IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR NAILING OR PEGGING SOLES FOR BOOTS OB SHOES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR NAILING OR PEGGING SOLES FOR BOOTS
OB SHOES." A communication from abroad by Elmer Townsend, of
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 5th November 1868. pursuant to the 9th Section.
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR NAILING OR PEGGING SOLES TO BOOTS OR SHOES," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by
Elmer Townsend, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention relates to the details of construction and arrangement
of machines for nailing or "pegging" the soles of boots and shoes to
their uppers, the machine being especially designed and adapted for
cutting off nails from a continuous coil or length of wire and driving
them into the sole, though my improvements are to some extent also
applicable to that class of pegging machines which split the pegs from
the end of a strip or ribbon of peg wood.
The said Invention consists in the details of construction and arrange-
ment of mechanism for cutting the wire for intermittently feeding it to
the action of the cutters, for transfering the nail when cut from the
point where cut to a point in vertical line with the nail driver and nail
tube, for feeding the shoe after each nail is driven in such manner as to
ensure the insertion of each nail into the hole punctured for its reception
by the awl, and for holding the edge of the shoe under the feed foot
at all times or at all points along such edge at a uniform angle with
relation to the surface of the feed foot and the vertical line of the
dnivou
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my machine; Figure 2 is an clevation
of one side of the said machine; Figure 3 is an elevation of the opposite
side of the head; Figure 4 is a front view of the mechanism at the lower
part of the head (enlarged); Figure 5 is a view of the ratchet wheel and
pawls through which movement is imparted to the wire feed wheel;
Figure 6 is a section on the line x, x, showing in plan the movable

page_text: cutter lever; Figure 7 is a horizontal section through the carrier slide
or throat piece that transfers the nail from the cutters to position directly
under the driver, this carrier having a shoulder in which is a groove
(which receives the cut wire), which groove meets another groove when
the carrier is slid back, making therewith the tube which brings the
wire into position over the nail tube in the feed foot for the blow of tho
driver, this tube so formed being shown in section in said Figure 7;
Figure 8 shows the cutters in plan; Figure 9 is an end view of the said
cutters.
Upon the head a of the machine is mounted the operative mechanism,
the principal movements of which mechanism are effected directly or
indirectly by a driving shaft b, the head being supported on a standard c.
The operative parts mounted on the head consist, first, of mechanism for
intermittently feeding the nail-forming wire; secondly, of the mechanism
by which a section of wire to form a nail is cut from the end of the wire
after each feed movement is imparted thereto; thirdly, of the mechanism
which transfers the wire from the wire-cutting line to the nail-driving
line; fourthly, of the nail or wire driving mechanism; and, fifthly, of
the mechanism which effects the feed of the boot or shoe and correctly
registers the distance apart of the successive nails driven, or so feeds the
work that cach nail is driven with precision into the hole made by the
awl just before the blow of the driver, the shoe being held stationary
(with reference to lateral movement) after the hole is made by the awl
until the blow of the driver is effected.
The mechanism for intermittently feeding the wire is as follows:-
The wire passes from the coil into a tube made by the joining of two
grooves in the rear faces of a plate d and the adjacent face of the swing
picce e. Entering this groove are the abutting or adjacent grooved
peripheries of two feed wheels f, g, the larger one of which (f) has a
peripheral groove which fits over or against one half of the wire and
presses it against and into a corresponding peripheral groove in the
smaller wheel, so that as the main feed wlicelf is rotated in the direc-
tion of the arrow downward movement will be imparted to the wire by
the rotation of the two wheels. The shaft h of the feed wheel carries
a toothed wheel i which meshes into a toothed wheelj on the shaft of
the feed wheel g, so that both wheels act conjointly to affect the move-
ment of the wire, and the bearing of the wheel g is made yielding,

