US2936536A

US2936536A - Molded counter for arch supporting shoes

Info

Publication number: US2936536A
Application number: US843388A
Authority: US
Inventors: Blustein Abraham
Original assignee: BROWN COUNTER Co
Current assignee: BROWN COUNTER Co
Priority date: 1959-09-30
Filing date: 1959-09-30
Publication date: 1960-05-17
Anticipated expiration: 1977-05-17

Description

y 1960 A. BLUSTEIN 2,936,536

MOLDED COUNTER FOR ARCH SUPPORTING SHOES Filed Sept. so, 1959 FIG. I

FIG. 3

IN V EN TOR.

41m 1954mm MOLDED COUNTER FOR ARCH SUPPORTING SHOES Abraham Blustein, Haverhill, Mass., assignor to Brown Counter Company, Haverhill, Mass, a partnership Application September 30, 1959, Serial No. 843,388 1 Claim. c1. 36-68) This invention comprises a new and improved molded counter so constructed and arranged that it may be molded by conventional counter-molding machinery and employed in arch supporting shoes wherein the inside shank portion is built up throughout the shank and heel seat.

In the manufacture of such shoes it is customary and advantageous to use lasts of conventional shape in which the plane of the heel seat is substantially at right angles to the line of the back seam. However, in constructing an arch supporting shoe a tapered insert is introduced between the insole and the last bottom, thus throwing the insole otf from the last by as much as 1520 along its inner shank portion. If the conventional molded counter is applied to a last having such insole configuration the median line of the counter, which should correspond to the back seam of the shoe, is thrown oil by to A; inch at the top of the counter and so departs from the correct line of the back seam.

Manufacturers have attempted to remedy this difficulty by employing special molds for the counter-molding machine, building up the plug on one side and correspondingly shaping the cooperating molding jaw. By using special equipment they have been able to produce molded counters in which the inside flange is located in a lower plane than the outer flange thus tending to bring the median line of the counter back into line with the back seam. This expedient however has not been entirely satisfactory, first because it involved very substantial expense, requires equipment not useful in the more general run of the industry, and second because it does not produce an accurately fitting counter in all cases.

The present invention solves this long-standing ditficulty without incurring any expense whatever to the counter molder, insures a perfectly fitting molded counter and compensates for all conditions brought about by variations in the thickness on the arch supporting member. These important results are secured by forming in the rear top edge of the counter a V-shaped notch offset inwardly with respect to the median line of the counter with its axis inclined at the same or substantially the same angle as that found between the last bottom and the outer face of the insole-that is to say, approximately 15-30". When a counter of this configuration is applied to the last, the notch will be found to coincide with the back seam line of the shoe at the top edge of the counter and the geometrical axis of the notch is inclined so that it intersects the back seam at a point somewhat less than half way up the back of the counter. The notch therefore provides clearance for the back seam so that it may be correctly located in the finished shoe and still conform to the shape of the molded counter beneath it.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which,

tes Patent Fig. 1 is a plan view of the flat counter blank.

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the last and insole with archsupporting insert, and

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing my improved counter in place.

In Fig. l is shown the flat fiber board blank from which the counter is to be molded. This blank is died out from sheet material and then skived in an area 11 so that the blank tapers to is top edge. The bottom margin- 0 al area 12 is molded into an inturned flange at the same time as the blank is given its U-shaped contour.

In Fig. 1 the median line 13, or the axis of symmetry, is shown as extending perpendicularly to the bottom edge and substantially bisects the area of the counter although it will be understood that for certain styles the side portions of the counter may be of unequal length. In dieing out the counter an elongated l-shaped notch 14 is formed in its top edge. This notch is shown as extending downwardly for about one-quarter of the height of the blank or through the skived area 11. It is unsymmetrically located and offset from the median line 13 toward that end of the blank which is to lie in the outer side of the shoe. Moreover the longitudinal axis 15 of the notch is inclined so that if projected it will intersect the median line 13 at a point near the bottom of the counter. The notch itself merges through rounded corners into the top edge of the counter and has a rounded fillet at its downwardly directed apex.

In Figs. 2 and 3 is shown a last 16 having an insole 17 built up at its inside shank and heel seat by an arch supporting wedge or tapered shim 13. The proper location of the back seam line of a shoe constructed on this last is indicated by the reference character 19 in both Figs. 2 and 3, and it will be seen that this line makes an angle of somewhat more than with respect to the tread face of the insole 17. This angle may be about In Fig. 3 the counter 10 of my invention is shown as applied to the last and insole of Fig. 2, and it will be seen that the longitudinal axis of the notch 14, indicated by the line 15 in Fig. 1, has been brought into coincidence with the indicated back seam line 19. In other words, the axis of symmetry 13 of the counter has been drawn over toward the built up side of the last and the notch now provides clearance for accurately locating the back seam of the upper in coinciding relation to the line 19.

In practice the notch 14 now provides a guide or track into which the back seam will fit when the upper is properly located as assembled on the last 16, and thus facilitates the manufacture of arch-supporting shoes.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A molded counter for use in arch-supporting shoes in which the back-seam line of the shoe is inclined more than 90 with respect to the outer face of the insole, said counter having a U-shaped body of stitf sheet material, tapering to a thin top edge and having in its top edge an elongated V-shaped notch, located unsymmetrically, 011- set toward the outer side of the counter and with its longitudinal axis inclined to the median line of the counter by substantially the same angle as that between the back seam line and the outer face of the insole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 469,258 Martin Feb. 23, 1892 1,859,533 Rowe May 24, 1932 2,821,032 Helfet Jan. 28, 1958