US2684648A

US2684648A - Machine for sewing shoes

Info

Publication number: US2684648A
Application number: US283051A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ashworth Fred; Joseph R Ioannilli
Original assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Current assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Priority date: 1952-04-18
Filing date: 1952-04-18
Publication date: 1954-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 1971-07-27

Description

July 27, 1954 F. ASHWORTH ETAL 2,684,648

MACHINE FOR SEWING SHOES Filed April 18, 1952 H/ Inn fg :"f;

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www w Patented July 27, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR SEWING SHOES 1952, Serial No. 283,051

(Cl. i12-46) Application April 18,

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to machines for sewing shoes, more particularly that class of shoe disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,467,466-, granted April 19, 1949, in the name oi. L. S. Curtin, in which a sole unit is permanently attached to the outflanged marginal portion of a stitchdown shoe upper while mounted upon a last,.the' projecting marginal portions of the shoe being rough rounded with a variable width edge about they shoe: after a practice commonly employed in the manufacture of Goodyear welt shoes. In such Goodyear Welt practice the variable width projecting marginal portion of a shoe frequently is designated as a Baltimore edge.

The. usual procedure in the manufacture of stitchdown shoes consists in applying a sole to a last, lasting anupper over the last with the margin-al portions outfianged and engaged with the projecting marginal portion of the sole unit. The engaging portions of the sole and upper are then rough rounded with a uniform extension projecting fromv the bottom surface of the last. To complete the shoe a welt is laid in the crevice between. the bulging last supported surface and sole engaging outrlanged portion of the upper. An outsole is then sewed to the shoe. with stitches passing through the welt to secure a permanent attachment of theV parts.

In sewing the. parts together a stitchdown shoe is presented ordinarily to. an outsole stitcher similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,013,751, granted September l0, 1935, in the` name of A, Eppler. This machine is provided with a iixed work support against which the bulging last supported surface of the upper is guided and a welt guide passage in the work support directs a stitchdown welt into the crevice of the shoe in advance of the sewing point in the machine. No edge gage is employed in the machine so that the seam line is directed a uniform distance from the crevice throughout the length of the projecting marginal portions of the parts. The projecting marginal portions of the shoe are then trimmed and finished along their edges following the iines to which they were originally rough rounded and sewed.

Because of the uniform marginal projections along the edges of the upper and sole unit the usual stitchdown shoe is readily distinguishable in appearance from a Goodyear Welt shoe having a variable width or Baltimore edge, except for the stitchdown type of shoe disclosed in the Curtin patent above noted. If an attempt is made to provide a Baltimore or other variable width edge on a stitchdown shoe, according to usual procedures, the line of stitches does not follow the edge so that the decorative appearance is impaired and an opportunity for curling and separation along the edges of the wider parts is introduced.

To secure a construction having the appearance of a Goodyear welt shoe, the parts of the stitchdown shoe disclosed in the Curtin patent are temporarily attached by cement, and are brought into cooperative relationship by suitable lasting and forming machines with a stitchdown welt laid on the outanged margin of the upper while the shoe is supported on a. last, the welt being temporarily secured in the crevice between the last supported and the outiianged marginal portions of the upper. The projecting margins r of the welt, upper and sole are then rough rounded before stitching to provide a relatively wide extension in the forepart and a narrow extension both in the shank of the shoe and at the toe in accordance with Goodyear welt shoe practice. After temporary assembly of the parts, a, permanent attachment is made in the Curtin shoe by inserting an outseam, the stitches of which pass through the welt, outfianged margin of the upper and sole at a uniform distance from the rough rounded edge of the sole, imparting an acceptable and pleasing appearance with a reliable shoe structure resulting. To insert the outseam, an outsole stitcher is employed having an edge gage for guiding the seam a uniform distance from the rough rounded edges.

