US1556051A - Leather-working machine - Google Patents

Description

J. H. WALCOTT LEATHER WORKING MACHINE y `f n; e

Patented Get. 6, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH H. WALC'OTT, OF SALEM, MASSAJHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HELBURN THOMP- SON COMPANY, OF SALEM, E/LSSLGTXUSETTS, 'A CORPORATIG-N OF MASSACHU- SETTS.

LEATI'IEEJNORKING MACHINE.

Application filed .Truc 3, 1924. Serial No. 717,582.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, losnrrr H. 1V.-\i. i o'rT. a citizen of the United States of America. and resident of Salem, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in LeatherlVorking Machines7 of which the followingr is a specification.

This invention pertains to the treatment of sheet material and relates more particularly to the finishing and polishing of leather.

In the preparation of fine leathers, for example those employed for bookbindings, bags, etc., one of the final steps in the process consists in rubbing the surface of the skin to impart a slight gloss thereto. This operation is not intended to produce a high gloss such as might be secured by calendering the leather or subjecting it to the action of highly polished and hard rubbing devices, but is designed merely to remove the dullness or dead appearance resulting from previous processes, such for example as embossing', whereby to exhibity the true beauty of texture of the material.

Heretofore this desiredfslight gloss has been obtained manually7 the skin being spread upon a table and its finished surface being rubbed with a felt or other soft and resilient pad held in the hand of the operator until, the desired gloss is obtained. This is a slow and laborious operation, and the principal object of the present invention is to provide mechanism forv performing this process mechanically and with greater rapidity than it can be performed by hand.

In the accompanying drawings, one desirable embodiment of the invention is illustratedrby way of example, and in such drawings,-

Fig. 1 isa plan view, partly broken away, illustrating the invention as embodied in a power driven machine;

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

Fig. 3 is a vertical section substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. l is a front elevation of a desirable form of rubbing appliance. In that embodiment of the invention herein selected for illustration, the operative parts of the machine lare mounted upon a table 1 having front legs 2 and rear legs 3.

This table is also provided at its opposite sides at points intermediate its front and rear edges with uprights 4i and 5 respectively, such uprights extending to a point above the upper surface of the table for a purpose hereinafter described.

Brackets 6 are secured to the front legs and provide journal bearings foi` a shaft-7 carrying a guide roller 7"L so disposed that the upper surface of the table is substantially tangent to the periphery of the roller.

Brackets 8 at the rear end of the table provide journal bearings for a shaft 9 parallel to the shaft 7 and provided with a roll 10 to which the upper surface of the table is also tangent. Preferably the bearings for one or both of the shafts 7 and 9 should be of adjustable type to permit the rolls 7'LL and 10 to be positioned inaccurate parallelism and to adjust them to the proper height relatively to the top of the table. Such bearings are well known and form no essential part of the present invention, and therefore are not specifically illustrated.

Brackets 1].b are supported by the uprights 4 and 5 respectively near the lower ends of the latter and provide journalled bearings for a shaft 11 provided with a guide roll 11, The bearings for shaft 11 are also preferably adjustable to permit tensioning the belt, hereinafter described, and also to facilitate the removal of the belt.

The shaft 9 which carries the roller 10 is furnished with a sprocket wheel 12 driven An endless belt conveyor 16 passes around the rollers 7, 10, and 11a respectively and comprises an upper horizontal run 17 which extends lengthwise of the top of the table. This belt is desirably of very thin and flexible material so as to yield locally to accommodate very small inequalities in the thickness of the skin during the polishing process The table top is provided with an opening 18 extending transversely across from one of the uprights 4 to theother upright 5 and the upper run 17 of the belt bridges this opening.

immediately above the opening 18 a shaft 19 is journalled in brackets carried by the upwardly projeating parts of the uprights l and 5 respectively. At one end this shaft is provided with a pulley 2O which be driven by a belt from any suitable source of power. it its other end the shaft 15 furnished with a. gear 22 which meshes with a gear secured to the sprocket 13. roller 24 is secured to the shaft 19 and provided with a resilient rubbing surface herein illustrated as consisting of spirally disposed ribs 25 secured to the peripheral surface of the roller. Preferably the ribs 25 are arranged as indicated in t wherein they extend in opposite spirals from a point inidway between the ends of the roller, such an arrangen'ient ten/i1 a well known manner to stretch the rial laterally as the latter is passed beneath the roller. The bearings for shaft 19 are preferably of adjustable type to permit accurate setting of the roller 241i relatively to the belt 17, and to take up wear in the ribs 25.

