, to be employed in trimming the heels and the edges of the soles of
boots and shoes.
Prior to this invention, I am aware that rotary cutters have been provided with
means for simultaneously adjusting all of the knives or 'blades, and while such
adjustment is desirable and highly useful, I am aware that practical experience
has demonstrated, that there is liability in this construction of rotary cutters, of
one or more of the knives performing all the work, owing to a pumber of causes.
in 16
For instance, the cutters or knives may be of unequal length, varying only
slight degree, but yet sufficient to cause one or more of the cutters to project
beyond the others, so that in the original or starting position of the knives or
blades, the cutting edges thereof are not in the same circle, and when the said
knives or blades are simultaneously adjusted out into their operative positions,
this irregularity is maintained, and as a result, those knives, which project the
farthest, do the cutting,
This invention has for its object to provide a rotary cutter in which the knives
or blades are capable of being simultaneously adjusted, and in which each knife
may be individually adjusted without interfering with the simultaneous adjustment,
whereby each knife or blade may be individually adjusted so that the cutting
edges of all the knives are in correct cutting or operative position with relation
to each other, which relative position is maintained, when the said knives are
simultaneously adjusted.
These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claim at
the end of this Specification.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one form of rotary cutter embodying this
invention.
Fig. 2, a section of the cutter shown in Fig. 1, on the line 2-2, looking down.
Fig. 3, a detail to be referred to, and
Fig. 4, a modification to be referred to.
In the present instance, I have chosen to illustrate my invention in a rotary
cutter of a construction I prefer to employ, but I desire it to be understood, that
I do not limit my invention to the particular construction herein shown, and which
will now be described.
Referring to Fig. 2, A represents the body of the cutter, more generally termed
the wheel, which is provided with a hub a extended beyond the opposite sides or
faces of the body or wheel A, the said hub being represented as integral therewith.
The body or wheel A is also provided with a plurality of inclined slots a 1, and the
periphery of the body is provided with concaved or substantially circular transverse
cavities a 2, forming enlarged curved channels for the reception of the chips or
material removed by the knives, blades or cutters a 3, inserted into said inclined

page_text: slots and secured therein against lateral displacement, as herein shown, by means
of rings a 4 a5 respectively secured to the front and rear sides of the body or
wheel A.
The ring a 4 is herein shown as niounted to turn on the portion 2 of the hub a,
which projects beyond the front face of the body A, and it may be secured thereon,
preferably by means of a threaded nut b, engaging screw-threads on the inner
circumference of the projecting portion 2 of the hub as clearly shown in Fig. 2,
the said nut having a flange 3, which is of sufficient diameter to partially overlap
the ring a 4 as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The ring a 5 is mounted upon the rear-
wardly projecting portion 4 of the hub a, and is preferably made of such size that its
outer circumference will be substantially flush with the outer circumference of the
body A as shown in Fig. 2, and the said ring is provided on its periphery with
concaved substantially circular cavities 5, which form practically continuations of
the concavities a 2 in the body or wheel A...
The ring a 5 may and preferably will be secured to the body A by screws, not
shown, or in any other suitable manner.
The ring a 4 is provided with suitable slots or openings 61, herein shown as five
in number to correspond to the number of knives or blades carried by the cutter
wheel berein shown, and each slot or opening b 1 has projecting into it a rotatable
device, consisting, as herein shown, of a slotted circular head 62 provided with a
projection or pin 63, which is eccentrically mounted with relation to the head 62,
the said pin in practice extending loosely into a hole or socket 64 in the side of the
cutter blade or knife a 3.
As shown in Fig. 3, the circumference of the head 62 is represented as smooth,
and in practice, the said head may be turned by means of a suitable tool or screw-
driver fitted into its slot 6, the head 6 2 turning within its slot or opening 61 in the
ring a 4.
By means of the head 2 and the eccentric pin 63, the blade or knife a 3
connected therewith, may be moved into and out of its slot or opening a 1, while
the ring a 4 remains stationary.