An object of the present invention is to provide machine for matting shoes of the stitchdown type in which it is no longer necessary to secure a welt temporarily to the projecting margin of an outsole by cement as a separate operation before the shoe is rough rounded as disclosed in the Curtin patent. Further objects are to provide a novel machine arranged to enable more eiective manufacture of stitchdown shoes, the lmarginal portions along the outlanged upper and projecting sole are rough rounded with a variable width extension, in a manner that will result in proper assembly and permanent attachment of a welt to the other parts of the shoe in a single operation including the insertion of a line oi? stitches passing through the parts at a uniform distance from their rough rounded edges. Still further and more general objects are to irnprove the construction of sewing machines for permanently attaching the parts of a stitchdown shoe by the provision of means for eliminating one or more operations required in the Curtin shoe while retaining the advantages of a reliable shoe construction and ease of assembly considered highly desirable with acceptable manufacturing procedures.

Consistent with the objects above referred to,

the machine of the invention has the usual stitch forming and work engaging devices for operating upon a sole, the outflanged portions of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last and a superposed stitchdown welt, such devices including a curved hook needle, a looper, and a work support formed with a gage for the welt, in which the work support is mounted for movement as a unit with a shiftable carrier yieldingly actuated to press the work support against the bulging last supported surface of a shoe forcing the welt firmly into the crevice betwen the bulging and outiianged sole engaging portions of the shoe upper. Preferably, the work support also has a welt guide passage movable with it to guide the welt onto the work engaging surface of the work support.

In the usual sewing machine for accomplishing permanent attachment of an outsole and an upper inY a Goodyear welt or other shoe where an edge Ygage is employed, the edge gage ordinarily is moving during sewing operations, rather than the Work support which is fixed, so that the seam line spacing from the edge of the parts operated upon may be varied but such arrangement has been found unsuitable for the purposes of the present invention. An arrangement of a movable work support and an edge gage which remains fixed during sewing operations is, therefore, the opposite to that usually employed in sewing machines for attaching parts of a stitchdown shoe. The shiftable carrier for the movable work support, has connected to it, in its illustrated form, a resilient means of the proper character to act automatically in pressing the work support and welt yieldingly into proper sewing position so that no attention whatever is required on the part of the operator for seating the welt in the shoe crevice.

These and other features of the invention, as hereinafter described and claimed will readily be apparent from the following detail description and. accompaying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of certain of the stitch forming and work engaging devices in a machine embodying the features of the present invention;V

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the work support, presser foot, edge gage and shoe parts operated upon in the machine of Fig. l looking from the right; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of a shoe and some of the work engaging devices in the machine, shown while the sewing operation is being performed.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is intended for operation upon a stitchdown shoe comprising an upper and a sole unit conformed to a last The sole unit includes an insole 6 mounted upon the last with its marginal projection secured to the outanged margin of the upper. indicated at 8, by stitches l as shown in Fig. 2. If an outsole l2 also is to be used it is temporarily attached to the insole by cement. Ordinarily a stitchdown welt is applied in superposed relation to the other parts in the shoe during the operation on a sewing machine which permanently attaches the parts, the usual stit-chdown machine being equipped with a work support haivng a welt guide arranged in advance of the sewing point.

A prerequisite to acceptable stitchdown welt sewing practice is edgewise pressure against the welt to seat it firmly within the crevice of a stitchdown shoe between the bulging last supported and outflanged portions of the upper so that no gap will appear between the upper and the inner edge of the welt. .'eretofore, firm seating of the welt in superposed relation to the upper of a stitchdown shoe crevice has been obtained in a sewing machine by the welt guide in the work support and by an integral block shaped welt gage on the work support directly behind the sewing point, the welt guide directing the welt upwardly onto the work engaging surface of the work support with the ouetr edge of the welt maintained in firm engagement with the welt gage. Because the added duty of properly seating the welt within the crevice of a stitchdown shoe requires extra attention on the part of the machine operator, manufacturers of stitchdown shoes have been content to produce shoes which have their sole edges conformed with the line of the seam securing the welt permanently in position. The belief has been that the use of a variable extension or Baltimore edge would present an insurmountable burden on the operator so that attempts to manufacture stitchdown shoes with variable width extensions have been avoided.