page_text: being pressed up towards the shaft h by a spring 1, which spring while
permitting the wheel to yield slightly keeps the wire pinched between
the two peripheral grooves, the surface of each groove being serrated or
roughened the better to bite upon the wire. The shaft of the feed wheel g
also carries a ratchet wheel m, into the teeth of which engage two pawls n
jointed to a pawl lever o, an arm of which lever is connected by a link p
with the excentric strap of an excentric q on the main shaft b. At each
rotation of the shaft b the link p is reciprocated in a vertical direction,
and the upward movement of the link impels the pawls forward,
imparting a rotative movement to the ratchet wheel, and thereby to the
feed wheels and causing the wire to be fed down, as will be readily
understood. Now as the movement of the pawls is fixed or invariable,
and as in nailing along different parts of the sole the length of nails
needs to be varied in accordance with the varying thickness of the sole,
some provision is necessary or desirable for changing the length of nails
cut from the wire while the nailing operation is progressing, that is to
say, without stopping the machine, this provision to be at the control
of the operator of the machine. For this purpose the ratchet wheel has
a shell extending around its periphery, as seen in Figure 5, with an
open spaces opposite each pawl, this shell being also mounted and
working loosely on the shaft of the feed wheel g. An arm projects
from the shell, and is connected with an arm of a rocker shaft on
which is an arm wo to which a pedal is connected by a link y, so that
by working the pedal the shell can be moved on the shaft in either
direction. Now when the shell is turned back to the extent of its
movement in a direction opposite to that in which the ratchet wheel
imoves the teeth of each pawl in its back movement passes over the teeth
of the ratchet and in contact therewith during all or nearly all of its
movement; but if the shell is thrown forward, then each edge comes
into the path of movement of the pawl tooth, so that said tooth rides
upon the shell as it goes back and cannot engage with the teeth in its
forward movement until it passes by such edge, consequently the amount
of movement imparted to the ratchet (and through it the length of feed
movement imparted to the wire) depends upon the position of this shell,
which position is determined at the will of the operator by working the
pedal a. A scale of divisions of length may be placed upon one side of
the head a, as seen at ¹, an index mark or pointer being placed upon
the end of the rocker arm w to which the link y is jointed, this index

page_text: mark working opposite the scale to enable the length of feed to be regu-
lated with precision by the scale, as will be readily understood. The
extent of movement of the shell may be regulated and adjusted by
means of two arms y' on the rocker shaft v which strike against the ends
of two screws a passing through the head, the extent of projection of
cach screw fixing the extent of rotative movement of the shaft..
being carried by
on
the rear end
to an arm /
The downward movement of the wire carries its lower end (to the
extent of the length of the nail to be cut) down to the side of a guide
or wall piece a (between such walls and the sliding carrier) in position
to be severed from the main wire, the severing mechanism being as
follows: On the top of the wall piece a and carrier jare two
cutters b', c', the cutter being stationary and its cutting edge being
chamfered from its lowest surface upwards, as seen in Figure 8, and
I being inclined from its front edge or point rearwards, as seen in Figure 9,
while the other cutter c' is movable and has its rear edge chamfered
and inclined to correspond with the edge of the cutter b', as also seen in
Figure 9. The cutter c' is fixed in a stock or bent lever which
swings upon a pin e', the rear arm of the lever having an extension'
at the inner end of which is an incline g'. The rear arm of the lever
is pressed inwards by a suitable spring, the incline g
the spring into the path of movement of a wedge
of the nail carrier slide j'. This slide is jointed by a link
on a vertical rocker shaft, at the upper end of which is another arm m³
operated by a cam n' on the driving shaft b. When the downward feed
of the wire is effected, and the awl has risen from the shoe, the can
works the shaft, and thereby draws back the carrier slide. As
the slide moves back the wedge draws in behind the incline gl, thereby
working the lever and its cutter, forcing the movable cutter towards
the stationary cutter, and severing the wire presented between them,
the severed nail dropping between the plates a', j,. till its point rests
on the top of the feed foot.. As the cutting edge of the cutter c¹ moves
horizontally while the upper surface of each cutter is chamfered the
top of the nail cut off will be left square or horizontal, while the end
of the wire above will be pressed into a wedge shape,, or to an acute
angled point, thus forming a head upon the severed nail, and an entering
point upon the wire next to be severed, such point and head being
shown at A and B which are side views of two nails, C and D,.

