US1647277A - Method of and apparatus for treating shoes - Google Patents

Description

1,647,277 N 1927- R. DAVIS METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING SHOES Filed Dec. 27, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J L l J 11 I I j5 i I 15 1 1, 1 :57 i 1 1 I I cqEirfi-c 51 L. -J

1 647 277 NOV. 1, 1927. R- DAVIS s METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING SHOES Filed Dec. 7. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 5

W VEW T04 Patented Nov. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BOSWELL DAVIS, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED SHOE MACHIN- EBY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING SHOES.

Application filed December 27, 1920. Serial No. 433,365.

This invention relates to methods of and apparatus for treating shoes and more espeorally to drying certain portions thereof. In the manufacture and repairing of leather-soled shoes it is customary to moisten the soles so as to temper them prior to attaching them and even prior to channeling them and otherwise preparing them for the attaching operation. These operations and certain others may be. performed best when the sole is abnormally soft and pliant. In the manufacture of new shoes the total period of time during which it is desirable to maintain the soles in a moist condition varies from five to ten days, although sometimes it is even longer, and manufacturers purposely prolong this period, if necessary, by covering the soles or the shoes to which they have been attachedduring the intervals between successive operations. However, when the shoe has reached that stage of completion when it is desired to buff the bottom of the sole the presence of moisture in the sole is objectionable because if the leather is damp, even slightly, when it is buffed it fills the interstices of the sand paper or other abrading material used for buifin The consequences in. such case are so ob ectionable that manufacturers do not attem t to buff the soles unless and until their bottoms are as dry as it is possiihle to make them. For example, a sole may seem quite dry to the touch of the average person and still not be dry enough for a satisfactory bufiing o eration, and none but the most expert bu ng operators can determine by the sense of touch whether a sole is dry enough for the buffing operation. Natural evaporation, even when the climate is relatively dry, requires several days to condition the sole after the average person would consider the sole dry, and even under the most favorable conditions of natural dl'ying the period required for completing the shoe is prolonged accordingly. Economy of manufacture requires that the various operations be performed without delay, a very considerable item in this respect being that the lasts should be released for rc-use instead of remaining idle and requiring an excessively large stock of lasts to keep the factories supplied with shoes in the process of construction.

In view of the conditions above outlined an object of this invention is to provide an improved method of, and improved apparatus for, drying the bottoms of shoe-soles in a relatively short space of time so that the bufiing operation need not be postponed after the shoes are otherwise ready to undergo that operation. Although the buffing operation may be performed passably well when the bottom of the sole is quite dry and in a normal condition it has been found that said operation and the result may both be improved by toasting the bottom so as to render the surface abnormall hard and friable, and accordingly a fort er object of the invention is to provide an improved treating apparatus adapted to bring about such condition in addition to drying the bottom of the sole. It is not necessary to dry the sole throughout its entire thickness, the principal consideration being to dry it to the depth reached by the abrading material used for bufling. Therefore, in toasting the bottom it is quite sufficient to toast it only to the depth above specified.

It has been proposed heretofore to condition the bottoms of the soles for buffing by placing the shoes over a heater of one type or another so as to dry them by radiant heat alone, but apparatus that treat the shoes according to this principle are wasteful of heat, relatively slow in bringing about the necessary degree of dr ness, and subject the shoes to the danger 0 being seriously-injured by excessive heat.

The present invention provides an apparatus comprising as herein illustrated means forming a substantially closed endless conduit in which a treating chamber, an airpropeller, and means for heating the air are arranged in a series so that the air used for treating may be circulated repeatedly throu h the treating chamber and heated repeatedly without much loss of heat while returning from the discharge side of the treating chamber to the inlet side thereof.

As a result of many and various tests from which the illustrated apparatus has been evolved it has been demonstrated that the most satisfactory results, as to both dryness and friability of the leather, are possible in from two to six minutes of treatment, according to the initial condition of the leather. This rapidity of conditioning is made possible by precipitating the air Hit) ' cluding a battle against the shoe-bottoms instead of depending upon radiant heat. The process of evaporation is so rapid that a moderate temperature in the air used is suflicient. Even the toasting treatment hereinbefore mentioned is accomplished satisfactorily when the treatin air has a temperature of 140 F. which insures the safety of the shoes against burning and is much more economical than a heater of the radiant type capable of drying and toasting the shces in an equal space of time.

