US1297726A - Button-fastening machine. - Google Patents

Description

e. w. PERKINS.

BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLED DEC. 8 1916.

Patented Mar. 18,1919.

GEORGE W. PERKINS, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR' TO HEATON PENIN- SULAR BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, A CORPORA-' TION OF MAINE.

BUTTON-FASTENING MACHINE.

Application filed'DecemberS, 1916. Serial No. 135,884.:

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PERKINS,.-

a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Button-Fastening Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. I

The invention relates to a machine for attaching buttons to shoes and other articles by metallic fasteners, and is especially intended for that class of such machines in which the fastener is formed from a wire which is fed through the eye of the button, the wire then being formed into shape for the fastener, the button and attached fastener then being carried to a position to be secured to the shoe or other article.

One feature of the invention relates. to an adjustable cover for the raceway and the means forraising and lowering it to adapt it to buttons of difierent sizes.

In Patent No. 1,070,170 dated August 12, 1913, granted on my application there was shown and described a carriage, movable parallel with the raceway and provided with two slidable fingers movable with the carriage and movable laterally with relation to the carriage to position the button for the threading movement of the fastener wire. One feature of the present invention relates to an improvement on said button fingers.

In the device shown in said patent the button fingers were formed with transversely concaved inner ends to grip the button head between them, but in the construction there shown the said ends were concaved in such manner that the width of the entrance to the space between said jaws was the same as the width of the exit from said jaws. One feature of the present invention is to so form the concave ends of the fingers that the width of the passage out from between the concave endsof said jaws on the lower side shall be greater than the.-

width of the entrance between said fingers o the upper side for the purpose of more readily releasing the said fingers from the button at the time of the return movement of the fingers.

Another feature of the invention is to form the concaved ends of said fingers somewhatunden cut orbackwardly sloping on the under $16.6 so that; the ends of the fingers on ,the1r uppersldes will engage the rounded upper surface of the button head.

while the lower portion of the finger end retreats awayfrom the button.

The invention will be fully' understood from. the: following. description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features will be pointed out and clearly defined at the close of the specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva-,

tion partly in section of a portion of a raceway and connected parts embodying the invention and showing a portion of the operative parts therefor, the parts being shown in position where a button has been carried.

to the position for being threaded, the usual placer being omitted for the purpose of more clearly showing the parts which are the subject of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a .planview of the parts shown inFig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on line H of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is 'a ,plan view of the twobutton fingers detached.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of one of the button fingers. I

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view of one of the buttons of the formspecially adapted for use with the machine.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 represents the raceway, and 2 the raceway cover, the buttons 6 traveling downthe raceway in the usual manner. The particular form of raceway, however, will be .more particularly hereinafter described.

Any suitable form of mechanismfor-feeding the wire through the eye of the buttonv detail. .In the accompanying drawings a portion only ofthe mechanism is shown.

3 is an arbor. on which the wire t rests after it has been threaded through the eye 5 of the button 6.

'7 designates what vis termed the former which forms the loop of the fastener and is attached to a former holder 8 which is reshown.

When the button is in the position for re-' ceiving' the wire for the fastener, as shown in Fig. 1, a device called a placer is usually employed to hold the button against movement during the feeding of the wire to the former for the fastener, but the placer is not shown in the drawings.

The particular form of button shown in the drawings for illustration in connection with the machine is formed with a boss 16 on the under side of the head 6 of the but-ton into which the shank of the button eye extends.

The raceway 1 is formed with a groove or channel extending lengthwise thereof and of suflicient depth to receive the boss and eye of the button while the under side of the head rests upon the side lips 17 of the raceway. The outer part 18 of the groove in which the boss travels is relatively wide, said wider portion being considerably wider than the usual raceway groove, and being of sufiioient width and depth throughout its length to receive the neck or boss 16 of the buttons 6. The portion 19 of said groove in which the eye travels is made narrow, about the width of the ordinary raceway groove to receive the eye 5 of the button. That is, the groove, viewed in transverse section, is of two widths, a narrow lower portion for the eye and a wider top portion for the boss.

