US1939626A - Grading machine - Google Patents

Description

J. W. JOHNSTON GRADING MACHINE Dec. 12, 1933.

Filed Jan. 18, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l J. W. JOHNSTON GRADING MACHINE Dec. 12,1933.

Filed Jan. 18, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'mechanism for preventing the skiving mecha- Patented Dec. 12, 1933 a l l 1,939,626

l 'umrED; -s;rAriss PATEL-NT OFFICE -GRADING MACHINE James W. Johnston, Manchester, N. H., assignor toNorth American Holding Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 18, 1933. Serial No. 652,317

7 Claims. (01. 69--11) This invention relates to grading machines of the kind which grade died-outpieces'of leather,

such as soles, taps and otherblanksyinaccordance with the thickness .of the thinnest spot of the blank, or of a selected area of the :blank;

as determined by the detecting or measuring mechanism. 'The invention consists in certain improvements upon-the well-"known grading 'machines illustrated in .a number of patents to Elmer P. .Nichols and Leander A. Cogswell, of which the Nichols Patent No. 1,130,321 dated March 2,1915 and theCogswell Patent No. 1,726,- 610 dated September 3, 1929, are typical. The present improvements consist principally in nlsm from gouging the blank and insuring even skiving, and in novel mechanism for controlling the opening of :the gate which governs the admission of blanks into the machine.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation ofa grading machine embodying the invention; I

Fig. 2 is a partial section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of thecontrollingand iguiding arm, hereinafter described, for the abutment and feeding roller of the cutting mechanism; and i Fig. 4 is a sectional detail hereinafter described.

It will be understood-that certain parts of the grading machine. which are wellknown in the art I to even and to mark'thesoles or other blanks which pass through it and is designed believe the blanks manually fed into it one at'a time although it will be understood that an automatic feeding mechanism of well known construction might be used if desired without affecting the construction and-operation ofthe present invention.

As each blank is fed into the machine it is slid forwardly one table 10 in the direction'of the 'arrowto a pair of continuously driven detecting rolls l1 and 12 by which the thickness of "the thinnest spot of the blank or of a selected area of the blank ismeasured-anddetermined. Upon being discharged from between the "detecting rolls 11 and 12 the blank is carried -forward by means of the usual conveyor chain or belt (not shown) and delivered to a pair-of --continuously driven feedingrollers '13 and 14 which, together with a fixed knife blade 15, constitute part of 'the evening and skiving mechanism by which the blank is cut down and evened to a uniform thickness throughout correspon'dingto' thethickness of the thinnest-spot as determined by the detecting rollsll and 12.

The machine also contains :the .usual stamping or marking mechanismby which the grade. mark, usually interms of irons, is appliedto eachblank corresponding to the measurement of the thin spotof'the blank as determined by the detecting rolls 11 and '12. This marking mechanism includes the usual type-wheel 16 which is rotatably adjusted in response to the detecting mechanism. The type-wheel 16 is carried by the vertically movable'slide 17; which is automatically operated while the blank is underneath the wheel ,16to force the type-wheel 16 downwardly against the blank and impress or mark thereon the appropriate character.

The marking mechanism is operated to stamp the grade mark upon the blank by the trip :18, which is engaged and actuated by the blank just before the, blank enters the trolls 13, 14.

The trip 18 consists of a pair of :arms ,(see

depressionof the trip 18 by the blank, acting through lever-19 and cam latch 20, shifts aclutch 21 (Fig. 2) thereby effecting a single vertical reciprocation of the slide '17, and type-wheel :16.