Consistently with the foregoing, this invention comprises also a novel method of making shoes, which consists in directing a current of heated air against a surface of a shoe long enough to dry said surface, discontinuing that treatment before its effect has penetrated into the material under the surface, and operating on said surface before it has lost any substantial degree of dryness reduced by said current of heated a1r.

Ot er objects and features of the invention are hereinafter described and claimed and are illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 represents a vertical cross-section of a treating apparatus embodying what I now consider the preferred form for the particular purpose specified;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of portions of the bottom wall of one of the treating chambers, illustrating the receiving port and.in-

late ada ted to equalize the distribution 0 the treating air; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the lower portion of the apparatus in a plane at right angles to that of Fig. 1.

As shown by Fig. 1, the upper part of the apparatus is broken out and the top section thereof laced lower than it would actually be, mere y to ermit a suitable scale of drawing. It maye stated further that the illustrated apparatus comprises two superposed treating chambers and that the treating air passes directly from the lower chamber into the upper chamber through a port in the bottom of the latter.

The lower treating chamber 10 and the upper treating chamber 11 occupy serial relation in a substantially closed endless conduit including a supply trunk 12 and a return trunk 13. The casing 14 of an airpropeller 15 couples the return trunk with a portion 16 of the supply trunk in which a plurality of independently controllable electrical heating units 17 are located. The treating chambers are elongated horizontally so that each may accommodate a row of shoes arranged side by side, the illustrated apparatus bein designed to accommodate from ten to twe ve shoes in each row. The lower treating chamber is provided with a receiving port 18 through which the air passes from the supply trunk. The upper treating chamber has a receiving ort 19 in its bottom wall, said port forming direct communication between the two chambers. These orts 18, 19 are preferabl coextensive with t e width or greatest dimension of the treating chambers, but are relatively narrow so that the air passing through them will rise in the form of a sheet. The course traversed by the air beginning at the proeller is as follows: propeller casing 14, heating chamber 16, supply trunk 12, treating chambers 10, 11, and return trunk 13. The capacity of the port 18 and that of the return trunk are preferably equal, although inequality in this particular would do no serious harm because the propeller could not deliver any more air into the chamber 10 than it draws from the chamber 11, nor could it draw more from the latter than it delivers into the former.

The foregoing elements are preferabl enclosed in a casing comprising a top wall 20, vertical side walls 21. 21, a back wall 22, o lpositely inclined walls 23, 23 forming t e ottom of the supply trunk and return trunk, side walls 24, 24 adjoining the walls 22, 23, 23, a wall 25 forming the front of the supply trunk and enclosin the heating chamber, and a bottom wall oriase 26. The walls 20, 21, 21, 22, 23, 23, 24, 24, and 25 are represented as being made of heat-insulating material, although the latter as shown is encased in sheet metal for protection. The front walls of the treating chambers comprise slashed curtains 27 attached at their upper edges to horizontal frame ieces 28 by bars 29. Each treating chamer is open at its front throughout its entire .width or length excepting as it is closed by its curtain 27. The curtain may be continuous along its upper edge or it may comprise a series of separate sections attached in continuous relation to each other, the principal consideration being that these relatively movable elements of which the curtain is made will automatically close the treating chamber from the outside air when the shoes are removed, and also close automatically around and conform substantially to the shoes when the latter are arranged to intersect the curtain as shown in Fig. 1. These curtains may be made of various materials provided they are flexible enough to be displaced by the shoes without injuring the latter but sufficiently heavy and firm to return to a substantially vertical position without being displaced. Imitation leather made of woven and coated fabric has been found to be satisfactory. The treating chambers are separated from the return trunk 13 b a partition 30, while the receiving end of tie return trunk, or the discharge port of the chamber 11, however it may be regarded, is formed by the walls 20, 21, 21

and a horizontal frame member 31. It is apparent that the walls of heat-insulating material that enclose the treating chambers also enclose the return trunk. The width of the upper part of the return trunk is coextensive with the width of the treating chamhers, but since the inclined walls 23 and the upright side walls 24 reduce the width of the return trunk the latter is given greater thickness in its lower part 131 to compensate for the reduction in width and to main tain substantially uniform capacity for flow back to the air-propeller.

