US1285532A - Method of making heels. - Google Patents

Description

2 SHEETS'-SHEEI 1.

E. E. WINKLEY. METHOD OF MAKING HEELS.

C HON FILED N Patented Nov. 19,1918.

2 S EEEEEE SHEET 2.

warren snares earner canine.

ERAS'IUS E. WINKLEY, OF LYNN. MASSACHUSETTS. ASSIGNOR. BY MESNE ASSIGIN- MENTS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JEEFEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING HEELS.

specification of Itettere Patent. Patented New, 1 ,33, M31185,

Application filed November 19, 1914. Serial No. 872,989.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERASTUS E. \VINKLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have. invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Heels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a method of making heels peculiarly. although not necessarily, applicable to the manufacture of heels from the cheaper heel-stock materials such as leatherboard or an analogous leather or paper composition.

The term heel is used indiscriminately by persons skilled in the art of making shoes and parts thereof, when referring to individual heels, to indicate either a shaped heel, that is a heel prepared for application to a soled 'shoe,-or a rough heel,'which is hereinafter, for convenience, termed a heel block, that is a heel ready for the shaping operation. It is to be understood that the term heel is thus used throughout this specification.

Heretofore it has been customary to manufacture heels by dinking out singly a series of graded lifts which are thereafter assembled in a heel pile in proper sequence and lateral relation to provide for the desired pitch at the back of the finished heel. Such a method of manufacture has long been recognized as expensive in that a special die must be maintained in stock for each size of lift. Further, an undesirable waste of stock is incurred due to the fact that the die cuts, owing to the dies being the shape of a heel lift with a rounded back, cannot be completely interlocked over the stock during the dinking operation.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method of making heels which obviates the disadvantages attendant upon the earlier methods including an elimination of the expense due to individual dies for each lift size, and provision for the utilizastood by tion of the heel stock material with a mini mum of waste.

In accordance with this object the invention contemplates building heels from polygonal lifts, that is, lifts which may be produced by straight edged knives, and after a heel pile, or heel block as herein designated, has been formed from such lifts it may be shaped to' the general form of a heel blank by rounding off the back with a suitable shaping cutter. block, thus produced, may be compressed, as usual, into a commercial heel blank.

As the character of the shaping step may vary in accordance with the views of the different shoe manufacturers it is contemplated that single heel blocks can be pro duced at one point and shipped to the various shoe factories where the blocks may bev shaped by the manufacturers to suit their individual requirements. The production of a heel block of the character hereinafter described, forms an additional feature of the present invention which is claimed in a divisional application, Serial No. 224,172, filed March 23, 1918.

The invention consists in the method of making heels, the preferred manner of practising which is hereinafter described and defined both broadly and in detail in the appended claims. The invention may readily be practised by hand using hand cutters, or, if found desirable, suitable power actuated devices may be used.

The invention will be most readily undera reference to the accompanying drawings, illustrating the preferred manner of practising the invention, in which:

Figure 1 represents strips of heel stock material of graded widths, cut from a sheet or sheets;

Fig. 2 indicates the manner in which the strips shown in Fig. '1 are cut to produce a graded series of rectangular lifts for use in the production of a heel block;

Fig. 3 shows a plan and a side elevation of a heel block formed by piling the series of lifts cut from the strips;

Fig. 4 shows a plan and a side elevation Thereafter the shaped heel lifts rt, etc., produced being of the heel blockof Fig. Shaving its rear corners slabbed 0ft a Fig. 5 shows a plan and a side elevation of a heel block shaped to the general form of a heel blank;

Fig. 6 shows a side and a front elevation of a heel blank;

Fig. 7 shows a perspective of the heel block illustrated in Fig. 4:, and

Fig. 8 shows a perspective of the shaped heel block illustrated in Fig. 5.

In the following description theheel stock material of whatever character it may be, will, for convenience of nomenclature be referred to as leatherboard simply.

