640,042. Ironing-machines. HARROLD SLOCOMB MACHINE CO., Ltd. Oct. 22, 1947, No. 28200. Convention date, July 24, 1941. [Classes 76 and 138 (ii)] [Also in Group XIII] An ironing machine, primarily for leather and the like, comprises a heatable roller, a parallel pressure roller and means for relatively advancing and retracting said rollers into and out of pressure engagement, such means comprising a rockshaft having arms respectively supporting opposite ends of one of said rollers, and the rockshaft and said arms forming the supporting means for said one roller ; and means for applying torque to said rock-shaft, comprising a power source, and transmission means operatively connecting the power source with the rock-shaft at a point on the latter intermediate and equidistant, or substantially so, from said arms. A heated ironing roller 7 is rotatably mounted at its ends in brackets 8 adjustable in frame ends 1. A rubber-covered press roller 17 is rotatably mounted on arms 16 fixed to each end of a rock-shaft 2 which can be rocked in the frame ends 1, by operating a foot treadle 58 to cause the press roller to engage with the ironing roller. The rollers 7 and 17, when in pressure engagement are rotated by an electric motor 76 through a pulley 78, a belt 79 tensioned by an idler pulley 84, a pulley 81, a gear-box 82, a gear 83 on the output shaft of the gear-box and a gear 3 loosely mounted on one end of the rockshaft 2. The gear 3 drives the roller 7 through a gear 4 rotatably mounted on an arm 13 pivoted on one end of the rock-shaft 2, and a gear 5, Fig. 2, on the end of the roller 7. The gear 4 is fixed in correct meshing relationship with the gears 3 and 5 by a bolt 14 in the arm 13 securable in a slot 15 in one frame end 1, according as to the adjustment of the brackets 8 supporting the roller 7. The roller 17 is driven by a gear 19 mounted on one end, meshing with the gear 3. An arm 34 is fixed to the rock-shaft 2 centrally between the brackets 16, which arm engages one element of a toggle 37 the other element of which engages with an abutment block 36 mounted between the frame ends 1 and slidably adjustable by a hand wheel on a spindle 51. The toggle 37 is connected by a rod 55, to a piston in a cylinder 52 and is held in its normal position, i.e. when the rollers are disengaged, by springs 56 connecting the toggle spindle and lugs on the cylinder casing. Liquid or air under pressure is supplied from a pump driven by the electric motor 76, to the cylinder 52 when the foot treadle 58 which is fixed on a spindle 59 mounted in the frame ends 1, is depressed. An arm 61 on the spindle 59 then operates a valve plunger to allow fluid under pressure to raise the piston in the cylinder and thus cause the toggle to rock the shaft 2 and advance the roller 17 into pressure engagement with the roller 7. At the same time an arm 88 fixed at the end of the spindle 59 rocks a cranked arm 85, pivoted between the frame ends, on which the idler pulley 84 is rotatably mounted and thus causes the belt 79 to transmit the drive from the pulley 78 to the pulley 81. The roller 7, Fig. 2, comprises a hollow cylinder mounted at its ends on hollow trunnions 6 rotatable in the brackets 8. A stationary tube 23 passes through the trunnions and the roller and provides support for fixed spiders 26 which in turn support elongated electrical heating elements 27 extending over the full length of the roller and in close proximity with the cylindrical wall of the roller. Wires 28 connected to a electric supply pass through the tube 23 from one end and are connected to the elements through ports 29 at the centre of the tube. Heat is controlled by a thermosensitive element 3 mounted in close proximity to the surface of the roller, and a knob 33.