US2418177A - Method of making prewelt shoes - Google Patents

Description

April 1, E. A. HOLMGREN 2,418,177

v METHOD OF MAKING PREWELT SHOES Original Filed Nov. 26, 1942- 2 Sheets-Sheet l [maven April EA. HOLMGREN 2,418,177

METHOD OF MAKING iREWELT SHOES Original Filed Nov. 26,1942 2 Sheet-Shet 2 Jizvemfor Frz'cnAHolmgren Patented Apr. 1, i947 METHOD OF MAKING PREWELT SHOES Eric A. Holmgren, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 5., a corporation of New Jersey Original application November 2.6, 1942, Serial No. 466,975. Divided and this application October 10, 1944, Serial No. 557,999

9 Claims.

This invention relates to methods of making prewelt shoes and is herein illustrated in its application to prewelt shoe manufacturing methods which obviate the use of lasts. This is a division of my copending application Serial No. 466,975, filed November 26, 1942.

Prewelt shoes are usually found in the lower price brackets and manufacturers of this type of shoe operate on a very small margin of profit and are constantly seeking improvements in their methods and machines calculated to effect economies in the cost of manufacture. One of the major items in the cost of prewelt shoe manufacture is the initial cost of the lasts on which the uppers are made and the continual expense of maintaining, repairing, storing and sorting the lasts. In the manufacture of prewelt shoes, this item of expense is a much larger proportion of the total manufacturing cost than in the production of higher priced footwear. Thus, it will be understood that any commercially practicable system of making prewelt shoes which obviates the use of the last will effect a substantial economy in the manufacturing cost if the proposed method does not involve excessive labor or machine costs.

Objects of the present invention are to provide a commercially practicable method of making prewelt shoes on the last, and to provide a prewelt shoe manufacturing method whereby prewelt shoes may be produced which are uniformly superior in quality to prewelt shoes now found in their price range.

With the above objects in view the present invention in one aspect thereof consists in a method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting a prewelt upper on a supporting means which fills the interior of the upper lengthwise and widthwise but does not fill the interior of the foreport of the upper heightwisebut leaves a sub stantial space between the supporting means and the top of the upper, supporting the outward extension of the Welt on members herein illustrated as wipers constructed and arranged to be positioned within the welt crease, mounting a filler on said sup-porting means, and, while the upper and filler are so supported, securing a sole to the welt and the filler. The use of a supporting means which does not fill the interior of the upper greatly facilitates the mounting of the upper on the supporting means and obviates the occurrence of girthwise strains in wiping the upper in over the margin of the form, thus eliminating the pulling and stretching of the upper incidental to "the usual lasting operation. The illustrated supporting means is a plate having substantially the same size and peripheral shape as an insole corresponding in size to a prewelt upper supported on said plate. In order to prepare the upper to be supported upon said plate the invention in another aspect thereof contemplates the preshaping of the upper to cause the adjacent marginal portions of the welt and upper to extend inwardly to provide a flange whereby the upper may be supported and accurately positioned heighwise thereof on said plate. In the preshaping operation the outer margin of the welt is caused to project outwardly from the upper to facilitate the entry of the wipers into the welt crease.

In another aspect thereof the invention contemplates the employment of upper supporting means which may be contracted longitudinally to facilitate the mounting of an upper thereon and then expanded to a length corresponding to the size of the upper. The use of such a supporting means not only facilitates the mounting of the upper thereon but also permits the uppers to be cut somewhat scant since the expansion of the supporting means may be employed to impart a longitudinal tension to the upper.

In the manufacture of prewelt shoes provided with insoles and fillers the invention. contemplates initially assembling the insole and filler, mounting said assembly on the supporting plate, and wiping the welted margin in over the margin of the insole and into abutting relation to the edge face of the filler. If desired, the welted mar gin of the upper may be cement attached to the margin of the insole in which case the laying of the outsole on the shoe bottom may occur after the removal of the shoe from the supporting means, if so desired.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the practice of the method with the aid of a machine of the type illustrated in my co pending application hereinbefore referred to.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is an elevation showing a prewelt upper mounted on the work supporting means of said machine and showing also the forepart wipers in their retracted position;

Fig. 2 is an elevation similar to Fig. 1 showing the shoe parts and the work supporting member in section through the forepart of the upper and showing the shank wipers at an intermediate stage in their operation;

I Fig. 3 is an elevation similar to-Fig. 2 showing the shank Wipers at the limit of their operative movement and showing an outsole cement attached to the welt;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of an alternative work supporting means with a prewelt upper mounted thereon, the upper and the work supporting members being shown in section on the longitudinal median line of the upper with the work supporting members shown in their retracted position; and

Fig. is an elevation similar to Fig. 4 with the work supporting members shown in full and in their expanded position.

