US2705464A

US2705464A - Shoe sewing machines

Info

Publication number: US2705464A
Application number: US303064A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fred Cecil Eastman
Original assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Current assignee: United Shoe Machinery Corp
Priority date: 1952-08-07
Filing date: 1952-08-07
Publication date: 1955-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 1972-04-05

Description

April 1955 F. c. EASTMAN 2,705,464

SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1952 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Invenfor Fed CEa/siman April 5, 1955 EASTMAN 2,705,464

v SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invenfar Q 3 fled GE'gzsZmczn United States Patent SHOE SEWING MACHINES Fred C. Eastman, Marblehead, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application August 7, 1952, Serial No. 303,064

8 Claims. (Cl. 112-46) United States Letters Patent Ser. No. 265,660, filed Janu ary 9, 1952, in the name of Alfred E. Clark and in an application Ser. No. 297,216, filed July 5, 1952, in the name of H. F. Schaefer.

In the construction of a platform type shoe it is customary to attach an upper to the margin of a sock lining projecting from a platform sole of the shoe with preliminary fastenings and then to sew one edge of a cover strip to the registering attached edges of the upper and.

sock lining with a separate permanent seam. If an attempt is made to sew the upper and cover strip, both in a single operation to a sock lining, requirements for high quality workmanship in guiding the edges of the parts necessitates such reduction in speed of attachment that more time often is taken to sew a shoe in a single combined operation than is needed for attaching the upper and cover strip in two separate successively performed operations. Furthermore, the machine of the Clark application discloses a cover strip edge guiding device which is effective for the purposes intended but which is comparatively complicated in its construction and requires expert adjustment in order to render it capable of approaching effective economy in time for a single combined upper and cover or wrapper strip sewing operation, as compared with the time requirement for two separate sewing operations for these parts.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensively constructed, simply operated and adjusted cover strip edge guiding device for use in a machine of the type disclosed in the applications above identified, which will render it possible to attach by sewing the registering edges of a shoe upper, a cover strip and a sock lining mounted on a platform sole in a single operation without requiring expert adjustment of the machine or requiring as much care or attention on the part of the machine operator to the movements of the cover strip through the machine as is necessitated by prior cover strip guiding devices. In the accomplishment of these and other objects, the illustrated machine has devices for feeding and performing an attaching or other operation along the edge of a cover strip, and an edge gage against which the strip and the other shoe parts are pressed widthwise to maintain them in operating position, in which machine there is provided a strip pilot in the form of an edge engaging roll for bringing the strip into positive contact with the edge gage including means located in advance of the pilot roll for pressing the strip positively into engagement with the pilot roll for approximately 90 about its periphery to cause the pilot roll to apply a definite directional force to the strip widthwise toward the edge gage. The angle between the edge of the strip and a line of work feed passing through the edge gage is such that the edge of the strip will be pressed widthwise toward the edge gage. The line of directional force applied to the strip by the pilot roll in the preferred construction of the machine forms an acute angle with the line extending in the direction of work feed and passing through the guiding surface of the edge gage.

According to this feature, the edge drawing pilot roll is 3 2,705,464 Patented Apr. 5, 1955 combined with a pilot abutment spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, the pilot roll engaging the strip between the edge gage and the abutment to maintain the strip uniformly in engagement with both.

These and other features of the invention, as hereinafter described and claimed, will be apparent from the following detailed specification and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of .a portion of a machine embodying the present invention, with a slip lasted shoe shown in section and presented in operating position to the machine;

Fig. 2 is a view in left side elevation of the parts of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail view, partly in section taken along the line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 including a cover strip and other parts of a shoe being operated upon;

Fig. 5 is a detail view in front elevation of the cover strip gage and certain parts of the sewing machine of Fig. 1, indicating the manner in which the cover strip is directed toward the point of sewing operation on a shoe; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic developed view illustrating the manner of directing the edge of the wrapper strip.

