US1557046A - Art of wood-heel making - Google Patents

Description

' N. L. GULLlFORD ART OF WOOD HEEL MAKING v v Filed A112. 21, 1923 s Sheets-Shoot 1 Oct. 13, 1925. 1,557,046 N. L. GULLIFORD ART or wool) HEEL MAKING Filed Au. 2].. 1923 3 Sheets-Shoot 2 Oct- 13, 1925- v N. L. GULLIFORD ART OF WOOD HEEL MAKING 3 Sheets-Shut 5 Filed A112. 21. 1923 Patented Oct. '13, 1925.

UNITED STATE PATENT, OFFICE.

NICHOLAS I. GULLIFORD, OF PEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GREGORY &;

READ COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- SETTS.

ART OF WOOD HEEL MAKING.

Application fllcd'August 21, 1923. Serial No. 658,647.,-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS L. GULLI- roan, a citizen of the United States. and aresident of Peabody, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Wood-Heel Making, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the art. of wood heel making and is particularly concerned with the shaping operation by which the breast face or exterior under outer side of the forwardly projecting shank lip of the heel is convexly curved to conform to the transverse curvature of the shank .of the shoe to which the wood heel is applied, and is in the nature of an improvement in the practice, and upon the apparatus described in my Letters Patent of the United States #1,433,002 dated October 24, 1922.

Wood heels are commonly made for use on womens shoes and are usually of the style or type known as Louis or. French heels. For such use the heels must, when finished, present smooth clean-cut surfaces and corners, and in the operation of cutting the superfluous stock from the heel to give the shank portion of the breast the desired transversely arched v or convex shape, it is of much importance to avoid a substantial percentage of loss or waste through breakage or the production of an undesirable number of imperfect heels having ragged or splintered corners on the side where they shank shaping cutter leaves the work.

To this end my invention comprises a backing orsupport against the thrust of the cutter for the side of the heel adjacent the corner formed by the shank' shaping cutter at the junction of said side and breast as it leaves the work, that chipping, tear ing or splitting of the wood is prevented and a sharply defined and clean-cut corner .is produced.

In explanation of my. improved-process and apparatus I have shown a machine or apparatus of the type described in my aforesaid patent, which machine operates upon a partially formed wood heel; that is, a wood heel that is completely shaped with the exception of the operation of shank shaping, but the present invention is not limited to apparatus of that particular type.

holder shown in Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a plan view of one form of mold that may be used in carrying. out my invention.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of the mold shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 7 is a section Figs. 5 and 6.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a wood heel before being operated upon by the machine herein shown.

Figure 9 is'a perspective view of one of the jaws'hereinafter described, showing the same partially completed.

The machine herein shown comprises a rotatable internal cutter head 1 mounted upon a shaft 2 journaled'in stationary bearings on the frame, said cutter head being disposed opposite a work holder 3that is mounted upon a carriage 4 movable towardand from the cutter head. Cutter head 1 carries cutting blades 5 each having a curved cutting edge corresponding in shape with the shape that is to be given to the shank and upper portion of the breast of the heel. The heel on line 77 of that is to beoperated upon is placed upon the bed 9 of the work holder between two holding jaws 6 and 7 by which it is clamped and held immovable upon the bed 9 while the carriage 4 and the work holder are moved toward and from the cutter head.

When the carriage is moved toward the cutter head to the limit of its movement in that direction as determined by the stops 8, the shank portion it of the heel H is carried into position against the outer endsof the blades 5 and also between said blades and the axis of the cutter head as fully described in my patent referred to above, so that said blades sweep across said shank portion and give to the same a transversely convex shape as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, said shank portion being originally of the shape shown m Fig. 8 and being reduced by this operation, atthe shank end of the breast, to a very thin .edge owing to the fact that the top of the heel is-concaved to fit the convex portion of the heel of the shoe to which it is applied.

