IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE SPLITTING AND TRIMMING OF LEATHER AND APPARATUS OR MACHINERY THEREFOR
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co. Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare
the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE SPLITTING AND
TRIMMING OF LEATHER AND APPARATUS OR MACHINERY THEREFOR" 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 improvements which I am enabled to take small
and irregularly shaped pieces of leather, trim one side of the piece to a straight
line or edge, split the piece to a point near the straight edge so as to leave the two
flaps attached to each other only along the edge, open and spread the flaps to form
a flat sheet having twice the surface of the unsplit piece, and press and set this
piece into a flat sheet.
The said Invention comprises improvements in the machines described in
the Specifications of United States Letters Patent dated March 24 A.D. 1881
No 242,079, and February 7 A.D. 1882, N° 253,449.
I will now describe the improved machine having reference to the accompanying
Drawing of which
Figure 1 is a perspective view with the upper feed roll of the trimming or
evening attachment thrown back, and the gearing on the upper end of the shaft
of the vertical presser roll removed.
Figure 2 is a plan view with the upper and lower horizontal gear wheels of the
vertical pressing rolls indicated in full and dotted lines respectively.
Figure 3 is a side elevation.
Figure 4 is a section on the line x-x, Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a section on the line y-y, Figure 2, showing in cross-section the
device for opening and spreading the flaps of the piece of leather after it has been
split.
Figure 6 is a section of the gearing on the line z-z, Figure 2.

page_text: Figure 9 is a sectional view of a piece of leather after it has passed the edge
trimming and splitting knives.
Figure 10 is a section of same as it is opened and spread ready to pass through
the vertical pressing rolls.
Figure 11 is a view of the opener detached.
Figure 12 is a perspective view showing the trimming knife and its rolls, as also
the splitting knife rolls. A piece of leather is also shown passing between the
trimming knife rolls.
Figure 13 is a view of the trimming knife holder detached.
The machine as shown has two driving shafts A and B. The lower shaft A,
journalled in the front part of the frame C, drives, through connecting gear wheels,
the feed rolls to the trimming and splitting knives and to the opener, and the upper
shaft B, acting in like manner, drives the vertical pressing rolls, all as hereinafter
more fully described.
D indicates the vertically set trimming knife past which the leather is fed by
the upper and under grooved or corrugated feed rolls E and F, set on shafts with
the gear wheels G and H¹ respectively, which are actuated through the gear
wheel H (also set on the shaft of the under feed roll F with the gear wheel H¹)
and the intermediate gear wheel I by the gear wheel J set on the main shaft A,
see Figure 7.
A solid frame K mounted on the front of the machine is provided with a
bearing N for the shaft of the gear wheel H, and also forms a support for the
frame L which carries the gear wheel G and its shaft and upper feed roll E.
The frame L is pivotted to boxing K as shown at M, so that it may be thrown
back (see Figure 1) and the under feed roll F and its gear wheel H¹ exposed when
for any reason it is desirable to do so.
When pieces of leather are to be split which are already straight on one edge
and therefore do not need to be trimmed, the frame L is thrown back and may be
entirely removed from the machine by withdrawing the pivot pin M. When the
frame L is thrown forward the gear wheels, G and H' mesh, and the rolls E and F
are in position to act. These rolls, as also all the other feed rolls, are slightly
conical in outline, that is, the diameter of the right hand end of the rolls, as
viewed in Figure 1, is slightly larger than the diameter at the left hand end. This
shape of the rolls ensures the crowding of the leather slightly to the right, and
therefore serves to keep it pressed snugly against the guide R.
The upper gear wheel G and roll E are held down in position by reason of their
shaft being journalled in the frame L at O, the frame L being held down on the
frame K by the screw P.
A simple bolt P¹ screwed into the frame L projects through the frame and is so
set as to come in contact with the frame K and prevent the rolls E, F from touching.
The screw P regulates the tension of the rolls and is surrounded by a sleeve of
india-rubber so that as the screw is set down the tension of the upper feed roll E
is' increased.
The trimming knife D consists of a strip of steel projecting upwards obliquely
through a slot in the end of the frame C (see Figure 4) and having a vertical
cutting edge. This edge is on a line with the inner face of the guide R so that
the straight edge of the piece of leather formed by the knife passes along the
guide. The trimming knife is adjusted by means of the block e, through a slot,
in the end of which the knife passes, which is secured to the under side of the
projecting part of the frame by two eccentric bolts g, g¹, see Figure 12. The bolt g
works in a slot in the block e, see Figure 13. By turning the bolt g the outer end
of the block e may be thrown to the right (see Figures 4 and 12) which tilts the
upper part of the knife edge forward. The back of the upper end of the knife
bears against the end of the guide R. By turning the bolt g¹ the lower end of the
knife may be thrown toward, or away from, the frame of the machine, and the
cutting edge correspondingly moved farther from, or mearer to, the end of the
feed-rolls E, F. As the leather-passes the trimming knife, its straight edge is

page_text: crowded against the guide R by the action of the alightly tapering feed rolls. In
this manner the piece is guided to the splitting knife S which is set horizontally
behind the upper and under feed rolls T and U respectively, with its edge
projecting close in behind the nip of the rolls, see Figure 4. When the leather
passes across the space or table V, it is seized between the splitting knife feed rolls
and forced on to the bevelled edge h of the knife, see Figure 2, which is so set
with relation to the guide R as to project nearly, but not quite, to the guide,
so that the knife does not split the leather directly at this edge, but very nearly to
it, as shown in Figure 9; thus the two flaps formed by splitting are hinged to
each other along the straight edge.
