US1057894A - Button-setting machine. - Google Patents

Description

E. P. STENMAN. l BUTTON SETTING,MALHINE.y APPLICATION FILED'FEB.23, 1912.

1,057,894, Patlnted Apr. 1, 1913,

3 SHEBTS-BHEET k3.

UNITED sTaTEsrATENT oEEioE.

ELIS E. STENMAN, OE WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB, 'EYMESNEASSIVGN- MENTS, To INDEPENDENT BUTTON EASTENEE MACHINE. co. (TNQ), OE BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OE MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON-SETTING MACHINE.

kSpecification of Letters Patent. --Pa,fented Apr. 1, 1913,

Appueancn ined February 23, 1912. serial No. 679,361.

To ou whom t may concern.'

Be it kno-wn that I, ELis F. SrENirAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 2 Adolf street, lVorcester, county of Worcester, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented Certain new and nsefullmprove ments in Button-Setting Machines, of which the following is aspeciication.

This invention relates to button-fastening machines and more particularly, to suchV machines as are adapted to attach buttons by means of fasteners formed by the machines from wire drawn from the coil. In machines ot' this type, which are or may be placed in the hands ofroutine mechanics 'and away from the superinten'dence of expertl minds, it is very desirable that the parts be so prof teeted thatno tampering therewith may be attempted, so that an accurate check upon work may be obtained through periodical visits rather than constant supervision. For this purpose l have provided a niachine which may be locked, the material to be used being fed into the same by the operative and the checking of the material so used. being entirely out of said operatires control.

To the end of certainty of operation and arrurary of result. together with structural simplicity and the element of portability. l. hared'erised the Several features of my invention which lwill more fully set fort-h in the succeeding specification.l As illustrative et' my inventionfl hare shown and will describe a machine embodying these principles which l ha \'e 'fe-und well adapted to theends sought.

I Throughout` the speeitication andY drawings like reference characters are employed to indicate eorrespoiuling parts and in the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View with the casing removed,li`ig. is a sertion on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a ser-tion on offset line 3-3 of Fig. 2,`Fig. l is a side elevation, the casing' and parts of the mechanism being removed, Fig. is a section on the line 5h13 ot' Fig. l, Fig. (3 is an enlarged partial plan view, similar to Fig. 1, Figs. 7, 8 and 9 represent several stages of the work in plan. Fig. 10 is a front elevation ot' the forming dies, Fig. 1l is a View of the feed trougli toe looking as the arrow points in Fig. 4, and Fig. 12is a detail of the yielding tooth construction of the hopper feed. I

My button setting machine comprises a frame 1 which supports a. casing 2 Within which the Working parts are inclosed. An opening 21 in the casing 2 permits the margins of the Working parts to come in Contact with the upper of the Shoe upon-which the 6, the .latter being .fed through the frame l.

at 7 and thence to the wire feeding rolls 8.

lith the hopper 4 filled and the wire 6 in place on the bracket 5, the entireaction of the machine is automatic. depending, as shown in the drawings. entirely upon the operation of a treadle slide 9, and the proper positioning of the upper u. Of course, my machine mayy be adapted for power by slightly' extending the shaft 10 and mounting thereon a clutch mechanism of any well known type, and proper pulleys, or gearing; but as these machines are designed mainly for use in places that are without power, I have illustrated my preferred'embodiment as of the foot power style.

AA raeeway 11. and wings 12 are proxided within the hopper area and also a perforated disk 13 adapted to tip ont of the raeeway 11 and bark to the hopper L all such buttons as have not been properly seated in the raceway. The toe 1.4, similarly provided with a raceway 111v and wings 12, takes a steeper' `ol.2 the carriages 41.