It will therefore be clear that the cutters reduce the shank end of the breast of the wood heel to very frail and weakproportions so that, in a machineof this kind, unless the material of the heel at the side of the breast immediately adjacent the latter is support ed against the thrust of the cutting bladcs,.

' ported as pointed out the heel block is liable to be splintered, split or made ragged at any place within the range of the cutting edges ofthe blades. Heretofore, when operating upon heels, or heel blanks withoutsuch side support the percentage of loss through breakage, ragged corners, splintering and the like, has been very large. My present invention completely eliminates this loss and it contemplates both improved apparatus for shaping the breast portions of wood heels, or heel blanks, and involves a novel method of making the same, particularly the work holding means thereof.

The jaw 6 is provided with a shank 10 formed with a slot 11 to receive a bolt 12 y means of which latter the shank and jaw are clamped rigidly to the bed 9. The opposite jaw 7 is fast to the end of the slide bar 13 which is manually operated and controlled as described in my prior patent. The

heel to be operated upon by the machine has its shank portion shaped as in Fig. 8 and is placed between the two jaws 6 and .7 and jaw 7 is pressed and held firmly against the heel while it is being operated .upon by the cutter head.

The inner work engaging face of each jaw I has a shape that is a counterpart of the shape of the side of the heel engaged by it, so that when a heel is clamped between the .two jawsthe latter fit against the .sides of the heel throughout the area of. each work engaging face, and thus'the heel is held aga-inst'movement in any direction.

As will be clear from Fig.3, which is an elevation. of the heel holder viewed away from the cutter head, the fixed jaw 6 isthe rearor abutment jaw of the pair and'supportsthe work against the thrust of the cutting blades, while the chief function of the opp'o'sitdj'a'w"? is to hold the work 5 the rear fixed jaw 6 and to co-operate with the latter in holding the work down upon the bed 9. The cutting blades, rotating in the direction of .the arrow in Fig. 3, pass above the shank portion of the breast and shape the latter between the points h and [L2, Fig. 8. There is, of course, little or no tendency on the part of the cutters to split or splinter the work as they come into engagcment with the same adjacent the jaw 7, but unless t-hcjaw 6 properly backs up and supports the heel at the opposite side thereof, the critters will injure, and fre-. quently destroy the heel. For'this reason the work engaging face of the jaw 6 is made of a shape and size to engage the side of the heel immediately adjacent the curved corner thereof at the junction of the rear-most side of the heel with the breast thereof from the point h to the point 71, That is to say, the work engaging face of the jaw 6 is made.

witha heel engaging and supporting side edge portion 6 conforming in shape to both the side and breast of the heel, said edge portion being .co-extensive with the cu made by the blade, or blades, and coinciding with the corner of the heel as finally shaped by the cutter head. Preferably the jaw 7 is a counterpart of the jaw 6 but this is not essential.

To produce the jaws 6 and 7 I may provide and use a mold such as shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. This mold comprises a base section 14 and two top sections 15 and 16 held in proper positions relatively by means of dowel's 17. 'The mold sections are formed so that when assembled they provide a cavity 18 within which is placed the ends of the slide bar 13 and shank -10 as shown in Figs. 5 and 7. and also a core H which may be a wood heel like that shown in Fig. 8 or Fig. 4. or a heel shaped core of any other suitable material-1-may be used. that corresponds with the heels that are to .be operated upon. Babbitt metal is then poured into the mold until level with the top of the latter. Upon cooling. the casting is removed from the mold and cut into two parts, one fast on the end of slide bar 13 and the other upon the end of shank 10. These two' parts are then snagged and trimmed to reduce. the

jaw 6 to the shape: shownin Fig. 9 andf the jaw 7 to a counterpart shape. The two jaws i in their partially formed state are thenassembled or incorporated in the machine. A wood heel is then placed in position upon the work holder and the machine operated.

