US2623292A - Apparatus for gauging and grading leather - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 30, 1952 R. 5. HAY ETAL APPARATUS FOR GAUGING AND GRADING LEATHER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 25, 1951 INVENTOR. Randal: a. H Herman I? Wan M g e all-div ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1952 R. G. HAY ETAL APPARATUS FOR GAUGING AND GRADING LEATHER Filed April 25, 1951 2 Sl-IEETS--SHEET 2 fiandaZA' gF j ily Hermon F Van wy ATTORNEY 'IIIIII/ll/IIIIIIJ Patented Dec. 30, 1952 APPARATUS FOR GAUGING AND GRADKN'G LEATHER Randall G. Hay, Jenkintown, and Hermon F. Van Wye, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 25, 1951, Serial No. 222,917

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for gauging and grading leather, whereby to ascertain the direct percentage relatron of good leather to the total area of leather in a hide or skin under inspection, as a preliminary to cutting same. This constitutes an improvement upon the apparatus disclosed in application Serial Number 127,362, filed November 15, 1949.

As is pointed out in said application, leather as furnished by the tanner is in bundles of generally similar sizes and weights of hides or skins, and of generally similar qualities. The user of the leather, such, for instance, as a, shoe manufacturer, is concerned not only that he receive the quality and weight as well as the area of leather purchased, but also with the cutting quality of the leather. The grader for the manufacturer, surveying the respective hides or skins, must observe the grain of the leather, i. e., whether fine, medium fine, medium, coarse, or raspy and While mentally retaining this value must also determine the degree of brokenness of the leather. This basic factor of brokenness is affected in degree by numerous hide defects, including imperfections such as briar scratches, pits, excessive veins, fat wrinkles, prominent backbone, roughness around the head, softness in the flank, etc., all of which have to be observed and allowed for in relation to the total area of the skin or hide.

The determination of the quality of leather is possessed of numerous difficulties which have militated against the success of previous practices, such as represented by the patent to Reymond, Reissue No, 15,744, for instance. Factors in the approach to the problem include the necessity that the leather be rotected against creasing or wrinkling beyond a certain relatively small amount, as sharp creases or wrinkles re main in the hide to. alter its usefulness for its intended purposes, as to reduce it in grade or even cause it to become scrap. In addition, any apparatus for the scanning of hides must be so designed that in addition to the provision of visual scanning of the upper surface of the leather, opportunity must be given for physical stroking thereof by the fingers of the operator, for the purpose of locating the grain, and also locating imperfectionsthat may exist which may not be readily visible.

In the apparatus of said application, very effective and better results have been attained than by any device of the prior art. However, according to the primary teaching of said application the anvil member was relatively inflexible, and the complemental rods forcing the leather into the V-shaped channels formed by the anvil member under excess pressure might form creases or compression scars between the imposed rod and the stationary channels where the stretching of the leather bending about the rods was secured by constriction against the V-shaped channels of the anvil.

It is, therefore, among the primary objects of this invention to cheapen the construction of a leather-scanning apparatus; to provide an anvil member with sheet metal forming devices capable of slight yielding resiliently under the pressure of leather pressed thereagainst by a comp1 mental rod; to provide a, device which, while disclosing at least of the leather to visual observation, secures this result by minimized compression and creasing of the leather; to provide a leather scanning anvil and platten organization in which rods on the platten are of smaller diameter than the effective width of a truncated V-shaped channel member on the anvil, whereby only the thickest leather has opposite surfaces under compression between a rod and the flaring channel walls; and to provide other objects and improvements as will hereinafter appear.

In carrying out the invention in an illustrative embodiment, a fixed, generally planar, compressing member is provided comprising a plurality of elongated rods in parallel relation, with which a plurality of relatively short cross rods are associated, for leather-stretching association with an anvil comprised of a plurality of sheet metal members each having four bent sides forming four sides of four channels to receive such rods, which sheet metal members are capable of slight yielding resiliently under pressure to minimize the scoring or creasing of the leather, and so spaced as to preclude actual compressing creasing of the leather by and between the complemental rods and channels, to the end that compression and creasing of the leather is minimized, while adequate stretching and obser vation of at least 90% of the upper surface of a stretched hide is secured.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentary plan of the assembly of the anvil and platten organization with the platten engaging and stretching an illustrative hide or skin.