For the operation of the carriages, l mount' on the shaft 10 a so-called broken gear 17 which is keyed to thelshaft 10 and supplied with two sets of teeth 18 each adapted to engage teeth. 19 of the vertical slide 20. Each gear segment has a leading pawl tooth. From the slide 2O a projecting arm 21 is provided with a pair of lforks 22 which engage the pins 23 on the carriages 41. The slide 2O and the carriages 4l drop by gravity as soon a's either set of teeth 18 passes out of engagement with the teeth 19 and the gear 17 will be so mounted upon the shaft that when the machine is at rest, the carriages 41 are down and the lower end ot the slide protrudes through and below the :trame 1. The spring tooth 191 yields in each segment when it begins to engage the rack, (see Fig. 12), in order to permit the engagement of the teeth of the gear 17 with the teeth 19 of the rack without liability to break the last tooth on the rack upon which the lirst impact of engagement falls. The single revolution oli' the shaft 10 for such button fastening operation causes a double rise of the carriages 41, but il this should not suflice to keep the raceway 1l properly supplied, the operator may grasp the slide 2() and work it up and down several times while the machine is at rest until a sullicient quantity of buttons has been supplied to the raceway 11. Ordinarily, the automatic action of the carriages 41 will snliice and the. hand operation just described is only tor einergencies.

l'lhe wire feeding rolls 8 are provided with intermeshing gears 25 and 251, the latter oi" which is in mesh with the gear 26 loosely mounted on the shelf 27 by a stud 28. Fast on top ot the gear 2G is a ratchet 29 adapted for engagement by a spring controlled pawl 30 attached pivotally to the under side of a lever 31 which, in turn, is pivotally mounted on the stud 28. The opposite' end 311 of the lever 3l is adapted `'for engagement withy either ot the lugs 32 on a slide bar 33 pivotally mounted on the trame 1 by a screw bolt 34 which works loosely through'a slot 35 in the bar 323, said slot being adapted 'to permit the passage therethrough of the wire 6.' Near its opposite end the bar 33 is M Losanna later to be described. The stop pin 43 limits the action of the spring 44 'on the pawl 40.

The rear end ol the bar 33 is adapted for en- Y gagement by a linger 45 of a lever pivotally mounted on the frame 1 at 46 (Fig. 1) for the purpose of raising. the rear end of the bar 33 on its pivot 34 until the fork 36 is disengaged from the head 37. The movement of the bar 33 is prompted by the loose lit of the holt 34 in the slot 35. The object of' said, raising will be later described.

The arm 38 is adapted to be oscillated by a linger or screw 47 on the collar 48 fast on the shaftI 10. A spring 49 tends to keep the arm 38 alwa s against the collar 49.v l At the opposite en of the lshaft 10 is keyed a cam 50 adapted to operate. the arm 51 to which the cup-shaped arm 15 is adjustably attached at 52 (see Fig. 4). Y is pivotally mounted on the stud 53 by rmeans of a slotted opening 54 and a shoulder '55 thereon is kept in engagement with the cam 50 by a spring 56 until the lug 501 of the cam 50 enters into engagement with a hinged plate 57 normally held down by a spring 58. The rear end 59 of the arm 51 is adapted to raise, under certain conditions, the short arml of the lever 60 which is pivotally mounted on the frame 1 at 61. The opposite arm of the lever 60 is adapted to depress the short arm of the lever 45 rocking it on its pivot 46.

llfhe dies 62, 63 and 64 are slidably mounted in the frame 1 for forward and backward movement, their rear ends being forked at 65 to engage the heads 66 of their respective lingers 67 pivotally mounted on a pin 68 (see Figs 2 and They are adapted to be operated by the cams, 69, 70 and 71, respectively, said cams being :fast on the shaft 10. Although springs could be employed to hold the lingers 67 against their respective, cams,

I prefer to control said ngers by ni'eans ot' a slide 7 2 A the forward end olf which is provided with an arm 73 adapted'to engage all Iot the lingers 67. The rear end 74 is adapt- =ed for engagement by a cam 75 tast on the `shaft 10 'to cause the arm 73 to move the fingers 67 rearwardly when required.