'As the heel and-cutter head are brought to-' gether the blades of the latter 0 rate upon the breast sides of the relative y soit babbitt jaws 6 and 7 facing the cutter head and give to the same a shape exactl conforming to, and coincident with the roast and shank portion of theheel. This final shaping of thebreast-side or the rear' jaw.

v byothe cutters oft .up for operating upon heels, is the distinorated in the machine, clatter as they are set 6, after it is inco guishing and important feature of the method by which my new apparatus or ma chine is produced. As willbe clear, the machine is in condition to o erate upon wood heels after this first jaw s aping oper: ation.

Other material than babbitt ma be employed in making the jaws, particu arly the aw 6,. and other methods than casting may be employed to properly shape its work engaging face and other parts preliminary to the final shaping of the breast side thereof by the cutter head. v

While I have herein shown my invention in connection with a machine of the kind illustrated and described in my patent above referred to, it should be clear that'the same may be used in conjunction with any type of machine for shank shaping the breast of a turned and grooved heel.

What I claim is:

1. A work holder for a machine of the character described having an abutment engaging that side of the heel where the cutter leaves the work to support the material of the sameimmediately adjoining the path of the cutter against the lateral thrust of the latter, said abutment being molded with a heel engaging face'that is a counterpart of and conforms to the shape of the side of the heel and having a corner adjacent the breast of the heel coinciding with the corner at the side of the breast of a heel as finished by the cutter.

2. A work holder for a machine of the character described having an abutment engaging that side of the heel where the cutter leaves the work tosupport the material of the same immediately 1 adjoining the path of the cutter against the lateral thrust of thelatter; said abutment being molded with a heel engaging face that is a counterpart of and conforms to the shape of the side of the heel and having av corner adjacent the breast of the heel coinciding with and supporting the material of the corner at the side of the breast of the-heel as finished by the cutter.

3. The method of producing apparatus for use in shaping wood heels which consists in constructing the holder of said apparatus with an abutment member molded 'with'a face that is counterpart of and fits against the side of the ratus; then eo-operativelv combining said holder with cutting mec anism, and then operating the apparatus to cause the cutting mechanism to trim and shape the breast side heel at which the cutter leaves the work to support the material thereof against the thrust of the cutter of the appah l of said abutment so as to rovide said side i with a corner adjacent sai face coinciding with and supporting the material of the corner at the side of the breast of a heel as finished by said cutting mechanism.

4. The improvement in the art of making wood heels which consists in producing the work holder of the shaping apparatus'by first constructing the work holder with an abutment member for engaging the side of the heel at which the cutter leaves the work to support the material thereof against the thrust of the cutter of the apparatus; then co-operatively combining said holder with cutting mechanism, and then operating the apparatus to cause the cutting mechanism to shape the breast side of said abutment so that said side conforms to and coincides with the finished contour of the breasts of the heels shaped by the apparatus.

5. he improvement in the art of making wood heels which consists in producing the work holder of the shaping apparatus by" side thereof that engages'the heel molded to a shape that is a counterpart of the shape of portion of the heel engaged by it; then co-operatively combining said holder with cutting mechanism, and then operating the apparatus to cause the cutting mechanism to shape the breast side of said abutment so that said side conforms to and coincides with the. finished contour of the breasts of the heels shaped by the apparatus.

6. A work holder for a machine of the character described comprising a pair of jaws engaging opposite sides of the heel to hold the latter in position while. the heel is being operated upon, the heel engaging face of each jaw'being a counterpart of the portion of the heel engaged by it.

7. A work holder for a machine of the character described comprising a pair of jaws engaging opposite sides of the heel to 'hold operated upon, the heelengaging face of each jaw being a counterpart of the portion of the heel engaged by it, and each of said faces having a side edge adjacent the breast which conforms to and coincides with the adjacent corner at the junction of its side of the heel andthe breast of the finished In testimony whereof-,1 have 'aflixedmy signature; 1

* NICHQIiAS L. 'GULLIFORD.

the latter in-position while being

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