US2186141A - Method of preparing prewelt shoe uppers - Google Patents

Description

"Jan- 1940- E. I. LA CHAPELLE METHOD 0F PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERS Filed Aug. 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 9, 1940. .'E '.'I LA CHAPELLE 2,186,141

METHOD OF PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERS Filed Aug. 4, 1939 2Shets-Sheet 2 Patented an. 9, 1940 'METHOD OF PREPARING PREWELT SHOE UPPERS Euclid 1. La Chapelle, Brockton, Mass.

Application August 4, 1939, Serial No; 288,402 1 Claim." (01. 12-145) My invention relates to a novel method of preparing, for the pulling over and side lasting operations, shoe uppers intended for shoes of the well known prewelt type.

Theprewelt shoe is an'imitation of the well known Goodyear welt shoe and, although far less costly to make, it embodies the main charbeen made to manufacture mens and womens shoes in the prewelt type for ordinary street wear or in styles directed to dressy shoes. The reason for this limitation being primarily due to the lack of retention by the upper for a reasonable period of time, during wear, of the orig inal shape and style of the last upon which pre Welt shoes are made and the reason for this lack, in turn, being due to the fact that the ordinary pulling over and side lasting rules of stretching an upper on a last are not and cannot be respected, as the locating and securing of the welt upon the upper, as now practiced, disadvantaeously limit the degree of stretch that should be properly-applied to the upper. The prewelt shoe upper not being fully stretched on the last, as good practice dictates, the prewelt shoe, under the strain of wear, quickly sprawls out of original shape, notably at the little Itoe side by the evil tendency of the foot rolling out towards that side and it is mainly for this reason that prewelt shoes are not being manufactured in mens and womens type adapted to effectively compete against Goodyear Welt shoes.

My novel method aims towards preparing a prewelt shoe upper so as to permit application of proper strain upon the upper at pulling over and side lasting and which is adapted to practice in conjunction with a well known method of lasting which. dictates'that practically all the strain be applied upon the great toe side of the upper in the performance of the pulling over and side lasting operations.

Therefore, the practice'of my novel method of preparing prewelt shoeuppers for the pulling over and side lasting operations, in conjunction with. the practice of the aforesaid well known method of lasting, render possible the manufacture of prewelt shoes in mens and womens makes, which may favorably compare with ordinary Goodyear welt shoes in retention of origthe welt to the upper;

ibility of bottom and which maybe manufactured at farless cost.

i As shown in the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a top plan View of nary shoe upper provided with a welt located and secured thereto in accordance with my novel method of preparing pr'ewelt shoe uppers for the pulling over and side lasting operations;

Figure 2 showsa detail sectional view'takenon line 2-2 Fig; 1, showing the stitches securing Figure 3 shows a side elevation of a shoe-jack, provided with a treadle and connections to move the toe-restthereof to pull the upper lengthwise of the last from the heel to the toe and apre- Welt' shoe upper on a last is shown on the jack provided with upper pulling. means in'readiness to pulled lengthwise from heel to toe in the performance of the initial step of pulling over;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a prewelt shoe, the upper of which has been prepared in accordance with my novel method and which has been pulled over in accordance with the aforesaid well known method of pulling'over and side lasting;

Figure 5 is a detail sideview of the shoe-jack and of the shoe shown in Fig. 3, showing the prewelt shoe upper in initial pulled over condition lengthwise of the last from the heel to the of the last;

an ordi- I 'fUNi so 'STATESPATENTYY OFFiCE.

inal shape, comfort, appearance and greaterflex- Figure 6 shows the jack and the shoe, as in Fig; 5, but withthe toe-rest of the jack, which is in the former shoe upper "pulling means, en-

gaging and supporting the shoe ahead of the tip-seam-the operator having released the forepart of the shoe shown in Fig. 5, from the toerest to allow for l e-action of the strained upper to firmly set the toe-end of the upper against the edge face of the toe-end of the'last, the tip seam then moving rearwardly on the last and back to the toe-rest;

Figure 7 shows the upper after, having been pulled over and fastened in pulled over condition at the little toe side of the last while the the little toe side.

preferably, is herein shown as of a mans type and I provide an ordinary welt 2, which I secure to the vamp of the upper by the chain stitches 3, as in ordinary practice but, as shown at 4, I locate and secure the welt upon the great toe side of the upper, up and nearer to the plane of the throat 5, of the vamp of the upper than at the opposite little toe side of the upper, so as to thereby permit the practice of a well known method of pulling over and of side lasting which dictates that most of the strain upon a shoe upper should be at the great toe side of the shoe upper and from the fasteners already securing the shoe upper in pulled over condition to the insole at the little toe side of the shoe upper, as shown in Fig, 8.

