US14430A - Elisha pratt - Google Patents

Description

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ELISHA PRATT, OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO E. PRATT AND H. P. UPTON, ASSIGNORS TO E. PRATT AND T. P. PINGREE.

LEATHER-SPLITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 14,430, dated March 11, 1856.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ELisHA PRATT, of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Splitting Leather, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in whichd Fig. l, is a plan; Fig. 2, a vertical section upon the line A, A, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a section through the feed rolls, the upper one, or gage roll being swung out of its working position; Fig. 4, a section through the working parts in operation; Fig. 5, a vertical section on the line B, B, of Fig. l; Fig. 6, a vertical section through the bearings of the lower'roll on the line C, C, of Fig. 1; Fig. 7a view from beneath of one of the plates by means of which the position of the boxes b is adjusted.

In leather splitting machines of that class in which t-he leather passes in between two rolls, the upper or gage roll is held rigidly that it may gage the grain to the thickness required and the under roll being held up to its work by springs, is allowed to yield slightly as the thickness of the hide varies. It often happens however that the leather hangs in the machine, and bags before the knife; in such cases itbecomes necessary to relieve it, either by reversing the operation of the rolls, or in some other way, considerable delay is thus occasioned, and it is often difficult to extricate the hide or to drive it through without injuring both the leather and the machine. To remedy this inconvenience is the object of my present invention which consists in so hanging the lower roll that while it may be allowed to yield as heretofore to accommodate itself to the varying thickness of the split, it may also be depressed out of the way whenever it becomes necessary to remove or adjust the hide.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

My machine is of that class in which the leather is fed in upon an elastic feed apron andv is forced or propelled against the edge of the knife by feed rolls.

In the accompanying dra-wings D, is the elastic feed apron for which Letters Patent were ,granted to me on the 19 of December, 1854. The journals a (Fig. 6) of this roll run in .boxes b, which slide in housings H attached to the sides of the frame work E.

d is a plate suspended from the boxes4 I), by the screws C, which pass through holes in the plates, and enter the bottom of the boxes; the plates and boxes are separated by springs f, and thus .while the lower roll is forced up by the expansion of the springs, it can descend independently of the plates, as the thickness of the leather increases. rlhe distance to which it can ascend being limited by the position of the plates which is regulated by the levers I, pivoted to the brackets K, at z'.

L, is a connecting rodwhich unites the short arm of the lever I, with the plates CZ. by means of which the position of these plates is adjusted and the throat is adapted to the thickness of the hide to be split.

M, is the stationary knife which is secured to the cross bar N, attached to the housing I-I.

O, is the gage roll which revolves in theboxes P, upon the arms Q; t-hese arms vibrate around another shaft, R the boxes S v of which, slide in the standards U, and are gaged by the screws T, to regulate the ydistance of the roll O from the knife. The

springs g keep the boxes in cont-act with the p screws.

The power which actuates themachine is applied to the cog wheels A2, upon a short shaft projecting from one of the standards V. This wheel engages with the gear B2, upon the shaft of the bite roll C2, which shaft also carries the pinion D2 which may be caused to rotate with the gear'B2, by means of the clutch F2, operated by the lever G2.

E2 is an intermediate gear that engagesl with the pinion D2, and also with the wheel H2, upon the lower feed roll, this latter wheel engages with a similar wheel I2 upon the shaft of the gage roll O, by which means these rolls are `both driven.

In order to enter the hide promptly between the feed roll, the upper roll O, isy swung out of position as seen in Fig. 3, its cog wheel I2 at the same time disengaging itself from the gear H2, by which it is driven; wherever the gage roll is returned to its place, as in the other figures its wheel I2 engages with that upon the lower roll and the two are again revolved together.

Ordinarily the leather is propelled through the machine and against the edge of th-e knife by driving the feed rolls; in such case the wheel D2 is clutched with the gear B2, and should the leather bag behind the rolls, the operator by placing his hand upon the bite roll (Fig. 4L) can draw that portion of the hide through and cause it again to run straight. If at any time it becomes necessary to stop the rolls, and draw the leather through, this may be done by un clutching the wheels D2 and B2 and carrying the leather through solely by the bite roll. hen the leather is light and soft it may be drawn through altogether by the bite roll. I am thus enabled in the same machine to draw, and propel at the same time, or to do either one withoutthe other, according to the nature of the leather to be operated upon.

It often happens that the leather hangs in the machine and stops it, it is then diflicult to start it either one way or the other, or to extricate it without injury from the rolls. In the above described machine it is simply vnecessary to depress the lower roll by raising the levers I, and the difficulty may be instantly removed. It sometimes occurs when the leather is carried through the machine by the rolls, that the grain does not rise regularly and evenly over the knife, and is in consequence not left of uniform thickness. I have discovered that this may be remedied by feeding the upper surface of the leather faster than the lower, for this purpose I have made the upper roll of slightly larger diameter than the lower one. I have found when the upper roll is of about i inch greater diameter thanthe lower one with the thickness of the apron added, that the evil is entirely remedied.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- So hanging and arranging the lower roll as described, by means of the levers I, connecting rods L and plates cl or their equivalents, that it may be depressed when required for the purpose of relieving and adjusting the hide as set forth.

ELISHA PRATT.

lllitnesses JosHUA PHJPPEN, WV. C. ENDIcoTT.

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