US1639353A

US1639353A - Machine for attaching pins to leaves

Info

Publication number: US1639353A
Application number: US136883A
Authority: US
Inventors: Henry R Schlueter; Alphonsus H Hatke
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1926-09-21
Filing date: 1926-09-21
Publication date: 1927-08-16
Anticipated expiration: 1944-08-16

Description

I -1,s39,35 Aug' 16 1927 H. R. scHLuErr-:R E1' Al. 3

ummm ron A'xucnma Plus 'r LEAVES' Filed sept. 21. 192s v1: sheen-sheet, .1

H. R. SCHLUETER ET AL l MACHINE FOR ATTACHING PINS TO LEAVES Filed Sept. 21. 1926 3 Sheets-Shoe;1 2

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gwn-tors H' ../gch uefr V ///a'l/e Aug. 16, 1927.

H. R. scHLuETER 1:1 AL MACHINE FOR-ATTACHING PINS T0 LEAAVES Filed sept. 21. 1926 5 Sheets-Shee''.- 3

I 0 /ai'l/e 551g e i 'l Patented Aug. 16, 1927.

narran stares natuur carica.

HENRY n. scHLUnrnn AND ALrHoN'sUs H. Hamlin, on RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

MACHINE ATTACHXNG PINS TO LEAVES,

Application led September 21, 1926. Serial No.y 136,883.

This invention relates to the art of preparing leaves for use in making wreaths and particularly to machines'whereby the leaves may be attached to a ypin or prong auto-A matically so that these leaves may afterwards be assembled to forni wreaths, garlands, or other flower pieces.7

Today .in the preparation of wreaths and the like, leaves are attached by hand to pins or prongs. Usually the stems of the leaves are wired to the pins or prongs and then the pins may be inserted ina foundation coinposed of moss or like material until this base or foundation is covered with overlapping l5 leaves. This takes time and more orless y skilled labor and the general object of the present invention is 'to provide a machine which will automatically attach to the stem of a leaf or leaves an anchoring member or pin preferably in the form of an arrow which may be readily inserted within the moss base of the piece to be constructed.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of this character' whereby a rplurality Vof leaves in overlapping relation and each slightly offset from the other may be connected by their stems to a common pin of sheet metalv and kprovide means whereby the stems of aplurality of leaves may be cut oif evenly to belengaged by thepin.

A further object is to provide a' machine of this character in whichf'the leaves are 'supported in a` magazine and fed to the pin attaching mechanism andin which the pins arestruck out of a strip of metal by'dies and anotherV object .is to provide. a machine `in which the pins are formed with an arrowshaped head and two legs attlie rear lend of the shaft, these legs being bent over and 40 around the stems of a plurality of leaves to thus attach the leaves to theV pins.l y

Uur invention is illust-rated in the accom panying drawingsv wherein -f j Figure '1 is a top plan view of'anvembodi- Ynient of our invention; ,K Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fie'. 3-is a longitudinal vertical sectional t3 v `view of the machine;

Fig. 4f is atransverse Ysectional"view lon the line lf-1 of Figure 3;

Fig. 5 is a detailed plan view of the pin or pick forming die members; 6 is a detailed sectional view showing the action of the pins or plungers 62;

v'are attached to weights 22.

Fig. 7 is asview of a portion of the metal strip ont of Vwhich the pins or picks are formed by the die members;

.Fig 8 is a view in the nature of a diagram, showing how the leaves overlap.

