4466. Boult, A. J., [United Shoe Machinery Co.]. Feb. 22. [Addition to 18,445/09.] Trimming; welts and welting, machines for; sole-laying.-Consists of a welt-butting machine for tightening over a last the shoe stock at and adjacent to the rear ends of the welt, positioning the upper, counter, and welt ends correctly, and holding these parts while the welt butts are cut off and the parts fastened by tacks and compressed to level the heel portion of the shoe preparatory to the sole-laying operation. The shoe is supported on a swinging post 65, Fig. 2, pivoted to a rack-bar 72 extending through a member 74, which is connected by links 78, 80, 82 to a crank 84 on a crank-shaft 85. The post is raised by a toothed hand lever 75 to press the shoe against a yielding abutment 66, and is al-o swung about its pivot until the back of the shoe is engaged by a pad 35 secured to the centre of a heel band 26, Fig. 6, which is yieldingly supported by a two-part adjustable rod 28 threaded through a nut carried by the machine frame. When the shoe is in position, a treadle 4, Fig. 2, having a twostep movement, is partly depressed to actuate, through a sliding carrier 114 and yielding connexions 125, 126, rack-bars 6, which are geared with shafts 10. Each of these shafts actuates a swinging bell-crank 15 carrying a sleeve which slides on a rod 20 connected to the heel band 26, causing a yielding closure of the forward ends of the band round the shoe ; pads 36 are secured to these ends of the band, which is twisted in such a manner that the lower edges of the pads engage the shoe first, with the result that any slackness in the shoe upper is worked upwards to the edge of the shoe. Each shaft 10 is also geared with a carrier 40, which it moves inwards after the closure of the heel band. This carrier is grooved to receive adjustably a block 42 pivotally supporting a yielding presser 44, which carries at its forward end a blade 50 adapted to be guided by the edge of the pad 36 into engagement with the welt crease. The block 42 also carries a yielding device 55, Fig. 6, which engages the upper edge of the pad 36 and clamps it against the edge of the last. To assist the presser blade 50, the carrier 40 supports two wipers 60, 61, Figs. 2 and 12, which move inwardly over and engage the upper face of the welt, and hold and position it during the subsequent cutting and tacking operations. If desired, the treidle 4 may be moved up and down a number of times, so that the shoe may be subjected to the repeated action of the devices just described, a sliding stop 199, Fig. 2, being provided beneath the carrier 114 to limit the downmovement of the treadle. When the treadle is fully depressed, the stop 199 is withdrawn, and an adjustable slide bar 115 on the carrier 114 allows spring-pressed pawls 118 carried by a block 112 to engage with teeth on the carrier, after which the block moves downwards with the carrier, and, through a rod 110, throws a one-revolution clutch on the main shaft 90 into gear. This in turn drives the shaft 85, and, through the connexions described, elevates the jack post 65 and forces the shoe hard against the wipers 60, 61, compressing the stock against the bottom face of the last. Just prior to this, however, the blade 50 is withdrawn from the welt crease by the engagement, with an extension 177 of the carrier 44, of the lower arm of a bell-crank 176 connected to a rod 172, which is actuated by the lowering of a tack driving head 156. This is actuated by a link 158 and crank 160 from the shaft 90, and is adapted to cause drivers 150 carried by a driver-bar 155 to drive tacks from holders mounted in a block 152 secured to the carrier 40 through inclined passages in the wipers 60 into the work, which is still held under compression. The tacks are supplied to the block from conductors 144 when the carrier 40 occupies its retracted position, the tack separating and delivering mechanism, which is of ordinary construction, being driven from the shaft 85. While the tacks are being driven, the work is acted upon by a knife 217, Fig. 12, carried by a block 201, which is adapted to be reciprocated in the carrier 40 by a lever 207 and connexions 211, 213 with the driver bar 155. The knife is formed with an horizontal stitch-cutting blade, and an inclined welt-butting or bevelling blade, each of which has a slanting edge. Its upper end rests on the blade 50, which also serves as a guard for the upper ; a single screw 219 and stud 221 secure the kmfe to its block to enable it to spring with the vertical movement of the blade 50 in finding the welt crease. The knife not only bevels the welt and severs any stitches that may extend back of the welt - butting point, but also preferably moves beyond the inseam to plane off any upstanding portion of the upper or the innersole lips. For removing this surplus stock when planed off, a clearer 223 is yieldingly carried by the wipers 60, 61. Specification 22,839/08 is referred to.