The illustrated machine is a lockstitch shoe sewing machine of the type disclosed in the applications above referred to. The machine is intended to sew a shoe upper and a two-part variable width platform cover or wrapper strip to a sock lining temporarily connected to the surface of a platform sole, the edge of which is rabbeted to expose the under surface of the sock lining around the margin thereof, the stitches attaching the parts entering the rabbet of the platform sole.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, the shoe upper is indicated at 2, the sock lining at 4, the rabbeted platform sole to which the sock lining is temporarily connected at 6 and the platform cover or wrapper strip at 8. While the sewing machine is being operated, the combined platform sole 6 and sock lining 4 are presented to the operating point of the stitch forming and work feeding devices in the machine with the under surface of the platform sole resting on a work support 10 and the rabbet in the platform sole surrounding a gage 12 mounted on a swinging carrier 14 (see Fig. 1). The carrier 14 is actuated to swing the rabbet gage laterally to feed the parts operated upon, the carrier also supporting a work clamping and feeding presser foot 16 pivoted to the carrier and actuated to clamp and release the parts in timed relation to the work feeding movements thereof. For assisting in work feed while inserting the stitches, the carrier 14 has also mounted thereon, for oscillation toward and from the parts operated upon, a work penetrating curved eye-pointed needle 18. During back feeding movement of the carrier 14, the needle and presser foot 16 are disengaged from the work parts and the parts are clamped by a nonfeeding presser foot 20 (see Fig. 2) cooperating with a non-feeding rabbet gage 22 disposed in the direction of feed beyond the work feeding presser foot 16 and rabbet gage 12.

For attaching the margins of the upper, sock lining and cover strip, it is necessary to maintain the edges always in register by pressing them edgewise against a work engaging surface of an edge gage 24 past which the work is moved by the work feeding and sewing devices. To maintain the edges of the parts in engagement with the edge gage, it is necessary frequently to distort and flex the parts from a normal fiat condition, requiring close attention and substantial effort on the part of the operator. To obtain uniformly high quality results, a continuous operation of the prior machine ordinarily is impossible, it being necessary to stop frequently for manipulation of the parts as the seam connecting them progresses. The necessity of frequent stopping, particularly when sewing relatively high-arch shoes, usually results in consumption of more time than is required in sewing together, first the edges of the upper and sock lining with a preliminary seam and then attaching the cover strip with a second seam inserted more deeply within the rabbet of the platform sole than the preliminary one. To reduce the time and effort required in sewing together the upper, sock lining and cover strip of a slip lasted shoe on a sewing machine of the type referred to, attempts have been made to provide that machine with a separate cover strip guide which will perform its function with little or no attention on the part of the operator, the operator concentrating all of his efiort on the single problem of bringing the edges of the upper and sock lining together into engagement with the edge gage 24. All of the cover strip guides, thus far devised, have required expenditure of greater time and efifort on the part of the operator than is warranted in an attempt to sew all three parts of a slip lasted shoe together with a single attaching seam as compared to sewing with successive operations.

The present cover strip guide is constructed for convenient attachment to and adjustment on the frame of the illustrated machine and is operable in advance of the edge gage to direct accurately the cover strip 8, onto the shoe regardless of width or thickness and toward the sewing point of the machine with the edge of the strip drawn widthwise into positive contact with the surface of the edge gage 24 under all conditions, a minimum of effort and attention being required on the part of the operator. For this purpose there is attached to the machine frame a slotted bracket 26 at the lower end of which is a strip edge pilot including a strip edge engaging guide abutment 28 on the bracket and an axis provided by a pivot 30 fixed on the bracket at an angle to the line of work feed, on which pivot is rotatably mounted a cylindrical roll 32 acting along its periphery with frictional engagement for approximately 90 about its periphery against a marginal portion of the cover strip 8 between the edge gage 24 and the pilot abutment 28, to apply a directional force to the strip.

For pressing the wrapper strip yieldingly into frictional engagement with the roll 32 for 90 about its periphery, the pilot bracket 26 has a pin 34 projecting at right angles to the pivot 30 and the pin 34 has mounted on it for relative swinging movement a carrier in the form of a right angle plate 36 carrying an axis formed by a pivot 38 on which is rotatably mounted a second roll 40 (see Fig. 3), the axis of the pivot 38 being parallel to that of pivot 30. The roll 40 is actuated yieldingly toward the first roll 32 by a spring 42 coiled about a hub connected to the plate 36 with the ends of the spring engaged with a pin 43 on the pilot bracket 26 and with the plate respectively, the second roll being located along the path of the strip in advance of the pilot roll. For adjusting the position of the pilot bracket 26 on the machine frame, the bracket is attached by a screw 44 passing through the slot in the bracket and into an internally threaded lug on the machine frame, indicated at 46.