Fig. 2 represents a fragmentary enlarged plan of a complete rectangular unit with a stretched hide engaged between the anvil and platten.

Fig. 3 represents afragmentary perspective of the anvil and platten organization with the latter broken away to more clearly show the channel formation of the anvil, and with the anvil broken away to show the side member thereof.

Fig. 4 represents a fragmentary vertical section through part of the assembly of Fig. 3, taken parallel to the hinge strip of the platten.

Fig. 5 represents a fragmentary vertical section through part of the assembly of Fig. 3, taken transversely of the hinge strip of the platten.

Fig. 6 represents a fragment of the platten rod and a portion of a channel-defining wall, showing the relations thereof to a piece of leather stretched between them, in full lines, and showing the relations of the parts incident to slight flexing of the channel member with increased stretching of the leather piece incident to greater compression exerted thereon.

The simplified and cheapened anvil structure will first be described, and reference may be had to Figs. 3 to 5 inclusive. For this formation a bed plate I is provided, which may well be of metal if desired, but which is preferably a sheet of plywood. A plurality of stamped bent sheet metal channel-defining members I I are provided, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, each comprises a flat bottom plate portion I2 apertured to re ceive attaching screws or the like l3, for secure parallel attachment to the upper surface It of the bed plate. Each of the formin members II comprises a rectangular plate portion I2 provided with four mutually independent bent-up side walls I4, at an acute angle to the plate portion I2, and each having the reentrantly curved apices I formed by the mergence of walls I4 into the short inwardly extending terminals It. For identification herein the respective individual sloping walls I4 on each unit are given characters A, B, C, and D. The respective walls of each unit are spaced from each other by a space formed by a cut-out in the blank from which the units are formed so that the respective walls are independent of each other, and all of the apices of all walls lie in a general common plane parallel to the upper surface ID of the bed plate. In the preferred embodiment of the units, the sheet metal has a relatively thin gauge with inherent resilience so as to be susceptible to slight flexing under leather-stretching compression, in order further to minimize creasing or marking of the leather.

The respective units are mounted rigidly on the base plate III in a pattern, in which all of the sloping walls A and C are in parallel aligned relation across the bed plate, and in which the sloping walls B and D are in parallel aligned relation along the bed plate, and so that the respective juxtaposed Walls C and A and the respective juxtaposed walls'B and D of the units mutually define with the bed plate areas I9 defined by oppositely sloping walls, truncated V- shaped channels. These channels in one dimension are identified as channels E and in the other dimension, normal to the first, as channels F.

In order to complete the survey field formed by the plurality of units II the marginal edges of the multiplicity of units is finished by four boundary channel members 20, 20, extending respectively the full width of the examining table in the bent members G,. and the full length of the examining table in the bent members H. These marginal members G and H comprise an anchoring flange member 24, integral with inclined wall 2| leading to the curved apex 22,

forming a reentrant curve with the terminal end 23. The inclined walls 2| are struck up from a planar base member 24, secured to the base plate, in such manner that the inclined walls 2I form with the respective side walls A or B, or C, or D, a channel E or F of the truncated V shape formed with the outlined areas I9 of the bed plate by the units inside of the boundary margins.

The whole just described defines a plurality of generally resilient channels, in a series of parallel center lines in one dimension, intersected by a plurality of parallel center lines in the other dimension, considerin the center lines of the channels as in vertical planes bisecting the oppositely sloping walls and intersecting the areas I9 of the bed plate.

For cooperation with the channels just described of the anvil, a platten is provided having bars and rods which in essence conform to the pattern of channels E and F respectively of the anvil, in order to compress and stretch the hide or skin imposed in generally planar form on the anvil. As disclosed in said application, a fixed housing 30 is provided having the vertical slot 3I at each end of the anvil, and if desired at intermediate portions thereof. A horizontal pivot strip 32 is mounted parallel to the plane of the bed plate in said vertical slots, normally urged toward the bottom of said slots by the compres sion springs 33, restrained at their upper ends by the adjustable member 34, for varying the compression. At intervals, coinciding with the center lines of the channels F and F, supp0rting strips or bars 35 of planar strip or sheet metal are fused, welded, or brazed to the pivot bar or strip 32, and extend the full width of the surveying table, in vertical extension bisecting the respective fore and aft channels F and F. This furnishes a plurality of parallel rods extendin fore and aft of the surveying table, and these may be joined at the front by a handle rod or bar 36 projecting in or toward the front of the surveyin table.