A block 76 with a forming head 77 is slidably mounted within the frame 1 and is adapted to be raised and lowered. by the The arm 51 pin 78 which' loosely engages the slotted"- end of a cam lever 79. The cam lever 79 .is pivoted between its ends at 80-and isola@- gaged at its `opposite end by a cam dition the shaft 10.

The count-ing mechanism comprises three pointers 83, 84, and 85,. each adaptedto co,

operate with an indicating dial 86 on a .cover plate 87. The stud 831 carries fast thereon the ratchet 42 anda finger 832 for engaging the teeth'of a pinion 88 on the stud 8111. The stud 8111 also carries a Finger 8112 for engaging the teeth of a pinion 89 on the stud 851. The stud 851 also carries a iinger 852 (see Fig. 6) adapted to engage a lug 90 on a ratchet lever 91, pivotally mounted on the frame 1 at 92 and held outwardly by a spring 95 against the walls of an Opening 93 in the shelf 27, or if preferred, against a head (not shown) on the pivot 92. The ratchet lever is held by gravity against the teeth of a ratchet 911 fast on the shaft 10, its width being somewhat less than said teeth asbest seen in Fig. 6. The ratchet 911 is fast upon the shaft 10 while the pulley 111 is loose thereon, being retained in position by a collar 96.

The shaft 10 is designed to advance one complete revolution for each depression of a treadle 9 and a weight 112 carries the pulley 111 -back to starting position when the pressure on the treadle 9 is removed' where it is ready to cause another advance. of the shaft 10. The clutch mechanism by which this is accomplished comprises a pin 9111 slidably supported withinthe pulley 111 and held against the ratchet 911 by a leaf spring 943. An inclined cam groove 9112 is adapted to receive the forward end of the -pin 941 and provide a shoulder with which it will engage during the depression of the treadle 9. n the return of the pulley 111, the cam groove 942 forces the withdrawal of the pin 941 which is free to again drop into said groove at the completion of the return. I do not claim this mechanism as new in itself nor do I limit myself 4to its use.

llVhen it is desired to prepare the Inachine for operation a starting weight 100 vis dropped on the free end of the lever 91 and raises its heavier end free from the teeth of the ratchet 911 and against a stop pin 101 in. the frame 1. The weight 100 forms one of a series which are locked Within a chute 102, the lower end of said chute being 'adapted to receive one at a time .vhile the upper end of the weight that rests on the lever 91 projects into the Apath of the remaining weights in the chute 102 and lprevents them from feeding forward into dropping position. To prevent friction between these adjacent. weights from interfering with the free dropping of the first mentioned, I prefer to add a spring pressed pin 103 mounted on Said chute,l the inner `end of which bears normally 'against said remain-v ing weights. A spring controlled sliding cam lug 1011 mounted on the casing 2 directly above the pin 103 is adapted to retract the pin 103 against its springflO at the desired moment. Beneaththe chute 102 andA secured to the frame 1 is an inclined Adetains the most forward butt-on.

trough 106 which carries the dropped weight 100 to a box 107 which is locked in said frame by means of a lock 108.

, The treadle 9 is' attached to a cord or wire -110 which passes around a drum 111 fast on the shaft 10 and to a weight 112.

When the machine is set up for operation by a workman, the chute 102 is filled with weights 100 and locked by a lock 113, the triangular block 114C serving to ho'ld the weights 100 in Vertical position. The boX 107 is empty `and the counting mechanism is set at zero. The keys to the locks 108 and V113 are then taken' away bythe setter up so the operatorhas no access tothe interior except through the door 3 in the casing 2. The operator then lls the hopper 11 with buttons B through the door 3 and places a reel of wire 6 on the bracket 5', feeding the wire 6 through the opening 7 to the feeding rolls 8. He then places a key on the stem 81 and feeds the wire 6 through the block 11 in the frame 1 until the end is flush with the farther face of said block. The glass top 22 enables him tol watch his-operations. This feed of the wire 6 through the block 11 causes one or more complete unit lengths of the wire 6 to pass the rolls 8 and I prefer to'.