The eifective measuring operation of the detectingrolls 11, 12, which is preserved and transmitted to the grading mechanisms (theskiving mechanism and the marking mechanism), begins when the advance end of the blank engages and lifts trip 22, whereupon trip .22 acting through lever. 23, '-rock shaft 24, am 25 and the weighted push rod 26 causes the pawl 27 to engage ratchet wheel 28 of the setting,

or transmitting mechanism. This prevents the transmission to the grading mechanisms of any thicker measurements of the blank encountered by the detecting rolls, but permits successively thinner measurements to be so transmitted. The measuring operation by the detecting rolls terminates when the rear end of the blank passes out from underneath :the gate 29. The gate29,

which theretofore rested upon and was held up by the blank, then falls upon the table and acts through link 30 to cause pawl 31 to engage ratchet wheel 28, thereby locking ratchet wheel 28 and its associated transmitting mechanism against movement also in a direction to register thinner measurements. The upper detecting roll 11 is supported in fixed journal boxes. The lower detecting roll 12 is yieldingly supported so as to move downwardly and upwardly in response to variations in thickness of a blank passing'between the rolls. This motion is transmitted through the usual mechanism including apivoted arm 32 having at its extremity asegment engaging a gear on shaft 33 which carries the ratchet wheel 28. When the shaft 33 is thus rotatively adjusted according to the thickness of the article passing between the detecting rolls 11 and 12 itoperates through the usual mechanism, (not fully shown), to adjust the wedge-carrying slide bar 34 endwise, transversely of the machine head, and thereby correspondingly to adjust the marking wheel 16. A pair of abutment wedges or inclines 39 fixed to the under side of slide bar 34 serve as adjustable abutments or stops to limit the upward movement of the feeding and skiving roll 13 and so to regulate the distance between the feeding roll 13 and the knife 15 in accordance with the grade measurement of the blank as determined by the detecting rolls 11, 12. The shaft 35 of the upper roll 13 is mounted at its ends in journal boxes 36 and 37 (Fig. 2) which slide in vertical ways provided on the machine frame. Each journal box is provided as usual upon its top side with a wedge or incline 38, which cooperates with one of the complementary abutment wedges or stops 39 provided on the slide bar 34. As each blank passes between the feed rolls 13 and 14 the upper roll is lifted by the blank until it is arrested by the engagement of said abutment wedges. This determines the spacing between the roll 13 and the edge of knife 15. The lower roll 14 is yieldingly supported by stiil' springs and may be pressed downwardly by the blanks after the upper roll 13 has been lifted to the limit of its movement permitted by the abutment wedges, with the result that the-knife blade 15 will shave or skive down the bottom side of each blank in whole or in part as it passes between the rolls 13, 14, to the thickness of the spacing between the upper rolls 13 and the edge of knife 15, which corresponds to the grade measurement of the blank as determined by the detecting rolls 11, 12. The shaft 35 of the upper roll 13 is provided at one endwith a gear 40, and gear 40 is driven by a gear 41, which in turn is driven by a gear'42 fast on the main drive shaft 43 of the machine.

The parts thus far described are of usual construction and operation, well-known in machines of this character, and therefore need not be more fully shown or described.

By reason of the weight of the gear 40, or of the position of a blank passing between the rollers 13, 14, off center, particularly when the blank is nearer the end of the rollers remote from the gear 40, or both, the knife blade 15 instead of cutting the blank evenly and truly has sometimes heretofore tended to gouge or hog into thematerial of the blank near one side thereof. This was due to the fact that the upper roll 13 was not always maintained in true parallelism to the knife blade. The upper roll 13 being freely movable to a limited extent in a vertical direction tends at times to tilt out of parallelism because of the overweighted end of the shaft 35'by the gear 40, or the position of the blank somewhat out of center between the rolls, or of a condition of looseness of fit between the journal boxes 36 and 37 and their guideways, whether intentionally provided to permit freedom of movement or occasioned through wear.

An important object of the presentinvention is to prevent this objectionable gouging by providing means to maintain the abutment roll 13 parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll. To this end I provide a crossbar or rod 44 having its ends rotatably mounted within sockets pro vided on the inner or opposed faces of the journal boxes 36 and 37. The rod 44 is engaged by the bifurcated or forked ends of two guiding arms of a yoke 45, which is fixed to a horizontal spindle or shaft 46 parallel to the knife edge and mounted to rock in a bearing 47 fixed to the frame of the machine; The rod 44'is formed with flattened areas on its opposite sides as shown at 48, 48, (Figs. 3 and 4) to provide flat engaging surfaces for the forked ends of the arms of yoke 45.