page_text: being plans of these nails. The nail having been thus severed by
the cutters the carrier slide continues its rear movement until a grooved
vertical shoulder o' on the carrier strikes the severed nail, and the
continued movement of this carrier then causes the nail to be carried
on by this shoulder, until the nail comes to a grooved shoulder p'
in the wall plate a', the two shoulder grooves forming the nail tube q',
as seen in Figure 6, this tube when so formed being in vertical line
with the nail driver tube in the feed foot s', through which latter
tube the nail may fall (when brought into vertical line therewith), the
point of the nail resting on the surface of the sole in position for the
action of the driver . The driver is fixed to a driver bar or
stock ¹, which is driven down by a spring and is raised by a crank
pin 10 of the main shaft b, a roll on the crank pin acting against a
projection on the rear of the bar ¹ to raise the bar, and the spring
driving down the bar when the crauk pin passes by the said projection.
The descent of the driver forces the nail into the sole, and the shoe
is then ready to be fed to bring it into position under the awl for the
puncture of the next hole for the entrance of the next nail to be driven.
Just before the driver descends the sole is in contact with a rest or
transfer foot a which holds the shoe at rest while the feed foot is
swinging back after effecting the feed of the shoe, and at the instant
before or simultaneously with the blow of the driver this rest foot
rises and lets the sole up against the feed foot as will be presently
explained. The feed foot is fixed to the swing piece e, the move-
ment of the said swing piece being for the purpose of effecting
the feed. The swing piece is hung and swings on a pin 6 at the
front of the head a, and the movement of the swing piece (and
thereby of the feed foot) is effected by means of a cam c³, operating
against a roll on a pin projecting from the swing piece. The
shoe having been thus fed
driven) a distance cor-
responding to the space apart at which each two adjacent nails. are
to be driven the awl descends to puncture the hole for the next nail.
The awl is fixed in a bar or stock e, on whose rear side is a plate in
which is a groove f2, wherein travels the crank pin w', the rotation of
the crank pin effecting the upward and downward movement of the awl,
as will be readily understood. While the feed foot is moving forward
and carrying the shoe the awl bar is descending, but the awl does not
reach the shoe until the feed movement of the shoe is completed and
(after a nail is

page_text: until the transfer foot a descends against the sole and carries the surface
of the sole out of contact with the feed foot. This movement of the
foot a is produced as follows:-The foot a is on the end of a bar or
shank g² fixed to the bottom of a slide plate h² sliding vertically between
guides or ways; the upper end of the plate is connected by a pin and
box with a slot 2 in one end of an arm m² of a rocker lever n², the
other arm of this lever having a pin o² extending into and worked by
a cam p² on the main shaft. When the movement of the feed foot is
completed the movement of the lever and of the plate 2 (effected by
the cam) brings the transfer foot a² against the sole and carries the shoc
away from the feed foot; when thus carried from contact with the feed
foot and held stationary by the rest foot the awl descends and forms
the nail hole; as soon as the hole is thus made the awl again moves up,
the shoe, being still held by the transfer foot a², and the feed foot being
clear of the sole, and when the awl has risen the swing piece is thrown
back carrying the feed foot over towards the transfer foot, which back
movement being completed the foot a² (letting up the shoe against the
feed foot) is raised by the cam p² and the nail driver is released and
thrown down by the spring, the upward movement of the rest foot
taking place nearly simultaneously with the blow of the driver, but an
instant before such blow is given, so that the sole shall be in contact
with the bottom of the said tube when the blow is given. The descent
of the driver drives the new nail cut off while the feed foot was going
back to position. The movement of the rest foot is only a vertical or
up-and-down movement, and the movement of the feed foot only a
lateral movement. The awl has no lateral movement relatively to
the swing piece, the shoe is held by the feed foot while and after
the nail is driven and is moved forward with and by the feed foot, the
transfer foot then coming down and taking the shoe from the feed foot
and holding it while the awl descends and punctures its hole; the feed
foot is then moved back until the nail hole comes over the hole thus
punctured, the shoe being then let up against the feed foot just as the
blow of the peg driver is being given. It is therefore obvious that the
register of the space from hole to hole and the driving of each nail into
the hole formed just before each back movement of the feed foot must
be effected with perfect precision. The nail carrier or slide j', as before
stated, is jointed by a link to an arm of a rocker shaft. 11, the
movement of the carrier to effect the severing of the nail and its transfer

