IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE UPPERS AND IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature
of the said invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN BOOT AND SHOE UPPERS AND IN
APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME, a communication to me from abroad
by William Andrew Reed of Westborough, in the County of Worcester and State
of Massachusetts, United States of America Manufacturer, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The invention relates to a machine designed to split the uppers of shoes in
accordance with the general method of splitting described in the specification of
Letters Patent No 5418 dated 25th day of March 1884. In said specification, the
upper is described as being split from the rear portion forward, to a point where
the opening of the front of the shoe terminates, the knife being straight or inclined
to the face of the leather whereby it is adapted to cut the leather evenly when
straight, and give the greater thickness to the lower edge of the rear portion on
each side when inclined.
As the leather is split part way between the sides, or from side to side all the
way across, and from the rear to the point above specified, when the upper and
lower split portions are cut on the curved lines to give proper form to the sides,
two flaps are left, one on the upper and right hand side, and the other upon the
lower and left hand side.
In forming the shoes out of these uppers, it is necessary to shave off the flaps
above described and to bevel smoothly on the line where the flap is removed. The
object of the present invention is, first to split the leather only between those
portions which form the two sides, and to leave those portions from which the flaps
were split in the method described in the said patent, unsplit and entire, so that
the leather will remain in the parts covered by the flaps in said method in its
original thickness. The second object sought by this invention is to split and cut
the leather in one operation. The third object is to provide an upper formed in one
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WHICH
Fig. 1 shows a front view of the machine.
Fig. 2 a like view with the rolls in different position.
Fig. 3. a top view partly in section.
Fig. 4. is a plan view of the blank.
Fig. 5 a section on line x. x of figure 2.
Fig. 6a perspective view of the rollers with the knife in position.
Fig. 7. a perspective view of an upper which is split through only a portion of
the width of the leather leaving the edges of full thickness.
Fig. 8 representing in plan the upper, split according to the present improved
method one side being turned up.
Before describing the machine and mode of splitting it should be explained in
reference to the blank, and the shoe upper made therefrom, that the two forms
shown in Figs 4 and 7 involve the same principle.
•
In Fig 4. the part lying in rear of the line x. y. x is split and the part lying in
front is wholly unsplit. In Fig 7 the part lying within the lines. w. y¹ w is split,
and the remainder is wholly unsplit. The split portions form in the first case (Fig. 4)
the counter, and the unsplit portions, the front and sides of the shoes. In Fig 7
the unsplit portions extend around the bottom of the counter, leaving the split in
the upper parts. The mode of splitting therefore which is herein involved consists
essentially in tapering the split portions of the blank from a point where the
substantially parallel sides (x, w in Fig 4 and ¹w in Fig 7) terminate to a point
on the central longitudinal line of the blank, or the front termination of the opening
of the shoe whereby the remainder of the blank about the edge is left of its original
thickness either all or part of the way around the shoe, accordingly as the form in
Fig. 4 or Fig 7 is used. In these drawings A A represents the end pieces of the
frame of the machine.
The rollers B B¹ are mounted in moveable bearings C each pair of which is
pressed towards the other by springs and set screws, the screws being shown at d,
and the springs being interposed between the ends of the screws and the bearings
so that the rollers are pressed towards each other. It is preferred as shown in the
drawings, to reverse the positions of the set screws and springs placing them
diagonally opposite, one above and the other below.
This gives more stability to the other and brings the centres. true. The belts are
provided with flanges c. c. which fit accurately above and below over the contiguous
parts of the end pieces, whereby the bearing blocks are guided so that the align-
ment of the rolls is preserved,, whether separated by the leather to a greater or less
distance, or pressed closely together when the leather is removed. The knife E is
mounted upon a standard F being adjustable thereon towards or from the rollers.
The standard F is fixed to a plate G which turns on a pivot g¹.
The knife is opposite the bite of the rollers but is drawn into position inclined
thereto by means of springs h. h. when the mechanism herein described, permits
the spring to act upon the plate. This mechanism consists of a cam I, upon one
end of each shaft both cams are exactly alike and are shown in Figs 5 and 6.
They are placed however in reverse position on the rollers, so that one bears on
the edge of the knife on one side at one end, and the other bears upon the other
side of the knife at the other end; and both pressing on opposite sides of the pivot,
tend in the same direction to turn the knife against the tension of the springs.