This old lasting method brings about far better results than any other known lasting methods, as the strongly strained and fully stretched great toe side of the upper upholds the foot in natural position within the shoe and precludes the general evil tendency of the foot rolling towards Moreover, the upper then stands up uniformly all over once the last has been removed from the shoe and thus, far less treeing, if any, is required; and the shoe cannot be unduly distorted during wear and retains its original shape for a much longer period of time during wear than shoes that have been lasted by any other known lasting method.

I assemble the prewelt shoe upper on the last 6. and I then place the shoe on the spindle I, of the jack 8. In this connection, it is to be stated that the said jack forms no part of the patentable subject matter of my present application, as an application for patent, disclosing the said jack, minus the treadle and the connections herein shown to move the toe-rest to pull the upper lengthwise of the last, forwhich herein no claim of patentable novelty is made,

nor for anything else on the jack, now is pending in the United States Patent Office. The said application for a shoe-jack bearing Serial No. 281,573 and filing date June 28, 1939. Then, the operator having a case of prewelt shoes to pull over, starts to pull over the smallest size shoes in the case and at every increasing size, he moves the spindle I, away from the toe-rest to the next tooth of the teeth I8, provided on the bottom portion of the slideways 9, which teeth are spaced one third of an inch apart and which are adapted to allow free rearward movement of the spindle I, which are adapted to lock and hold by the locking-pin II, from movement towards the toe-rest I2, so as to hold the shoe from movement against the lengthwise straining action upon the upper from the heel-end of the last by the forward movement of the toe-rest I2, as best shown in Fig. 5.

Once the operator has moved the spindle I, with the shoe and the threat 5, of the vamp of the upper to its proper relative position to the toe-rest I2, he depresses the forearm engaging member I5, and'he swings the forepart of the shoe ever the toe-rest I2, as shown in Fig. 3.

Then the operator turns the toe portion of the prewelt shoe upper downwardly and holds the same against the flat front portion of the toerest 12, while he depresses the treadle I3, to actuate the toe-rest forwardly by the toggles M, and thus the upper is overstrained lengthwise of the last from its heel-end to its tip-seam, as shown in Fig. 5, to permit the setting of the toe of the upper over the toe of the last. Then the operator sets the toe part of the upper over the spindle 1,

the toe part of the last and thereafter he releases the forepart of the shoe from the toe-rest to allow proper, firm settingof the toe of the upper against the edge face of the toe-end of thelastunder the effect of the re-action of the overstrained upper, as shown in Fig. 6. The operator now proceeds to pull over the little toe side of the upper only to set and then fasten the welt into proper relation to the insole at that side of the upper and with ordinary hand lasting pincers he fastens the upper in pulled over condition with the lasting tacks I6, which clinch against the metallic last bottom plate I1, as shown in Fig. 7 and he then completes the pulling over operation by strongly straining the great toe side of the upper against the lasting tacks I6, until the welt is set over the edge of the insole and then he inserts the lasting tacks I8, and the pulling over operation is then complete, as shown in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 4. the prewelt shoe upper, including the throat of the Vamp, has been inclined and set towards the great toe side of the last, with the throat of the vamp properly set into alignment with the great toe of the last, which alignment coincides with the officially accepted location of the central longitudinal line of the last which is from the center of the heel to the great toe of the last. To thus incline and set the upper makes for better tread of the shoe and better fit of the throat of the vamp to the instep of the wearers foot but forms no part of I my invention, this being the result of the aforesaid old method of lasting now being practiced upon ordinary shoe uppers. Then the pulled over prewelt shoe is removed from the jack and may be passed to a heel-seat lasting machine or to the ordinary prewelt toe and heel and side lasting machine, where these three operations may be performed at one setting and the shoe bottom may be filled and the outsole temporarily cemented to the shoe-preparatory to the subsequent operation of rough rounding.

The proper location of the welt upon the great toe side of the upper is to be determined by the dead fit of the upper on the intended last but as each style and shape of lasts must necessarily be considered in relation to the proper corresponding location of the welt upon the great toe side of the upper, it may be advisable to first pull over and side'last an ordinary upper on the intended last, in accordance with the old method of pulling over and of side lasting here explained, and then to mark the upper around the toe and along the sides for positively predetermining thereby the exact location of the welt upon all uppers that are to be lasted on that particular style of last, in accordance with the practice of my novel method of preparing prewelt shoe uppers for the pulling over and side lasting operations. Then, in the practice of my novel method in the general run of a shoe factory, vamp cutting patterns or upper cutting machine dies could be made to conform to the marked vamp of the upper that had been lasted, so that all Vamps would be thereby cut at uniform distance outwardly of the demarcation upon the vamp of the lasted upper. Then the welt could be easily and properly located and secured to the Vamps of all uppers by gauging the stitching of the welt upon each vamp from the edge thereof.