Referring tov these drawingsit will be seen that we have provided a supporting frame designated generally 10 and which may be of any suitable construction. Mounted upon one end of the frame is the maga-v zine 11 having longitudinally slotted side walls 12, the slots being designated 13. Op,- erating over tlie bottom 14 of the magazine and longitudinally thereof is a follower 15,

the front face of which is cut away at 16, this out away port-ion extending downward for a predetermined distance and then downwardf'and forward and being transversely concave.

by pins 18 which extend laterally from the follower and engage, in the slots 13. Slides 19 arevmounted upon the exterior of the side walls and engage with said pins and cords or ,Gables 20 are attached to kthese slides and pass over pulleys 21 mounted upon the sides of the magazine and extend downward and Thus, the follower will be drawn toward the vforward end of the magazine. The leaves'A are disposed in this magazine with their stems upward. A

lvlloun'tedupon adjustable brackets 23 on each side of the wall of the magazine is a shaft 24' carrying a kpair of V'rubber rollers 24 which extend transversely across the front of the magazine just above the bottom thereof andthe front of -the magazine is provided with a cross bar 25 having downwardly extending resilient fingers 26. j Mounted upon :the rollers 27 disposed immediately below the rollersv 24 is 'an' endless belt 28 which, atits opposite end, is supported upon a roller 29, the bearings 30 for j The follower is supported by the yrollers 17 at the bottom of the follower and whichl are supported in slots 31 in the frame 'and are longitudinally adjustable by means -of this endless belt approximates closely the upper Hight of the belt 28 and both belts move in theV saine direction.` There are a pair of upper belts k35 anda pair of lower,l

ill

'platen 36.

belts 26, the belts of each pair being spaced from each other, as sho-wn in Figure l. Disposed above the space between the belts and immediately rearward of the rollers 24 is a This is supported by two posts 37 extendingl upward loosely through transverse rods o8. @oiled compression springs 39 are disposed betweenthe rods 38 and the platen and uroe this platen downward. The platen at its forward end is widened so as to forni a triangular portion 4() which extends beneath the inner ends of the rollers 24.

Disposed between the upper and lower flights of the belt 28 rearward of the platen is a wooden roller 4l having a width equa to the space between the two lower belts 28 and disposed above this wooden roller 4l is a cutting roller 42 mounted upon a transverse shaft 43 which is cut away at 44 at one point and provided with a knife blade 45. This shaft is supported at its ends in bearings 46 and compression springs 47 are disposed on each side of this bearing and yieldinglj,Y support the saine and the tension of these springs may be regulated by means of the screws 4S, one for each bearing. The leaves which are discharged from the magazine and carried :forward by the upper and lower belts have their stems cut ott' by the knife 45. n Y

lispo'fed rearward of the rollers 4l and 42 and above the space between the belts is the longitiidinallyv extending platen 49 supported upon the posts 50 extending through the transverse bars 5l carried by the frame of the machine, the platen being urged downward by the coiled compression springs 52. Disposed between the two lower belts 28 and operating in this space and beneath the platen 49 are two

rotatable dies

53 and 54, onebeing a male die and the ot1 i161 2l. female and operating between the contacting facefs of these dies is a strip of metal B which is mounted upon a reel or spool supported in bearings on the frame of the machine. The strip of metal B has a width less than the space between. the pairs of belts and passes upward between guide rollers 56 and between the

rotatable dies

53 and 54. These dies are so formed as to punch out from the metal strip arrow-like pins o, each of these pins, as shown in Figure 7, having a trian-I gular head Zi and laterally projecting lugs 52 which intersect the shaft of the arrow.

rlhe leaves are fed downward from the magazine with their stems upward and, therefore, the stems of the leaves extend rearward as the leaves pass between and are carried along by the two pairs of belts 28 and 35. lnnnediately above the rotatable die 54 there is disposed a roller 57 mounted upon a shaft 58 supported in vertically movable bearings 59 which are urged downwarc by means of a coiled compression spring 607 the tension of which is adJustable by means of the screw 6l. It will be seen that the pin has its head and lugs of the same width as the width of the strip so that when the pin is cut from the strip the remainder of the strip immediately7 around the pin will be completely detached from the body of the strip and ill fall downward while the pin itself will be carried upward and rearward by the roller 54 and brought into contact against the undersides of the leaves with the lugs b2 on each side of the stems of the leaves. l