In use the pilot is engaged with one edge of the cover strip 8, the rolls being separated sufficiently to receive between them the thickness of the strip. The leading end of the cover strip to be attached to the shoe is first inserted between the rolls and pulled in a direction reverse to the movement imparted to the work in the machine by the feeding devices. The leading end of the strip is then wrapped beneath the pilot roll 32, bringing it into the direction of work feed and carrying it into the sewing point of the machine with its edge engaging the edge gage 24, as shown in Fig. 5. The location of the rolls, the edge gage 24 and the pilot abutment 28 is such that as the strip 8 moves in the direction of work feed, its edge is acted upon by the rolls between the edge gage and the pilot abutment 28 to. bring the edge of the strip into contact with both the edge gage and the pilot abutment.

The operation of the strip edge pilot may more readily be understood in connection with the diagrammatic view of Fig. 6. In this view the edge gage 24 and the pilot, which comprises the abutment 28 of the bracket 26, and the edge drawing roll 32 are shown with their parts in developed serial relation spaced along the path of movement imparted by the machine to the strip. The pilot abutment 28 and roll 32 are located in advance of the edge gage 24 along a line of feed indicated by the broken line 48, passing through the strip engaging surface of the edge gage. The line of Work feed 48, particularly at the left of the edge gage 24, corresponds substantially with the edge of the work including the cover strip beyond the sewing point of operation of the needle, indicated by the cross 50. The line of feed 48 in advance of the point of sewing operations, however, does not correspond with the edge of the wrapper strip at the right side of the edge gage 24 from which the work is pulled by the sewing and feeding devices. The path of the cover strip edge at the right side of the point of sewing operations through which the strip is pulled however, in Fig. 6, corresponds more nearly with a broken line 52 connecting the strip edge engaging surface of the edge gage and abutment 28 of the pilot bracket, the line 52 forming an acute angle A with the line of feed 48. The pivot 30 of the roll 32 is mounted on the bracket 26 at an angular position in which a plane, represented in edgewise projection by the inclined broken line 54, normal to the axes of the

pivots

30 and 38, forms an acute angle B with the feed line 48, the action of the roll 32 being to apply a directional force along the line 54 with a widthwise component, drawing the strip into positive contact with both the edge gage 24 and pilot bracket 26. Preferably, although not essentially, the line 54 and the line 52 form an acute angle C which is greater than the angle A, the line 54 being the line of directional force applied to the strip and being inclined also at the acute angle B to the line of feed 48. As the work is drawn toward the operating point 50, slippage of the wrapper strip axially on the roll 32 enables the path of the strip edge to be brought into coincidence with the line of feed 48 and remain there under all degrees of curvature along a shoe being operated upon.

As the strip 8 is pulled past the pilot roll 32, its edge may bulge to some extent in advance of the edge gage or upwardly in Fig. 6 beyond the line 52 and as the edge of the strip engages the surface of the gage 24, its path is changed into the line of feed 48. So long as the edge of the cover strip engages the edge gage 24 and the pilot bracket 26, there will be a continual drawing action imparted thereto to maintain it in engagement with the surfaces on the respective parts.

To increase the drawing action, the outer end of the roll 32 is roughened by a knurling 56 (see Fig. 3). Necessarily as the roll 32 rotates there will be some slippage lengthwise of the roll along the marginal surface of the strip but such slippage will not injure the appearance of the finished shoe since the knurling engages the side of the strip which is concealed after being wrapped about the edge of the platform sole. As the strip is pulled over the roll 32 and is pressed into engagement with the pilot roll for approximately about the periphery of the pilot roll, the resulting angular contact insures snug contact of the strip edge with both the gage and pilot abutment.