In the preferred method of ractising the invention the sheets of leather oard are cut into straight-sided strips.S (Fig. 1). These strips are graded as to width in accordance with the widths of the various lifts which are to compose a heel. It is more convenient to cut a' single sheet into stripsall of the same width, but this is not essential and a single sheet may be cutinto graded strips if this is found desirable. After the strips of leatherboard have been produced a number is selected in accordance with the height of the particular heel to be produced, for exampte, for an 8'8 heel eight strips, a, b, c, d, e, f, g,-h as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are used. From the end of each strip alift is cut by a straight line out as indicated by the cross lines in Fig. 2. The length cut from each strip a, etc. is proportional to the width of the strip, 2'. 6., its length is in accordance with the required length for a lift of the width of the partieular strip being cut so that as a result a series of lifts a, Z), 0, d, e, f, g, h, is produced varying in both width and length. These'cuts are continued throughout the length of the strips, each series of used in the production of a single heel. Thereafterthe lifts a, etc., are pasted, piled and placed.

under pressure until the paste is dry to form a heel block, their edges at one side -being placed in the same vertical plane to form a fiat breast for the heel although otherwise they are piled symmetrically. This produces a heel'block A in the form of a truncated, stepped pyramid having one vertical side, which provides the heel body shape required for a large majority of the heels which are made, especially for mens wear. (See Fig. .3). For other types of heels, for example French heels having a' cut under breast, the vertical side is notessential.

It will also be observed that the lateral surfaces of the heel block thus prepared, lie. in planes closely approximating the pitch or angularity of the lateral surface of the finished heel which is ultimately produced therefrom. Furthermore, the lifts can be The heel block A may now be trimmed to the general form of a heel blank by any suitable shaping cutter acting along the dotted line Z-to remove the rear smooth the entire peripheral surface, producing the shaped heel block C shown in Figs. 5 and 8. It is considered preferable however, as a refinement of the method, althouglr not essential, to first bevel or slab off, with a straight bladed knife, the two rear corners of the heel block, as shown at 7', producing the beveled heel block B of Figs. 4 and-7. The beveling'step produces a heel block in which less material need be removed by the shaping cuts thus making this step easier for the operative and causing less wear on the shaping cutter.

corners and After the trimming of either of the heel shape of heel seat, size mark, and other characteristics as may be desired. As many tons of pressure are required to compressthe heel this operation can be performed only by a machine. Any of the commercial heel compressing machines may be used such, for instance, as that illustrated and lee described as Letters Patent of the United States to E. A. Tripp, No. 776,875, dated December 6, 1904.

In the preferred manner of practising the invention the strips a, etc., are produced by means of a straight cutter-blade having a. cutting edge beveled at both sides symmetrically. This produces strips having substantially vertlcal "sides with respect to the planes of the two faces of the lifts. The lifts 0., etc., are also produced by shearing, cutter blade which may have its edge beveled on one side only. The strips are fed to the cutter from its straighter side so that a bevel is formed by the beveled a straight side of the cutting edge on that edge of I smoother surface for the shaping cutter towork upon than is the case if such a bevel were not provided. The unbeveled sides of the lifts are used at the vertical breast of the heel.

An important feature of the method reown factory shapes sides in the production of the lifts wholly by knives having straight edges, or saws.

may be used, thus entirely doing away. with expensive dies, while yet obtaining as a resultant product a heel blank of a similar form to the heel blanks heretofore produced when the lifts were cut with dies. The heel blank produced by the present method, has, indeed, an advantage over the former heel blanks in that its peripheral surface has already been once trimmed and therefore less work is required in the heel trimming operation after the blank has been attached to the shoe.

A further, important advantage of the present method .of manufacturing heels re-' sides in the fact that the heel blocks may be built in a few general sizes by the heel manufacturer and then shipped in quantity to the shoe manufacturer who at his their lateral faces in accordance with the style of heel which he uses.

In the drawings illustrating the novel method the heel shown is of the wedge type, that is a wedge lift W is introduced at a convenient point between the straight lifts so to produce a heel blank high at the back suitable for Cuban, Military, and other like heels. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not confined to the making of this particular type of heel.