Mounted upon the die 54 on each side of the recess within which the pin is disposed are small plungers 62. The heads 63 of these plungers as the die rotates engage with fixed cams 64 having inclined cani projections 65 and these cam projections 65 cause the plungers 62 on each side of the pin to be forced inward, thus turning the lugs over upon the stems. as shown in Figure 6, thus clipping the anchor or pin to the three stems. The two or three leavesy whosestems have been attached to the anchor are now carried rearward and discharged Vonto the downwardly extending chute 66.

lt will be understood that, as before remarked. the leaves are placed in the magazine with their stems upward, the leaves being as far as possible of uniform size and such as are commonly used for forming wreaths. by the rollers 24 which frictionally engage the-belt 28, and the leavesr are drawn between the rollers 27 and rollers 24 and onto the lower belt 28 and between the two belts 28 and 35. The leaves are disposed in overlapping relation to each other but out of exact alignment so that the leaves are odset, as shown in Figure 8, and thus it is necessary to provide means for cutting the three stems by a single cutter so that the three stems will terminate at the same point. This is done by the cutter 45 which is driven with the roller 4l in turn driven by a gear wheel 67.

`Any desired means may be used for oper-- ating the several instrumentalities described. Thus, l have illustrated a motor operated shaft 68 carrying a worm 69 which operates a worm whee'l 70 mounted upon a vertical y This vertical shaft carries thebevshaft 7l. eled gear wheel 7 2 which meshes with a beveled gear wheel 7 3 mounted upon a longitudinally extending shaft 74, The beveled gear wheel 73 drives the gear wheel through a gear wheel 75 mounted upon Athe shaft of the gear wheel 67 Mounted upi'nr the shaft 74 is gear wheel 76 which engages with a beveled gear wheel 53a moi ed upon the shaft .supporting the diei; Also mountedupon this shaft is a gear wheel 53b which engages with a gear wheel 54 mounted upon the shaft carrying the die f' Engaging the gear wheel 67 is a gear whril rlibe leaves are drawn downward 77 which meshes Witha gear wheel 27 on the shaft supporting the rollers 27 and this gear wheel 27 in turn engages with a 'gear wheel 2e on the shaft supporting the rollers Q'l. T he rollers 34 are driven by means of a gear Wheel Se carried by theshaft supporting the rollers 3land meshing with the gear wheel 67. This gear wheel 67 meshes with a gear wheel 4l@ onV the shaft carrying the. wood roller ell a nd the gear wheel Ll1 meshes with a gear wheel 4t2* on the shaft which supports the knife roller l/.

Prcferablya. table 78 will be disposed below the upper flight of the belt Q8, the belt traveling over this table and preferably the magazine will be provided with two longitudinally extendingrods 79 spaced apart a sufficient distance to receive between them the stems of the leaves, thus preventing the stems from inclining tothe right 0r to thc left. rl`hese .rods'will be. removable from the top of the magazine t'o permit the in sertion of leaves therein. Preferably the bottom ot' the magazine will be inclined downward and centrally so as to hold the leaves properly centered and the rounded lower face of the follower will cause the lowertips of the leaves to be turned for- Ward so that they may be easily engaged by the rubber rollers 24 and the lea-ves carried fornf'ard between Vthe upper flightof belt QS and the platen 36 and then beneath the lowei flight of the belt 35.

i-rttention is particularly'directed to the form or shape of the pin or pick used,t lt will be noticed that itris made with an arrow head. n experienced with the ordinary pins or picks on account ofi fact that they have been liable to s'lip in and out of designs, whereas with our piel: this is impossible, as the ar'- row head holds the leaves securely in the position in which they are placed in the Wreath or design, and it is impossible for them to accidentally come out of the design.

l claims- Y i l. En a g machine for attaching pins to leaves, a lea-f magazine, means for with.- drawing leaves from the magazine, a knife operating to cut the. stems of the leaves, means thon operating to present a pin to the leaf stem, and means then operating 'to clip the pin upon the stem. ,Y

,el machine for attaching pins to leaves g aleaf magazine, means for witln y leavest'rom the magazine, a knife g to cut the'stems of the leaves. i: s operating to cut a pin from a strip of thm metal and form opposed lugs on the pin, and y c around the stem and discharge the leaf and the ned pin.