To hold the cover strip clear of the sewing point in the machine, in advance of the pilot roll, and to assist in directing the strip in an effective manner before reaching the pilot roll, the bracket 26 has projecting from it, above the sewing point, a pair of

rods

58 and 60. The rod 58 is relatively straight with its free end raised somewhat above the end secured in the bracket 26 to reduce any tendency toward displacement of the strip from the rod as it is drawn into the machine and to support the strip as it approaches the rod 60. The rod 60 is bent at right angles with one arm mounted in the bracket 26 substantially parallel to but beneath the rod 58, and the other arm extends downwardly toward the pilot rolls. The arrangement of the downwardly extending arm of the rod 60 prevents the operators line of vision toward the sewing point from becoming obscured by the cover strip as it travels from the support rod 58 and the location of the rod 60 at its lower end insures that the wrapper strip in its downward movement will not interfere with the stitch forming devices.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and a particular embodiment having been described, what is claimed is:

1. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation on the edge of'the strip, an edge gage against which the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operating position in the machine, and a pilot roll engaging the strip with a normal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line of feed for bringing the strip into positive contact with the edge gage, the combination with means located along the path of the strip in advance of the pilot roll for pressing the strip into engagement with the roll for approximately 90 about its periphery to cause the pilot roll to apply a directional force to the strip widthwise toward the edge gage.

2. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation on the edge of the strip, an edge gage against which the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operating position in the machine and a pilot roll engaging the strip with a normal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line of feed for bringing the stri into positive contact with the edge gage, the combination with a second rotatably mounted roll actuated yieldingly toward the pilot roll and located in advance of the pilot roll for pressing the strip into engagement with the pilot roll for approximately 90 about its periphery to apply a directional force to the strip inclined toward the edge gage.

3. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operatlng position, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot abutment spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, and a roll engaging frictionally with the strip located between the edge gage and the pilot abutment with a normal to its axis inclined from a line connecting the strip engaging gage and abutment to draw the edge of the strip positively into engagement with said gage and abutment.

4. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot abutment spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, a roll engaging frictionally with the strip located between the edge gage and the pilot abutment with a normal to its axis inclined from a line connecting the strip engaging gage and abutment, and means for yieldingly pressing the marginal portion of the strip against the roll for approximately 90 about its periphery to apply a widthwise directional force to the strip toward the gage and abutment.

5. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage comprising an abutment and a roll engaging frictionally with the strip between the edge gage and the abutment to draw the edge of the strip into positive contact with both said gage and abutment, the roll applying a directional force to the strip along a line forming an acute angle with a line connecting the strip engaging surface of the edge gage and the abutment but greater than the angle between the line of feed passing through the strip engaging surface of the edge gage and said line connecting the surface of the edge gage and the pilot abutment.

6. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips of material, having devices for feeding and performing an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, and means for supporting and directing the strip toward the pilot comprising a rod bent at right angles with a horizontal arm secured to the machine and a substantially vertical arm projecting downwardly toward the pilot to prevent obscurement of the operators line of vision toward the operating point of the machine.

7. In a machine for operating upon relatively thin flexible strips of material, having devices for feeding and performing an operation along the edge of the strip and an edge gage against which the strip is pressed edgewise to maintain it in operating position, the combination with a strip edge engaging pilot spaced along the path of movement of the strip in advance of the edge gage, means for supporting and directing the strip toward the pilot comprising a rod bent at right angles with a horizontal arm secured to the machine and a substantially vertical arm projecting downwardly toward the pilot to prevent obscurement of the operators line of vision toward the operating point of the machine, and a second substantially horizontal rod beneath which the bent rod is mounted to support the wrapper strip as it aproaches the bent rod.

8. In a machine for operating upon a relatively thin flexible strip of material of variable width, said machine having devices for feeding and performing an operation on the edge of the strip, an edge gage against which the strip is pressed widthwise to maintain it in operating position in the machine, and a pilot roll engaging the strip with a normal to the axis of the roll forming an acute angle with the line of feed for bringing the strip into positive contact with the edge gage, the combination with a bracket on which the pilot roll is rotatably mounted, a carrier mounted for relative movement on the bracket, a second roll rotatably mounted on the carrier, and means for actuating the carrier yieldingly to press the strip into frictional engagement with the pilot roll for approximately about its periphery to apply a directional force to the strip inclined toward the edge gage.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,407,903 Quinn Sept. 17, 1946 2,416,767 Miner Mar. 4, 1947 2,446,343 Reasor Aug. 3, 1948