The block in which the raceway groove or channel is cut slopes downwardly from its upper to its lower end with relation to the bed 20 of the raceway until it finally thins down sufliciently so that the groove develops into a slot 21 through which the eye of the button extends, and at the very lower end portion the said slot 21 is broadened out into an opening 22 of sufficient width for the passage of the boss 16 as well as of the eye 5 of the button. The said bed plate 20 of the raceway is preferably of no greater thickness than the length of the boss or neck 16 of the button, and the edges 23 of said broadened portion 22 of the raceway slot are beveled to form a convenient seat for the beveled sides of the boss 16.

The button fingers, or button carrier fingers, 24, 24, are for the purpose described in said former Patent No. 1,070,170, namely, to take the lowermost button in the raceway at the proper time after the last previously 25, 25, one on each side of the raceway, tied together by 'a-yoke 26 which is arched over the top of the raceway and which is secured to the lower end of a rod 27, the other end of said rod 27 being connected with suitable mechanism, not shown, for reciprocating said carriage up and down parallel with the raceway at the proper times. The form of said carrier fingers is an improvement upon the form shown in said former patent.

The proximate ends 29 of said carrier fingers 24 are somewhat concaved and are undercut or formed with backwardly sloping faces 32. The proximate horns or corners 61, 61 on the upper side are nearer together than the proximate horns 62, 62 on the lower side, making a sort of concave flare. The purpose of having the upper corners more nearly together and of having a wider spread of the lower corners, is so that when they first grip the button they will more positively separate it from the one behind it, and when the fingers separate to release the button it will be released more quickly, and yet when in gripping engagement the button is securely held. When the said fingers grip the button 6, as shown in Fig. 3, the thin upper edges formed by the underiut Cpf the fingers 24 will engage the button The button carrier fingers 24 are formed with laterally projecting stop portions or shoulders 34 to engage the outer sides respecti'vely of the blocks 25 at the edge of the slot in which the said fingers slide so as to prevent the said carrier fingers from being moved inward beyond a limited distance sufiicient to grip the buttons. Pivotally connected between ears on the lower end of the raceway cover 2 by a pin 35 is a stop finger 36 which has a'tension spring 38 to normally hold the lower end down in front of the lowermost button in the raceway, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to hold the line of buttons in the raceway against movement until the proper time.

Two swinging finger cams 39, 39, one on each side of the raceway at a little distance therefrom, are fulcrumed respectively on studs 40 which rise from the head of the machine, said cams having cam-faced portions 41 which are adapted to be engaged by pins 42, 42, respectively rising from the outer portions of the carrier fingers 24. A

spring 43 extends across above the raceway and is connected at its opposite ends with pins 44 rising from the finger cams 39. Said spring tends to draw the lower arms of said cam fingers toward each other, but they are limited in their movement by the pins 45 rising from the head of the machine which engage the outer faces of the upper arms of the said finger cams. When the carrier fingers are in their uppermost or rearmost position, the pins 42 which rise from the carrier fingers are on the inner sides of the finger cams 39, the concave inner ends of the carrier fingers being then in engagement with the opposite sides of the lowermost button in the raceway. When the carrier fingers are moved down by the movement of the bar 27 said pins 42 engage the inner cam faces of the portions 41 of the cams 39, thereby swinging the finger cams 39 on their pivots and spreading open the cam portions 41 so as to allow said carrier fingers to move downward with the button. When said carrier fingers have moved down far enough for the pins 42 to ride past the portions 41, the spring 43 which will have become distended by the swinging movement of the finger cams, will contract and pull the finger cams back into normal position to the limit allowed by the stop pins 45 which engage the rear arms thereof, while the carrier fingers will continue to the lower end of their stroke, namely sufiicient to position the button as shown in Fig.2. The bar 27, and therefore the carrierfingers 24, will remain in their lowermost position holding the button until the proper time for returning the carrier fingers to the position to engage another button. The returnmovement of the carrier fingers may occur at any time after the button has been threaded with the wire for the fastener. The actuating mechanism for the button finger carrier forms no part of the present invention, nor do the fingers 39, but they are merely shown and described herein for convenience of understanding the use of the button carrier finers. g It is to be understood that after the button has been positioned as described, placer mechanism, which is not shown, comes into action to hold the said button in its position where left by the carrier fingers, and the carriage formed by the blocks 25 and the yoke 26 will be moved backward. During the initial rearward movement the rounded edge of the button will form a cam surface which will spread slightly the said carrier fingers until they move away from the button, then the pins 42 which rise from the carrier fingers will engage the outer faces of the cam portions 41 and spread the carrier fingers apart from each other against the tension of the spring47 until the said pins 42 have ridden up past the rear ends of the cam portions 41, whereupon said springs 47 will cause the carrier fingers to snap in toward each other and engage the lowermost button in the raceway above the button which has just been released by the carrier fingers. Said lowermost button which is thus engaged is then just above the stop finger 36, as shown in Fig. 1, thus gripping the button ready for the next downward movement of the carrier fingers.- VVhen the carrier fingers move down again they grip the button with sufficient firmness so that the pressure of the button will turn the stop pin 36 on its pivot so that the but-- ton can ride beneath it.