' i c for attaching pins to leaves y a leaf magazine, means'acting to v, ,thdravf Vthe leaves from the magazine in Heretofore dir'iiculty has been movement of the conveyor and acting to cut means then operating to compress the Y overlapping relation to, eachother., means acting to cut through aplura'lity of overlapped stems to thereby render all the stems so out oil uniforn'i in length, and means then acting to present a pin to the "tem and clil the pin thereon and discharge the leaf with the attached pin.

4:. ln a machine for attaching pins to leaves, a magazine for the leaves, `means ach in@l to withdraw the leaves in .overlapping 7 relation to each other, means then acting to cut throughthe overlapped stems of the overlapped leaves to thereby render allA the stems so cut of uniform length, means then acting to present a pin to the stems, and means then acting to clip the pin around 'the stems and discharge the leaves with the attached pin.

A machine for attaching pins to leaves lincluding a leaf magazine, means acting to S withdraw a plurality of leaves from the magazine in superposed overlapping relation to eaca other, means then acting to cut Vthrough the overlapped stems of said leaves vto thereby render all of the stems so cut of so uniform length, means operatingto cut a pin from a strip of thin metal kand form opposed lugs on the -pin and present said pin to said stems, and means then acting to bend a por,- tion of the pin around said stems and to discharge the leaves with the attached pin.

G. A machine for attaching pins to leaves including in its organization two coaoting rotary .dies formed to out successive pins from a strip of metal passing between' the dies and to form opposed lugs on each pin, means for feeding bunches of leaves having' overlapping stems toward said dies, .said dies acting to bring each pin into proper relation to the stems of the bunch of leaves, means then acting to bend thev opposed lugs around the stems.

7. A machine for attaching pins to leaves including in its organization a ,leaf magazine, a follower sliding through 'the maer f zine, means at the upper endv of the magazine for vsupporting the'stems oft-he lea es against lateral movement, 'means for.k withdrawing the leaves from sail magazine rone by one in overlapped relation, weights urgil" ing the follower' towards the discharge end of the magazine, a conveyor for the leaves so withdrawn, a cutter disposed inthe path of lill the stems of the leavesfin uniform length, and means disposedA in the path of the con-- 'rever `tor presenting 'a-Tshect metal pinV to said stems and bending a portion of the pin aroundV the stems. y Y y 8. A machine for attaching pins toY leaves l i including in its organization a leaf magazine, the bottomof which is downwardly and medially inclined, a Lfollower slidingly mounted within the in "izine' and formed to curve the tip end of a leaf forward and Us fit) downward, longitudinally extending guides between which the stems of the leaves supported, a conveyor extending from the magazine, means for withdrawing leaves in superposed relation from the magazine and discharging them onto the conveyor, means in the length of the conveyor for cutting off the stems of the leaves to cause all stems to be of uniform length, and means in the length of the conveyorl for presenting a sheet metal pin to the stems and crimping a portieri of the pin upon the stems.

9. A machine for attaching pins to leaves including a magazine in which the leaves are supported with their tips extending downward,and their stems upward, an upper pair of laterally spaced conveyor belts, a lower pair of laterally spaced conveyor belts, laterally spaced rollers disposed at the discharge end of the magazine and engaging the forward faces of the leaves on each side of the middle thereof and withdrawing the leaves from the magazine onto the lower-most conveyor, a rotary stem cutter operating between the Lipper belts, wheel disposed below the cutter and coacting therewith and operating between the lower belts, and means operating in the space between the upper and lower pairs of belts acting to apply sheet metal pins to the stems of the leaves and crimp the pins thereon.

