US2729836A - Machines for lasting and sewing shoes - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 10, 1956 o. R. HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed June 12 1951 l 3 3 I 3 IF: IF LP klk Inventor 0M0 A. Haas HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES Original Filed June 12, 1951 Jan. 10, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 In 2/ emor Ozfo R Haas Jan. 10, 1956 o. R. HAAS MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES Original Filed June 12, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor 0m Haas United States Patent Office 2,729,836 Patented. Jan. 10, 1656 MACHINES FOR LASTING AND SEWING SHOES Otto R. Haas, Wenham, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey.

Original application June 12, 1951, Serial No. 231,082, now Patent No. 2,723,633, dated November 15, 1955. Divided and this application December 11, 1952, Serial No. 325,357

3 Claims. (Cl. 12--9.1)

The present invention relates to improvements in machines for operating about the margin of a shoe supported on a last and more particularly to a machine, the operating means for which include lasting and sewing devices for securing together the upper and sole of a shoe, the machine as a whole being similar in many respects to that illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,359,662, granted October 3, 1944, upon application of A. R. Merrill, and identical to that disclosed in an application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 231,082, filed June 12, 1951, of which the present application is a division and upon which Patent No. 2,723,633 was granted November 15 1955. The machine in which the illustrated embodiment of the invention is disclosed, has a shoe supporting jack and actuating mechanisms for imparting positioning and feeding movements to the jack to cause the jacked shoe to be presented to the operating means and to transfer the operation about the shoe as the shoe is fed and upper tensioning grippers are provided to last the shoe simultaneously with the sewing operation.

The principal objects of the invention are to simplify and improve the operation of a machine for lasting and fastening a shoe and to render the machine more easily controlled, accurate and reliable in the performance of its operating devices on a shoe. A further object is to render the control and co-ordination with the stitch-forming or other fastening devices of a machine of the type referred to, more effective and more easily adjustable than heretofore, especially in a machine acting automatically to impart positioning and feeding movements to a shoe being operated upon.

In any automatic machine of the type referred to having devices for lasting and sewing a shoe, special requirements must be met as a result of the limited space available about the operating point on the shoe and also as a result of automatic operation which necessitates improved control of the lasting devices.

In carrying out the present invention an automatic lasting and sewing machine is provided having a curved hook needle, a lasting gripper comprising jaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the point of needle operation, a main sewing shaft having cams, a shoe supporting jack actuated by a pattern cam shaft rotating with the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one of the gripper jaws is supported rigidly, and upon which the other jaw is pivotally connected, and mechanism for actuating the jaws comprising three separate levers capable of independent operation by cams on the sewing shaft, in which the jaw actuating mechanism is thrown out of operation either automatically by a pattern mechanism or by a manual control, the control being independently effected in either case. When the machine is of the fully automatic type it is equipped with a shoe supporting jack and a pattern mechanism for imparting positioning movements to the jack. In this latter case control of the gripper jaws is exercised wholly by the pattern mechanism.

The several features of the invention consist in the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will readily be understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a view in right side elevation of a machine embodying the several features of the invention and illustrating a shoe partly in section at the point of operation of the operating devices;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in right side elevation of the forward head portion of the machine, illustrating the lasting gripper jaws and actuating mechanisms therefor;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the lasting gripper jaws, looking in the direction of the arrow III of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a partially sectional plan view of the head section of the machine including the lasting gripper jaws and actuating mechanisms.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is constructed for sewing the inseams of Goodyear welt shoes and comprises a frame made up of several parts including a floor section 2, housing foot treadle controls and shoe supporting jack raising mechanism, a midsection 4, housing jack supporting and pattern cam controlled actuating mechanism for the jack and a head section 6, housing welt sewing and driving and stopping mechanisms.

The operating devices for sewing are arranged to insert a chain stitch seam and include a curved hook needle 8 movable in the line of feed to assist in feeding the work, a thread traction or tension wheel 10 controlled by a main sewing cam shaft 12, a work feeding channel guide 14, a welt guide 16 and side lasting mechanism having grippers comprising jaws 18 and 20 movable toward and from engagement with an upper, indicated at 22, of a Goodyear welt shoe to stretch the upper over a last 24 upon which it is mounted and bring it into lasted relation with the sewing rib along the margin of an insole 26 also mounted on the last. As the operation progresses the stitches of the inseam pass through the insole, the upper and a welt 28 carried by the welt guide 16.

The shoe supporting jack is indicated at 30 (Fig. 1) and consists of an upright spindle similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,406,306, granted August 20, 1946, upon an application of A. R. Morrill. At the upper end of the spindle the shoe is secured in the usual way by clamping, the clamping parts thereupon being locked in or released from clamping position.