An upper intended for a small size shoe of the prewelt type may only extend .one eighth of an inch beyond the edge of the welt and then temporary fasteners may be inserted to hold'the upper in pulled over condition on the last preparatory to the side lasting operation. The welt then being held on the insole during wear only by the outsole stitches. But I, preferably, extend the upper intendedfor a mans shoe, as herein shown, beyond the edge of the welt to a substantial extent, soas to afford a better grip in pulling over and a more positive anchorage of the welt to the insole during wear by'fastening the surplus upper to the insole. Although I herein show lasting tacks to secure the upper to the insole, it is to be understood that the upper may be only cemented to the insole, such as by latex rubber cement, and then a wooden bottom last may be provided and temporary lasting tacks may serve at the pulling over operation in holding the upper in pulled over condition until after the performance of the side lasting operation; or the upper'may be most advantageously secured to the insole by means of staples passing only part way through the body of the insole, provided that the well known Littleway lasting machine should be made adaptable to the insertion of such staples in prewelt shoes, which I am informed and believe to be entirely possible. In securing the upper to the insole of a prewelt shoe with such staples, there would be no need-then of a slipsole to cover the riveted lasting tacks herein shown and it is obvious that such staples would be far superior to lasting tacks,

My novel method and the aforesaid well known method of lasting are notlimited to practice by any particular device or machine. For instance, the pulling over operation may well be performed entirely byhand and even so as to the performance of the side lasting operation. I, however, preferably, hereinfshow a shoe-jack, which is provided with upper pulling means and which is easy to operate and whereby a prewelt shoe upper may be more strongly strained lengthwise from heel to toe than by any known mechanical means; and a strong pull is of prime importance for a pulling over operation conducive to a'longer retention of the original shape of the shoe during wear and to a firmer set of the counter on the heel-end of the last.

Prewelt shoes have heretofore been made with economy in view first of all but I, first of all, visualize the introduction of mens and womens prewelt shoes that may favorably compare with Goodyear welt shoes as then the cost of making Goodyear welt shoes is far in excess to that of making prewelt shoes.

Prewelt shoes have been heretofore limited to shoes of small sizes adapted to youths and with the idea of economy paramount in view, to avoid the making of a better but costlier heel-seat, the

welt has extended all around the upper, including the heel-seat portion thereof. But, in'view' of producing a heel-seat as of a Goodyear welt shoe, I provide, as herein shown, a welt which extends only to the heel-seatof the'shoe, so as to permit of wiping in and of tacking down the upper and the counter to theinsole on thelast.

The box-toe material should preferably be of a somewhat stretchy nature, such as, for example, the well known cork box-toe and I, preferably, employ a shoe bottom filler of felt or of cork in sheet form; and it is important to state that the slip-sole, which necessarily must be inserted in a shoe that has been lasted with tacks, as herein proposed, preferably should be of soleleather, to adequately protect the wearer's feet from contact with the clinched tacks, which are, however, as short as consistent with the requirements of the thickness of the. insole and of the upper at hand andwhich are clinched into the insole; and I incorporate an inner shoe bottom of sole leather which is as smooth as that of the inner bottom of a Goodyear welt shoe and which will not form a I gutter along its marginal portion, as in the case of a Goodyear welt shoe, since the prewelt shoe insole is not channeled.

Having thus explained thenature of my invention and shown the same in the best form now to me known, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

That method of preparing a prewelt shoe upper for the pulling over and side lasting operations,

1 which consists in providing a shoe upper having a vamp portion; in providing a welt and in locatingand securing the welt to the great toe sideof the vamp higher up towards the plane of the throat of-the vamp than at the little toe side of the vamp, to such an extent, relatively to the location of the welt at the little toe side of the vamp, that practically all the strain may be applied to the great toe side of thevamp in the performance of the pulling over operation at the sides of the vamp and in the performance of the'side lasting operation; in providing a last; in assembling the prepared prewelt shoe upper on the last and in then performing the pulling over operation upon the assembledshoe upper by firstly pulling over the vamp lengthwise of the last; by secondly pulling over and holding in pulled over condition on' the last the little toe side of the vamp; by thirdly pulling over and thereby straining the great toe side of the vamp from the already pulled over and held'in pulledzover condition little toe side of the vamp and by applying fasteners to hold the vamp in pulled over condition on the last.

EUCLID I. LACHAPELLE.

Images