The propeller 15 is carried by the armature shaft 32 of an electric motor 33, the latter being preferably outside the air circuit so as not to be heated by the air circulated therein. The electrical conductors 34 for the heating units 17 are preferably controlled so as to switch the units into and out of circuit independently of each other.

i The illustrated apparatus includes a threeill way switch 35 by which such independent control is provided. Referring to Fig. 3, the heated air is delivered into the supply trunk 12 midway between the ends of the latter, but since it is desirable to equalize the distribution of the air throughout the length of the port 18 the supply trunk is tapered from its mid-portion to each of its ends by the inclined arran ement of the walls 23. Furthermore a baffle plate 36 is arranged under the port 18 and is formed to promote equalization. This plate as shown rests in a lurality of hangers 37 suspended from the ottom of the chamber 10. The plan contour of this bathe plate is shown by Fig. 2. The plate is relatively narrow at its mid-portion and has gradually increasing width toward its ends, the mid-portion being slightly wider than the port 18. A baflie plate formed as shown is better adapted to equalize the distribution of air than one of uniform width since the deflection is relatively great midway between the ends of the supply trunk and gradually less as the air progresses toward the ends of the trunk. In other words the flow of air from the heating chamber is almost entirely vertical in the middle but becomes more nearly horizontal as it spreads toward the ends of the trunk.

The front of the outside casing is provided with L-shaped angle-irons 38 each extending entirely across the casing and forming a shelf on which the heels of the shoes may rest while the foreparts are in the treating chambers as shown. Vertical flanges 39 are arranged to be engaged by the breasts of the heels to register the shoes so that their ball portions will be in registration with the ports through which the heated air rises. The chambers are provided with supports 40, such as grids or sheets of coarse wire fabric, to support the foreparts of the shoes above but adjacent to the ports so that the tions toward the ends of the shoes. These sheets are preferably arched and reinforced by supporting bars 41 the ends of which are fastened to the side walls 21.

When the air is propelled with considerable velocity and is heated to a temperature of approximately 140 F. the bottom surfaces of the soles are dried and toasted very rapidly, that is, in from one to five minutes depending u on the quantity of moisture in the soles and the kind of leather of which the soles are made. If, instead of precipitating the air forcibly against the bottoms of the soles, the air were permitted to remain substantially still, a much longer period of time would be' required to dry the soles sufficiently for buffing and the toasting effect could not be produced without increasing the temperature of the radiant heat to a degree that would be injurious to the shoes, but when the heated air is precipitated with high velocity against the bottoms of the soles it dries and toasts the bottoms very rapidly but does not act on any other part of the shoe with appreciable effect because it does not strike any other part of the shoe directly. The drying effect of the air and the toasting effect of the heated air are therefore localized on the bottoms of the soles.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a substantially closed aircircuit and including an air-propeller and a treating chamber in series, and heating means in said circuit, one wall of said chamber having relatively separable wall-forming elements between which the work may be inserted for treatment, said elements being constructed and arranged to close automati cally.

2. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a substantially closed aircircuit and including an air-propeller and a treating chamber in series, and heating means in said circuit, said chamber having a wall comprising a slashed curtain through the slashes of which shoes may be inserted for treatment.

3. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a horizontally elongated treating chamber having a relatively narrow but elongated inlet port in its bottom wall, means for supplying heated air at high velocity through said port, and means constructed and arranged to support a ser es of shoes side by side with their ball portions in said chamber and in registration with but separate from said port so that the air entering through the latter will impinge directly against the ball portions and be deflected thereby toward the ends of the shoes.

4. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a conduit and including a plurality of treating chambers arranged in series one above another, each of said chambers having an inlet port in its bottom Wall, means for causing an upward flow of air through said ports and chambers successively. and means for supportin shoes in said chambers for treatment adjacent to said ports so that said air will impinge directly against the bottoms of the soles.

5. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a horizontally elongated treating chamber the bottom wall of which has a horizontally elongated receiving port, an air-trunk under said chamber and coextensive with said port, means arranged to supply a current of air to said trunk substantially midway of its ends, said trunk tapering from its middle portion to each of its end portions, and bathe-means constructed and arranged to control the flow'of air through said trunk so that the flow through said port will be substantially equal at all points of the latter.

6. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising a casing having outer walls and partitions constructed and arranged to form a substantially closed endless conduit including a supply trunk, a treating chamber and a return trunk in series, means arranged in said conduit to propel air therethrough, and means for heating the air in said conduit, those of said outer Walls that enclose said supply trunk and return trunk comprising heat-insulating material.

7. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means for projecting a current of hot dry air in the form of a sheet, and means constructed and arranged to support a series of shoes side by side so that their ball portions intersect such sheet and receive the iiripact of the hot air on the bottoms of the so es.

8. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a substantially closed endless conduit including a treating chamber, heating means in said conduit, means arranged to propel the air in said conduit so as to circulate the air repeatedly through said chamber at high velocity, and means arranged to support one or more shoes for treatment in said chamber so that said air will im inge directly against the bottoms of the so es.

9. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising work-enclosing means having a port in the bottom for supplying air and a port at or near the top for discharging said air, means forming an air-tight return conduit from said discharge port to said supply port, heating means and air-propelling means arranged in said return conduit, and means arranged to support shoes in said workenclosing means so that said air will impilnge directly against the bottoms of the so es.

10. That method of making shoes which consists in directing a swiftly moving cur rent of hot dry air against the bottom of the sole until said bottom is rendered relatively dry, hard and friable, separating the shoe and said current of air before the latter has substantially altered the interior of the sole with respect to durability or friability, and buiiing said bottom before it has lost any substantial degree of its dryness or friability after being treated as aforesaid.

11. A shoetreatin apparatus comprisin means forming a iorizontally elongated treating chamber the bottom wall of which has a horizontally elongated receiving port, an air-trunk under said chamber and coextensive with said port, means arranged to supply a current of air to said trunk substantially midway of its ends, and battlemeans constructed and arranged to control the flow of air through said trunk so that the How through said port will be substantially equal at all points of the latter.

12. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising a casing having heat-insulating material in its walls, partitions arranged in said casing so as to form, conjointly with said walls, an endless conduit, means arranged to circulate the air in said conduit, means arranged to heat said air, and means arranged to support an article of work in said conduit for treatment, said.casing having a. work-receiving opening and a movable closure therefor.

13. A shoe-treating apparatus comprisin means forming a treating chamber an having an inlet at the bottom for air and an outlet for said air, means for supporting one or more shoes in said chamber in re 'stration with said inlet, means for drawing air from said outlet and returning it to said chamber through said inlet, and means for heating said air.

14. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming an endless conduit includin a series of treating chambers one 'atop 0 another, means for propelling the air in said conduit so as to cause it to flow throu h said chambers successively and repeated y, and means for heating said air.

15. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming an air-circuit and including a treating chamber for one or more shoes, means for circulating air through said circuit, means for heatin the air, and means for supporting a plura ity of shoes adjacent to the air inlet to said chamber to concentrate the treatment by the air at certain areas of the shoes. i

16. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming an air-circuit'and including a. treating chamber, means for supporting around intermediate portions of the shoes,

and means for circulating air through said circuit to treat those portions of the shoes that occupy said chamber.

17. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising heating means, a casing therefor .having a horizontally elongated outlet port in the top above said heating means, and means arranged to support a series of shoes side by side with their soles overlying said port.

18. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means arranged to support a series of shoes side by side with their bottoms exposed for treatment, heating means arranged under the shoe space, and means formed to permit heated air to rise from said heating means to the shoes and arranged to distribute said airso that it will act substantially uniformly on the bottoms of all the shoes in the series.

19. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising shoe-supporting means including a grid for supporting a series of shoes side by side, heat-radiating means arranged under said grid, and means arranged to concentrate the heat at certain areas of the soles of all the shoes in the series.

20. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising a plurality of structures arranged one above another and each designed to support a series of shoes side by side, heat-radiating means arranged under the lower one of said structures, and means for distributing the heat substantially uniformly to the bottoms of all the shoes in each of the series.

21. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising heating means, means for supporting a series of shoes side by side over said heating means so that heated air rising from the latter will act on their soles, and means for concentrating the heated air at the ball portions of the soles.

22. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means for supporting a series of shoes side by side with their soles exposed to an updraft of air, means forming a heat-chamber under the shoe space, and heating means in said chamber, the top wall of said heatchamber having a narrow outlet port for emitting heated air directly against the ball portions of all the shoes in the series.

23. That method of making shoes which consists in propelling heated air against the bottom of the sole of a shoe until the surface of said bottom is rendered relativel dry and friable, and hufiing said surface before it has lost any substantial degree of its dryness or friability after being treated as aforesaid.

24. That method of making shoes which consists in propelling heated air against a surface of a shoe until said surface is rendered relatively dry, discontinuing such treatment bef re the latter has substantially altered the condition of the material under said; surface, and operating on said surface before it has lost any substantial degree of dryness effected by such treatment.

25. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in propelling air against the bottom of the sole of a shoe to remove moisture from the surface of the sole, simultaneously heating said surfaceto render it abnormally hard and friable, discontinuing such treatments in time to avoid impairing the condition of the material under said surface, and bufiing said surface before the residue of moisture in the sole comes to the surface.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ROSWELL DAVIS.

one or more shoes partly inside and partly outside an external Wall of said chamber, said Wall being constructed to form a closure around intermediate portions of the shoes and means for circulating air through sai circuit to treat those portions of the shoes that occupy said chamber.

17. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising heating means, a casing therefor having a horizontally elongated outlet port in the top above said heating means, and means arranged to support a series of shoes side by side with their soles overlying said port.

18. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means arranged to support a series of shoes side by side with their bottoms exposed for treatment, heating means arranged under the shoe space, and means formed to permit heated air to rise from said heating means to the shoes and arranged to distribute said airso that it will act substantially uniformly on the bottoms of all the shoes in the series.

19. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising shoe-supporting means including a grid for supporting a series of shoes side by side, heat-radiating means arranged under said grid, and means arranged to concentrate the heat at certain areas of the soles of all the shoes in the series.

20. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising a plurality of structures arranged one above another and each designed to support a series of shoes side by side, heat-radiating means arranged under the lower one of said structures, and means for distributing the heat substantially uniformly to the bottoms of all the shoes in each of the series.

21. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising heating means, means for supporting a series of shoes side by side over said heating means so that heated air rising from the latter will act on their soles, and means for concentrating the heated air at the ball portions of the soles.

22. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means for supporting a series of shoes side by side with their soles exposed to an up draft of air, means forming a heat-chamber under the shoe space, and heating means in said chamber, the top Wall of said heatchamber having a narrow outlet port for emitting heated air directly against the ball portions of all the shoes in the series.

23. That method of making shoes which consists in propelling heated air against the bottom of the sole of a shoe until the surface of said bottom is rendered relativel dry and friable, and lending said surface efore it has lost any substantial degree of its dry- 11283 or friability after being treated as aforesai 24. That method of making shoes which consists in propelling heated air against a surface of a shoeuntil said surface is rendered relatively dry, discontinuing such treatment bef rre the latter has substantially altered the condition of the material under said surface, and operating on said surface before it has lost any substantial degree of dryness effected by such treatment.

25. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in propelling air against the bottom of the sole of a shoe to remove moisture from the surface of the sole, simultaneously heating said surface to render it abnormally hard and friable, discontinuing such treatments in time to avoid impairing the condition of the material under said surface, and bufiing said surface before the residue of moisture in the sole comes to the surface.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ROSWELL DAVIS.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. l, 647, 277.

Granted November l, 1927, to

' ROSWELL DAVIS.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, line 109, for the word "continuous" read "contiguous"; and that the said Letters Patents should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed andsealed this 5th day'of I'm, A. n. 1928.

2 M. J. Moore, Acting Commissioner of Iatents.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,647,277. Granted November l, 1927, to

ROSWELL DAVIS.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2. line 109, for the word "continuous" read "contiguous"; and that the said LettersPatents should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed andsealed this 5th day-of June, A. D. 1928.

7 M. J. Moore, 7 (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Images