It will thus be apparent that the pivotally supported, yoke with its slotted-end arms constitutes a roll controlling and guiding member which permits the upper feeding and abutment roll 13 to move freely toward and from the knife blade 15 yet at all. times maintains the axis of said roll parallel with the cutting edge of the knife blade 15. This prevents the gouging of the blank above referred to and ensures even skiving.

Another feature of the present invention consists in novel mechanism for opening the gate 29, controlled by said roll controlling member 45. Upon the outer end of the spindle 46 is fixed an arm or lever 49, the free end of which cooperates with the free end of a lever 50 pivotally mounted at 51 on the frame of the machine. The lever 50 has pivotally connected to it between its ends one end of a link 52, whose opposite end is pivoted at 53 to the upper end of lever 19, which constitutes part of the usual stamp operating mechanism. .Connected to the same pivot 53 is a link 54 whose opposite end is pivotally connected at 55 to one arm of a bell-crank lever 56. The lever 56 is fulcrumed to the machine frame at 57. The same arm of bell-crank lever 56also has connected to it one end of a pull spring 5'7 whose opposite end is fastened to the frame of the machine. The other arm of bell-crank lever 56 is formed with a slot 58 engaging a pin or stud 59 which projects from the side of the gate controlling latch 110 60. The lower end of latch 60 is formed with a longitudinal slot 61 which rides on a stud 62 projecting from the machine frame. A spring 63 normally urges latch 60 toward the right against a lug 64 projecting from the end of a lever 65 ful- 115 orumed at 66 on the machine frame. Normally the upper end of latch 60 supports the gate 29 in elevated or open position by engaging underneath the arm 67 fixed to the end of the gate spindle 68. The lever 65 extends beyond its fulcrum 66 120 and engages the top side of arm 25 through an adjustable abutment screw 68. When the trip 22 is raised by a blank passing underneath, it acts through arm 23,- rockshaft 24 and arm 25 to swing the lever 65 on itsfulcrum thereby swinging 125 the lug 64 toward the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, so as to kick the upper end of latch 60 out from under the gate arm- 6'7, whereupon the gate 29 falls and rests on top of the passing blank. The drop of thegate may be assisted, if desired, by the 130 usual spring 69 acting through link 30. a

As the blank advances through the machine its forward end engages and depresses the trip 18 before the rear end of the blank clears the trip 22. The depression of the trip 18 acts 5 through its rock shaft 70 and cam arm 71 to swing the lever 19 toward the right, Fig. 1, on its pivot 72. This movement of the lever 19 acts both to operate the stamp or marker, as already described, and also to shift the link 54 toward 140 the right, thereby swinging bell-crank lever 56 also to the right and depressing the latch 60 until the upper end of the latch clears the end of gate arm 6'7 so that spring 63 shifts the upper end of latch 60 into position beneath the lowered 1 5 arm 67. At the same time the upper end of lever 50 is also swung to the right by link 52 which is attached-to lever 19. The upper end of lever 50 is provided with a lug '72 which normally occupics at position immediately above the free end of 150 arm 49. When lever 50 is swung to the right by the depression of trip 18 the lug 72 is shifted out of position above the end of arm 49 so that the latter is free to move upward in front of the lug 72. Upon the further advance of the blank, after depressing trip 18, the forward end of the blank enters between the feeding and skiving rolls 13 and 14, thereby lifting the upper or abutment roll 13 until it is stopped by the wedge blocks 38, 39. When thus lifted the abutment roll 13 acts through its journal boxes 36, 37, crossbar or rod 48, yoke 45 and spindle 46 to swing the arm 49 upwardly until its free end stands in front of and directly in the path of lug 72 of lever 50. Consequently so long as the abutment roll 13 is held elevated by a blank the lever 50 is locked by arm 49 at the limit of its movement toward the right and the spring 57*- is prevented from operating through bell-crank 56 and latch 60 to open the gate 29. Upon the discharge of the blank from between the rolls 13 and 14 the abutment roll 13 falls by gravity until its journal boxes 36, 37 rest upon the journal boxes of the lower feed roll 14. This downward movement of the roll 13 acts through yoke 45 and spindle 46 to swing arm 49 downwardly out of the path of lug '72, whereupon the gate opening mechanism is unlocked and spring 5'7 raises the latch 60, opens the gate and restores the parts to their normal position ready to admit another blank as shown in Fig. 1. The action of spring 5'7 may be supplemented if desired by the usual spring 73 which acts upon lever 19. Thus it will be seen that from the time the advance end of the blank engages and raises the trip 22 until the rear or trailing end of the blank passes out from between the skiving rolls 13 and 14 the gate 29 is prevented from being opened. The trip 22 shifts the latch 60 out from under the gate lifting arm 67, and before the blank passes out from under trip 22 the advance end of the blank operates trip 18, which lowers the latch 60 into position under the arm 67 but does not yet lift it, and before the blank leaves trip 18 its advance end enters between rolls 13 and 14, thereby locking the latch 60 through the locking arm 49 and lever 50 until the blank passes clear of the rolls 13 and 14.

