US3201811A - Sole press - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent 3,201,811 SOLE PRESS Harold E. Marasco, Beverly, Mass., assignor to Marasco Shoe Machinery Corporation, Lynn, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 4, 1963, Ser. No. 285,389 1 Claim. (Cl. 12-33) This invention comprises a new and improved sole press of the type employing a pad box and pad for supporting a sole, in combination with separate toe and heel posts for presenting a lasted shoe to the pad-supported sole and resisting the conforming and attaching pressure of the machine.

In such sole presses it is important to support the lasted shoe securely at both ends of the last when subjected to pressure and to provide immediate and ample clearance at the conclusion of the cycle, thus facilitating removal from the press of the now united shoe and sole and the presentation of new work.

With this end in view the invention, briefly described, consists in separate toe and heel posts for presenting a lasted shoe to a pad-supported sole, means tending at all times to retract and hold both the posts in position of full clearance and fluid pressure connections for simultaneously moving the posts toward the pad. The posts are thus held in positions of pressure by fluid pressure and are retraeted automatically and simultaneously at the instant of cut ofl of fluid operating pressure.

As herein shown the two posts have independent retracting springs and cylinders which are included in a unitary fluid pressure system having a controlling valve. This valve may be operated automatically in the cycle of the machine or at intervals determined by the operator.

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 drawing, in which the figure is a view of one section or station of the press in longitudinal section.

My invention is herein shown as embodied in a turret type of press that may have as many as six stations, but is not, by any means, limited in its application to that or to any specific type of press:

The frame of the press is designed to support a rotatable turret in which is included a fluid pressure reservoir in the shape of a vertically disposed cylinder 11 supported by ball bearings upon the frame. Fluid under pressure is supplied to the cylinder 11 and maintained always under working pressure through connections leading to the bottom of the cylinder.

The turret carries a number of sole press units of which one is shown in the figure. A bracket 12 extends radially from the cylinder and carries an inclined plate 13 upon which is mounted the pad box 14 carrying an inflatable pad 15 for supporting the sole. The pad box 14 is mounted for adjustment on the plate 13 by means of a screw 16. A tube 17 constitutes a fluid pressure connection for the pad with the cylinder and in this connection is placed a valve 18 of the well known Hunt Sliding Sleeve type which is controlled by a triangular rocker 19. This may be operated automatically in the cycle of the machine or by the operator at any desired intervals for admitting compressed air to inflate the pad or for releas- 3,201 ,8 1.1 Patented Aug. 24, 1965 ing and exhausting the pad at the completion of each cycle.

As described up to this point the press with the pad box 14, cylinder 30, valves 18 and 46 connected by a yoke and rocker 19 is identical with the corresponding parts of the machine of my prior Patent No. 2,813,282. Rocker 19 may be operated automatically in the cycle of the machine or by the operator by means described in that patent and the fluid pressure is vented through the valves 18 and 46 as explained in respect to the corresponding valves 26 and 34 of the patent.

The turret is provided with an overhead radial bracket 20 for each station and at the outer end of each bracket is mounted a fluid pressure cylinder 30 having a piston and piston rod 31 which constitutes the heel post of the press and carries a pivoted plate 32 for engaging the crown of the last. Beneath the piston is located a compression spring 33 which tends at all times to retract the heel post and hold the plate 32 in a position of maximum clearance.

A fluid pressure cylinder 40 is also mounted upon the bracket 20 in parallel relation .with the cylinder 30 and disposed at right angles to the carrier plate 13 and pad box. The cylinder 40 contains a piston and piston rod 41 carrying an adjustable toe pad 42. A compression spring 43 beneath the piston tends at all times to move the toe post upwardly to position of maximum clearance. The cylinder 40 is somewhat shorter than the cylinder 30 since the stroke required of its piston is less than that required for the heel end of the shoe.

The machine is provided with a fluid pressure system which includes a pipe 34 leading to the cylinder 30 and a pipe 44 leading to the cylinder 40. These pipes are connected to a trunk pipe 45 containing a valve 46 located in close proximity to the valve 18 and identical to it and connected through it to the rocker 19. Accordingly when the rocker is operated to open the valves 18 and 46 fluid pressure is admitted to the pad box though the pipe 17 inflating and elevating the pad 15 and at the same time fluid pressure is admitted to the cylinders 30 and 40 so that the heel post 31 and the toe post 41 are simultaneously advanced to engage the crown of the last and the forepart of the lasted shoe wherever these components of the shoe may be located thus creating the required sole molding and attaching pressure between the sole and the bottom of the lasted shoe.

After a predetermined interval the rocker 19 is operated to cut off fluid pressure to the cylinders 30 and 4t) and open an exhaust outlet whereupon the springs 33 and 43 act immediately and simultaneously to retract and elevate the heel post and toe post to a position of maximum clearance and also to release the pad 15 from its elevated position thus facilitating removal of the shoe with the attached sole. The pad box is thus presented in convenient position for the reception of a new sole and shoe.

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 sole press comprising a pad box and pad for supporting a sole in outwardly and downwardly inclined position, an overhead arm carrying two separate fluid pressure cylinders located respectively opposite to the toe and heel ends of the pad box with cooperating toe and heel posts movable therein at substantially right angles to the pad box, means mounting said toe and heel posts in said cylinders so that the stroke of said toe post is shorter than the stroke of said heel post, fluid pressure connections to the pad box for inflating and elevating the pad and fluid pressure connections to each of the said cylinders for moving both posts independently and simultaneously toward the pad until engaged with an interposed shoe, and means for independently retracting the toe and heel posts from the pad to positions of maximum clearance upon release of fluid pressure in their associated cylinders, whereby said heel post moves a greater distance than said toe post to provide immediate and ample clearance between said toe and heel posts and the shoe.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

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