On each fore and aft bar 35 an elongated tubular cylindrical rod 3! is mounted, rigidly, and preferably the rods 31 are smaller in external diameter than the width of the areas IQ of the bed plate.

In order to form the platten into a grid formation, with parallel lines extending in cross relation to define a series of parallelograms, a plurality of short strap bars 38 are provided, each comprising a linear middle portion and oppositely extending respective terminal ends 40 and 4!, in perpendicularity to the middle portion and in mutual parallelism with each other. On the lower edges of part of the middle portion 38, a short hollow cylindrical tubular rod 42 is rigidly mounted. The free terminal ends of the respective cross bars are juxtaposed to and impose laterally against the respective fore and aft sup porting bars 35, in alternately reversed position, so that two ends 40 are in transverse alignment so as to be simultaneously anchored in triple thickness with and to the central fore and aft supporting bars. The fastening can be by any suitable means such as by welding, brazing or the like, and for simplicity will be shown as by throughbolts and nuts 50. The free ends of the respective cross bars, imposed against the next adjacent fore and aft bars will extend together in the opposite direction, so that in the transverse series every other pair of terminals extend rearwardly and the intermediate ones extend forwardly. This organization is extremely cheap and simple to fabricate and assemble and pro vides a grid of rods .formed of parallel elongated through fore .and aft rods, intersected by transversely extending aligned rods in parallel series. Each rod is of smaller diameterthan the narrowest width of channels, and the center lines of all tubular members lie in a common plane, which in the use of the device with .a hide or skin stretched loosely on the anvil, through the yielding permitted by the resilient hinge described, assumes parallelism with the general plane common to the apices of the respective walls of the forming members.

In the operation of the device the leather to be inspected is laid out .and made as smooth as possible on the anvil, with the platten raised and out of the way. The platten is then swung or otherwise lowered into contact with the upper surface 50 of the leather piece 5! being inspected. As the platten is pushed downwardly to a point where the lower periphery of the respective hollow rods passes .below the general common plane of the apices I5 of the fixed anvil units, the leather is imposed against the respective apices under slight tension. As the pressure increases and the platten moves downwardly as a substantial unit, the leather becomes stretched further in a central area 54 defined by the four apices l5 of the respective walls A, B, C, and D, of a given unit, and also is stretched relative to these respective apices in areas 55 from the respective apex I5 of the contiguous inclined wall to the juxtaposed rod 31 or H. At the point of greatest stretching it will be observed that the adjacent short lateral areas 55 have a mergence in a short area 56, concealed under and by the respective horizontal rods, but the leather is not crimped or creased by tangential relations of the rods with the oppositely sloping walls of the channel, so that marking or creasing of the leather areas 55 is by mere contact with the rod 37 or 42, and by mere contact, spaced from rods 3'! or 42, with the apices of the sloping walls of the unit. There is thus exposed a greater area of leather for visual and physical inspection of the leather than had been previously accomplished, while avoiding the compression and creasing of the leather previously possible.

It will be understood that the descent of the platten for stretching the leather is a function of pressure applied by the operator in the normal course, which can be controlled by the addition of weights on the platten, if desired, although this imposes counterweighting problems. Therefore, in some cases there may be a greater pressure used on one group of hides or skins than on another related group. If the parts were rigid this might result in marking some of the leather to a degree non-existent with the other group. In this case, the resilience of the respective walls comes into play, and the excess pressure reacting through the hides flexes the respective side walls as shown in Fig. 6 and in conjunction with the functioning of the spring hinge, equalizes the pressures on the leather and thus minimizes the creasing or marring tendency from the excess compression by the platten. With experience, of course, this tendency to use varying pressures will be corrected so far as the operator is concerned.

The simplicity, economy, and improved functioning of the apparatus will be appreciated.