If a shoe having a variable width extension or Baltimore edge along its projecting marginal portions, as indicated in Fig. 3, is presented to an outsole stitcher of the usual construction with no edge gage for the sole but with a fixed work support formed with a welt guide passage and a welt gage for guiding the welt to the sewing point, in accordance with prior stitchdown practice, the welt `will be pressed uniformly against the bulging last supported surface of the upper and secured within the crevice of the shoe in an acceptable manner but the seam line will not follow the edge of the sole along the variable width extension portions. Not only will the appearance of the shoe be adversely affected by such construction, especially along the wider portions of the marginal extension but the seam actually may run off the edges of the parts along the portions of narrower extensions unless precautions are taken. It thus appears that for satisfactorily sewing a stitchdown shoe and applying a welt where a variable width or Baltimore edge extension is employed in a single operation there must be two separate guiding devices, one of which presses the welt into the shoe crevice and the other of which guides the line of the seam a uniform distance from the variable width edge regardless of the width of extension. The only other alternative to practical stitchdown shoe construction employing a variable width extension is that disclosed in the Curtin patent above identified in which a separate operation is required to attach the welt temporarily before sewing.

Before the sewing operation on the marginal projections of the shoe parts is performed, in accordance with the practice of the present invention, the sole unit including the insole 6, the outsole I2 and the outflanged margin of the upper 8 are rough rounded in a manner commonly employed in the manufacture of Goodyear welt shoes, with a variable width extension or Baltimore edge along the margins of the parts, (Fig. 3) The line along which the parts are rough rounded, as indicated at I4, provides the widest extension along the forepart and the narrowest extensions in the shank and extreme toe end of the shoe. During sewing, the rough rounded edges of the parts are guided by an edge gage so that the line M gives direction to the shoe outseam, shown in Figs. 1 and 2 at i5. This is the usual practice with Goodyear welt shoe manufacture. A commercial form of rough rounding machine accordingly is employed and the configuration is J determined in large part by the skill of the operator.

As has been. indicated, the. machine of: the present invention enables sewing the marginal portions of a variable width extension edge on a Stitchdown shoe with a seam spaced a uniform distance from the edges of the parts, while introducing into the seam the stitchdown welt so that temporary attachment of. the welt to the extension edges, as disclosed in the Curtin patent in a separate operation, is no longerl necessary. To this end the machine of the invention has a work support I6 constructed. in a manner similar to acceptable practice at its work engaging end. The work support has a stitchdown welt guide I8 formed as an integral passage leading onto the work engaging surface of the support and a stitchdown welt gage 2U in the form of a shoulder on an integral block at the rear of an opening 22 through which the stitch forming devices pass.

The stitch forming devices oi' the machine include a conventional curved hook needle 24, and a curved awl 2S moving through the opening 22 in the work support. The needle has cooperating with it a needle guide 28, a looper 3Q and a thread nnger 3i. Toclamp the shoe in operating position, a presser foot 32 engages the parts operated upon above the work support. Other partsv of the machine are similar to those disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,169,909,

granted February l, 1916, upon application of F. Ashworth. In the machine of the Ashworth patent the work support is secured rigidly to the frame of the machine and a shoe being operated on is guided along the work engaging surface of the Work support by an edge gage separate from the welt gage, which edge gage is secured to a shiftable carrier connected for manual control during sewing operations.

In the machine of the present invention the manner of mounting the work support and the edge gage is reversed, resilient means being provided to press the work support yieldingly against the bulging last supported surface of the upper in the shoe, two extreme positions' in the yielding Y movement of the work support being illustrated by the solid and dot-dash lines of Fig. 2. The edge gage ofthe present machine is indicated at 34 and is rigidly clamped by a capscrew 36 to a member of the machine frame, indicated at 38 but is adjustable by loosening the capscrew which passes through a slot in the shank of the edge gage. The work support I'B, in turn, has a downwardly extending slotted shank secured to a swinging carrier 40 shiftable transversely to the line of the seam, as previously employed for mounting the edge gage, the work support being movable as a unit with the carrier.

