367,382. Setting lacing hooks &c. UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, 140, Federal Street, Boston, U.S.A. -(Assignees of Glass, P. R. ; Wayland, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) Sept. 10, 1930, No. 27000. Convention date, Sept. 10, 1929. [Class 43.] A machine for setting lacing hooks or studs &c. includes a horizontal work-support 105 on which the work 187 is periodically clamped and released by a vertically movable presser foot 150 and along which the work is fed step by step from right to left. The hooks are inserted upwardly by a hook-supporting member 50 carried on a vertically movable plunger 51 arranged in fixed bearings, the hook inserting locality being near but slightly beyond the left-hand end of the work support. The barrels 37 of the hooks are upset and clenched by a clenching tool 52 carried by a vertically movable plunger 53 arranged to slide in a bearing 110 formed in a horizontally-movable feed carriage 112. The clenching tool 52 has a central projection 59 that serves first to punch a hole in the work by co-operation with a punchblock 104 forming part of the work support 105 and then to feed the work and to guide the barrel of a hook through the work. A transferring member 254 operates to transfer an individual hook, delivered by a raceway 211 which is kept supplied antomatically from a hopper 210, to the hook-supporting member 50 when the member 50 is at the lower limit of its travel. A strip 180 of reinforcing material is fed automatically to the hook-inserting mechanism and is cut into individual sections 188, one for each hook ; these sections lie upon the upper surface of the work and are included in the materials that are penetrated by the punching and feeding tool. The mechanism for feeding the strip of reinforcing material is carried by the presser foot and is operated by the feed carriage. Cams 40 .. 45 for operating the several mechanisms together with a clutch for coupling with a driving pulley 32 are mounted on a shaft 31. Setting mechanism.-The hook-supporting member 50 comprises a rectangular shaped plate the longer margins sliding in horizontal grooves in the upper end of the plunger 51 which is driven by a lever 55 from the cam 42, the lever 55 being pivoted about a pivot stud 56 formed with an eccentric bearing portion. The plunger 51 is provided with a horizontal groove 60, Fig. 3, and the lever 55 with a corresponding groove and with a slot 61 parallel thereto, the groove and slot in the lever 55 being horizontal when the forward end of the lever is at its lowest position. A pivot stud 57 has a rectangular body portion lying in the groove in the lever, a screw-threaded end part passing through the slot 61 and clamped by a nut 63, and a cylindrical part projecting into a rectangular block 62 sliding in the groove 60. By adjusting the position of the stud 57 towards or from the stud 56 the upper limit of the range of travel of the plunger 51 may be varied for different thicknesses of work without altering the lower limit. The position of the stud 57 may be varied by means of an adjusting screw 64, Fig. 6. Registration of the member 50 with the delivery end of the guides 255 of the transferrer is attained by adjusting the eccentric stud 56. For retracting the member 50 from the throat of a clenched hook one part 74, Fig. 6, of a two-part articulated lever is connected to the plunger 51 while the other part 76 is connected to the part 74 by a stud 77 and with the member 50 by a sleeve portion 87 and a coupling member 90, the stud 77 being connected to a link 80 which is reciprocated longitudinally by connections with mated cams 44, 45. The part 76 also carries a rigid abutment 92, the under surface of which is engaged by a spring-pressed abutment 93 on the part 74 so that the abutment 92 is normally held against a rigid abutment 94 carried by the part 74. If the movement of the member 50 toward the raceway is obstructed, continued movement of the part 74 to the rear is dissipated in deflecting the spring-pressed abutment 93. A finger-piece 95 on the part 76 allows the member 50 to be withdrawn when the machine is at rest and any hook lodged on the member 50 is stripped from it by a pin 96 on the plunger 51. The abutment 94 is in the form of a screw so that the position of the part 74 relative to the part 76 may be adjusted in order that the limit of the range of oscillation of the member 50 may be varied so that the edge of the member 50 does not quite touch the delivery end of the guides 255. The upper plunger 53 is driven by a train of mechanism comprising toggle members 100, 101, Fig. 2, a link 102, a lever 103 and a cam 41. As shown in Fig. 1, the toggle member 101 is in the form of a yoke having two arms spaced apart and connected by a horizontal pivot pin 114, extending through a sleeve 115 formed in the upper part of the plunger 53 thereby maintaining an operating connection between the toggle mechanism and the plunger 53 during the horizontal reciprocations of the plunger. The lower limit of the vertical movement of the tool 52 may be regulated with respect to the level of the punch block 104 by arranging the toggle member 100 on an eccentric portion of a pivot stud 106. Work-feeding mechanism.