The jack supporting and pattern cam actuating mechanism includes a supporting structure formed by the supporting spindle on the jack 30, a horizontal supporting arm 32 at the forward end of which the lower end of the jack spindle is pivotally mounted to rotate and swing with tipping and turning movements in any direction on gimbal joints, a pitch support lever 34 on which the arm 32 is mounted to swing vertically and a roll support lever or frame 36 pivotally mounted at its lower end in the frame section 4. These parts are arranged to impart feeding, tipping and turning movements to the jack and the shoe thereon over a wide range of angles to transfer the point of operation along the shoe and to bring the shoe into proper positioning relation to the stitch forming and work feeding devices of the sewing head as the point of operation is transferred about the shoe. The mechanism for actuating the jack supporting structure includes links and levers actuated by a series of cams 38 on a vertical pattern cam shaft 40 rotating and driven simultaneously with the main sewing shaft in the jack supporting section 4 of the frame. The machine as thus far described is essentially of the same construction and nation with the stitch-forming devices of the machine. In previous machines of the type in which the illustrated machine is an example, the lasting grippers have been actuated positively toward and from upper grasping position and with anoverdraw motion from the margin of a shoe sole inwardly toward the center of the sole. Hereto'fore one or at the most two separate cam actuated levers have been employed for actuating the jaws. In the lasting gripper actuating mechanism hereinafter described a more reliable and accurate control of the gripper movements than heretofore has been insured by the use of three separate cam'actuated levers and independent sets of connections with the jaws, one lever and connections for actuating the jaws to grasp and release an upper, another lever and connections to actuate the carrier for the jaws in 'a direction to tension the upper and a third lever and connections for actuating the carrier for the jaws inwardly of a shoe sole with an overdraw motion.

The mechanisms for actuating the lasting gripper , jaws 18 and 20 are best shown in Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive. "The gripper jaw 20 is supported rigidly on a carrier 42 and the other jaw 18 has a pivotal connection on the carrier. The pivotal connection comprises a stud 44 in the lower portion of the carrier. After grasping the upper the jaws move a short distance vertically to clear the sewing rib along a path, indicated by the dot-dash line 46 in Fig. 2,

' directly in line with the channel guide 14 so that the pull of the jaws is taken up by the channel guide. After clearing the sewing rib the jaws are given an overdraw motion extending toward the center of the shoe bottom, the path of movement represented by the line 46 being inclined to the bottom of the insole 26 so as to exert a tensioning pull on the upper in a direction to lay it against the sewing rib.

' To actuate the gripper jaws with an upper tensioning movement the carrier 42 is connected by screws 48 to the forward end of a cam lever '50 formed along its central portion with a rectangular guide box h'aving a cover plate 52. Within the guide box is a block 54 rotatably mounted on a stud 56 about which the cam lever rocks during the upper tensioning movement of the gripper jaws. The stud '56 is clamped in fixed position within a lug portion of the head section 6 of the machine frame and serves as a fulcrum for the block 54. The cam lever St has at its upper end a roll 58 engaging a slot 69 in one of the cams on the sewing shaft 12. The slot 60 has a portion of enlarged width which is engaged by the cam roll 58 when the machine 'is in stopping position, as illustrated in Fig. 2. To maintain the cam roll against the outer side of the slot the lever is connected to a vertical tension spring 62 stretched between a pin on the lever and a fixed part of the machine frame. The inner side of the slot 60 is made concentric with the shaft 12 so that when the roll 58 is moved inwardly against the inner side of the slot no upper tensioning motion will be imparted to the gripper jaws and they will be retained raised in an inoperative position out of contact with a shoe being operated on.

To actuate the jaws in grasping and releasing the upper, a set of connections separate from those for tensioning the upper is provided. The connections for actuating the jaws to grasp and release the upper comprise a second cam lever 64 fulcrurned on a pivot shaft 66 and provided with a roll 68 engaging a slot 70 in a cam on the sewing shaft. The lever 64 has pivotally connected to it one end of a link '72, the other end of which is similarly connected to the midportion of a lever 74 rotatable.

maintain the pin 78 against the inner end of the slot in the link 80 the pin is surrounded by one end of a tension spring 86 the other end of which is engaged with a pin 88 on the link 80. The spring 86 enables the pivoted jaw 18 to yield in grasping an'upper and insures obtaining a secure grip regardless of the thickness of the upper.

For the third motion imparted to the gripper jaws, which is that of overdraw toward the center of a shoe bottom, the guide box portion of the cam lever St) is connected by a link 90 with one arm of a cam lever 92 fulcrumed on the pivot shaft 66. The cam lever 92 has at one end a roll 94 engaging a slot 96 in a cam on the shaft 12 and movement of the overdraw cam lever 92 slides the guide box of the lever 51) along the block 54 to the most effective results possible.

motions imparted to lasting gripper jaws are produced by a single cam lever or even by two cam levers.

Along certain portions of a shoe it is desirable to throw out of operation the gripper jaws so that they will be inoperative particularly while sewing those parts of an upper adjacent to the heel seat of a shoe. The actuating mechanism for throwing the gripper jaws out of operation along these portions of a shoe is similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,323,347, granted iuly 6, 1943, upon application of Alfred R. Merrill. Briefly, the connections of this mechanism are actuated by the pattern earn shaft 40 and include an arm 98 on the cam lever 50 having a shoulder engaged by a throwout lever 100 loosely sleeved on the r ck shaft 76 and provided with lugs 102 (see Fig. 4) engaging radial slots in the hub of a channel guide control lever Hi4 secured to the rock shaft 76. The throw-out lever Ni) and the control lever 104 also are connected by a tension spring 105 stretched between pins on the respective levers. The rock shaft 76 also has secured to it an arm N36 to which is pivotally connected the upper end of a link 198, having its lower end similarly connected to a lever in the pattern mechanism. When the link In? is raised to the limit of its movement the throw-out lever 16%) forces the arm 76 rearwardly and swings the gripper jaws to inopera'tive raised positions about the stud 56. In swinging the gripper jaws to inoperative raised positions, the lever 50 swinging about the stud 56, the cam roll 53 engages the inner side of the cam slot 6i) so that no mot-ion is imparted to the gripper jaws toward or from a shoe.

At the same time that the throw out lever lei) forces the grippers to inoperative positions the channel guide control lever 104 engages the bottom face of a notch in a channel guide supporting slide 112, depressing the slide and channel guide 14 to an abnormally low position, the

purpose 'of which is more fully described in Patent No.

To enable "the gripper jaws to be moved to an inoperative position independently of the pattern mechanism without depressing the channel guide to its abnormally low position and to maintain the gripper jaws inoperative throughout the operation on a shoe a manually actuated throw "out member is provided separate from the throw out lever 100. The manually actuated throw out member comprises an arm 114 secured to a rock shaft 116 rotatably mounted above the cam lever 50. The free end of thethrow-out ar'rn114 is rounded and when the shaft 116 is rocked in a clockwise direction the arm engages the uppersurface of the cam lever 5t) forcing it downwardly against the spring 62 until the cam roll 58 engages the inner side of the slot 60. The cam lever 50 is formed with a stop finger 118 to prevent movement of the throw out arm in a clockwise direction sufiiciently to release the cam lever 50. To actuate the rock shaft 116 it extends through the head frame 6 of the machine (Fig. 1) and is provided outside of the frame with a handle arm 120 readily accessible to the operator. For retaining the throw out arm 114 out of engagement with the cam lever 50 one of the bearings for the rock shaft 116 in the head frame is provided with a friction device (not shown) to prevent accidental rotation of the rock shaft.

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

1. A shoe lasting and sewing machine having inseam sewing and lasting devices, including a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprising jaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, a main sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one of the gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for the other gripper jaw on the carrier, suitable connections for actuating the jaws to grasp and release the upper and for actuating the carrier to cause the jaws to tension the upper and to move toward the center of the shoe bottom with an overdraw motion, a shoe supporting jack and a pattern mechanism for imparting feeding, tipping and turning movements to the jack to transfer the point of operation about the shoe, in combination with three separate levers actuated by the cams on the sewing shaft for operating the gripper jaws, and other connections actuated by the pattern mechanism and operatively connected to one of the levers in the gripper actuating connections to render said gripper jaws inoperative during operation of the sewing devices about certain portions of the shoe.

2. A shoe lasting and sewing machine havinginseam sewingand lasting devices including a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprising jaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, a main sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one of the gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for the other gripper jaw on the carrier, a shoe supporting jack and a pattern cam shaft for imparting feeding and turning movements to the jack to transfer the point of operation about the shoe, in combination with three separate levers actuated by cams on the sewing shaft, independent sets of connections between the cam levers and the gripper jaw carrier, one of which sets actuates the jaws to grasp and release the upper, another of which causes the jaws to tension the upper and the third of which moves the jaws toward the center of a shoe bottom with an overdraw motion, and a throw-out lever controlled by the pattern cam shaft acting on the gripper jaw carrier along certain portions of a shoe to retain the gripper jaws inoperative.

3. A shoe lasting and sewing machine having inseam sewing and lasting devices including, a curved hook needle and a lasting gripper comprising jaws arranged to engage the upper of a shoe close to the sewing point, a main sewing shaft, cams on the sewing shaft, a carrier upon which one of the gripper jaws is rigidly supported, a pivotal connection for the other gripper jaw on the carrier, a shoe supporting jack and a pattern cam shaft for imparting feeding and turning movements to the jack to transfer the point of operation about the shoe, in combination with three separate levers actuated by the cams on the sewing shaft, independent sets of connections between the cam levers and the gripper jaw carrier, one of which sets actuates the jaws to grasp and release the upper, another of which causes the jaws to tension the upper and the third of which moves the jaws toward the center of a shoe bottom with an overdraw motion, a throw-out lever controlled by the pattern cam shaft acting on the gripper jaw carrier along certain portions of a shoe to retain the gripper jaws inoperative, and a throwout member acting on the cam lever which tensions the upper to render the gripper jaws inoperative throughout the operation of the sewing devices about the entire length of an inseam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 467,877 Patton Jan. 26, 1892 1,054,733 Winkley Mar. 4, 1913 1,634,503 La Chapelle July 5, 1927

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