tongue and groove said rolls for the purpose of forming a crimp 61 at the center of each unit length for a purpose to be described. The operator next depresses the cam lug 104 which retracts the pin 103 and allows the nearestweight to drop on the forward end of lever 91 and raise the same out of engagement .with the ratchet 911 and against the stop lpin 101. He'next places by hand some of the buttons B on the raceway 11, on which they slide till theyielding stop 1111 With a reel of the wire 6 sufficiently long and suiiicient` buttons B in the hopper 11: he is non1 ready to fasten one thousand buttons on the uppers uI by successive foot pressures on the -treadle 9, he meanwhile holding the upper u pivot 53 and against the action of the spring 56. When the cup shaped arm 15 meets the button B the further upward movement of the rear end of the lever 51 (due to the superior' stiffness of the spring 58 over that of the spring 57) is arrested'before the lug 501 finishes its'lifting movement. The further lift of the lug 50 compresses the spring 58 allowing the plate 57 to recede wit-hin the 501 meets the shoulder 55 on the arm 5l, the

latter is moved forward (by reason of the` slot 54) against the action of the spring 56 untilthe lug 501 is carried beyond they inlinence of the shoulder 55, whereupon the arm 5l immediately raises its forward end ywith the cup shaped arm l5 and retreats to its initial position, both through' the influence of the spring 56. While the forwardbutton is reaching the position shown in Fig. 3 the cam action of the screw head 47 (see Fig. 5) is causing the slide bar 33 to move forward, registering one count through the ratchet 42 and pawl 40. This causes the lever 3l to carry the, pawl 30 hack for a fresh t-ooth on the ratchet 29, Neat, the cam 48 causes the return of the' slide 33, brings the pawl 40 into position to make another count. and feeds the wire 6 across the space infront of the forming .dies AG2, 63, and (34 and through the shanlrS of the button B. (See Fig. 7.) The cams 69, and 7l next operate to .move the fingers 67, and the dies 62, 63 amd64 forward. against the forming head 77 which has been brought upto position by its cam 8l. lWhen the die 63 meets the block 77 its cam 7() causes a pause while its mates 62 and 64 are carried forward to the position shown in Fig. 8, a. slight hump on the two cams 69 and 7l being indicated by a dotted line marked 69 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 shows the wire 6 turned and cut the action of the die 64 against the block l1 and supported in horizontal position in the half grooves X on the face of the die 33 (Fig. l0) and the inner sides of the dies G2 and 64. rlhe three dies 62, 63 and 64 now pause While the forming head 77 descends to its original position and then further action of the cams 69, 70 and 7l moves all three dies with the turned wire 6 forward untilthe dies 62 and 64 contact with the upper on the block 120, whereupon they pause while the center die 63 is forced forward by its Cani 70 vto form the clench shown in Fig. 9. The three dies are then retracted to the original position and the sequence ofoperations just described is repeated. After the wire 6 has been out by the die G4, the `severed portion is but slightly retained within the half groove K on the face of the die G3 and the half grooves Y in the faces of the dies 62 and 64. `By forming the crimp 61 at the feed rolls 8 thisl crimp, hanging lon the shank t3 serves' to help the wire G retain its position until the forward motion of the dies 62, 63 and 64` clench its position.

When one thousand buttons have been set the lug 852 engages the lug 90 to push the lever 91 against the act-ion of the spring 95 until the weight 100 is free to drop through and into the trough 106. rlthis permits the lever 91 to engage the teeth of the ratchet 94 andlock the machine. To continueop- Lost/,eea

locks 108 and 113 and transfers the Weights in the box 107 to the chute 102, keeping Y'count of the number so transferred.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5, the purpose of the pivoted plate 57 and the.levers 60 and 46 will be explained. It will be remembered that the Wire is fed into the machine through the rolls 8 and the buttons by means of the raceway ll. If through care= lessness of the operator the foot lever y9 isdepressed when Athere is nobutton B against the stop 14 it is preferable to prevent Wire feed and count for that revolution. Inman.. tionng the action of the arm 51 'reference was had to the button operating to limit the upward movement of the rear end of said arm. Should there be no button in position the cup shaped arm l5 is free to descend y through a greater arc and as' there .is no re-A sistance the rear end of the arm will be further raised than when the but-ton B is in place. This extra lift of the tail 59 causes an operation of levers 60 and 46 to cause the arm 45 to raise the bar 33 about its pivot 34 until the fork 36 is entirely out of engagement with the head 37. Consequently, for this revolution, no wire is fed nor count made, although all of the cams perform their functions.

