US2433038A - Splitting machine - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet l C. F. FITZGERALD SPLITTING MACHINE Filed May 3, 1946 Dec. 23, 1947.

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Dec. 2.3, 1947. c. F. FITZGERALD 2,433,038 I SPLITTING MACHINE Filed May s, 1946 2 sheets-sheet 2 a l ,f ly `l Il 'z "QE I 100 :I I

23 j 'ff 15 l gym! 5 37 Inventor Charles F Fitzgerald Patented Dec. 23, 1947 vnnrreo STAT-Es PATENT oifricla.

SPLTTING MACHINE Charles F. Fitzgerald, Beverly, Mass., assigner to United- Shoe Machinery Corporation, Vlleinington, N. J., a corporation of New l'Jersey Application May 3, 1946, Serial No. 667,030

(Cl.A 'G9-113) 6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to machines for splitting or evening sheet material and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine particularly adapted to even thick pieces of leather such, for example, as heel lifts.

Leather splitting machines commonly comprise a knife or cutter, and a pair of separable rolls whichfeed the work to the knife. One of these rolls, commonly the lower one7 is a pressure roll which is located beneath the plane of the knife, is urged upwardly by heavy springs against a stop, and is designed to be pressed downward whenthe leading end of a piece of work enters between theV rolls, and to yield to irregularities in the thickness of the work while the work is being split. The other roll, called a gage roll, is commonlylocated above the yielding pressure roll and the plane of the knife in rigid but adjustable bearings; and its adjusted position above the cutting edge of the knife determines the uniform thickness to which the work will be split or evened.

In a splitting machine of this general type comprisingr a knife to which the work is fed by two cooperating rolls, it is desirable that the distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls to theV edge ofthe knife be as small as possible. This distance cannot be zero since with such a position of parts there is insufcient clearance between theknife` and the rolls for the passage between the knifev and the rolls of the split piece of work and of the waste split or skiving. In splitting or evening pieces of work with machines of this kind in which the knife is set as close as practical to the plane which passes through the aXes of the rolls, and the distance between said knifeedge and saidplane always remains the' same, there is a tendency to start the splitting or evening cut too far from the pressure roll so that the cut is made for a short distance at nrst on a downward bevel before it straightens l'out at the desired level. 'The result is a iinished 'piece of work which is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its major portion but is more or less abruptly beveled atV one of its ends. This beveling or nipping as it is commonly referred to, of one end of the piece of Work is in many instances'very disadvantageous. For example, when heel lift blanks are thus split or evened, there results a plurality of heel lifts each of which 'has been nipped or sharply beveled along one edge so that at this locality each lift is thinner than throughout its major portion;l and when, for example, such heel lifts are built into a heel, the heightofthe heel 2 is reduced alongthat edge in which the beveled portions of thellifts lie.

The purpose of the present avoid or'prevent this nipping or leading end of the work.

It is desirable in splitting machines of this type, as has been stated, that the cutting edge of the knife be located as close as possible to the plane connecting the axes of the rolls. At the same time, of course, there must be sufficient clearance between the knife and the rolls to permit the finished piece andthe split to pass respectively between the knife and the gage roll and between the knife and the pressure roll. If the knife is set too close to the plane which passes through the axes of the rolls, there will not be clearance enough for the iinished stock and the split or skiving.

in the illustrated machine, according to the present invention, the distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls is small when no work is in the machine and remains so until the leading end of the work has entered between the rolls and its leading edge has contacted with the edge of the knife. The knife is mounted for movement toward and from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, being yieldingly held as close as is practical to-said plane. When, therefore, the leading edge of the work contacts with the edge of the knife, it moves the knife away from said plane, e, stop being provided to limit the extent of such last-named movement.