The gearing connections between the shaft 19 and the shaft 9 are such that the run 1T of the belt 16 moves in a front to rear direction; while the opposed surface of the roller 2st moves in the same direction but at a greater surface speed.

er shaft 36 is journalled in bearings carried by the uprights 4 and 5 respect icly a point below the table top, this shaft being parallel to and substantially in the vertical plane of the shaft 19. The shaft 26 is provided with a roller 27 carrying brush bristles 28 disposed. to form a cylindrical brush.

rThe bristles 28 are of such length that they project up through the opening` tl in the table into contact with the under side of the belt so as to support and press the latter resiliently upward as it passes across the opening 18. The bearings for shaft 26 are preferably adjustable to permit the brush to be set accurately with relation to the belt 17.

1n the operation of the machine, the shaft 19 and the belt 16 are driven as above indicated. The operator, standing in front of the machine spreads the skin to be treated upon the surface of the belt 17 and the latter immediately moves the skin rearward# ly beneath the rubbing roll 24. rits the surface speed of the roll is greater than that of the supporting belt the roll'A rubs the sur" face of the leather and imparts the desired gloss thereto. During this action of the rubbing-roll? the material is pressed upward,- ly into engagement therewith bv the resilient action of the brush bristles 28.

The resilient support thus afforded by the cylindrical brush results in the production of that degree of gloss which is desirable and which has only been attainable heretotore by a manual* operation. lVloreover` it insures uniformity of action. of the action of the rubbing roll even thpugh the shin may 'vary slightly in thi-lenses freni point t0 point as it avoids the subjection of the non-uniform material to such pressure as might cause the production of streaks or blotches upon the finished surface, p

lWhile rotating roll herein disclosed as constituting a desirable form of rubbing appliance, it is contemplated that other types of rubber n'iay be substituted therefor and also that in its broadestl aspects the invention may include the substitution of other forms of resilient support than that furnished by the brush roll herein illustrated. Y

1t is to be understood that the invention is not coniined to the particular embodiment herein disclosed. but that the details of construc ion may be varied circumstances may warrant and as the art develops, without departing` from the spirit of the broad' invention which is herein disclosed I claim:

1. A' machine for polishing leather comprising a rubbing app1iance,f1neans for feeding the leather to the rubbing appliance, and a resilient support forpressing the leather against the rubbing appliance.

2. A machine for polishing leather coin,- prising a rubbing appliance, an endless flex-v ible conveyor for feeding the material to the rubbing appliance, and a resilient support for holding the leather against the rubbing appliance. 3. A machine for treating" sheet material comprising` a rotary rubbing roll, a. belt conf veyor for feeding the material to be treated to the roll, and a roll having a resilients rf face for pressing the conveyor and the "InA .y terial resting thereon toward the rubbing roll.

l. A, machine for polishing leather comf prising aframe, a` sha-ft journal'led therein, a rubbing roll mounted upon the shaft, a belt conveyor having one run thereof ar,- ranged substantially tangent to the surface of the rubbing roll, nieans for movinghthe conveyor at a rate lessthan the surface speed of the roll, and means disposed upon the op posite side of the belt from the roll for re.- siliently pressing the belt toward the roll.V

5. A machine for polishing leather comprising a power driven rubbing roller having a resilent surface, a feed beltv having a horizontal run arranged below and substantially tangent to the peripheral `surface of the roller, means for driving saidV belt at a speed less than the surface speed of the roller, andia roller having a resilient surface disposed below the belt and supportingthe leather at, a point opposite to the `rubbing roller. y U I A 6. A machine for use inpolishing leather ycomprising a power driven rubbing; roll, the

rubbing surface of the roll consisting of resilient peripheral ribs extending in opposite spirals from the center of the roll to-v ward its opposite ends, a horizontal feed belt for presenting the leather to the rubbing roll, and a brush roll below the belt supporting it at a point opposite the rubbing roll.

7. A machine for use in polishing leather' comprising a power driven rubbing roller having a resilient surface, a horizontally moving belt for feeding the leather to the rubbing roller, the speed of the belt being less than the surface speed of the rubbing roller, and a brush roll parallel to the rubbing roller and disposed below the belt for supporting the leather immediately below the rubbing roller.

S. A. machine for polishing leather comprising a table having horizontal rolls adjacent to its front and rear edges, an endless belt engaging said rolls and having one run extending horizontally over the table top, the latter having a transverse opening intei-mediate its front and rear edges, a rubbing roller mounted upon a transverse shaft arranged above said opening, said roller having a resilient contact surface, the aforesaid run of the belt being substantially tangent to the periphery of the roller, a second shaft parallel to the rubbing roller shaft jour nalled below the top of the table, said second shaft carrying a cylindrical brush provided with projecting bristles of such lengths that they project up through the opening in the table and engage the under surface of the aforesaid run of belt, power actuated means for driving the rubbing roller shaft, and means for driving the belt so as to niove said run thereof in the saine direction as the opposed surface of the rubbing roller but at a surface speed less than the surface speed of the latter.

Signed by ine at Salem, Massachusetts, this twenty-eighth day of May, 1924.

,JOSEPH H, wALooTT.

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