US2074834A - Apparatus for attaching shoe soles - Google Patents

Description

March 23, 1937.. J j N 2,074,834

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING SHOE SOLES Filed Jan.3. 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Mai-ch 23, 1937. s. J. FINN I 2,074,834

APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING SHOE SOLES Filed Jan. 5, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mam/75H.

Patented Mar. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR ATTACHING SHOE SOLES Application January 3, 1935, Serial No. 260

16 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for attaching shoe soles'and especially to the provision of an improved welt holddown mechanism for use in machines by which soles are attached to shoes with cement and pressure.

In the cement attachment of a sole to a welt shoe or, indeed, to any shoe in which the edge portion of the sole projects or extends a substantial distance beyond the boundary of the lasted upper there is always the problem of preventing the projecting sole extension from rolling up toward the upper when the attaching pressure is applied to the sole. In the case of a welt shoe there is the additional necessity for pressing the 5 welt and the sole together, to make them adhere to each other. For these purposes it is often necessary to provide a support or pressing device of some kind to hold the welt and/or sole extension flat' and to press the Welt and the marginal portion of the sole together.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved welt holddown which will adequately support the sole extension and which will be capable of applying sufficient pressure to the welt to cause it to adhere securely to the sole,

without materially interfering with the manipulation of the work or its insertion in, or removal 1 from, the machine.

A feature of the invention resides in a welt holddown sustained by one of the relatively movable members, for example the pad support, of a Sole attaching press, combined with a pressure device sustained by the other press member and adapted to engage and apply pressure to the holddown when the press is operated to apply pressure to a shoe.

The holddown may comprise a flexible welt supporting member disposed above the press pad and is. herein illustrated as sustained by a pair of swinging arms which also carry sole gages and gages for positioning a shoe relatively to the sole, the holddown being interposed between the lastmentioned gages and the shoe.

In this connection, invention is to be recognized in a novel holddown member comprising a band of relatively firm, somewhat flexible material having one or more sections of relatively soft material to provide a localized portion or portions of increased flexibility which is particularly useful in adapting the holddown to shoesof different vertical contours. I prefer to make the major portion of the holddown of firm rubber with downward-1y tapered flexibility increasing sections of softer rubbervulcanized therein at the places 55 where vertical bending of the band is required.

Other features and advantages of the invention, relating to means for yieldingly sustaining and advantageously operating the holddown, will become apparent from reading the follow detailed description of one embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a soleattaching apparatus including a welt holddown embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of a detail of the holddown band adjusting device upon an enlarged scale;

and

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation, as viewed from the left-hand side of Fig. 2, of the mechanism for efiecting relative approaching movement of the pressure head and the pad support of the machine.

The details of construction of the pad box and pressure head of a sole attaching machine to which a welt holddown embodying the present invention is illustrated as applied are fully disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,047,- 185, granted July 14, 1936, upon application oi. Milton H. Ballard et al., to which patent reference may be had for a full description of such details.

In the drawings, It indicates the pad support, which is shown as consisting of a pad box, and I2 the pad by which sole attaching pressure is applied to a shoe. Above the pad I2 is a pressure head 332 carrying a toe pad l6 mounted in a toe post It with an interposed stifi spring 20 which permits the toe pad to yield upward slightly under heavy pressure. The pressure head 332 corresponds to the member designated by the same reference numeral in the Ballard et a1. patent and relative approaching movement of the said pressure head and the pad support I!) is effected by mechanism fully described in the said patent and illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings annexed hereto, in which the parts are designated by the same reference numerals as are the same parts in the patent. As shown, the pressure head 332 is fixed to a rod 334 which is guided for vertical movement in the head portion of an upright 306 and sustained by a spring 336 beneath the outer end of a lever 3l6 which is pivoted on a shaft 3|8 carried by the upright. The inner end of the lever 3l6 overlies an actuator 3'54 which is carried by ears 310 secured to the upper end of a piston 356 movable in a fluid pressure cylinder 348. It will be apparent that when the piston rises the pressure head 332, will descend, causing the toe pad I6 to engage and bear firmly upon the top of the toe portion of the lasted shoe 22 in the machine.

In order to support the welt, or sole extension 24 of the shoe against upward pressure and, in the case of a welt, to press it firmly against the surface of the sole being attached, there is provided a novel and improved welt holddown comprising a band 26 of some firm material sufficiently flexible to permit it to conform to the periphery of a shoe, said band prefer-ably being so formed that it can enter and fit snugly in the welt crease of the shoe. I have found a satisfactory material for the holddown band to be rubber of a firm consistency, sufliciently hard to transmit the necessary pressure, yet flexible enough to be capable of assuming shapes to fit different shoes. Inasmuch as the holddown element 26 is in the form of ,a band standing on edge, its resistance to bending vertically is much greater than its resistance to horizontal bending and in order to provide sufficient vertical flexibility to permit the .band to conform to the vertical contours of the welt creases of different shoes, downwardly tapered sections 28 of relatively soft rubber are vulcanized into the band to provide localized portions of increased flexibility.