Iaving thus described our invention, we claim:

1. An apparatus for examining leather preparatory to cutting same which comprises a ,bed plate, a :pair of separate individually flexiblerinclined walls, means on the respective walls connecting them to the bed plate in general parallelisminspaced outwardly flaring relation and in section transverse of the walls and normal to said bed plate forming an open truncated V, said walls and bed plate together forming an open mouth channel member, a relatively movable rod aligned with said member and movable to permit mounting of leather on the channel member and .into general parallelism therewith .after the leather is mounted, said rod being movable relative to the :mounted leather to stretch the leather across the channel and to hold it therein :by a fold about the rod out of contact with the channel between the :rod and the edges of the channel.

2. An apparatus for examining leather preparatory to cutting same which comprises a bed plate, a plurality of identical area delineators, .each area delineator comprising a bottom portion :for imposition against the bed plate, and four integral side walls, each side wall having an acute .angle relative to the bottom portion and terminating in .a generally curved apex, with the respective apices in a general plane parallel to the bottom portion and with the respective side walls spaced apart from each other so as to be capable of individual flexing, said plurality of area delineators being disposed on said bed plate with contiguous side walls of adjacent area delineators in spaced parallelism defining continuous channels in two intersecting'directions parallel to said bed plate.

3. An apparatus for examining leather preparatory to cutting same which comprises a bed plate, a plurality of identical area delineators, each area delineator comprising a bottom portion for imposition against the bed plate, four integral side walls, each side wall having an acute angle relative to the bottom portion and terminating in a generally curved apex, with the respective apices in a general plane parallel to the bottom portion and with the respective side walls spaced apart from each other so as to be capable of individual flexing, said plurality of area delineators being disposed on said bed plate with contiguous side walls of adjacent area delineators in spaced parallelism defining continuous channels in two intersecting directions parallel to said bed plate, and complemental elongated side and edge members each comprising a bottom portion on said bed plate and an inclined wall terminating in a generally curved apex, said inclined wall coextensive across a plurality of the area delineators in spaced relation thereto to define with the respective adjacent units additional V shaped channels.

4. An apparatus for examining leather comprising a bed plate, a plurality of identical forming units mounted on the bed plate and forming with each other a plurality of continuous V- shaped channels in two dimensions of the bed plate, each forming unit comprising a generally rectangular member having four respective sloping walls sloping toward the center of the unit, each wall terminating in a generally curved upper apex, said plurality of forming units mounted on the bed plate with the respective walls of contiguous pairs of units oppositely sloping with the apices presenting away from the bed plate to define a channel closed at the bottom by an exposed area of the bed plate.

5. An apparatus for examining leather comprising a bed plate, a plurality of identical forming units mounted on the bed plate and forming with each other a plurality of continuous V- shaped channels in two dimensions of the bed plate, each forming unit comprising a generally rectangular member having four respective sloping walls sloping toward the center of the unit, each wall terminating in a generally curved upper apex, said plurality of forming units mounted on the bed plate with the respective walls of contiguous pairs of units oppositely sloping with the apices presenting away from the bed plate to define a channel closed at the bottom by an exposed area of the bed plate, and means including complemental rods forming a platten and disposed for registration with the general center lines of the respective channels.

6. An apparatus for examining leather comprising a bed plate, a plurality of identical forming units mounted on the bed plate and forming with each other a plurality of continuous V- shaped channels in two dimensions of the bed plate, each forming unit comprising a generally rectangular member having four respective sloping walls sloping toward the center of the unit, each wall terminating in a generally curved upper apex, said plurality of forming units mounted on the bed plate with the respective walls of contiguous pairs of units oppositely sloping with the apices presenting away from the bed plate to define a channel closed at the bottom by an exposed area of the bed plate, and means including complemental rods forming a platten and disposed for registration with the general center lines of the respective channels, said rods having a diameter not greater than the width of the area of bed plate between contiguous walls.

RANDALL G. HAY.

HERMON F. VAN WYE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re.15,744 Reymond Jan. 8, 1924 233,361 Lummus Oct. 19, 1880 237,836 Dupuy Feb. 15, 1881 1,568,183 Reymond Jan. 5, 1926 1,931,297 Reiser Oct. 17, 1933

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