Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sole Levelling Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 20th Sept., 1893—Accepted, 18th Nov., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sole Levelling Machines.
I, OWEN ROBINSON, of Champion Iron Works, Kettering, in the County of
Northampton, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to boot and shoe sole levelling machines, and has for its
objects to render them more effective in operation, to enable the.n to be operated
with less manual effort than heretofore and to place them more under the control
of the operator.
In carrying out my invention I employ a double frame with one main rotating
shaft upon which pulleys or a fly-wheel or other means for driving are or is placed.
On this shaft I fix two eccentrics one over the other, which eccentrics are provide
with flanges and made capable of adjustment to increase or reduce their throw and
the movement of the levelling roller. Upon the same shaft I fix an arrangement
for giving motion to a second shaft either by a belt, a worm and pinion or by spur
gearing. This second shaft is provided with means for giving motion to the boot-
holder which is made to oscillate more or less according to adjustment and is
controlled by a hand-wheel and screw in such a manner that the stroke can be
varied at the will of the operator whilst the machine is in motion. The boot-
holder which is operated by the above described means is fulcrummed about
midway up the frame of the machine, and is made adjustable to the varying sizes
of boots.
In order to bring the levelling roller into operation and put pressure on at the
same time in a more direct way than hitherto, provide near the base of the
machine suitable bearings to carry a shaft upon which I fix two levers one of which
is jointed to an adjustable rod. Upon this rod is a cross bar and a strong spring,
and at each end of the said cross bar are connecting rods jointed to the central rod
of the levelling roller. The other lever is a hand-lever provided with means for
locking itself fast at any convenient part of its stroke when sufficient pressure is put
upon the roller and work. I propose to rock the roller when levelling the waist of
a boot (instead of rocking the boot as heretofore) by means of a hand-lever fixed to
the cross-bar.
By my invention the boot sole levelling machine is made to act automatically on
part or the whole of the sole of a boot or shoe and can be regulated to any size of
boot or shoe.
Dated this 20th day of December 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sole Levelling Machines.
I, OWEN ROBINSON, of Champion Iron Works, Kettering, in the County of
O Northampton, Engineer, 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 :-
My invention relates to boot and shoe sole levelling machines, and has for its
cbjects to render them more effective in operation, to enable them to be operated

page_text: with less manual effort than heretofore and to place them more under the control
of the operator.
In carrying out my invention I employ a double frame with one main rotating
shaft upon which pulleys or a fly-wheel or other means for driving are or is placed.
On this shaft I fix a double eccentric formed by arranging two eccentrics one over
the other for reciprocating the levelling roller, the said eccentric being provided
with flanges and capable of adjustment to increase or reduce their throw and
consequently the movement of the levelling roller. Upon the same shaft I fix an
arrangement for giving motion to a second shaft either by spur-gearing or other
means. This second shaft is provided with means for oscillating the boot-holder
more or less according to adjustment and is controlled by a hand-wheel and rack or
screw in such a manner that the position of the stroke of the boot holder (and
consequently of the boot or shoe) relatively with the roller can be varied whilst the
machine is in motion. The boot-holder which is operated by the above described
means is fulcrummed about midway up the frame of the machine, and is made
adjustable to the varying sizes of boots.
In order to bring the levelling roller into operation and put pressure on at the
same time in a more direct way than hitherto, I provide near the base of the
machine suitable bearings to carry a shaft upon which I fix two levers one of which
is jointed by a link to a cross-bar, each end of the said cross-bar being jointed by
connecting rods to the central rod of the levelling roller. The other lever is a
hand-lever provided with means to enable it to be locked at any convenient part of
its throw when sufficient pressure is put upon the roller and work. I propose to rock
the roller when levelling the waist of a boot (instead of rocking the boot as
heretofore) by means of a hand-lever fixed to the cross-bar.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machine.for levelling the soles of boots and
shoes constructed according to my invention:
Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a plan and a side elevation of the same:
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the upper part of the machine ou the line 4—4,
Figure 2:
Figures 5, 6 and 7 are detail views hereinafter described.
a is the frame of the machine, b is the main or driving shaft thereof, c, c are the
driving pulleys, and d, d, the fly-wheels.
e is the levelling roller which is caused to reciprocate by the shaft b through
the medium of the connecting rod e¹ and the double eccentric 6' formed by the
eccentrics f, g, by means of which the reciprocating movement of the levelling
roller can be increased or diminished. The eccentric g, as shewn clearly in
Figures 5 and 6 which represent respectively a horizontal section of the said
eccentrics and a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 5, is arranged upon the other
eccentric which is keyed to the shaft band in order that they may be adjusted
relatively with one another they are provided with flanges f¹, g' respectively, the
flange being provided with a curved slot f2, while the flange g' is provided with
a clamping screw g³, whereby the said eccentrics can be clamped together after
one eccentric has been adjusted by the screw relatively with the other eccentric.
By turning the eccentric g relatively with the eccentric f the eccentricity or throw
of the former relatively with the shaft b can be increased or diminished.
j
The boot-holder which comprises the two arms h and i pivotted together and con-
nected parts, is fulcrummed on a shaft ; and is caused to oscillate on the said shaft
through the medium of a connecting rod ' reciprocated by a spur-wheel k carried on a
second shaft and operated by a pinion m on the shaft b. The connecting rod
is connected to the wheel k through the medium of a lever n jointed to the said
wheel, the said lever being capable of adjustment by means of a pin n' in its free
end working in a slot n in the wheel k, whereby it can be adjusted so as to vary
the distance between the centre of the shaft and the point of connection of the
connecting rod and consequently the oscillations of the boot-holder. By thus