page_text: to the nail tube being produced by a rotative movement of the shaft.
As the nail may not always be driven from the peg tube, or as there
may collect more than one between the plates a', j', at one time, and
as the presence of two nails would prevent the carrier shoulder from
coming up against the wall shoulder and would cause breakage of some
of the parts if there were no provision to prevent the same, such pro-
vision is made by making the arm with a strap q³, by means of which
it is bolted to the shaft. Now if by the presence of more than one nail
between the carrier and wall plate the carrier cannot go back to position
the strain upon the arm will cause the strap to slip upon the shaft, and
will thus save the mechanism from injury. The last carrying the boot
or shoe to be soled is supported upon a jack mechanism mounted on a
jack holder. The holder is jointed to a swing foot which is
itself jointed to a weighted pedal 2, the two joints permitting the
jack holder to be freely moved up towards or away from the standard
or laterally with respect thereto. The jack is directly supported (by
means of a sleeve ³) on a pin 3 projecting from an arm hung
by a pin to the top of the jack holder 3, the arm swinging on
this pin, and the extent of movement of the arm upon the pin in either
direction being limited and adjusted by any suitable means. The
jack rotates freely on the pin a³, and the main frame of the jack is
hung on a cross pin d³ projecting through the sleeve plate e, the shoe
upon the jack swinging in the direction of its length upon this pin d³.
The heel pin is hung upon an arm f³, which projecting downwards forms
a handle at the rear of the jack for manipulating the same, and under
the toe piece is another arm g³, which is freely moved by a lever h³
whose fulcrum is in a bearing ³, a pin on one arm of the lever projecting
into a slot in the arm g³, while the other arm forms a handle for tipping
the jack. This arm has a spring P, which springing into a slot m³ holds
the jack stationary relatively to the pin d³, while by drawing this spring
back the last may be freely tipped in the direction of its length. The
joints at the foot of the holder permit the jack to be freely moved in
any direction under the nailing mechanism, while the pin as admits
of the turning of the last to bring the whole length of edge to be
nailed properly to the action of the nailing mechanism. The pin ds
enables the operator to tip the jack freely by means of the arms f³, g³, to
present all parts of the surface being nailed at the same angle to the
feed foot in the direction of the length of the nailing, whether nailing at

page_text: the toc or heel, or the shank, or along the main sole, while the pin c³
enables the jack to be tipped laterally to bring each side of the shank to
the same angle under the feed foot. The arms f³, g, enable the operator
to manipulate the shoc with great freedom to keep the last at all times
in proper position relatively to the feed foot. To keep the shoe up to
the action of the feed foot the rear end of the pedal is weighted, as
seen at o, and it will be observed that the pius upon which the last
mechanism is supported are so arranged that in any position of the last
under the feed foot the jack is held at that point in stationary position
without the aid of the operator, his skill being required only to guide
and turn the jack as the shoe is fed, and to adjust the wire-feeding
mechanism to the length of nail required as the sole is nailed from
thick to thin parts thereof, or vice versa.
The machine as shown in the Drawing is intended to be driven by
steam or other power, a suitable shipper lever being employed to shift
the belt from the tight to the loose pulley, and vice versa. The
wire feeding, cutting, and driving mechanisms, and the work-feeding
mechanism may, however, be arranged to be operated by hand or by
foot, the construction and relative arrangement of such mechanisms
being substantially as shown.
This machine is adapted to feeding, cutting, and driving either round
or prismatic wire, or wire which is twisted into a screw form; such
screw wire having a twist of such length or inclination as to cause the
nail to turn like a screw when driven by a blow into leather or similar
material. In making this wire it is preferable to use wire like that
shown in elevation and in plan at A and C, or like that similarly shown
at B and D. Sections of the nailed work are shown at E, F, and G,
the upper surface in each view representing the lower surface of the
sole. The shoe is placed upon an iron-bottomed last to be nailed, and
the head of each nail will spread or upset and clinch against such
surface. The heads of the nails are preferably driven in just below the
surface of the sole, as shown at F and G, a channel being made, as seen
at G, and the flap turned up in cutting such channel is turned back
flush with the surface of the sole after the nailing, as seen at F and G,
to cover and conceal the line of nail heads and to give a uniform finish
to the whole surface of the sole. The extent of movement of the wire-
feed ratchet (to determine the length of nail severed by the cutters) has

