US3056363A - Fittings for sewing moccasin type seams - Google Patents

Description

1962 w. H. BERGERON 3,056,363

FITTINGS FOR SEWING MOCCASIN TYPE SEAMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 17, 1960 vii Inve nzor Walier HBergeron By his Aftorney WWW.

1962 w. H. BERGERON 3,056,363

FITTINGS FOR SEWING MOCCASIN TYPE SEAMS Filed Nov. 17, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 2, 1962 3,056,363 FITTINGS FOR SEWING MOCOASIN TYPE SEAMS Waiter II. liergeron, Northwood Narrows, N.H., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass-, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Nov. 17, 1960, Ser. No. 69,936 2 Claims. (Cl. 112-62) This invention relates to mechanism for securing parts in registered relation, and more particularly to the pro vision of improved means for forming and sewing a moccasin type seam, for instance in the upper of a shoe.

A variety of moccasin type seams are used in the construction of footwear. One attractive type, with which this invention is especially concerned, is formed before the vamp is placed on its last and is characterized by the fact that it has no rough edge or flesh surface showing in the finished product. It is commonly referred to as the Tuscon seam. In preparing an upper for receiving such a seam, marginal portions of a vamp and its plug are preferably first skived and then sewed in edge-to-edge relation, the seam passing through the reduced margins to hold them in contact and the flesh side of the parts being exposed. Next, the parts having been dipped in softener if desired, they are reversed about the seam and a second seam is inserted the stitches of which extend through the vamp and plug in a row just beyond their meeting edges which are now concealed. It will be apparent that this procedure normally and desirably provides an upstanding two-fold or four-ply moccasin rib of substantial thickness thereby resembling that often found in hand sewn moccasins. It is of course slow and costly to insert the second seam manually, and until relatively recently it has not been possible to insert it by the use of known sewing machines.

In view of the foregoing it is a principal object of this invention to provide in a sewing machine improved means whereby two complemental work pieces having their edges in register and inwardly turned may be guided in a sure manner securely to be sewn to provide a uniform, double fold or four-ply rib. A further and more specific object of this invention is to provide, in a moccasin type shoe sewing machine, a presser tip of novel configuration by the use of which each of the adjacent wings, formed by an initial seam inserted in abutting marginal portions, is centered, guided, and compacted in cooperation with a shaped work support so as to facilitate insertion of a second seam thereby concealing the wings and affording neat and rapid formation of a moccasin type upper.

In accordance with these objects a main feature of the invention resides in the combination, in a moccasin type shoe sewing machine, of a work support having an aperture for an awl and needle and arranged to receive adjacent shoulders formed by inwardly turned work piece edges held in registered relation, the support being shaped with parallel channels for accommodating the shoulders and a tongue arranged to ride in the crease therebetween, and a presser cooperative with the support, the presser having a tip formed with spaced work compacting projections partially defining the operating paths of the needle and awl, and having a guide portion extending in the same direction as the projections and arranged ahead of the support, this guide portion being formed with fingers arranged progressively to receive the inwardly turned edges and centralize their crease with respect to the tongue of the support by riding in the respective folds of the shoulders. Although other margin securing means such as adhesives may be used, as herein shown a moccasin top piece and vamp are secured in edge-to-edge relation by a first seam about which the parts are then turned before being presented to the subject machine. On thus being turned the inner wings or extreme marginal edge portions of the work pieces are to be concealed, leaving the usually more attractive shoulders exposed. These shoulders are longitudinally moved in the work support channels, one or more of the presser tip projections acting to compress the material firmly between the last formed stitch and the path of the awl during each stitch setting pull of the moccasin seam thread to be inserted.

The above and other features of the invention will now be more particularly described in connection with an illustrative moccasin type shoe sewing machine in which the invention is embodied, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation looking from the right and showing as much of a moccasin sewing machine as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail view on an enlarged scale and in side elevation of a presser embodied in the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the presser of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the presser shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 with a piece broken away and in cooperative relation to the work and work support shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective of a portion of a vamp and moccasin plug in their initially registered relation;

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective of the vamp and plug in section as formed with a moccasin seam of the Tuscon type by the illustrative machine;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the assembled moccasin upper formed with the moccasin seam;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the presser; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of the work support shown in FIGS. 1 and 4.

