GB454646A - Manufacture of shoe stiffener material - Google Patents

Abstract

454,646. Shoe stiffener material. ARDEN BOX TOE CO., Calvin Road, Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Dec. 31, 1934, No. 37364. Void [Abridged as open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, July 19, 1935]. [Class 17 (ii)] [See also Group VIII] Material for shoe stiffeners is made by embedding substantially dry, mechanicallypowdered stiffening-agent amenable to gelatinization by a volatile solvent in and between the fibres of a fibrous foundation, and fixing the stiffening agent by treating the foundation with a fixation fluid or liquid binder. The binder employed is preferably a solid which is soluble in the same volatile solvent which is used to gelatinize the powdered stiffening agent on the fibrous foundation. The fibrous foundation may have a pile on both faces, in which case the faces are treated in succession, or the under surface may be comparatively smooth and coated with a suitable sizing material to prevent the passage of the powdered stiffening agent through it. The stiffening agent may be cellulose esters, such as cellulose acetate or cellulose nitrate, powdered shellac or powdered dextrin, suitable volatile solvents such as acetone, ethyl acetate, ethyl alcohol and water, respectively being employed. A solution of ester gum in benzol or other hydrocarbon solvent which does not in itself gelatinize the cellulose acetate is a suitable binder solution when cellulose acetate is used as the stiffening agent. Powder is fed from a hopper 15, to a grooved roll 13 which deposits it upon a sheet 10 of material to be treated and which passes over a vibrating or'tapping instrument 18 to distribute the material over the sheet. Alternatively, the powder may be distributed by a brush. The fabric then passes over a guide roll 20 and between a pair of rolls 21, the upper of which applies a solution of the binder from a tank 22. The fabric is then festooned over a series of rolls 25 to permit the solvent to be evaporated, warm air being used to promote this, if desired. The fabric is then wound on rolls 26 and used for the preparation of box toe or other shoe stiffener blanks with skived margins.