Various modifications" may obviously be made in the various parts of the embodiment shown, all without departing from the Spirit 4of my invention if within the limits of the appended claims. f

W hat I, therefore, claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. In a button setting machine, a hopper, a raceway within said hopper, mechanism for setting buttons, a reciprocating carriage for lifting the buttons to the raceway, a rack on -said carriage having a spring pressed leading tooth, and a segmental gear 2. In a button setting machine, a hopper, a raceway within said hopper, mechanism for setting buttons, a reciprocating carriage for lifting the buttons to the raceway from whence they feed to the setting mechanism, a vertical slide for said carriage, said slide having a series of fixed rack teeth and a spring pressed ratchet tooth, a segmental gear for initially engaging the spring tooth and subsequently engaging said rack teeth,

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and means for actuating said gear to cause it to alternately raise said slide and permit it to drop.

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a button hopper `supported on said frame,

a forming die, a'- shaft rotatably mounted on said frame,Y and a carryino` arm arrangedV to be operated' by said shaft to present the buttonsjsingly within the influence of said for g die, said arm being slidably and pivotally mounted upon said frame.

4;'In a, button setting` machine, a frame,

fa'button .slide for delivering one of a plu-y 4ralitvof buttons, forming dies, a shaft rotatably mounted on said frame, a cam fast on, said' shaft, and a .carrying'arm slidably 'and' ivo'tally mounted on said frame and witlnnthe influence ofl said cam, the forward end of lsaid arm 'adapted to descend upon 'and seize the head of the button to be fed and carry it forward within theinflu'enoe of the forming dies, -in combination with yielding means mounted i, on said arm and positioned solas to cause the forward end of said arm to be depressed beyond normal, said yielding means being, adapted,

to permit the further revolution' of'said' cam when the buttonis properly grasped by said arm. y

5. In 'a button setting machine, a frame, forming dies, a buttonslide 'adapted for delivering one of a plurality ofA buttons within the influence of the forming dies, a wire .feeding mechanism, a shaft rotatably mounted in said frame, means for causing the` intermittent action of said wirefeed' by said shaft, a cam ,fast upon said shaft, a carrying arm slidably and pivotally mounted on -said frame withinthe inuence of said cam, the forward end adapted .to grasp i. further descent than is permitted when the in its descent the head of the foremost button and advance it within the influencel of the forming dies', 'a yielding mechanism se. cured to said carrying arm' and effeetive'u'nder theaction of said cam to cause the for- 'Ward end of said carrying armto make a button is in place to receive'it, said yieldin means being adapted to permitthef further revolution `of saidv cam when the button is` properly in place and the; downward movement ofy said carrying arm' is-thereby lim ited, in combination with a. mechanism ef-4 fectlve to permit said carrylng arm to re`4 lease the wirefeeding mechanism from rthe influence of said shaft 'when no lbutton is presented Vto said carrying arm. v

6. .In a button setting machine, a frame, a drive shaft mounted in said frame, a cas ing on said frame, a hopper in said casing, a wire feed, a raceway along which the buttons move, slide carriages to supply'buttons to said raceway, means comprising a broken gear on 'the drive shaft having two sets of teeth, a toothed slide arranged to be vertically reciprocated by said teeth of said broken gear, andan arm connecting said slide with the carriages for operating said carriages, and a member eective to grasp a single button at each'actuation thereof to present it to the wire feed.

In testimony whereof I .'aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

R. i3. ELLMS, vEnnis SPEAR, Jr.

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