The shiftable work support carrier 40' in the illustrated machine has a pivotal mounting consisting of a rotatable stud 42 passing loosely through a bearing'in a frame member 44 and the stud is retained in the bearing against lengthwise movement by a cotter pin 46. Secured to the stud 42 is a lever 48. To press the work support against the shoe a downwardly extending arm of the lever 48 has connected to it the forward end of` a tension spring 5U also fastened to a xed portion of the machine frame. The spring 50 acts to maintain the work support yieldingly against the bulging last supported surface of the shoe upper, the axis of the stud 42 being so disposed as to cause the work support I 6 to be shiftable with the carrier 4U transversely of the seam line.

To limit the shifting movement of the work support so that the opening 22 therein will not move out of line with the needle or awl, the upper army of the lever 48 is forked and the fork ends have passing through them a pair of stop screws 52 provided with checknuts.. The stop screws have their ends directed toward each other to engage alternately a stud 54 secured in a stationary frame member 56 with sufcient free motion to insure proper yielding action of the work-support.

If a rough rounded shoe of the stitchdown or similar type is presented to the illustrated machine, the shoe will be guided by the edge gage 34 to insert an outseam a uniform distance throughout its length from the outline I4 of the outilanged upper edge. At the same time a welt, indicated at 58, passing through the guide I8 will be forced by the welt gage 20 on the work support with a uniform yielding pressure into the crevice between the bulging and outlanged portions of the upper. These results are obtained through the differential action of the edge gage 34 and the welt gage in directing the seam on the one hand and welt on the other uniformly into proper sewing positions.

To insure covering the widest extension of the outanged upper along the forepart of a shoe, the welt 58 employed is of greater than usual width. Therefore, along the narrowest extensions of the parts at the shank and toe of the shoe, the welt will project somewhat beyond the rough rounded outline I4 of the upper and sole. For this reason, the edge gage 34 is located above the welt gage 20 to clear the projecting portion of the welt. The thickness of the welt is' such that it may readily be trimmed without special precautions or attention during the usual edge trimming and nishing operations on the shoes after the sewing is completed.

In actual practice the machine has been found to accomplish the results desired by an operator skilled only in the attachment of outsoles without other training or precaution. The work support moves yieldingly without the exercise of special skill or ability on the part of the operator and results are accomplished with great uniformity, giving a desirable appearance to the shoe which cannot be distinguished from a Goodyear welt shoe without close inspection. Also, in many instances the machine may be employed to advantage in sewing shoes other than stitchdowns and in operations other than those in which a welt is attached during sewing.

A method of making shoes with the machine of the invention herein disclosed forms the subjectmatter of a divisional application, Serial No. 384,032, led October 5, 1953.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed is:

l. In a machine for sewing the projecting marginal portions of a shoe supported on a last, having stitch forming devices comprising a needle, a work support provided with a Welt gage, a presser foot acting to cla-mp the marginal portions of the shoe against the Work support, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in' a ixed position relatively to the needle, the combination with a shiftable carrier on which the work support is mounted for movement during sewing operations yieldingly against the bulging last supported surface of the shoe to press a welt moving along the welt gage into the crevice between the bulging and projecting marginal portions of the shoe.

2. In a machine for sewing a sole to the outflangecl marginal portion of an upper in a stitchdoWn shoe supported on a last having stitch forming devices comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a Work support provided with a stitchdovvn Welt guide and a Welt gage, a presser foot acting to clamp the marginal portions of the shoe and welt againstthe work support, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in a nXed position relatively to the needle, the combination with a shiitable carrier for the Work support With which the Work support is movable as a unit during sev-fing operations yieldingly against the bulging last supported surface of the shoe to press the welt moving along the edge gage into the crevice bet veen the bulging and outfianged sole engaging portions of the upper.