The splitting knife feed rolls are driven directly from the main shaft A, through
intermediate gear-wheels mounted on spurs on the frame C of the machine. The
shaft of the upper roll T is provided with a gear wheel j, which meshes with the
gear wheel i, meshing with the gear wheel k, which, in turn, meshes with the gear
wheel on the main shaft, see Figure 8. The shaft of the under roll V is provided at
the other end of the machine with the gear wheel m which is actuated through the
intermediate gear wheel n by the gear wheel o on the shaft A, see Figures 1 and 3.
After the leather passes the splitting knife, it is seized near the straight edge by a
third and shorter pair of feed rolls W, W¹, immediately behind and between which
projects the point of the opener d, see Figure 11 which flares both upwards and
downwards from the plane of nip of the feed rolls, one half of it being similar in
shape to the mould-board of a plough.
The guide R is provided in its face with a groove p which begins in front of the
point of the opener d at a point opposite the nip of the rolls W, W', and prevents
the edge from flying up as the leather is fed on to the opener d, the point of which
enters the slit between the flaps immediately after the straight edge of the piece
enters the groove p. As the piece is fed on to the opener the flaps are spread or
opened by the increasing flare of the opener, until they are in the same vertical
plane when they enter between the vertical presser rolls f, f¹ and are smoothed
and pressed into a flat piece which has twice the area of the original unsplit piece.
After passing the vertical rolls the pieces of leather drop into a receiving box or
basket and are then sorted and ready for use.
The short feed rolls W, W' are mounted on shafts journalled in upwardly
projecting parts of the frame C, and provided with gear wheels, respectively,
which mesh with each other, see Figure 5. The upper gear wheel is driven
through the intermediate gear wheel t by the gear wheel t¹ fast on the shaft of the
upper feed roll T.
The vertical presser rolls f, f1 are actuated from the shaft B journalled in the
upper part of the frame C which is bolted below to the rear of frame C. The
vertical shaft B¹, also journalled in the frame C¹, is connected with the main shaft B
by the bevel gear wheels al al, and the pinion all on the vertical shaft meshes
with the horizontal gear wheel 61 fast to the top of the shaft of the presser roll f'.
Another pinion 611 on the lower end of shaft B' is connected through an inter-
mediate gear wheel o¹ (in order to reverse the movement) with the lower horizontal
gear wheel o fast to the lower end of the shaft of the presser roll f. The shafts
of the vertical rolls f.f¹ have their bearings in boxes f³, f* adapted to be slid into
position between the parallel supports CC of the frame, see Figure 4.
The device for automatically adjusting the splitting knife feed rollers which is
fully described in the Specification of United States Patent No 253,449 is only
partially shown in the accompanying Drawing and has not been referred to in
this Specification. The arms B B', shown broken away in Figure 1 are a part of
this mechanism.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :
First. The trimming knife D, in combination with the feed-rolls E F, and the
guide R, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. The combination of the feed-rolls E, F, the knife D, the holder e and the
adjusting bolt g¹, substantially as described.
Third. The combination of the feed rolls E, F the knife D, the holder and the
adjusting bolt g, substantially as described.
Fourth. The combination with the feed rolls E F of the guide R, the knife D,
the holder e, and the eccentric adjusting bolts g g' substantially as, and for the
purpose described.
Fifth. In a leather-splitting machine, the frame K having a pivotted top L in
which is journalled the shaft of the feed roll E, the said top L being provided with
the bolt P surrounded with an elastic cushion or washer by which proper tension of
the rolls is obtained, substantially as described.
Sixth. The trimming mechanism consisting of the rolls E F, and the knife D,
in combination with the guide R and the splitting knife, substantially as described.
Seventh. The guide R provided rearwardly of the splitting knife with a groove
adapted to receive the unsplit edge of the piece of leather, in combination with the
flaring opener d adapted to spread the flaps of the piece until they are in
substantially the same plane, all as set forth and described."
Eighth. In a leather-splitting machine, the piece d shaped as shown with a
point adapted to enter the cut in the leather and flaring rearwardly to separate the
Haps or halves of the leather and bring them gradually into the same plane,
substantially as described.
Ninth. The combination of the opener d the guide R, and the pressing and
smoothing rolls ff' substantially as described.
Tenth. The splitting knife and its feed-rolls, in combination with the opener d,
the guide R, the feed-rolls W W', and the pressing rolls fƒ¹, substantially as, and
for the purposes, described.
Eleventh. A leather-splitting machine, consisting of a trimming knife and its
feed rolls, an edge guide set rearwardly of, and on a line with, the face of the
trimming knife; a splitting knife and its feed-rolls, the splitting knife being set
slightly from the guide so as to leave the edge of the piece of leather next the guide
unsplit; an opener, adapted to separate the flaps of the split leather, and the
pressing and smoothing rolls, substantially as described.
Twelfth. The method of treating fragments of leather, consisting in trimming
one side of the piece to a straight edge, splitting the piece except along this straight
edge, separating the flaps or halves and passing them while thus separated between
rollers to press and smooth them into a flat piece having twice the area of the
original piece, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of July 1884.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.