The high part of the cam is a trifle higher than the periphery of the rolls and the
lower part of the cam is made to correspond, with cut away portions of the rolls
shown at H H. It will be understood that the rolls turn inward towards each
other, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 and at the beginning of the operation
of splitting an upper, the edge of the knife rests against the higher part of the

page_text: cams. The lower part of the cams, and cut away portions of the rolls then next to
'the knife, one on one side and one on the other, must travel outward and over in
order to come in contact with the leather at the proper moment as it moves inward.
It will be observed, that the larger part of the rolls is cylindrical, and while the
leather is moving over the cylindrical surface, the edge of the knife is maintained
by the high part of the cam, in a plane nearly but not quite parallel with the
surface of the rollers. The leather, therefore is drawn in being placed with its rear
end foremost, and is split with a slightly inclined split until the point x. x of the
leather reaches the knife, and at the time the points ¹ on the rolls reach the edge
of the knife one at one end, and one at the other, the knife still riding on the high
part of the cams.
This
It must now be observed that the cut away portions of the rolls correspond to
the shape of the cut . y of the upper and along this line the roll is cut down with
nearly a perpendicular shoulder to a slight distance, and then is tapered down with
the gradual winding curve as represented in the drawings Therefore, as the rolls
pass on beyond this point, this cut away edge on the line x1 y1 of each roll is brought
snugly against the edge of the knife which is allowed to tip more and more by
reason of the knife now riding on a constantly diminishing part of the cam.
construction causes the knife on each end when it strikes the point a¹ of the rollers,
to cut out the leather from that point, and to follow this cut along the lines a¹ y¹
of the rolls, but as the rolls turn inward, the points y¹ y¹ being near the middle of
the roll upon which they are placed, approach each other Therefore the split
portion grows narrower until it terminates at a point at the lower part of the front
opening of the shoe, and at that point the machine stops and has to be turned
backward to receive a new blank. The knife is connected to the standard by set
screws which pass through slots g in the knife E The pivoted base plate G, is
also provided with adjusting screws pl which pass through it into grooves in the
bottom plate, on which the plate G turns. These serve to raise the whole bed
plate and contents after the knife has been adjusted. The rolls are connected by
suitable gears as follows; a gear o, on the shaft M (to which power is applied by a
crank as indicated) meshes with the gear m, on the shaft of the roll B On the
other end of the shaft of M is the gear n which, through an intermediate gear q, is
connected to the gear p, on the shaft of the roll B₁ By these gears the rolls are
turned simultaneously, and their opposing faces caused to move in the same
direction. It has not been thought necessary to show mechanism for driving these
gears, beyond a simple crank to indicate where the power is to be applied; nor
means for reversing the mechanism when it reaches the end of the work, as
described, automatic mechanism for this purpose being well known to those skilled
in the art.
Any suitable automatic registering mechanism may also be used with the
machine to register the number of uppers cut.
It will be understood that the cut away portion of the rolls need not be of the
precise shape described, but may be varied according to the form of upper to be cut.
For instance in Fig 7 is represented an upper split through only a portion of the
width of the leather, leaving the edges which form the bottom of the counters, of
full thickness, and it will be obvious that a very simple change in the rolls would
produce this effect, and means other than those shown and described for supporting
and moving the knife may also be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
1. The mode of forming a shoe upper out of a blank, of substantially the form
described the said mode consisting in splitting the leather of the blank apart of
the distance from the rear of the blank towards the front, said portion so split
being of substantially equal width, and then tapering the split portions to a point

page_text: on the central longitudinal line of the blank whereby unsplit portions of the leather
are left all substantially as set forth.
2. A machine for splitting uppers in accordance with the described plan consisting
of a pair of rollers having cylindrical portions, and cut away portions said cut away
portions having the inclined sides terminating at or near the central line, and a
knife arranged in the described relation to the rollers, and to the inclined sides of
the cut away portions thereof substantially as described.
3. A machine for splitting uppers, consisting of a pair of rollers having cylindrical
portions and cut away portions, said cut away portions having the inclined sides
terminating at, or near the central line in combination, with a knife adapted to turn
and vary the position of the edge substantially as described.
4. A shoe upper having the front and side portions B of full thickness and the
counter or upper part thereof, formed out of the upper and under split portion of
the blank substantially as described.
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