This and other features of the invention, including certainV details of construction and combinations of parts, will be described as embodied in an illustrated machine and pointed out inthe appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is, a front elevation of a machine'in which the present invention is embodied; and

Figure 2 is a median longitudinal cross-section on the plane indicated by the line II-II in Fig. l and in the `direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring rst to Figure l, a general type of old and well-known machine in which the present invention is embodied will be briefly described. The illustrated machine comprises a frame 3 in which are mounted the two bearings for the shaft of a lower or pressure roll 5, said roll being commonly knurled. These bearings are normally held up by heavy springs i against stops, herein shown as screws. The pressure roll may hence yield downwardly when necessary. A cooperating gage roll I I is located directly above thepressure invention is to beveling of the roll, the shaft of this roll being carried by two bearings which are slidable vertically in the frame of the machine. The top of each bearing comprises a wedge-shaped portion I3, I3 with which respectively cooperate wedges I5, I5 carried by a bar I1. Springs I9, I 9 hold the inclined faces of the wedge-shaped portions I3, I3 of the bearings of the shaft of the upper roll II against the inclined faces of the wedges I5. In order to adjust the gage roll II vertically, a handwheel (not shown) is provided, turning of which moves the bar II, and with it the wedges I5, to the right or to the left. Behind the rolls 5, II there is commonly present, in the old type of splitting machine being referred to, a stationary knife, such a knife not being present in the illustrated machine as will appear below. The rolls are driven in opposite directions to feed a piece of work away from the observer, as viewed in Figure 1. Such driving means includes a sha-ft 20 having fast and loose pulleys and a number of gears (all of which are not shown) and certain of these gears mesh loosely with others to provide for vertical adjustment of the upper or gage roll II and the lower or pressure roll 5. Machines of the general type of the one described briefly above, in which a piece of work is fed between a gage roll and a pressure roll driven in opposite directions, and in which the gage roll is adjustable to vary the thickness of the finished work, and the pressure roll isyieldable in accordance with the thickness of the work, are old and well known, one such machine being disclosed for example, in United States Patent No. 894,850, granted August 4, 1908, upon an application filed in the name of Frederick J. Nash. As has been explained, when pieces of work such, for example, as heel lifts, are split on such machines, the leading edges of said lifts are commonly nipped In order to avoid this nipping the present invention provides a knife which is normallythat is, when there is no work in the machinelocated a given distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, and is moved away from this plane by the leading end of the work as it is fed between the rolls. Referring now to Figure 2, it will be noted that the cooperating rolls II and 5 are located one directly over the other. The knife 2i is not stationary, as it is in the old type of splitting machine, but is mounted on a carrier 23 which is pivoted about a stud or rod 25 near the bottom of the machine, In order to hold the knife in the position shown (l) when there is no work in the machine and (2) when the leading end of the work |00 has entered between the rolls up to the time its leading edge contacts with the edge of the knife, there is provided a spring-pressed plunger 21 together with a screw 29 for varying the force of the spring 3|, the plunger engaging with its left-hand end, as viewed in Figure 2, the carrier for the knife, the right-hand end of the plunger engaging the spring, and the screw being threaded through a rigid part 33 of the frame of the machine and provided with a lock nut 35. Cooperating with the spring-pressed plunger 2? is a stop screw 37 threaded through a depending lug on the knifecarrier 23 and engaging with its end the rigid member 33. When the moving piece of work |00 contacts with the edge of the knife, it rocks the knife-carrier about the axis of the rod 25 and thus pushes the knife away from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls. In order to predetermine how much this distance from the edge of the knife shall be increased, there is provided 4 a second stop screw 39 which is threaded through the rigid member 33. Its left-hand end is normally spaced, as shown in Figure 2, from the knife-carrier 23, and is adapted to engage said carrier when said carrier is rocked clockwise about its pivot 25.

The operation of this mechanism is as follows. The gage roll is adjusted vertically so that the distance from its lower` element to the plane of the knife edge equals the thickness desired in the finished piece of work, the edge of the knife lying substantially in a horizontal plane passed through the uppermost element of the lower roll.

