US3064595A - Welt attaching machines - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 20, 1962 L. G. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES s Sheet s-Shee Filed June 7, 1961 Inven to r I ZoyciGM'Zler' B5, his Azzorney Nov. 20, 1962 1.. e. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 7, 1961 ll i J Nov. 20, 1962 L. (.3. MILLER WELT ATTACHING MACHINES 3 Sheets- Sheet 3 Filed June 7, 1961 United States harem 3,064,595 Patented NOV. 20, 1962 free 3,064,595 WELT ATTACHING MACHINES Lloyd G. Miller, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, NJ, a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 7, 1961, Ser. No. 115,410 6 Claims. (Cl. 112-46) This invention relates generally to a maclnne for attaching welts to lasted shoe uppers and sole members and has particular reference to a machine having novel means for actuating the welt severing knife at or near the completion of an attaching operation.

The invention is illustrated herein as being applied to a Goodyear Welt and Seam Sewing Machine and in certain respects is similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patents Nos. 1,971,575 granted August 28, 1934, and 2,041,945 granted May 26, 1936, both on applications of Alfred R. Morrill, and in certain respects embodies an improvement over the Automatic Welt Severing Mechanism disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,900,933, issued August 25, 1959, to J. P. Carter. These patents and United States Letters Patent No. 1,774,- 498, issued September 2, 1930 to Fred Ashworth et al., should be referred to for a description of certain parts of the machine which are associated with the mechanism embodying the invention to be described hereinafter.

In the machine of the above-identified Carter patent, the welt severing knife is actuated, in the case of a shoe of the so-called sewed seat type, in which the welt is attached about the entire periphery of the shoe, by a feeler positioned mechanically to trip a latch mechanism as the attaching operation nears completion.

The machine above described ha certain disadvantages in that the feeler is intended to be actuated by engagement with the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe. However, due to the irregular outline of the shoe, the feeler is occasionally inadvertently contacted during the attaching operation by some other part of the shoe, thereby actuating the Welt cut-off mechanism prematurely which results in a defective shoe. Although in the above-identified Carter patent, means is provided for the operator to arm the feeler and latch mechanism just before the termination of the attaching operation, nevertheless, in some case, the operator arms the feeler and latch mechanism sooner than necessary and then accidentally trips the feeler during the subsequent portion of the attaching operation, or in other cases may forget to arm the feeler and latch mechanism, so that the welt is not cut at the proper time, and the machine continues to attach a second layer of Welt over the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe. An operator of such a machine must have considerable training to become skillful in its proper operation, frequently at a cost of a high percentage of defective shoes while acquiring such skill.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine of the type described in which means is provided for actuating the welt cut-off mechanism in response to engagement of a feeler with the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe and in which the feeler is incapable of being actuated by any other portion of the shoe except said end of the welt.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of the type described in which means is provided for applying an actuating medium to the leading end of the Welt first attached to the shoe and providing means responsive only to said actuating medium for energizing the welt cut-off mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the type described in which means is provided for rendering conductive the leading end of the Welt first attached to the shoe and providing means responsive to said conductivity for actuating the welt cut-off mechanism.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description of a specific embodiment thereof.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of the operating head of a welt attaching machine embodying the features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view in front plan partly in section of a portion of the machine of FIG. 1, showing means for applying conductive material to the leading end of the welt;

FIG. 3 is a view in section taken on line IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view in section taken on line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

'FIG. 5 is a view in front elevation of a portion of the machine of FIG. 1, illustrating the position of a partially fabricated shoe to which a welt is being attached as the attaching operation nears completion.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of FIG. 5, with a portion of the mechanism omitted for clarity;

FIG. 7 is a view in section taken on the line VIIVII of FIG. 5, and

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of the certain portions of the mechanism and their associated electrical circuits.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a welt attaching machine 10 which is adapted to attach a welt 12 to the periphery of a partially fabricated shoe 14.

The machine 10 comprises an operating head 16 supported on a pedestal 13 with an operator controlled foot treadle 20 for actuating the machine starting mechanism to be described hereinafter. The operating head 16 is similar to that described in the above-identified patents and has the usual welt attaching mechanism comprising stitch forming mechanism 22, welt feeding mechanism 24 and welt guiding devices 26 a welt severing knife 28 and a solenoid L1 for actuating the knife, said solenoid being energized in a manner to appear hereinafter. As further described in the above-identified patents, the operation of the Welt attaching mechanism of the machine is con trolled by a lock bolt 30 adapted to move into and out of engagement with an oscillating lever 32 which controls a clutch mechanism (not shown).