The holddown band 26 is illustrated as sustained by a pair of arms 38, 32 corresponding to the gage carrying arms disclosed in the Ballard et a1. application above referred to, said arms being pivoted respectively for horizontal swinging movement about pivots 34, 36 and vertical swinging or yielding movement about horizontal pivot pins 38, 40.

I'he toe portion of the band 26 is thinner, and consequently more flexible than the remainder of the band, as shown in Fig. 1, and is sustained by thin metal strips 42 which are secured to the outer face of the band 26 along its sides. Lugs 44 which are riveted to the ends of the strips '42 are pivotally mounted at 46, in a housing 48 carried by a leaf spring 58 which is, in turn, carried by the swinging arm 30, a slot and pin connection 52 being provided to permit the spring 58 to slide longitudinally.

Within the housing 48 is a slide 54 to which is fixed a block 56 hearing against the sharply curved toe portion of the band 26 and adapted sively flattened to fit the toes of shoes which are more nearly square than the one illustrated in the drawings.

In order to provide for making this adjustmen-t quickly and easily a substantially rectangular cam 58 is secured to a vertical pin 68 in such a a position that the faces of the cam are at different distances from the axis of the pin. The pin is rotatably mounted in the housing 48 and has fixed to its upper end an index head 62 provided with four notches 64 which cooperate with a detent 66. By turning the index head any one, of the four faces of the cam 58 may be presented to the block 56 to position the block -for different toe curvatures. The spring 50 is sufllciently stiff normally to sustain the toe por- .tion of the band 26 somewhat above its operative position but is not stiff enough to prevent the band from being depressed easily to engage the welt of the shoe.

The rear ends of the band 26 are yieldingly supported by the rear ends of the arms 30, 32 through the medium of links and springs. Lugs 68 are riveted or otherwise fixed to the outer face of the band. Pivoted to the lugs 68 are links 10 which slide loosely through holes in blocks 12 pivoted to the end portions of the arms 30, 32. The sliding links 10 are surrounded by expansion springs 14 and their inward sliding movement is limited by pins 16 which engage the blocks 12. Secured at 18 to the extreme ends of the arms 38, 32, beyond the pivotal points of the blocks 12, are light pull springs having sufficient tension to sustain the weight of the holddown band and draw the ends apart but not sufiicient to overcome and compress the springs 14. Since the links 10 are loose enough in the blocks 12 to .permit them to swing through some distance vertically, the springs 80 will normally hold the band 26 elevated a short distance above operative position but will yield readily to permit the band to be depressed and inserted accurately in the welt crease of the shoe.

Sole edge gages 82 are carried by the arms 30, 32 which sustain the welt holddown, and shoe positioning gages 84, which are adjustable by means of levers 36, are also mounted in the arms and arranged to engage the outer face of the welt holddown band.

In the operation of the apparatus a cemented sole is placed upon the pad I 2 while the gage arms 30, 32 are swung outwardly and the holddown band 26 is opened and maintained sufficiently elevated not to interfere with the operation. The arms are now swung inwardly until the gages 82 engage the edge of the sole, in which position the arms are locked against outward movement. The prepared shoe is now placed within the holddown band, over the sole, pushed forward, and positioned upon the sole. The forward movement of the shoe pushes the band 26 forward, as permitted by the sliding connection 52, and the links 18, acting in the manner of a toggle, close the rear portions of the band inward upon the shoe, the inward pressure of the band upon the shoe being determined by the tension of the springs H. The engagement of the band in the welt crease of the shoe may be inspected and perfected very easily by reason of the yielding mounting of the band but the position of the shoe will be. accurately determined by the gages 84 which are unyielding in their engagement of the outer face of the band. The

work is now ready for the application of the sole attaching pressure by relative approaching movement of the pad support 18 and the pressure head 332.

In order to apply pressure to the holddown band 26, which is roughly U-shaped, there is pro.- vided a U-shaped pressure device 88 surrounding the toe pad Hi and sustained by the pressure head 332. The pressure device 88 may advantageously be made of rubber somewhat softer than that employed for the band 26 but firm enough to transmit the necessary "amount of pressure, with some yield. In order to accommodate the pressure device 88 to various degrees of tilting of the shoe and the holddown band 26, the pressure device is mounted in a holder 90 one end of which is pivotally supported at 92 and to the other end of which is pivoted at 94 a notched link 96 acted upon by a spring 98 tending to swing it to the right, as viewed in Fig. 2, with one of the notches in engagement with a pin I08 carried by a bracket )2 mounted upon the pressure head332. By virtue of this construction any one of the notches in the link 86 may be 7 engaged with the pin I00 and the tilt of the pressure device carrier 90 adjusted accordingly.

