US375149A - Button-fastening machine - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

6 Sheets-Sheet 1. A. H. GLEASON. BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE.

Patented Dec. 20

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Qmitmeooea (No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. H. GLEASON. BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE.

No. 375,149. Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

qwitwaoaeo (No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 3.

A. GL'EASON. BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE.

No. 375,149. Patented Dec. 20', 1887.

W1 tmeooea avwamtoz n. Pt'rzni Phawun mr. wavinnmpic 6 Sheets-+Shget 4. V

A. H. GLEASON.

BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE.

(No Model.)

No. 375,149. Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

N, PETERS. Phclo-Lilhugraphnr, Washington, n.c.

(No Model.)

' 6'Sheets-Sl1eet 5. A. GLEASON BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE.

" Patehted Dec. 20, 1887.

N. PETERS, Pnuwulhu pen Waahingion. n. c,

(No Model.) 6 Sheets-Sheet 6.

A. H. GLEASON.

BUTTON FASTENING MACHINE. No. 375,149. Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

iii:

I I r Ya? A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALBERT H. GLEASON, OF VVABASH, INDIANA.

BUTTON-FASTENING MACHINE.

FSPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,119, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed September 9, 1857. Serial No. 2lilfl18. (No model.)

To all whom it'may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT I-I. GLEASON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at \Vabash, in the county of \Vabash and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsiu Button-Fastening Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to mechanism for se curing eye-shank buttons to shoes and like articles by means of metallic fasteners'which are clinched on the under side of the fabric.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine of this class which will feed-a continuous wire through the eye of the button, cut off alength of wire on an angle, so as to give the staple pointed ends, bend thewire to form the staple, drive the staple downward 1 then clearly pointed out in the claims.

. Figure 1 of the drawings is a front elevation of my machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation from the left of the machine, with buttonfeeding mechanism omitted, illustrating the mechanism for. operating the plunger and the knife. Fig. 3 is a side elevation from the right of the machine, on a smaller scale, showing the treadle mechanism and the tension device.

Fig. 4 is a detail front view showing the mannor of adjusting the trcadle. Fig. 5is a broken front elevation of the machine enlarged, showing the loop forming and clinching dies,'the manner of hinging them to the pluuger,and the parts with which they coact. Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line a." :r, Fig. 5, showing the loop forming and clinching dies elevated and abut-ton in position on the bending-block. Fig.7is a like vertical section showing the dies depressed, with the first button down on r the anvil and another button in position on x thebending-block. Fig. 8 is a broken front perspective view of the guide-plates from the front. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of said plates from the rear. Fig. 12 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3 9 of Fig. 10, showing, also, the position of the knife when severing the wire. Fig. 13 is a perspective view of a portion of the knife. Fig. 1 1 is a broken rear elevation of the machine, illustrating the button-feeding mechanism, with one button (in dotted lines) resting on the bending-block and another button ready to be forced down into said block by the feed'finger attached to the plunger. Fig. 15 is a horizontal section taken on thelinezz,Fig.14,showing thebuttontrough. Fig. 16 is a detail perspective view of the bending-block and bendingdie, witha button and wire on the block, the wire, when bent to form the staple, being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 17 is a perspective view of the cap-plate. Fig. 18 is a detail perspective View showing the loop forming and clinching dies as they are about to act on the staple. Fig. 19 is a detail front view of said dies in the act of forming the loop and clinching the staple.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the treadle-frame, from which rises ahoilow standard, B,to the top of which is secured the table 0. To the top of the table, inline with standard B, is secured ashort hollow flanged standard, B, to a lug, b, on the flange of which is attached an anvil, D, and at the top of standard B, formed integral therewith, is a rightangularly bent bracket, B to which certain parts of the machine, hereinafter mentioned, are secured.

E represents a reciprocating rod, which plays through standard B and the table and in the upper end of standard B. To its lower end is secured a smaller rod, E,which is also secured to the treadle F, which is hinged to one leg of the treadle-frame, its front end working in and steadied by a slotted guide, A, through the top and bottom of which pass set screws a a, for purposes hereinafter mentioned. The

said rod E is encircled for a portion of its length by a coil-spring, E the lower end of which is secured to the rod, while its upper end bears against a plate, 0, seated in an annular recess, I), in standard 13.

The reciprocating rod E carries at its upper end an arm, G, which curves upwardly and is bent at a right angle to the axis of the rod, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. To the horizontal por tion of this arm is attached the plunger H, (see Figs. 1, 2, and 14,) which is beveled on its edges and works between correspondinglybeveled guideways Ilsecured to the horizontal portion of bracket 13, (see Figs. 2, 3, 6, and 14,) the upper ends of said ways being secured to a cross-bar, i, on the rear side, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and full lines in Fig. 2.

J J represent the loop forming and clinching dies. The upper end of each of these dies is rounded, as at 1, and fits loosely in a correspondingly'shaped recess in the front side of plunger Hat its lower end, so as to be free to swing therein, being held in place in the plunger by a faceplate, 2, secured to the plunger by a screw, 3, as seen in Figs. 6 and 7. At the lower end, on the inner side, these dies are each recessed, so as to form jaws 4, between which the wire is clamped to form the loop for receiving the shank of the button, and below the jaws they are shouldered, as at 5, so as to press on top of the staple on each side of its loop to drive it through the fabric and clinch the points, all as seen in Fig. 19. The

\ jaws and shoulders are grooved on the inner edges, as at 6, Fig. 6, so as to prevent the sta ple slipping outof position. Aspring, j, keeps the dies normally apart.

In Figs. 10, 11, and 12 I have shown the guides for the dies, the button-shank, and the wire; in Fig. 8, a front view of portions of the machine with these guides detached; and in Fig. 9 a like view with the guides in position, but with the cap-plate, hereinafter described, omitted. These guides K K consist each of two front plates, k, and two rear plates, 7.: 73. Plate k is perforated at 7 for the passage of the stapleforming wire to, and it is also beveled on its under side from its inner edge, as at 8, in order to admit the beveled front end of the knife Q, so as to cut the wire on aslant.

"Plate 7c is recessed on its inner edge, as at 9,

(see Fig. 9,) to receive the free end of the wire, the recess being elongated in order to allow the end of the wire to describe an arc of a circle, as it must necessarily do while being bent to form the staple. Both plates and khave inwardly-sloping shoulders 10 at their lower ends for forcing the dies J J together,and thus forming the loop in the staple, as seen in Fig. 19, the lower ends of said dies being rounded on the outer sides, so as to ride freely over the shoulders. Plates k and 7c are substantially alike, except that the former is cut out at 11 for the passage of the cutting end of the knife. They are attached to the rear side of the front plates, is is, between which the dies J J are guided, and overlap the inner sides of the front plates, leaving just suflieient space between for the passage of the shank of the button. The upper ends of the overhanging portions of therear plates are curved rearwardly, so as to lie in the path of the button-feeding mechanism and take the button as it is fed forward, as seen in Figs. 9, 10, and 11.

L, Fig. 17, represents the cap-plate above alluded to, which is attached to the ways I I over' the guides K K. This plate will be fully described in connection with the bending-die and bending-block.

M represents the bending-block, on which the wire is bent to form the staple. It is formed integral with a slide, M, of the form shown in Fig. 16, which works on a ledge, 12, on the cap-plate, and is held in place on said ledge by a spring, 13, secured to one of the ways I. I

N represents the bendingdie, comprising two horizontal legs, a, adapted to straddle the bending-block, and a vertical arm, n. This arm is slotted, as at 14, and its upper end is curved forward, as clearly seen in Figs. 6, 7, and 16. The legs of this die work in and are guided by guideways 15, and the slotted arm n fits over a cam projection, 16, on the capplate. Legs 17, formed integral with guideways 15, prevent the bending-block slide from tipping while the block is being moved out of the way of the clinching-dies, as hereinafter explained. The legs of the die are notched on the under side near their outer ends, as at 18, for the purpose of preventing the wirefrom slipping while being bent. To a pin, 19, on the bending-die is attached one end of a coilspring, 20, inclosed in a casing, 21, attached to one of the ways I.

O and O are two friction-rolls for feeding the wire to form the staples, the wire being taken from a reel, 22, mounted in a casing, 23. Roll 0 is provided with ratchet-teeth, with which a pawl, 24, pivoted to a cam, 25, en gages, the pawl being steadied by a guard, 26, rigidly attached to the can]. The cam is pivoted to one of the guideways I in such position as to lie normally in the path of a finger, 27, adjustably secured to the plunger, as seen in Fig. 1. By the adjustability of this finger all lost motion occasioned by wear of the ratchet may be avoided.

In order to regulate the tension of the feed rolls on the wire, the lower roll, 0, is journaled in a right-angular bar, 28, to which is rigidly fixed a vertical arm, 29, that slides up and down in a two-arm support, 8, attached to bracket B said arm having an internallyscrew-threaded lug, 80, which is located between the arms 31 and 32 of the support 8. The upper arm, 81, extends outward considerably beyond arm 32, and is perforated for the free passage of a screw-threaded bolt, 33, which screws into the threaded lug 30, and a coil-spring, 34, encircles the bolt between its IOC head and the top of arm 31. It follows that by thisconstruction the lower roll presses the' wire between it and the upper roll byspringpressure, and that this pressure can be read ily andaccurately adjusted by simply turning the bolt.

.Q represents the knife, the forward end of which is beveled outwardly, as seen in several of the views, so as to work close into guide K and cut the wire on a slant, and its forward end is also beveled rearwardly on the under side, as clearly shown in Fig. 13, so as to give ashear cut. crating-arm, Q, pivoted to bracket B and oscillated to operate the knife by a cam, It, having a flange, r, througlra slot in which it is adjustably secured to arm G. Being thus adj ustable, as the contact-surfaces of the cam are worn by the knife-arm the cam can be raised or lowered, so as to make the knife out sooner or later, as required.

The mechanism I have'devised for feeding the buttons into the machine singly by positive motions is very simple, as will be seen on reference to Figs. 14 and 15, wherein S represents a trough of a width at the top to permit the buttons to rest and slide onits edges,as clearly shown in Fig. 15. One side of the trough at its lower end is cut away, as at 35, for a purpose presently to be explained. The trough is secured in an inclined position by any suitable means to the rear side of one of the guide ways I, with its lower end resting directly over the curved upper ends of the rear plat-es, 76 117 of guides K K,and in front of a buttonholding spring, T, the upper end of which is secured to one end of a horizontal bar, t, secured to the rear side of one of the guideways I. In the trough there is a wire, 10, on which the buttons are strung, its lower end terminating directly over the space between the guide-plates in If, so that as the side of the trough is cut away at 35 a button,on reaching the end of the wire, will drop with its shank in the opening between the said platesk it, when it will be in position to be driven home onto the bending-block on the descent of the plunger by means of afeed-finger, U, attached to the rear side thereof, as seen in full lines in Figs. 6 and 7 and in dotted lines in Fig. 14. The wire w is held in place in trough S by a double-flanged button v fitting in a notch in the closed upper end of the trough. A toothed wheel, IV, grooved on its periphery, is attached to the guideway 1 directly under the trough and in such position that its teeth will, pass into it through a slot, 36, in its under side. The wheel is revolved bymeans of a gravity-pawl, V, attached through a slot to the way I, one end of said pawl engaging the teeth of the wheel and its other end being engaged by the feed-finger in its upward movement to draw the pawl up, and thus turn the wheel the distance of one tooth. As the wheel revolves, its teeth engage. the shanks of v the buttons, and thus feed the buttons down Theknifeis provided with an op 1 the trough and in front of the button spring T and between the guide-plates k? it one at a time. I I Y .By the adjustability of the treadle I have attained two valuable results-that is to say, by the lower set-screws I am enabled to limit the descent of the plunger and its attached dies to suit any thickness of fabric, and by the upper setscrews I can so regulate the upward movement of the reciprocating rod as to avoid all concussion in the upper portion of the machine. 7 y

The operation of my machine is as follows: Assuming there is a button in position on the bending-block, a downward pressure on the treadle will pull down the reciprocating rod E, with its attached arm G, that carries the plunger H and cam R, and as the finger 27, attached to the plunger,bears down on the cam 25 the latter is swung on its pivot far enough around to clear the path of the finger, which causes pawl 24 to turn roll 0, and by friction roll 0, the space of one' tooth, and thereby feed the wire through the eye of the button. The downward movement of camR will rock the knife arm, and thus cause'the knife to sever the wire, by which time the loop forming and clinching dies J J will have reached the legs n at of the bending=die N. Then as dies J J continue to descend they will force the bending-die down onto the wire over the bending-block M (the'notch es 18 in the legs of said die engaging thewire to hold it'steady) and continue forcing it downward until the wire has been bent down the sides of the block, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 16, by which time the outwardly-curved upper end of arm n of the bending-die will have reached the cam projection 16 on the caprplate L, which will cause the bending-die to swing outward, carrying with it, against the stress ofspring 13, the slide M, on which the bendingblock is formed, as seen in Fig. 7, which is prevented from tip ping during this movement bythe lugs 17 on the cap-plate. It will be observed that the bending-block is thus moved forwardjust out of the path of the dies J J, and in order toavoid the necessity of moving it any farther forwardI groove it on its rear side, as at 38, for the passage of the button-shank, as seen. in- Figs. 6 and 7, there being also a groove, 39, in the top of the block for the receptionof the shank while the staple is being formed. As.

the block recedes, the ends of the staple come into contact with two studs, 40, at the rear of ledge 12 on the cap-plate L, and the staple is thereby stripped from the block. Further downward movement of the loop forming and clinching dies J J carries thebutton and staple down onto the fabricf on anvil D, and as the points of the staple enter the fabric the rounded ends of the dies J J come in contact with the shoulders 10, formed on the guide-platesk k, which cause said dies in their descent to be forced together,-'whereby the jaws 4 4 clamp the wireon each side of the button shank be-,

tween them, and thus form the loop. By this time the points of the staple have passed through the fabric and are in concavities d in the top of the anvil, and are clinched inward by the shoulders 5 on the dies bearing on the top of the staple. The button being now secured, the dies J J begin their upward movement, and when their lower ends have passed the bending-block the latter is forced back into its normal position by springl3 and the bending-die is carried upward by the coilspring 20. As plunger H moves upward it carries with it the attached feed-ii nger U, upon the end of which is formed a small hook, it, which catches under the curved end of the gravity-pawl V, thereby raising it the length of its slot, which is sufficient to turn the buttonfeeding wheel another tooth, which forces the next button off the end of wire 8 and in front of the button-spring T, in position to be forced down onto the bending-block on the return of the feed-fingcr.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my machine, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a button-fastening machine, substantially as described, the combination, with a guide for the button, rolls for feeding a wire through the eye of the button, a knife for severing the wire, a bending-block over which the wire is bent to form a staple,and an anvil, of a wire-bending die and a pair of loop forming and clinching dies, the latter adapted to form a loop in the staple for the shank of the button and to clinch the staple on the under side of the fabric.

2. The combination, with a guide for the button, rolls for feeding a wire through the eye of the button, a knife for severing the Wire, a bending-block over which the wire is bent to form a staple, and an anvil, ofa wire-bending die, a plunger, ways for guiding the plunger, and a pair of loop forming and clinching dies attached to the plunger, adapted to form a loop for the shank of the button and to clinch the staple on the under surface of the fabric, all arranged to operate substantially as de scribed.

3; In abutton-fastening machine constructed as described, a pair of loop forming and clinching dies hinged at their upper ends to the plunger and formed at their lower ends with jaws for forming the loop in the staple and shoul ders for pressing upon the staple to clinch it. suitable means for pressing the dies toward each other on their descent, and a spring between them for pressing them apart on their ascent, all combined in the manner set forth.

4. In abutton-fastening machine constructed as described, the slide carrying the bendingblock, the ledge on which the slide rests, a spring bearing against the slide, the bendingdie having a verticallyslotted and outwardlycurved arm, a cam projection over which said arm is placed, and a spring for elevating the bending-die, whereby said die and the bending-block are caused to clear the path of the loop forming and clinching dies on their descent and to assume their normal positions on the upward movement of said dies, the whole combined in the manner set forth.

5. Inabutton-fastening machine constructed as described, the slide carrying the bending block, the ledge on which the slide rests, provided at its rear with studs for stripping the staple from the block as the latter moves for ward, a spring bearing against the slide, the bending-die having a vertically-slotted and outwardly-curved arm, a cam projection over which said arm is placed, and a spring for elevating the bending-die, the whole combined and operating in the manner described.

6. In a button-fastening machine, substantially as described, the combination, with the wire-feeding rolls, a cam pivoted above said rolls, and a pawl pivoted to said cam and engaging with ratchet-teeth on one of the rolls and the plunger, of a finger secured to the plunger and engaging with the cam in such manner as to swing it out of its path, and thereby cause the pawl to turn the feed-rolls.

7. In a button-fastening machine, substantially as described, the combination, with the wire-feeding rolls, a cam pivoted above said rolls, and a pawl pivoted to said cam and engaging with ratchet-teeth on one of the rolls and the plunger, of a finger adj ustably se cured to the plunger and engaging with the cam, whereby lost motion in the ratchet mechanism may be taken up.

8. In a button-fastening machine, the combination, with the wire feeding rolls, of a wire-guiding plate having a slanting perfora tion for the passage of the wire and beveled off at its inner rear edge, as shown, a knife whose front end is beveled outwardly to correspond with the bevel on said guide-plate and rearwardly on the under side in order to make a shear cut, and suitable mechanism for operating the knife, substantially as described.

9. In a button-fastening machine, substantially as described, the combination, with the reciprocating rod and thearm attached thereto, of the knife and its operating-arm pivoted to a stationary part of the machine, and a cam attached to the arm on the reciprocating rod with which the knife-arm engages, whereby in the reciprocations of the rod the knife is operated to sever the staple-forming wire.

10. In a button-fastening machine, substantially as described, the combination, with the reciprocating rod and the arm attached thereto, of the knife and its operatingarm pivoted to a stationary part of the machine, and a cam adj ustably secured to the arm on the reciprocating rod with which the knife-arm engages, whereby the knife may be made to out sooner or later, as required.

11. The combination, with the buttonguiding plates and a spring in rear of said plates for holding the button in position, of an inclined trough leading tosaid guides, having a slot in its under side and provided with a lonbutton-guides,and are then forced down to the 10 gitudinal wire on which the buttons are strung, bending-block.

a toothed wheel journaled below said trough, In testimony whereof I afiiix my signature in its teeth passing through the slot in the trough presence of two witnesses.

and engaging with the shanks of the buttons T on the wire, suitable mechanism for rotating ALBERT GLEASOL' said wheel, the plunger, and a feed-finger at- Witnesses: tached to the plunger, whereby the buttons ALBERT SPEIDEN, are first fed positively, one at a time, to the G. W. BALLOGH.

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