-The feed carriage comprises a horizontal sleeve portion 112 sliding on parallel guide-rods 113 and is operated by a chain of mechanism comprising the cam 40, a cam slide 120, links 121, 122, Figs. 2 and 5, an arm 123, an oscillating sleeve 124 loose on shaft 129 and fixed to the arm 123, an arm 125 formed on the upper end of the sleeve 124, and a forked arm 126 clamped to the shaft 129 and embracing a block 127, Fig. 5, pivoted to the feed carriage. Set-screws 132 on the arm 126 and abutting against opposite sides of the arm 125 allow the tool 52 to be registered with the member 50. The pivot pin 133 of the links 120, 122 extends through a guiding member 134 pivoted to a manually movable lever 135 in turn pivoted to a vertical pin 137 mounted in the frame of the machine, the pins 133, 137 being coaxial when the cam slide is at the forward limit of its travel. The length of the feeding stroke may accordingly be varied by adjusting the lever 135, the left-hand limit of the feeding movement remaining unchanged. An operating handle 140 is pivoted to the lever 135, a detent 145 being pivoted to the lever 135 and slidably connected to the handle 140. As shown in Fig. 1, a spring 142 normally holds raised the handle 140 and maintains the detent in engagement with a toothed sector 143 arranged below the lever 135, but when the handle is depressed the detent is disengaged from the sector so that the handle and consequently the lever 135 may be adjusted. The presser foot 150 is fixed to the upper end of a rod 151 and may be initially raised by means of a lever 158 and a rod 160 connected to a treadle so that the work may be placed on the work support. The presser foot is also raised automatically immediately prior to the workfeeding operation by means of a link 163 connected to an extension on the lever 103, a rocker 164 having a camming surface 167 cooperating with a roller 168, Fig. 1, carried by a collar 156 of the rod 151. The strip 180 of reinforcing material is led from a coil 18], Fig. 1, through a groove in a block 171, Fig. 15, and a portion 188 of the strip is severed by a cutter 177 on the plunger 53 durirg the punching stroke. The block 171 is formed with a dovetail portion sliding in a dovetail groove 170, Fig. 2, in the presser foot 150 so that the block 171 moves up and down with the presser foot. At the same time, the block 171 is moved to and fro with the feed carriage by means of a pin 172 having its upper portion in telescopic engagement with a sleeve 174 formed in the feed carriage while the lower portion 175 of the pin is connected to the block 171. The portion 175 is eccentric with relation to the upper part of the pin so that by turning the pin a shearing plate 176 carried by the block 171 may be adjusted towards or from the cutter 177. The strip feeding mechanism comprises a pair of grippers, viz. a feed roll 190 and an idle presser roll 191. The feed roll 190 is fixed to a shaft 192 mounted in the block 171 and carries a ratchet 193 engaged by an operating pawl 194 and a retaining pawl 195. The pawl 194 is formed on a stem 198, Fig. 20, journalled in a boss in the presser foot 150 and carrying a block 200 which is engaged by a spring-pressed plunger 201, Fig. 18, projecting upwards from a socket in the presser foot so that the pawl 194 is normally held upright. As the block 171 moves forward during the work-feeding operation the pawl 194 is turned in a counterclockwise direction by the ratchet 193 as the ratchet passes over the pawl; rotation of the feed roll is prevented by the pawl 195 and the strip 180 will be carried forward a distance equal to the work-feeding stroke. During the return movement of the feed carriage, the rolls 190, 191 carry the strip 180 a corresponding distance backward but at the same time the pawl 194 rotates the ratchet 193 and the feed roll 190 so that the strip 180 is advanced relatively to the block 171 by a distance corresponding to the distance between successive teeth on the ratchet 193. Lacing hooks, feeding.-The hopper 210 has a rotating disc 212, Figs. 5 and 21, mounted on a shaft 215 and having hook-shaped blades which pick up some of the hooks, the straight edge 214 of the blades being brought successively into register with the upper end of the raceway 211 so that the hooks lying on the edges 214 may gravitate into the raceway. A washer 220 of friction material such as leather is interposed between a collar 218 on the shaft and the bearing 216 of the shaft 215 to maintain the disc frictionally against accidental turning during its periods of dwell, end thrust of the collar 218 against the washer 220 being maintained by a spring 221. The shaft 215 is driven bv a ratchet wheel 225 mounted on a sleeve 224 keyed to