When the pressure is applied by the machine the toe pad l6 engages the shoe, yielding upward slightly against the tension of the spring 20, and the pressure device 83 engages the top of the welt holddown band 26, pressing the latter firmly upon the welt or sole extension but yielding by reason of its own inherent yielding quality, and a spring I04 with which it is backed up if such yielding is necessary to avoid excessive pressure on the work.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A welt holddown comprising a flexible welt engaging member adapted to extend about the periphery of a shoe, a longitudinally slidable support for the toe portion of said member, and laterally swinging supports for the two sides of said member.

2. A welt holddown comprising a welt crease engaging member having a flexible toe portion, means for supporting the member at both sides of said toe portion, an adjustable block mounted in front of said toe portion, and means for moving the block longitudinally of the holddown to cause it to bear against more or less of said toe portion to vary the curvature thereof.

3. In a sole attaching apparatus, a pad adapted to apply pressure to the sole of a shoe, a welt holddown comprising a flexible welt supporting member disposed above the pad, a pair of pivoted arms, a pair of sole edge gages carried by said arms, and a pair of links pivotally connecting said arms to the side portions of the welt supporting member.

4. In a sole attaching apparatus, a pad adapted to apply pressure to the sole of a shoe, a pair of arms pivotally mounted to swing over the pad, a welt holddown disposed above the pad, means for supporting the. toe portion of the holddown to move longitudinally of the pad and to yield easily downward, and means carried by said arms for supporting the side portions of the holddown to swing inward toward the shoe and to yield easily downward.

5. In a sole attaching apparatus, a pad, a pair of arms pivotally mounted to swing over the pad, sole edge gages carried by the arms, a welt holddown sustained by the arms, and shoe positioning gages upon the arms arranged to engage the outer face of the holddown.

6. A welt holddown comprising a flexible, U- shaped, welt engaging member adapted to extend about the periphery of a shoe, vertically and horizontally movable supports for the ends of said member, and means for exerting an outward and upward pull upon the ends of said member.

'7. A welt holddown comprising a flexible, U- shaped band adapted to extend about the periphery of a shoe, means for supporting the sides of the band, leaving the toe portion free to bend, an adjustable toe shaping member mounted in front of said toe portion, and means for moving said member longitudinally of the holddown to cause it to bear against the toe portion of the band to determine the curvature thereof.

8. A sole attaching apparatus comprising a pad support, a pad upon the support, a welt hold-down sustained by the pad sup-port, a pressure head above the pad for engagement with a shoe upon the pad, and a pressure device upon the head arranged to engage and bear down upon the welt holddown.

9. A sole attaching apparatus comprising a relatively movable pad support and pressure head, a pad upon said support, shoe engaging means upon the head, a welt holddown sustained by one of the relatively movable members, and a holddown engaging pressure device sustained by the other of said members.

10. A sole attaching apparatus comprising a pad, a welt holddown sustained above the pad, a vertically movable, holddown engaging, pressure device of yielding material sustained above the holddown, and means for effecting relative approaching movement of the pressure device and the holddown.

11. A sole attaching apparatus comprising a pad, a flexible, U-shaped, welt holddown sustained above the pad, and a U-shaped, rubber, pressure device movable into and out of engagement with the holddown.

12. A welt holddown comprising a band of relatively firm, somewhat flexible material having a section of relatively soft material to provide a localized portion of increased flexibility.

13. A welt holddown comprising a band of relatively firm, somewhat flexible material having a tapered section of relatively soft material to provide a localized portion which can be bent easily in one direction.

14. A welt holddown comprising a band of relatively firm, somewhat flexible material adapted to conform horizontally to the shape of the welt crease of a shoe and having a vertically tapered section of relatively soft material to provide a localized portion which can be bent easily in a vertical direction.

15. A welt holddown comprising a band of relatively firm, somewhat flexible material adapted to conform horizontally to the shape of the welt crease of a shoe, said band being higher than it is thick and having a plurality of downwardly tapered sections of relatively soft material to provide for vertical bending of the band to conform to the vertical shape of said welt crease.

16. A welt holddown comprising a band of firm, stiff, rubber of sufficient flexibility to permit the band to conform horizontally to the shape of the welt crease of a shoe but to resist bending vertically, said band having a plurality of downwardly tapered sections of softer rubber vulcanized therein to provide localized portions which can be bent more easily vertically to conform the band to the vertical shape of the welt crease.

SIDNEY J. FINN.

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