page_text: been described as capable of adjustment by the operator in accordance
with the varying thickness of the sole, this adjustment being effected by
moving the shell » more or less under the ratchet pawls to vary the
point at which each pawl shall engage with the ratchet, and the move-
ment of the shell being effected by the action of the foot of the operator
upon the pedal a. To make this movement of the ratchet shell
automatic and not dependent upon the operator, but only dependent
directly upon the variation in thickness of the sole being nailed, the
shoc instead of being placed on a last supported on a jack, as described,
may be supported while being nailed upon the end of an arm a (seen in
dotted lines in Figure 2), the end of the arm serving as an anvil upon
which to nail the shoe, and supporting the shoe only at the point where
it is being nailed, the inner surface of the shoe resting directly against the
upper surface of the arm. This arm projects upward from a horizontal
arm (of which it forms a part), the arm & being mounted upon and
rotating horizontally upon or with the upper end of a vertical post c*,
which is jointed to and supported upon the end of the weighted pedal t,
the post sliding vertically in bearings d', the upward pressure of the
slice-supporting arm pressing the sole against the feed foot. Upon this
post is a collar or shoulder e', against the opposite surfaces of which two
friction rolls f bear, these rolls being journalled in the end of a lever g
pivotted upon the standard the rear end of this lever being jointed to
the rod y which actuates the ratchet shell. It will readily be seen that
as the thickness of the sole supported upon the end of the arm a
increases or diminishes the arm will be depressed or will rise in accord-
ance with such change in thickness, and that such rise or descent of
the arm will immediately and directly actuate the shell through the
movement of the lever g' actuated by the collar or shoulder upon the
post c', thus automatically changing the length of the wire in accordance
with the thickness of the solc.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practise, I claim the com-
bination of the grooved feed wheels between which the nail wire
passes, said wheels having an intermittent rotative movement imparted
to them to feed the wire to the action of the cutting mechanism.
Also in combination with such feed wheels a mechanism for changing

page_text: at will the extent of feed movement while the machine is in operation,
substantially as set forth.
Also in combination with a wire-feeding mechanism a stationary and a
reciprocating cutter, each cutter being bevelled back from its cutting
edge, so that when the movable cutter acts against the wire the head of
the severed nail is left square, while the end of the wire above is formed
with a bevelled or wedge-shaped point, substantially as described.
Also the combination of the wall plate a¹ having a grooved shoulder,
and the sliding carrier having a similar grooved shoulder, the two
grooves when brought together forming a nail-holding tube in line with
the nail tube in the feed foot, and the carrier transferring the nail from
the point where cut to a. position in vertical line with the nail driver,
substantially as described. .
Also the combination and arrangement of the nail driver, the feed and
nail-tube foot, the awl, and the transfer foot by means of which after a
nail is driven the shoe is first fed by the feed foot, is then released from
the feed foot, by descent of the rest foot, is then subjected to the action
of the awl (which has no lateral motion, excepting in connection with
the feed foot), is then held by the transfer foot while the feed foot after
the awl ascends moves back to position to bring the peg tube accurately
over the hole just punctured by the awl, and then has the nail driven
into it by the driver, the rest foot letting the shoc up against the feed
foot just as the nail is driven, thus producing accurate insertion of the
successive nails into the successive nail holes at whatever part of the
shoe the nailing is being effected.
Also the general combination and arrangement of the nail-feeding,
cutting, and driving mechanisms, and the shoe feeding and puncturing
mechanism, substantially as shown and described.
Also in combination with the nail cutting and driving mechanism,
and the shoe-feeding mechanism, a jack mechanism so constructed and
arranged as to permit the shoe to be freely manipulated by the operator
to bring every part of the surface to be nailed at the same angle of pre-
sentation to the feed foot, and to hold the shoe steadily to the action of
the nail driver without other skill of the operator than that required to
turn and guide the edge as the shoe is fed.
Also in combination with the shoe-feeding mechanism and the wire-
feeding wheels, and the mechanism by which the movement of the feed

page_text: ratchet is adjusted as described, the shoc-supporting arm so constructed
and arranged that the vertical movement of the arm caused by varying
thickness of the sole supported thereupon effects the movement of the
ratchet shell to automatically vary the length of the nails in accordance
with the thickness of the sole, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
Tuo. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.