The raceway cover 2 is made adjustable to allow for varying sizes of buttons. The supporting and adjusting mechanism will now be described. The said cover2 is provided near its upper end with two opposite and downwardly extending ears or legs-48 which engage with and are vertically slidable in grooved guide ways in the side guide plates 49, 50, whichare fiXed to the bed 20.

Rising from the top of the cover is a boss 51 which is tapped out to receive the threaded stem 52 of an adjusting screw. Said adjusting screw is formed with a peripheral groove 54 between the two flange portions 53, 53. The side guide 50 extends upward higher than the cover of the raceway and has at its upper end a bifurcated flange 55 whose arms embrace the neck of the adjusting screw between the said two flanges 53,"

53. The said adjusting screw is formed with a head 56, preferably knurled, so that the adjusting screw may be easily turned. Inasmuch as the side guide 50 and the overreaching arm 55 are stationary with relation to the bed on which the raceway is mounted, when the said adjusting screw is turned, said screw will not rise or fall, but instead it will raise or lower the raceway cover, according to which way the said adjusting screw is turned. Inasmuch as the legs 48 of the cover fit within the groove and guide ways, although said grooves allow the cover to be raised and lowered, the cover is notcapable of any oscillating movement but is held rigidly so that when the adjusting screw is turned, the entire cover will be correspondinglv raised or lowered.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a button raceway, a reciprocable carriage having portions movable parallel with the raceway on each side thereof, two slidable fingers mounted on opposite sides of the raceway in said slidable carriage members, and slidable laterally with relation to the raceway and with relation to said carriage members, and tension mechanism which causes the said fingers to move toward each other and to grip a button in the raceway, said fingers being formed with their proximate ends concaved on their upper edges, the horns of the concave ends on the entrance side being nearer together than the horns on the exit side.

2. In combination with a button raceway, a reciprocable carriage having portions movable parallel with the raceway on each side thereof, two slidable fingers mounted on opposite sides of the raceway in said carriage members and slidable laterally with relation to the raceway and with relation to said carriage members, and tension mechanism which causes the said fingers to move toward each other and to grip a button in the raceway, said fingers being formed with their proximate ends concaved on their upper edges, the horns on the entrance side formed by the concave ends being nearer together than the horns on the exit side, said proximate ends being under cut and sloping downwardly and backwardly.

3. In combination with a button raceway, two button carrying fingers adapted to embrace a button on opposite sides thereof, said fingers being formed with their proximate ends concaved on their upper edges, the horns formed by the concave ends on the entrance side being nearer together than the l10I1'1S formed on the exit side. I

l. In combination with a button raceway, a cover therefor having on two opposite sides thereof downwardly extending arms, two side members rising respectively at opposite sides of said raceway and formed with guide grooves in which said arms are fitted to slide up and down with relation to the raceway, an adjusting screw, and a mount overhanging the raceway cover in which said adjusting screw is rotatably mounted, said mount being fixed with relation to the raceway, said adjusting screw having threaded connection with said raceway cover whereby by turning said screw said cover may be raised and lowered uniformly throughout its length.

5. In combination with a button raceway, a cover therefor having on two oppositesides thereof downwardly extending arms, two side members rising respectively at opposite sides of said raceway and formed with guide grooves in which said arms are fitted to slide up and down with relation to the raceway, an adjusting screw, and a mount for said screw overhanging the raceway cover, said screw having a shank formed with an annular groove, and said mount having a flange portion which engages with said annular groove whereby said adjusting screw is permitted to be rotated and is held against a longitudinal movement during its rotation, said screw having threaded connection with the cover of the raceway whereby by turning the screw the cover will be raised and lowered.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

GEORGE W. PERKINS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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