When a wedge heel is built one of the strips a, etc., will have a wedge strip substituted therefor, that is, a strip having the edge at one side thicker than the other. As the thin edge of the rectangular wedge lift, produced by cuttin the wedge strip on the cross lines shown in Fig. 2, is always placed at the breast of the heel, the opposite or thick edge will lie at the back of the heel. Consequently, in order to assemble the lifts without having to shift their positions, as shown in Fig. 2, the side edge of each of the even lifts corresponding in position to the thick edge of the wedge lift should be given the bevel hereinbefore ment ioned.

It will be understood from the foregoing that in making wedge heels, in order to facilitate assembly of the wedge lift with the other lifts, the knife which may have tire single bevel on its edge should be used to: produce the strips and the knife-which may have the symmetrical double bevel on its edge should be used to roduce the lifts from the strips.

Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the method of making heels herein described affords an organized method of manufacture of heels of the cheaper heel stock materials which is very simple and em ables the heels to be produced with greater economy, while yet retaining in the product the more desirable qualities of heels manufactured from the more costly materials, together with additional qualities not obtainable in heels made by the earlier methods.

Having thus described the invention and the preferred method of practising it, yet recognizing that modifications and changes may be made in the sequence and character of the steps described and still fall within the spirit and scope of the invention, and having due regard to the important and novel featur of making heels from lifts of polygonal shape, the invention is definitely stated in its true scope in the following claims:

lVhat is claimed as new is 1. The method of making heels which includes producing from a sheet or sheets of heel stock material a plurality of polygonal lifts of different sizes, piling said lifts into a heel block of the form of a truncated, stepped pyramid having one flat side, and securing said lifts together.

2. The method of making heels which includes producing from a sheet or sheets of heel stock material a plurality of polygonal lifts of different sizes, piling said lifts into a. heel block of the form of a truncated, stepped pyramid having one flat side, securing said lifts together, and then beveling or slabbing oft the corners of the slanted side of said heel block opposite its flat side. 7

3. The method of making heels which includes severing a sheetor sheets of heel stock material into straight sided strips graded as to width, severing from each of a plurality of said strips a straight edged lift of a length proportional to the width of the strip from which it is severed, piling said lifts into a heel block of substantially the form of a truncated pyramid, and securing said lifts together.

4. The method of making heels which includes severing a sheet tr sheets of heel stock material into graded as to width, severing from each of a plurality of said strips a straight edged lift of a length proportional to the width of the strip from which it is severed, piling said lifts into a heel block of substantially 115 the form of a truncated pyramid, securing said lifts together, and then beveling or slabbing olf two adjacent corners on one side of said heel block.

5. The method of making heels which cons sts 1n cutting from sheet heel-stock mater al a plurality of individual, polygonal l fts graded as to size, superposing said hfts on each other in a pile of stepped formation, and securing said lifts together.

6. The method of making heels which cons sts in cutting from sheet heel-stock mater al a plurality of individual, polygonal lifts, each having a be eled edge at one side, and graded as to size, superposing said lifts 130 gig . on each other in a pile of stepped formation piling and securing said lifts into a heel block, and then beveling or slabbing ofi two adjacent corners or" said heel block.

9. The method of making heels which includes the steps of dividing sheet heel stock material into a plurality of individual lifts by means of a succession of straight, interseating cuts, and securing definite numbers of said lifts together in heel piles, all the lateral surfaces of which, formed by the edges of the lifts, lie in planes closely approximating the variations in the pitch or depict of. this patent y angularity of the lateral surface of the finished heel to be produced therefrom.

10. The methodof making heels which includes the step 01'? producing polygonal lifts graded as to heel stock material to the desired form by a plurality of straight line cuts extending completely across the material and forming laminated heel blocks therefrom.

11. That step in the method of making heels Which consists in producing polygonal lifts from sheet heel stock material with area by dividing sheet the sides and back, at least, of their peripheral contourhaving edges-in a plane oblique to the plane of the faces of the lifts.

12. Themethod of making heels which includes the step of producing polygonal lifts graded as to area stock on straight lines'to the desired form by cutting sheet heel and forming laminated heel blocks there from.

ERASTUS E. WINKL'EY.

Witnesses:

WARREN G. OGDEN, ELSIE Pnnss.

he obtained for flve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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