120,058. British United Shoe Machinery Co., (United Shoe Machinery Co.). Aug. 25, 1917. Loose-nailing.-In a welt-butting machine in which both welt ends are butted simultaneously and then tacked to the insole, the butting and tacking mechanisms, except the tack-delivery mechanism, are mounted on swinging side frames 23, 25, Figs. 1 and 3, carried on rods 19, 21 journaled in the front of a projecting goose neck portion 17 of the machine head. These frames carry welt-supports 45, 47 adapted as usual, to engage the welt crease to support and position the shoe, and to cause that portion of the upper just in advance of the heel seat tacks to be lastedin properly. The back of the shoe is positioned against a gauge 53, Fig. 3, which is slidingly mounted and can be adjusted bv actuation of a hand-lever 72; this hand-lever carries an automatic lock and release, and a size indicator is associated with it to assist in making the adjustment of the gauge. The forward ends of the frames 23, 25, which are provided with intermeshing toothed segments 89, 91, are normally held apart by a spring 87, but are adapted to be swung inwards on the depression of a treadle 93. Fig. 2. The connexions comprise a treadle-rod 97, Fig. 4, a bell-crank lever 99, 103, pinned on a rock-shaft 101, an adjustable spring 105 housed between the arm 103, and an arm 107 loosely pivoted on the shaft 101, and struts 111 extending from sockets in a head carried bv this arm to sockets 113, Fig. 3, in the rear ends of the side frames 23, 25; an adjustable stop 119 limits the outward movement of the forward ends of the arms. After the welt supports have engaged the welt crease with a pressure determined by the spring 105, further depression of the treadle continues to rock the shaft 101, causing an adjustable tappet 155, Fig. 1, carried by an arm 153 on the end of the shaft to engage an arm 157 of a threearmed lever which controls a Horton clutch and brake on the main shaft 33, and so establishes driving connexion between this shaft and a power shaft 41, Fig. 2. The arrangement provides for the shaft 33 to make a single revolution only, but the roll carrier of the clutch is adapted to be locked to the brake wheel, whereupon the shaft 33 may be rotated by hand. As soon as the shaft 33 commences to rotate, a pin 205 on a, disk 147 at one end of the shaft releases an upstanding portion 207 of a pivoted arm 199, which is then pulled forwards by a spring so as to bind on a rod 197 pivoted to an arm 195 secured to the shaft 101, thereby locking the frames 23, 25 in their operative positions. The disk 147 carries a wrist-pin 149 which is connected through a connecting-rod 151, and the yokes shown to an arm 227 of a bell-crank lever secured to a rockshaft 229, Fig. 13, the other arm of the bellcrank being provided with a toothed segment meshing with a pinion 233 on a rock-shaft 235 carrying an oscillating tack pot 27. Tacks are lifted by a shelf 225 and dropped into a double raceway 213 down which they gravitate to a reciprocating separator slide 215, which picks off one tack from each raceway; the tacks pass through a block 217 to tack tubes 219. Each raceway has associated with it a clearer blade 251 mounted on a shaft 249, which is continuously driven in the one direction from a shaft 229 by rack-and-pinion mechanism in gear with pinions 253 carried by pins 247 eccentrically mounted at each end of the shaft 249, a Horton clutch being provided in each of the bearings for the pins. The main shaft 33 carries on the median line between the side frames 23, 25, a crank 145, Fig. 2, which is connected by a link 272 to a piston 275 mounted in a cylindrical casting 277, and at the forward end of the piston is a connecting rod 279 formed with an H-shaped head 281, Fig. 3, to provide slots 283, 285 in which are mounted cubical slide blocks 287, 389. The mechanism carried by each side frame is identical, and, referring to that on the side frame 25, Fig. 5, the block 289 is connected by a pin 295 to a T-shaped welt-butting knife slide 293, which rests on a flat track 297 at the lower end of the frame. The upper part of the slide 293 is channel-shaped, and its side walls are recessed to receive the lower cylindrical ends of two links 299, the upper ends of which are similarly connected, but at a greater distance apart, to a knife carrier 301. This connexion permits the carrier to be rocked to and fro relatively to the slide, its rearward movement being limited by a shoulder 303, and its forward movement by the engagement of an adjustable stop screw 305 with a nose 307 on the slide. A welt-butting knife 309, which extends inwards laterally from the carrier, is adjustably clamped in the carrier 301, and in front of it is located a spring-pressed welt-presser 313, which is formed with a toothed portion, Fig. 3, for the purpose of removing any tacks which may have been inadvertently left in the shoe. The welt-support 47 is provided with a curved dovetail projection 319, Fig. 14, which is clamped in a guide-way 321 formed in a holder 323 secured by a pin 325 in a block 327 having a pin 329 projecting into a bore in the side frame 25. The various connexions are adjustable for the purpose of positioning the support 47 correctly for the size of shoe. The holder 323 is formed with a guard plate 339, Fig. 3, which extends over the heel seat, and over which the knife 309 travels after the welt has been severed. The plate 47 is set at an angle to the guard plate in order, as is usual, that the welt will be cut through on the bevel. The knife-carrier 301 is formed with an upstanding arm 397, Fig. 5, connected by a link 395 to a segment 391 meshing with teeth 389 on a driver bar slide 347, which slides in a rectangular way in the forward edge of the side frame 25 and is covered by a face plate 345. The slide 347 has secured to it a tack nozzle 357, and is bored to receive a driver bar 349, which carries a tack driver 351. Near the upper end of the bar 349 is a bifurcated head 359 carrying a roll running on a guide track 361 on the side frame, and at the extreme end is a conical cap 363 to which is connected one end of a coiled driving spring 365, the other end of which is secured in a block 367 carried by the slide 347. A spring-pressed pivoted lever 373 carries a roll 375 normally held beneath the head 359, and is provided with a cam piece 385 which is adapted to be engaged by a cam piece 387 formed at the upper end of the driver bar slide. A friction plug 399 seated in the face plate 345 is spring-pressed against the driver bar elide to cause a lag in the operation of the toothed segment 391. In operation, the slide 293 is drawn rearwards and the links 299 are caused to pivot so as to tilt the knife carrier 301 forwards until the stop 305 engages the nose 307. This brings the presser 313 into engagement with the welt, and the knife into the plane of the surface of the guard 339. Further rearward movement of the slide 293 results in the knife cutting through the welt, and also in the driver bar slide 347 being moved downwards relatively to the driver bar, placing the driver spring 365 in tension. Meanwhile a tack which has passed down the tack tube 219 and rests in a tackway in the inner side of the slide 347 drops into the nozzle, 357, and just as this nozzle reaches the shoe the cam piece 387 engages the cam piece 385, and swings the lever 373 so as to withdraw the roll 375 from beneath the head 359 on the driver bar, which is at once driven down by the spring 365 to drive the tack. The slide 293 then moves forwards again, first relatively to the carrier 301 so that the links 299 tilt backwards as far as permissible by the shoulder 303 and raise the knife from the shoe, and then the driver bar slide 307 is lifted, whereupon a cam surface 383 which it carries engages the roll 375 to re-set the lever 373.