3. In a machine for sewing a sole to the outnanged marginal portion of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, having stitch forming devices comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a Work support provided with a stitchdown welt guide and a welt gage, a presser foot acting to clamp the marginal portions oi the shoe and welt against the work support, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in a fixed position relatively to the needle, the co 1 bination With a shiftable carrier for the work support with which the Work support is movable during sewing operations and resilient means operatively connected to the carrier to press the Work support yieldingly into the crevice between the bulging last supported and outanged sole engaging portions of the upper.

4, In a machine for sewing a sole to the ou*- flanged portion of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, having a main frame, stitch forming devices in the frame comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a work support formed with a welt guide passage leading onto a work engaging surface thereof and a welt gage, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in a fixed position in the machine, in cornbination with a carrier to which the Work support is secured, a pivotal mounting for the carn rer about Which the Work support is shiftable transversely to the line of the seam inserted by the stitch forming devices, and means connected to the carrier for pressing the Work support against the bulging last supported surface of the upper to force the Welt into the crevice between the bulging last supported and the outilanged portions oi? the upper.

5. In a machine for sewing a sole to the outilanged portion of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, having a main frame, stitch forming devices in the frame comprising a curved hooi: needle and a needle looper, a work support formed with a Welt guide passage leading onto a work engaging surface thereof and a Welt gage, an edge gage and clamping means for securing the edge gage in a fixed position in the machine, in combination with a carrier to which the Work support is secured, a pivotal mounting for the carrier about which the Work support is shiftable transversely to the line of the seam inserted by the stitch forming devices, and means connected to the carrier for pressing the Work support against the bulging last supported surface or the upper to force the welt into the crevice between the bulging last supported and the outfianged portions of the upper, said edge gage being adjustable on the frame of the machine.

6. In a machine for sewing a sole to the outrlanged portion of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, having a main frame, stitch forming devices in the frame comprising a curved hooi; needle and a needle locper, a Work support formed with a Welt guide passage leading onto a work engaging surface thereof and a Welt gage, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in a iixed position in the machine, in combination with a carrier to which the Work support is secured, a pivotal mounting for the carrier about which the Werl; support is shiftable transversely to the line of the seam inserted by the stitch forming devices, means connected to the carrier ior pressing the Work support against the bulging last supported surface of the upper to force the Welt into the crevice between the bulging last supported and the outilanged portions of the upper, and stop means for limiting the shifting movement of the carrier about its pivotal mounting to prevent displacement of the work support from operative relationship to the stitch forming devices,

7. In a machine for sewing a sole to 'the outrlanged portion of an upper in a stitchdown shoe supported on last, having a main frame, stitch forming devices in the frame comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a work support formed with a welt guide passage leading onto a work engaging surface thereof and a welt gage, an edge gage and means for securing the edge gage in a position in the machine, in combination with a carrier to which. the Work support is secured, a pivotal mounting for the carrier about which the Work support is shitable transversely to the line of the seam inserted by thestitc'n forming devices, means connected to the carrier for pressing the work support against the bulging last supported surface of the upper to -force the welt into the crevice between the bulging last supported and the outflanged portions of the upper, and stop means for limiting the shifting movement of the carrier about its pivotal mounting to prevent displacement of the work support from operative relationship to the stitch forming devices, comprising a stud fixed in the machine frame and a forked arm connected to the Work support carrier and stop screws carried by the fork ends of said arm and located to engage alternately with the fixed stud.

8. Lu a machine for sewiner the projecting inarginal portions of a shoe supported upon a last and a Welt in superposed relation, which machine has stitch forming devices comprising a needle, and Work clamping supporting means for securing the shoe and welt in operative relationship to the stitch forming devices, the combination with two relatively movable gages disposed one above the other, the lower one or which acts on the welt to press the welt into the crevice between the bulging and projecting marginal portions of the shoe and the upper one oi which acts on said projecting marginal portions of the shoe to guide the line cf the seam a uniform distance from the edges of the marginal portions.

References Cited in the ille or" this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS