US1586555A - Cushion heel - Google Patents

Description

June l ,"1926. n J. B.-HADAWAY c usHIoN HEEL Filed Dec. 11, 1922 /NVENTUR -iatented `lune l, 1926. Y,

OFFICE:

`JoHN E. HADAWAmoE swnmrscofrn JIAssAcHcsEr'rs, AssIGNon ro UNITED sHoE-gi MACHINERY CORPORATION,y or rA'rEnsoN, NEW JERSEHQA coRronA'rIoN 0E NEW JERSEY. y j

' cUsHIoN HEEL.

Applicatie); med Decemperii, i922. seiiarivtfeeies.

This invention"relates"v cushion heels and has forits object thennprovement of suchmheelsin respect -to economy and kfa-V cility' of manufacturev and easej of attachment. n f Inas-much ascushion j Aheelsrare usually madehofl rubber or some materialor composition having similar characteristics,. the

termrubber,heel'wi1l-for convenience, be

used herein to. refer tosuch heels; but ity should"be` understood that,. wherever this expression is jused `in the following vspeci- Vlicationfand appended claims, it is to/be construed to cover a Vcushion Yh'eejl Vmadeof zov " area including a vplurality of thefnailingL locations V:is vulcanized into ia rubber heel.. Such Va plate, must beg-rovidedwith holesl any suitablejresilient' material having the general characteristlcs of rubber or rubber compositions Certain difficulties arise, bothinthemanu- `facture of thefheel andin its attachment to a-pshoe,\when a stiffening ojrfsupporting member or' 'plate extending throughout Ian for the passage ofthe.- eel-'.attachingnails, and the first diiiicultyarises in locating the plate upon thev supporting pinsinthe vulcanzing mold in which the heel is made.` .Under ordinary manufacturing conditions these molds aresubjected to more' or f less rough treatment 'and they pins often become.V somewhat 4bentf-'with,theresult that a ,plate Y havingrholes Vof approximately the ysize of the pins and fixed asv'to spacingcannot be heel mold is not thesame kas that ofthe holes ink the nailing Vdie ofthe heel attaching machine because,in the construction ofy such molds, the pins arespacedY to allow for shrinkage vof the heel .inthe curing-process. It, iS, therefore, easily understood .that a spacing and'l arrangement of holes in a stiffeningplate which willt l'they pins ink Y the heel mold will not v-tithe `patternof the; nailing producedbythe heel attaching machineV If it be attemptA toy overcome these difficulties by -making lthe .,-holes the stifa suflcientamount `to infener oversize b Y Y insure fthef possi iility 'of i their being k:placed upon the y1 pimV inflate; ,heelmold and Permitthe apertures in the stifle-ning ting-.fthe heel attaching nails to bedriven through them, failure vwill 'result because the holes will be so large that the headssof the,y

asf

attaching nails wilhpassthrough them, and' i the nails Will havefno substantial holdingm rrpowerV 1n therubber.;l e Y y e,

By the present invention a stiffening 'vor supporting member,` element, or plate is prof vided by which the r,above-mentioned dif- 7 ficulties are overcome Without sacrificing the .necessary anchorage for the heads of the attaching nails 'In the illustrated embodi! mentV ofthe invention, wherein three of vthe attaching nails pass through the stiening7 element, elongated .openings of a width just* `suficient for the easy ypassage ofthe shank V.portionsL ofthe'v nails are provided. These Vopenings'may conveniently be inthe formof .slots through which theheads kkof thev nails cannot pass. By Varranging-two ofthe slots approximately in alinement andathird slot atja right angle to theiirst two themaximum of efficiencyn is secured; The virtue of this novel construction and arrangement re-l sides in the fact that the stifening element I maybeplaced easily upon the corresponding. pins inthe vulcanlzingmold, regardless of variations in their spacing and lwill never-v y theless be definitely located in' the mold and held positlvely against horizontal movement in any direction ;.L and furthermore that the v attaching nails; whosel spacing is determined bythe spacing ofy the holes in the nailing die of .the heeling machine,will`easily iin passlthrough them lwith certainty,

The ends of the stfening memberfmay adyantageously projectr forwardly and lie quite close tothe side edges ofy the heel at its breast'corners, thus overcoming a difficulty met when trimmingbases to ywhich the rubber heels at present in use are attached.

memberand l i 90 This difficulty arises from the-fact that, when theshoeis presented kto the heel trimming machine to trim the base to thejcontour of therubber section, the comparativethe top lift guard kof the-trimming cutter liciently to permitthe cutter to cut too ydeeply into the heel base, with the result,v that an producey a smooth, continuoussurface around the edge of .the heel, and theY intendedshape frequently yields at the breastecorners suf-, `r

10e e `ly soft rubber'whic'h serves asa guide for of the heel is more or less departed from, usually to the detriment of its appearance. This trouble is eliminated by the heel herein disclosed, which cannot yield inwardly at the sides of the breast corners to any material extent, because the rubber is amply supported atthese important places by the stiltening member. J

While the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated and described in detail comprises a heel provided with a stiiening element located in and extending across the breastportion o'l the heel, and including the three breast nails, the invention is capable of many variations and may be embodied in heels having inserted elements of various other speciic forms and in other possible locations.

The invention and its advantages will be more fully understood and appreciated by reading the following detailed description of one practical form thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tread face of a rubber heel embodying the invention, with a portion broken away to reveal the internal construction Fig. 2- is a cross sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on the same line as Fig. 2, showing the heel attached tc a slice; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stiftening element cr insert.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indi cates a cushion heel which may be ci any desired or suitable thickness and mayy be a whole heel or a half heel. `1n the illustrated heel locations are provided for six attaching nails but it. will be understood that the number of such nailing locations may be varied as desired. As shown, the nailing lo cations arerdesignated in the usual manner by the provision of cavities or indent-ations 12, at the centers ci' which the nails are to be driven. Ink register with certa-in of the cavities 12 are nail engaging washers la ot the usual form.

In the breast portion of the heel is a supporting and stiiening element 16, herein shown in the form of a relatively long and narrow metallic plate extending from one side to the other of the heel close tc the heel breast and having pointed projections 18 extending laterally of the plate and reaching into the breast corners of the heel. The dimensions and contour of the element 16 are.

such that the iiexibility of the heel apart from the breast portion thereof is unimpaired, and the ends of said element preferably lie quite close to the side edges of the heel at the breast corners.

f 20, 22 and 24C indicate the holes left in the heel by the pins in the rubber heel vulcanizing mold upon which the washers are usually supported in the process of molding the heel. The plate 16 has three slots 26, 28 and 30 which are so arranged as to permit the plate to be placed upon and supported by the three mold pins last-men tioned. lThe width of these slots is the same as the diameter of the holes in the washers 111 and is sutlicient to permit the passage ci' the sha-nk of a rubber heel attaching nail, but not the head. 9

An important 'feature consists in arranging the central slot 28 at right angles to the slots 26 and 30, as shown. rfhis makes it possible tc place the plate 16 easily upon the three mold pins regardless ct' any inaccuracy in their spacing or any bending ot the pins which may have occurred although aft-er the plate is once located upon the pins the plate is securely held against horizontal movement in any direction. The plate and the washers 14C having been placed upon the pinsin the heel mold the plastic material oli' which the heel is tc be made is placed in the mold and the heel is then formed and vulcanized in the usual manner.

`When the heel is attached to a shoe the three breast nails are driven through the slots 26, 28 and 30 respectively, the peculiar disposition and arrangement of the slots making it possible to easily aline a suiiicient portion oit each slot with the corresponding hole in the nailing die of the standard cominercial heeling machine to permit the nails tc be driven through the slots with certainty, even though the spacing between the holes in the nailing die is not identical with that oi the pins in the heel mold. The attaching nails, which are shown at 32 in Fig. 3, are driven and clinched in the usual manner. These nails place the plate 16 in a state of tension and, when the heel is normally ccncavo-conveX in cross section, as illustrated, the plate will be somewhat deformed by the torce exerted upon it by the attaching nails as they draw the rubber heel down iat against the heel base, which is indicated at Sat in Fig. 3. A comparison of Figs. 2 and 3 will show clearly hcw the plate 16 is sprung or bent when the nails are driven. then the plate 16 is thus placed in a state of tension the vprojecting corners 18 draw the heel, particularly at its breast corners, down very tightly against the base. The plate 16 is preferably of spring steel in order that it may, when under tension, continue permanently to press the cushion heel tight- 1y into engagement with the base to which it is attached. Experience has demonstrated that the attachment of this heel is so tight and secure that there is nc necessity for the use of cement, and, consequently, a very ma terial saving in the cost of the heel attaching operation is realized.

Apertures, such as slots v36, may be formed in the plate 16, permitting the rubber on opposite sides oi.' the plate to meet and vulcanize togeth'erto afford Va secure anchorage for the plate in the heel. These apertures ,are preferably llocated betweenthe nailingv slots, as shown,for the purpose' of'making the part ofthe lplate between kthe slots 26,

V more flexible than the projectingl end por-l tions of the plate, which are solid. The

resultof this is that the solid, relatively stiff, end portions of the plate' act, in a measure, as fulcra when the breast corners of the heel are pressed down tightly upon the heel base and the force exerted by the two nails driven through the vslots 26, 30 hasl a tendency to bend the middle of the plate toward the heel base, producing a tight `joint across the breast even though, as is sometimes the case, v the shank Ystii'ener of the shoe Vprojects rearf Wardly under the heel so farthat it would interfere with the lcenterV breast nail and the latter is consequently omitted. Y

The ends of the'plate v16 are so closeto theside edges of therheel at its breast corners that the rubber cannot yieldy inwardly to any material, extent' when the heel is pressed against the top lift guard of the heel trimming machine, `and the undercutting of the base, Which is the cause of great annoyance inthe trimming of bases to Which the rubber heels now in use have been at-V tached, is'prevented at and .ne'arthe .breast corners, Vwhich is the only place VWhere the troubleY is serious. f

A cushion heel khavingvon treaddface designated nailing locations, 'at certain kof Which are provided nail head engaging Washers and at another of which 1s provided claimed in my co-pendingapplication, Serial No. 607,077, filed December 15, 1922.

Having described the invention What. is

claimed as new and Letters Patentjis: v l

l. A rubber heel supporting or stiffening desired to be secured by to the two `first mentioned. n 2. A rubber heel normally of curved cross ,astiffening' member of larger area than vone of the Washers is not 'claimed herein but 1s 1,

section having therein a resilient, normally flat, stilening` element extendingfrom side to sidekof the breast portiononly of the heel and extending into. the breast corners thereof, said heel being deformable to ilatness, whereby the stiening element is placed -in a state of tension and the'breast corners of the heel are pressed tightly against ya shoe when the heel is attached to the shoe.

3. A rubber heel having'Y therein an elongated, resilient, sti'fening element ext-ending z from-side to side yofthe breast portion only of theV heel, said stiilening element kbeing moreexible at its center than at its ends.v In; testimonywhereo-f I have name to this specification.

vJOHN B. HADAWAY.

signed Ymy f

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