234,170. British United Shoe Machinery Co., Ltd., (United Shoe Machinery Corporation). Feb. 20, 1924. Sheet material, finishing edges of.-Relates to machines for finishing the edges of sheet material such as leather by shrinking the margin of one side, and particularly to machines of the kind described in Specification 193,936. The work is fed by several feeding-members, one of which also hammers the edge and so completes the action of the shrinking-tool, another feeding- member acting on a different zone of the same side of the work, and the pressures of the feeding. members being mutually independent. The shrinking-tool is mounted on a movable arm overhanging the work support, with means to limit adjustably the advance of the arm towards the support, and with means to lock the arm at the limit of its advance. The work 100, Fig. 11, preferably with a skived edge, is pressed on the support 19 by a wheel 21, and is fed intermittently past a plough 13 and beneath the shrinking-tool 15 by a feeding- foot 17, Figs. 1, 5, and 11, and a hammer 23, Fig. 5, both co-operating with an anvil 18 which is narrow beneath the foot 17 and has a lateral extension beneath the hammer 23. The tool 15 thus operates over a part of the stationary support 19 and the work is held and fed without wrinkling at two zones 17, 23, the zone 17 being out of line with the tool 15. The parts 17, 18, 23 are reciprocated together in the line of feed by a common actuator 45, and the parts 17, 23 are reciprocated transversely to the line of feed by independent spring-yielding mechanisms to grip and release the work and to allow for variations in its thickness. The foot 17 descends before the hammer 23, engages the leading edge of newlyinserted work, and holds the work during the blow of the hammer, which strikes at an angle and bends over the fin 200 formed bv the tool 15 and the plough 13. The actuator 45 is operated from a yoke 61 on an eccentric 65 on the driving- shaft 67 through a toggle-link arrangement 51, 55, the knuckle of which is carried bv arms from the end 73 of a lever 75 pivoted to the frame of the machine at 77 and moved against the action of a spring 82 by a treadle-rod 80 to adjust the extent of feed. The anvil 18 and foot 17 are carried by arms 25, 29 pivoted to the actuator 45, the anvil moving in a straight line path on a roll 81, and the foot 17 being raised and lowered by a spring 88 and a rod 83 with hemispherical ends engaging sockets in the arm 29 and in a yoke on a second eccentric on the shaft 67. The hammer 23 is mounted on a sleeve 35 on a shaft 37 connected to the actuator 45 by a ball-jointed link 43, and is raised and lowered by a spring-yielding skeleton link 93 engaging barrel-shaped pins on the sleeve 35 and on a yoke on a cam on the shaft 67. The U-shaped shrinking-tool 15 is connected by screws to copper rods 103, Fig. 1, in a fibre bushing 105, and so to a transformer adjustable to vary the temperature of the tool 15. The bushing 105 is longitudinally and angularly adjustable in a hollow arm 107, Fig. 9, pivoted at one end at 111 to the frame of the machine, and held in raised inoperative position by a catch 122. On release of the catch, the downward movement of the arm 107 is limited by an adjustable set-screw 113, and the arm is locked in this position by a cam 115 engaging between lugs 121, 117 on the frame and arm 107 and operated by a handle 119. The presser-wheel 21 is rotatably mounted in a hollow casing 131, Fig. 1, containing registering mechanism operated through a connecting-rod from the rotation of the wheel 21 to register the length of work treated. The casing 131 carries a slide adjustable by a screw 140 in a head on a shaft 133 to adjust the wheel 21 along the line of feed, and is held in the adjusted position by a screw 139. The shaft 133 is pivoted in the arm 107 and the wheel 21 is pressed down upon the work with adjustable pressure by two springs connecting two arms on the shaft 133 to two pull-rods 153 held adjustably by teeth 153'. Specification 19937/14, [Class 42 (i), Fabrics, Finishing &c.], also is referred to.