Instead of making the opening in the ring a 4 in the nature of an open slot, as
represented in Fig. 1, and employing a smooth head 62, which works within the
said slot, the said opening may be made in the ring a 4 after the manner repre-
sented in Fig. 4, wherein the opening is represented as a circular hole, screw-
threaded to receive a screw-threaded head 62" having the eccentric pin 63
extended into the hole 64 of the knife a 3. The ring a4 is designed to be
rotated on the projecting portion 2 of the hub, so that the knives a 3 may be
simultaneously adjusted, and this movement of the ring a 4 may be effected by
means of a pin c eccentrically mounted upon the head cÌ of a rod c 2 extended
through the body A and through the ring a 5, the rod c 2 at its rear end being
made square or other than round to receive a wrench or key, by which the rod c 2
may be rotated, so as to turn the rod and thereby, through the eccentrically
mounted pin c, to move the ring a 4 back and forth, the eccentrically mounted pin c
in the present instance being shown as extended into an opening c3 of the ring a 4,
which opening is herein shown as a slot.
It will thus be seen that in my improved rotary cutter, each knife or blade a 3
may be individually adjusted, and when so adjusted, it is left under the control
of the device, by which the knives are simultaneously adjusted. In other words,
the means for accomplishing the individual adjustment co-operates with the
actuating device for the simultaneous adjustment, so that each knife, as above
stated, may be individually adjusted and may then be moved simultaneously with
all, of the other knives.
A cutter embodying this feature is of very great importance from a practical
standpoint, inasmuch as it ensures a more perfect and accurate working of the
rotary cutter, which results in a more finished trimming or cutting of the material
operated upon, as it permits of imperfect or defective working of the cutter, due
to slight irregularities in the length of the cutter, which might be due to defects

page_text: in the manufacture of the knives, and also irregularities due to imperfect fitting of
the parts by the operator in assembling the cutter, to be entirely avoided.
In practice, the periphery of the head A bears against the leather or other
material operated on, and in order to reduce to a minimum the friction between
the material and the head A, the said head is provided on its periphery with a
substantially narrow annular bearing rib or surface d (see Figs. 1 and 2), the
continuity of the said bearing surface or rib being interrupted by the concave
cavities a 2 us clearly shown in Fig. 1.
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. In a rotary cutter, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz. :-—
A body or wheel provided with a plurality of knives, blades or cutters, a device to
effect the simultaneous movement or adjustment of the said knives or blades, and
menns connecting each knife or blade with the device for effecting the simultaneous
adjustment of the knives or blades and capable of movement independent of the said
adjusting device to effect the individual adjustment of the said knives or blades, for
the purpose specified.
2. In a rotary cutter, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz. :-
A body or wheel provided with a plurality of slots, knives or blades movable in said
slots, an actuating ring carried by the body, and devices to connect the said knives
or blades with the actuating ring to permit the knives or blades to be simultaneously
adjusted by movement of said ring, the said devices being each capable of movement
to effect individual adjustment of the said knives while the ring remains stationary,
substantially as described.
3. In a rotary cutter, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz. :—
A body or wheel provided with a plurality of knives or blades, an actuating device
to effect the simultaneous movement or adjustment of the said knives or blades, and
an independent adjusting device for a knife or blade capable of effecting individual
adjustment of the blade without disturbing the relation of the said blade to the
actuating device which effects the simultaneous adjustment, for the purpose
specified.
4. In a rotary cutter, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz. :—
A body or wheel provided with inclined slots, knives or blades movable in said slots,
an actuating ring carried by the body, and devices to connect the said knives with
the actuating ring and each consisting of a head extended into an opening in the
said ring, and a pin eccentrically mounted on said head and loosely extended into
a hole in the knife or blade, substantially as described.
5. In a rotary cutter, the combination of the following instrumentalities, viz. :-
A body or wheel provided with a plurality of blades, knives or cutters, an actuating
device to effect simultaneous adjustment thereof, aud devices connecting said blades
with the common actuating device and each consisting of a head provided with an
eccentrically mounted pin extended loosely into a hole in the knife or blade,
substantially as described.
Dated the 1st day of October 1895
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.