I claim:

1. A machine of the character described comprising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, a stop to limit the movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, and means to maintain the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll.

2. A machine of the character described comprising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, a stop to limit the movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, and rollcontrolling mechanism having guiding members connected to and movable with the abutment roll for governing the relation of the roll to the knife in all positions of the roll and having connection to the machine frame adapted to maintain the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll.

3. A machine of the character described com prising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, a stop to limitthe movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, and a roll-controlling member pivoted at one end to the machine frame on an axis parallel to the knife and having guiding members at its other end connected to and movable with the abutment roll to maintain the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll.

4. A machine of the character described comprising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, a stop to limit the movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, journal boxes on which said roll is journaled, a rod parallel to the roll connecting said journal boxes, and a roll-controlling member pivoted at one end to the machine frame on an axis parallel to the knife and having guiding arms provided with slots engaging said rod to maintain the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll.

5. A machine of the character described comprising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, an adjustable stop to limit the movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, detecting mechanism for detecting the thickness grades of blanks passing therethrough, setting mechanism for adjusting the stop in ac cordance with the thickness grades as determined by the detecting mechanism, a gate in advance of the detecting mechanism for controlling the admission of blanks thereto, a rollcontrolling member for -maintaining the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positions of the roll, and mechanism controlled by said roll-controlling member to open said gate.

6. A machine of the character described comprising a knife, an abutment roll freely movable toward and from the knife, an adjustable stop to limit the movement of the abutment roll away from the knife by a blank being operated upon, detecting mechanism for detecting the thickness grades of blanks passing therethrough, setting mechanism for adjusting the stop in accordance with the thickness grades as determined by the detecting mechanism, a gate in advance of the detecting mechanism for controlling the admission of blanks thereto, a roll-controlling memberfor maintaining the abutment roll parallel to the knife in all positiom of the roll, a shaft to which said roll-controlling member is fixed journaled on the machine frame, a locking lever fixed to said shaft and mechanism controlled by said lever to open the gate.

7. A machine of the character described, comprising detecting mechanisni for determining the thickness grades of successive blanks fed therethrough, adjustable skiving mechanism responsive to the detecting mechanism including a pair of rollers one of which is movable toward and fromthe other, an adjustable marker responsive to the detecting mechanism, a gate in advance of the detecting mechanism, a latch for controlling the gate normally holding the gate in elevated or open position, a trip in the path of the blanks to withdraw the latch and permit the gate to fall, a second trip in the path of the blanks both to operate the marker and at the same time to shift the latch into position preparatory to opening the gate, and a member operated by the movable roller to lock the latch in its last named position so long as a blank is between said rollers and then to permit the latch to'open the gate.

JAMES W. JOHNSTON.

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