l0. A machine for attaching pins to leaves including a leaf magazine open at one end and adapted to support leaves with their tips downward and their stem extending upward, a gravity actuated follower in the magazine urging the leaves forward, a pair of endless belts extending horizontally from in front of the magazine with their upper flights coincident with the bottomof the magazine, the belts being laterally spaced from each other, a pair of upper endless belts laterally spaced from each other and disposed above the first named belts, driving rollers for supporting said belts, the lower flights of the second named pair of belts operating over the upper flights of the first named pair of belts, rollers laterally spaced from each other and disposed immediately in front of the magazine and withdrawing leaves therefrom and depositing said leaves upon t-he upper flights of the first named pair of belts, an upper and a lower roller disposed in the space between said pairs of belts and betwfn which the leaves pass, one of said i ers having a stem cutting knife, a pair ot rotatable dies contacting with each other and disposed between the pairs of belts, a reel for supporting a strip of metal for passage between said dies, said dies being formed to cut pins of sheet metal from said strip, and one of said dies acting to carry the sheet metal pin so cut upward into position beneath the path of movement of the stems of the leaves and the dies being formed to produce a pin having laterally projecting lugs, and means acting to crimp said lugs over the stems of a plurality of leaves.

il. A machine for attaching pins to leaves including a leaf magazine open at one end and adapted to support leaves with their tips downward and their stems extending upward, a gravity actuated followerl in the magazine urging the leaves forward, a pair of endless belts extending horizontally from in front of vthe magazine with their upper flights coincident with the bottom of the magazine, the belts being laterally spaced from each other, a pair of upper endless belts laterally siaced from each other and disposed above the first named belts, driving rollers for supporting said belts, the lower flights of the second named pair of belts operating over the upper flightsof the first named pair of belts, rollers laterally spaced from each other and disposed immediately in front of 'the magazine and withdrawing leaves therefrom and depositing said leaves upon the upper flights of the first named pair belts, an upper and a lower roller disposed in the space between said pair of belts and between which the leaves pass, one of said rollers having a stem cutting knife, a pair of rotatable dies contacting with each ether and disposed between the pairs of belts, a reel for supporting a strip of metal for passage between said dies, said dies being formed to cut pins of sheet metal rfrom said strip, and one ofsaid dies acting to carry the sheet metal pin so cut upward into position beneath the path of movement of the stems of the leaves and the dies being formed to produce a pin having laterally projecting lugs, laterally disposed plungers mounted upon said last named die and adapted when forced inward to crimp the lugs over the stems of a plurality of leaves, fixed cams with which said plungers engage as the die rotates, and a roller disposed above the last named die and acting to hold the stems against the die as the lugs are crimped.

l2. ln a machine for attaching pins to the stems of leaves, a pairof rotatable dies, and means for feeding a strip of sheet metal between said dies, said dies being formed to cut from the strip of metal a pin having an arrow-shaped head having an extreme width equal to the width of the strip, a shaft, and a plurality of laterally projecting lugs having an extreme width equal to the width of the strip,

13. ln machine for attaching pins to the stems of leaves, a pair of rotatable dies, and means for feeding a strip of sheet metal bef tween said dies, said dies being formed to cut from the strip of metal a pin having an arrow-shaped head having an extreme width equal to -thewidth of the strip, a shaft, and a plurality of laterally projecting lugs having an extreme width .equal to the width of the strip, one of said dies having laterally projecting, spring retrac-ted plungers adapted when forced inward to engage said lugs and bend them over upon the stem or stems of a leaf or leaves.

14. In a machine for attaching pins to leaves, a leatl magazine, means for conducting the leaves along a predetermined path, t

said means engaging the lateral margins of the leaves but not the middle portion of the leaf or stem, means for withdrawing leaves from the magazine and disposing them upon said conveyor, means for cut-ting the stems of uniform length, means for cutting pins from sheet metal and attaching the pins to the stems of the leaves, and common means for driving` said leaf feeding means, said conveyors, leai cutting means, and the pin operating means.

In testimonywhereof we hereunto aiX 20 y our signatures.

HENRY R. scHLUETER. ALPHoNsUs H. HATKE.