page_text: adjusting the oscillations of the boot-holder the levelling roller can be caused to
move over and press upon a greater or less portion of the sole of a boot or shoe.
is a lever pivotted to the arm of the boot-holder and serving to carry the last
with the boot or shoe to be levelled, the said lever being capable of adjustment
relatively with the said arm i by means of a screw passing through its lower end
and bearing against the said arm " is a block adapted to support the toe
portion of the boot or shoe being levelled and capable of vertical adjustment by
means of a nut engaging with a screw-thread on a shank on the said block, the
said parts being carried on the arm h. In order that the arms i and h can be
moved towards or from one another to suit the different lengths of boots and shoes,
I provide a screw connected to the arm i by a rotatable pin and adapted to
screw through a rotatable nut in the arm h.
o is the hand-wheel and o' the rack whereby the position of the boot-holder can
be adjusted beneath the roller e when the machine is in motion, the said rack being
operated by the hand-wheel through the medium of a pinion o* and connected to
the end of a frame p swung on the shaft b and carrying the shaft l.
In order that after having operated the hand-wheel o the pinion of shall be locked,
I provide a pivotted toothed bar q adapted to engage with the said pinion by the
pressure of a spring-pin q', the said bar when it is required to unlock the pinion
being depressed by means of a rod 9 and foot-lever g³. A similar pin to the pin q¹
is employed to keep the rack o' in engagement with the teeth of the pinion o³.
This is clearly shewn in Figure 7 which represents a section on the line 7-7
Figure 1.
is the shaft carried in bearings near the base of the machine, and s, t are the
two levers thereon, the former being a counterweighted foot-lever while the latter
is a hand-lever working over a rack t' with the teeth of which a spring-pawl
the said lever is adapted to engage to hold the lever in any required position.
on
u is the cross-bar to which the lever s is jointed by means of a link u', the said
link being connected pivotwise to the centre of the cross-bar, and u², u are the
connecting rods jointed to the ends of the said cross-bar and to the ends of the
central rod u of the levelling roller e, the said jointing serving for the purpose of
rocking the levelling roller over the waist of the boot or shoe sole.
By this arrangement when the levert is drawn forward aided by pressure on the
foot-lever s the roller e is caused to be lowered onto the boot or shoe, a yielding or
spring pressure being exerted by reason of the compression of springs, at the
ends of the rods u², u' which pass freely through pins v, in the ends of the cross-
bar and the central rod of the levelling roller. The movement of the connecting
rods u, u through the said pins is limited in one direction by stops on the said
rods but in the other direction they are free to move against the pressure of the
springs, the compression of which can be varied by nuts * engaging with screw-
threads on the ends of the said rods u³, u³.
In a machine constructed as herein before described the last A carrying the boot
or shoe, the sole of which is to be levelled is placed upon the lever of the boot-
holder and is adjusted into position, the hand-lever t is then pulled forward so as to
lower in the manner bereinbefore described the roller e onto the sole of the boot or
shoe and the machine being set in motion by shifting the driving belt onto the
driving pulley by the striking gear B the levelling roller will be caused to reciprocate
over the sole which is itself reciprocated by the boot-holder, the levelling roller
acting automatically on part or upon the whole of a boot or shoe of any size
according to its adjustment.
When levelling the waist of a boot or shoe the levelling roller is caused to rock
from side to side by means of a hand-lever to on the cross-bar u, connected as
hereinbefore described by the rods u, u² to the levelling roller, for which purpose
the connecting rod e¹ is formed in two parts, the forward part e² or that which
carries the roller being formed with a sleeve e arranged upon the other part e* of
the said rod.

page_text: 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 :-
1. In a boot or shoe sole levelling machine the arrangement of two eccentrics one
upon the other forming a double eccentric whereby they can be adjusted to increase
or reduce the movement of the levelling roller, substantially as described and
illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings.
2. In the boot or shoe sole levelling machine claimed in Claim 1 the arrangement
of a shaft in a frame swung on the main shaft. whereby the position of the stroke of
the boot holder (and consequently of the boot or shoe) can be varied relatively
with the levelling roller, substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
3. The combination with the means described in the preceding claiming clause of
the described mechanism for adjusting the oscillations of the boot-holder substantially
as described and illustrated.
4. In a boot or shoe sole levelling machine the described means for bringing
down and rocking the levelling roller for operating on the waist of the sole, such
means consisting of a pivotted cross-bar having a hand-lever and being jointed to
the pivotted central rod of the levelling roller by connecting rods, substantially
as described and illustrated in the drawings.
5. In a boot or shoe sole levelling machine, a boot-holder constructed as described
whereby the same can be adjusted as, and for the purpose, set forth.
6. The combination of parts forming the improved boot and shoe sole levelling
machine herein before described and illustrated in the several figures of the
accompanying drawings.
Dated the 20th day of September 1893.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.