In practicing the method of the present invention a prewelt upper such, for example, as the upper I0 illustrated in the drawings is mounted on work supporting means the marginal portion of which engages the inner surface of the inturned welted margin of the upper. The upper will have been prepared for attachment to a sole by preshaping its end portions to cause the adjacent margins of the welt and upper to extend inwardly and the outward extension of the welt to project outwardly from the upper. While such preshaping of the upper may be accomplished in any known manner I prefer to employ for this purpose a machine such as that disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 466,974, filed November 26, 1942. This machine is provided with means for shaping the welted margin at opposite ends of the upper and also with means for expanding the toe portion of the upper to ive it substantially its final form. The shapethus imparted to the toe portion of the upper is substantially retained by the box toe. The shaping of the welted margin at opposite ends of the upper causes the sole attaching face of the plate H having top and bottom surfaces which correspond in size and shape to an insole provided for the upper Ill. The thickness of the plate II, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is such that the plate does not fill the forepart of the upper heightwise thereof and, therefore, imparts no girthwise strain thereto. This construction of the plate greatly facilitates the mounting of the upper thereon and obviates the usual lasting strains in the operation of wiping the welted margin in over the margin of the plate. The plate i i is mounted on an upright member l3 and rigidly held in predetermined position thereon during mounting of the upper on said plate.

Inasmuch as the upper is provided with a counter and in most cases also with a box toe no special attention need be given to the orientation of the upper on the work supporting plate since the counter and the box toe are respectively'complemental in shape to the end portions of the plate and will locate themselves in the proper position thereon without any special effort on the part of the shoemaker.

The preshaped upper is mounted on the work supporting plate by positioning the upper bottom upward in a longitudinally inclined position with the toe downward and with the ankle opening surrounding the toe portion of the plate, then advancing the upper heelwardly until the toe portion of theupper is firmly in contact with the '4 toe portion of the plate and then drawing the heel end portion of the upper downwardly to bring the entire welted margin into contact with the margin of the plate. After so mounting the upper on the work supporting plate, the machine is operated to advance a plurality of wiper plates from their retracted position illustrated in Fig. 1, to their position illustrated in Fig. 2, in which the wipers have been brought into engagement with the periphery of the upper along a line sufficiently remote from the weltto obviate the necessity of any manipulation of the welt to insure the ultimate entry of the wipers into the welt crease and to prevent possible engagement of a wiper, or wipers, with the outer edge face or the sole attaching face of the welt. While the wipers remain in their position illustrated in Fig, 2, the work support is moved downwardly to cause the wipers to register with the welt crease, as shown in Fig. 3, and thereupon the wipers are further advanced to bring the welted margin in over the margin of the work supporting plate and to arrange the Welt for attachment to a sole. While the wipers remain in their advanced position, supportin the outward extension of the welt, a sole-usually an outsole, is cement attached to the welt. The Wiper assembly comprises a pair of forepart wipers I2 illustrated in Fig. l and a pair of shank wipers l4 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, and also a toe wiper and heel Wipers not shown in the drawings. After the sole has been cement attached to the welt the wipers are retracted and the shoe is removed from the work supporting plate by a reversal of the procedure above described for mounting the upper on said plate. In accordance with the usual practice the outsole is now permanently secured to the welt by a lockstitch seam and the shoe is finished in the usual manner.-

Flgs. 4 and 5 illustrate an alternative work supporting means the use of which facilitates somewhat the mounting of the upper in the illustrated machine. Referring to Fig. 4 the illustrated work supporting means comprises a plate It having a peripheral shape corresponding generally to the forepart and shank portion of the shoe upper and a heel block it mounted on a slide 20 for movement toward and from the plate is by the operation of a hand lever 22. The work supportin members It and I8 are brought into their contracted position illustrated in Fig. 4 to facilitate the mounting of the upper thereon and after so mounting the upper the hand lever 22 is brought'into its horizontal position illustrated in Fig. 5 thereby expanding the work supporting members. In their expanded position the over-all length of the work supporting memb rs I6 and I8 is the same as the length of an insole of a size corresponding to the size of the upper.