The invention, for purposes of illustration, is herein shown and described as being applied to a sewing machine of the type disclosed as, for example, in United States Letters Patent 1,975,914, granted October 9, 1934, and 2,399,159, granted April 30, 1946, both upon applications of Fred Ashworth. Accordingly, the machine is provided with conventional lockstitch forming devices comprising an awl 10 (FIG. 1), a curved hook needle 12, a loop spreader 14, and a loop taker or shuttle 16. The parts to be secured by these devices may be in the form of a vamp V (FIGS. 5-7) and a plug P which have initially been joined in register as by a first seam S (FIGS. 5 and 6) and then turned about this scam prior to being presented to the subject machine as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 4 for the insertion of a moccasin seam MS. Preferably the first seam S holds the inwardly turned, raw work piece edges in register, and the moccasin seam MS to be inserted beyond the internal folds and at the base of the ridge forming shoulders will keep those edges protectively concealed.

For guiding and holding the work during insertion of the moccasin seam stitches, a bracket 18 (FIG. 1) aifixed to the machine frame has secured to an upper end a composite work support 20. The latter includes an upper part 22, (FIGS. 1 and 4), a lower part 24, and an intermediate shim or tongue 26 extending in the path of work feed and arranged to project into the crease between the work shoulders. A screw 28 (FIGS. 1 and 4) secures the Work support 20 in assembled condition. As shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 9, work engaging surfaces of the parts 22 and 24, respectively, are angularly disposed and have their inner ends rounded to form an apex accommodating the work shoulders as they are longitudinally fed. An elongated aperture 30 (-FIG. 4) in the work support extends through the work engaging surfaces in order to re ceive the awl 1t and needle 12 transversely of the direction of feed.

For cooperating with the work support 26 in properly guiding the work pieces for receiving the awl and needle,

aoeaaes a presser 32 (FIGS. 3 and 4) of novel configuration is provided. This presser, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1, is actuated for movement toward and from the work support by mechanism not herein shown but corresponding to that fully disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent No. 1,975,914. To this end the presser 32 is fixed by screws 34, 34 (FIG. 1) to the upper end of a horn 36 corresponding to the pivotal horn 4t) cited in that patent.

The work engaging tip of the presser 32 is formed with spaced recesses 38 (FIGS. 3 and 4) partially defining the awl and needle paths, and three projections 42 alined in the direction of work feed for compacting the inwardly turned work edges against the work support. In addition, and of special importance to achieving proper guidance and control of the work portions about to receive the moccasin seam MS, the presser is further provided with an integral, advance guide portion 44 formed with spaced fingers 46, 46 (FIGS. 2 3 and 4). The fingers 46 extend in the same direction as the projections 42 but preferably are somewhat longer to overlap the lead face of the support 2i and are disposed one on either side of the alined projections 42, i.e. spaced heightwise thereof, so as to engage the outer sides of the abutting, reduced, inwardly turned marginal wings. The fingers engage the work ahead of the work support as shown in FIG. 4, thus causing the inwardly turned edge portions and their shoulders to pass progressively over a curved path and into the piercing and stitching zone. Accordingly, the fingers 46 act by riding respectively in the folds of the vamp and plug to guide the crease between said shoulders for reception of the tongue 26.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a neat moccasin type seam MS is enabled by this invention to be rapidly and tightly sewed in uniform fashion, only the rounded and finished looking shoulders being exposed in the product, and the initial holding seam being protected within a firm, upstanding moccasin ridge. 'It will be appreciated that for different marginal thicknesses of stock the presser 32 may be changed in the machine for another presser having an appropriate spacing of its fingers 46, and moreover the recess between them may be of modified depth to assure a moccasin ridge of precisely the desired crown height.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a shoe sewing machine having stitch forming means including an awl and needle, cooperative devices for guiding the margins of a pair of complemental work pieces the adjacent edges of which have been inwardly turned thereafter to be progressively secured by said means in a moccasin type seam, one of said devices comprising a work support formed with a channel extending in the direction of Work feed and being provided with a tongue arranged and adapted to lie in a crease of said seam, and the other of said devices constituting a presser having alined projections spaced and adapted to compact said edges in the channel adjacent to the operating paths of the awl and needle, said presser having a portion provided with a pair of fingers arranged one on either side of said projections to receive the inwardly turned edges ahead of the work support whereby the crease is guided toward the tongue.

2. In a moccasin type shoe sewing machine having stitch forming means including an awl and a needle, the combination of a work support formed with angularly disposed work engaging surfaces and a rounded apex extending in the direction of work feed, the support being slotted to receive the awl and needle transversely of said direction for operation upon work pieces the edges of which have been folded inwardly to be held in registered abutting relation, and a presser cooperative with said support to compact and guide the work piece portions in said apex as they are fed with respect to the awl and needle, said presser having an advance guide portion for engaging the work piece ahead of the support, this guide portion comprising fingers overlapping the lead face of the support and spaced with respect to the apex and each other to receive said edges and ride in the respective folds of the Work pieces.

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