When a piece of work enters between the rolls it depresses the lower roll more or less depending upon the thickness of the leading end of said piece. In any event, as the work is fed forward (to the right as viewed in Figure 2) it presently contacts with the edge of the knife. This is the position of parts shown in Figure 2. At that time the knife has engaged the leading end of the work at just the right level, but if the distance from the edge of the knife remains as it is shown, there will not be sufficient clearance for the nished piece of work and the split-off chip to pass. What happens now is that the clearance is increased because the knife is pushed to the right against the force of the spring-pressed plunger 2 until the knife-carrier 23 contacts with the stop screws 39. Thereafter the splitting takes place, and after the work leaves the machine the spring-pressed plunger 2l' returns the knife carrier to its normal position, By thus starting the splitting cut at the right location on the leading end of the work, and providing a proper distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, the nished work is uniform in thickness throughout.

It should be noted that the plane through the axes of the rolls is substantially perpendicular at all times to the plane of the cut of the knife. Theoretically, of course, the knife is not exactly perpendicular since it moves in an arc. However, this arc is so short, and the radius of swinging movement of the carrier 33 is so long, that the movement of the knife, as viewed in Figure 2, is substantially horizontal.

Although the invention has been described as embodied in a particular machine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has been shown and described.

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

1. A machine of the class Adescribed having, in combination, a pair of rolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to which the work is fed by said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward and from the knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will be split, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knife the split which is removed from the work passes, yielding means for permitting the pressure roll to move away from the gage roll in response to the entering of the work between the rolls, a carrier for the knife, said carrier being movable to cause the knife to move .toward and from a plane passed ment ldue to said yielding means, and means for limiting the extent of movement of the knife car rier in opposition to the action of said yielding means.

2. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pair of rolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to which the Work is fed by said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward and from Ithe knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will be split, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knife the split which is removed from the work passes, the edge of the knife lying substantially in a plane extending in the path of feed movement of the work and passing through that element of the pressure roll which is nearest to the feed roll, yielding means for permitting the pressure roll to move away from the gage roll in response to the entering of the work between the rolls, a carrier for the knife, said carrier being movable to cause the knife to move toward and from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, yielding means urging the knife carrier toward said plane, means for limiting the extent of movement due to said yielding means, andmeans for limiting the extent of movement of the knife carrier in opposition to the action of said yielding means.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a cooperating pressure roll, a knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, the edge of the knife being located in the path of feed movement of the work, .the knife being movable toward and from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls,'yielding means and stop means for normally holding the knife at a small distance from said plane whereby the work as it is fed through the machine contacts with the knife and moves it away from said plane, and means for limiting the distance to which it is moved.

4. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a cooperating pressure roll yieldingly mounted for movement away from the gage roll in a ldirection substantially perpendicular to the path of feed movement of the work, a movable knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, the plane of the knife being normally substantially in the plane of that element of the pressure roll which is nearest to the gage roll, yielding means for urging the knife toward. the pressure roll, means for limiting movement of the knife toward the pressure roll, whereby the work, as it enters between the rolls and thereby depresses the pressure roll and moves forward, contacts with the knife and pushes the knife away from the pressure roll, and means for limiting movement yof the knife away from the pressure roll.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a cooperating pressure roll, a movable knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, yielding means and a stop for maintainl ing the knife, when no work is in the machine, with its edge at a given 'distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls while permitting it to yield away from said plane, and means for limiting said yielding-away movement whereby the splitting cut is started with the knife in the first-named position and the major portion of the splitting cut takes place with the knife in the second-named position.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two cooperating rolls, one of which is yieldingly mounted for movement away from the other in a direction substantially perpendicular to the path of feed movement of the work, a movable knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, yielding means at all times urging the knife toward a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, means for limiting such movement, and means for limiting movement of the knife awai7 from said plane in opposition to the force of said yielding means.

CHARLES F. FITZGERALD.

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