In Figs. 2 and 3 the present method is illustrated in its application to the manufacture of prewelt shoes provided with insoles and fillers. In the manufacture of such shoes a filler 24 and an insole 26 are initially attached together by cement and the assembly thus provided is mounted onthe work supporting means. In the operation of the machine the welted margin of the upper is wiped inwardly over the margin of the insole and into abutting relation to the edge face of the filler. If desired, the welted margin may be cement attached to the margin of the insole in which case cement is applied to the margin of the insole and the inner surface of the margin of the upper prior to the overwiping operation.

While I have illustrated and described the present method as practiced with the aid of the machines illustrated in my two copending applications above referred, it is to be understood that it is within the scope of the invention to practice the method by any suitable means.

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

1. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting a prewelt upper on supporting means which fills the interior of the upper lengthwise and widthwise but does not fill the interior of the forepart of the upper heightwise, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members constructed and arranged to be positioned within the Welt crease, mounting a filler on said supporting means, and while the upper and filler are so supported, securing a sole to the welt and the filler.

2. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting a prewelt upper on a form which does not fill the interior of the forepart of the upper heightwise but is provided with a marginal surface coextensive with the welted margin of the upper upon which surface the welted margin is overwiped, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members constructed and arranged to be positioned within the welt crease, advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over said form, and, while the upper is supported by said members in overwiped position, securing a sole to the welt.

3. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises molding a prewelt upper and inwardly flanging the welted margin without the aid of a last, supporting the inwardly flanged margin on a form which does not fill the interior of the forepart of th upper heightwise but is provided with a marginal surface coextensive with the welted margin of the upper upon which surface the welted margin is overwiped, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members positioned within the Welt crease, advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over said comprises mounting a prewelt upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting means which does not fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supporting means to tension the upper lengthwise thereof, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members constructed and arranged to be positioned within the welt crease, and While the upper is so supported securing a sole to the welt.

7. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises assembling an insole and a filler, shaping a prewelt upper to cause the adjacent marginal portions of the welt and upper to extend inwardly, mounting the insole and filler assembly on a plate having a peripheral shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the insole and having a girth measure at its forepart substantially less than the inside girth measure of the forepart of the upper, mounting the preshaped upper on said plate with its welted margin overlying the margin of the insole, and cement attaching said margins together,

8. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises cement attaching an insole and a filler together, shaping a prewelt upper to cause the adjacent marginal portions of the welt and upper to extend inwardly and to cause the outer margin of the welt to project outwardly from the upper, mounting said insole and filler assembly on a sole-shaped plate havin a girth measure at its forepart substantially less than the inside girth measure of the forepart of the upper, mounting the preshaped upper on said plate with its welted margin overlying the margin of the insole, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members-constructed and arranged to be positioned within the welt crease, and, while the upper is so supported, cement attaching the welted margin of the upper to the margin of the form, and while the upper is supported by said margin on a form which does not fill the interior of the forepart of the upper heightwise but has a work supporting surface corresponding in size and shape to an insole of the same size as the upper, supporting a filler on the work supporting surface of said form, supporting the outward extension of the welt on members positioned within the welt crease, advancing said members to wipe the welted margin in over said form and into abutting relation to said filler and, while the upper is so supported, securing a sole to the welt.

5. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises mounting a prewelt upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting means which does not fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supporting means to tension the upper lengthwise thereof, then supporting the outward insole, and cement attaching an outsole to the welt.

9. That method of making prewelt shoes which comprises shaping a prewelt upper to cause the adjacent margins of the welt and upper toextend inwardly and to cause the outer margin of the welt to project outwardly, mounting the upper on a longitudinally expansible supporting means which does not fill the interior of the upper, expanding said supporting means to an over-all length corresponding to the length of an insole of the same siz as the upper, supporting the outward extension of the welt, and securing a sole thereto. g

ERIC A. ,HOLMGREN.

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UNITED STATES PATENTS British Feb.. 10, 19 10

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