The foot treadle 20 actuates the lock bolt 30 through a suitable linkage 34, which includes an operating rod 36, in such manner that downward motion of the treadle causes upward movement of the operating rod 36, moving the lock bolt 30 out of engagement with the lever 32 to start the operation of the machine. When the treadle is released, the resulting downward movement of the operating rod moves the lock bolt back into engagement with the lever 32, stopping the machine.

To provide an auxiliary machine stopping means responsive to the actuation of the welt cut-off knife, in a manner to appear hereinafter, a toggle 38 is interposed erating rod 36 downwardly and thereby stop the machine without the necessity of releasing the treadle.

Energization of machine stop solenoid L2 may conveniently be accomplished by providing a cam 44 (shown schematically in FIG. 8-) on the knife so that on a cutting stroke of the knife, the cam 44 closes momentarily a switch S1, thereby energizing relay R1. The energization of relay R1 closes a first pair of contacts C1 and C2, which complete a holding circuit to relay R1, and also closes a second pair of contacts C3 and C4, which complete a circuit to timing relay TR2 After a predetermined time, as will be described hereinafter, the contacts C5 and C6 of timing relay TR2 close, thereby energizing the machine stopping solenoid L2.

The knife actuating solenoid L1 is energized when switch S2 is closed by a relay R3 which is energized by an amplifying control device A1, such as a thryratron switch, high impedance relay, or the like, which is actuated in the following manner.

Actuating leads 46 from the control device A1 are connected to feeler contacts 48 and 50 mounted in a support block 52 which is secured to the machine frame above and to the right of the welt-cut-ofi position. The contacts 48 and '50 are insulated from each other and extend from the support block generally downwardly to terminate in flexible ends which are positioned ahead of the welt attaching position in the path of movement of the leading end of the welt first attached to the shoe to cause the flexible ends to contact said end of the welt as the attaching operation nears completion. To cause such engagement of the contacts with the end of the Welt to actuate the control device A1 and, consequently, the welt cut-off knife 28, a conductive material may be supplied to the welt in a manner now to be described.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the drawings, there is illustrated apparatus for applying automatically a conductive material to the leading end of the welt. The conductive material may be an electrolyte, such asa salt solution, a dispersion of conductive particles, such as a graphite, in a liquid, or provided the control device A1 issufliciently sensitive, may be ordinary tap Water. The apparatus comprises generally a reservoir 54, a rotary valve 56, connected to the reservoir by a conduit 58 and a dispenser nozzle 60 extending from the valve to terminate in a discharge aperture 62 which is immediately adjacent the knife when said knife is in the extended or cutting position and immediately above the position at which the welt is cut. The valve 56 contains an internal channel 64 and is rotatable about a center axis 66. Spring means 68 is provided to bias the valve into the normally closed position, as shown in FIG. 1. In the herein disclosed embodiment of the invention, at the termination of an attaching operation the dispensing mechanism is actuated to apply conductive material to the leading end of the welt remaining in the welt guide which will be the first portion of the welt attached to the next shoe presented to the machine, To actuate the dispensing mechanism automatically, a cam 70 is provided on the cut-off knife for cooperation with an operating arm 72 on the valve so that when the cutting knife is actuated to sever the welt at the end of an attaching operation the-cam 70 on the knife engages the operating arm 72 of the valve and momentarily rotates the valve counterclockwise so that the valve channel 64 is alined with the conduit 58 and the discharge nozzle 60 thereby permitting a small amount of conductive fluid (which is already present in the valve conduit from the previous operation) to flow into the discharge nozzle. The knife retracts and the valve closes almost immediately after the cutting stroke, and thereafter the conductive material in the discharge tube flows or drips out of the discharge end onto the recently cut end of the welt projecting from the welt guide. Hence, on the next attaching cycle of the machine the engagement of the feelers with the leading end of the Welt will result in an electric circuit being completed therebetween through the conductive material on the end of the welt to cause the control device A1 to energize the relay R3 and actuate the welt cut-off knife as previously described.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, when the welt is cut, the trailing end of the welt between the attaching mechanism and the cut-oif mechanism is not yet attached to the shoe. Hence timing relay TR2, which is actuated by the cut-ofi knife, is provided With a delay time sufficient to permit the machine to continue operating long enough after the welt is cut to attach said trailing end of the welt and make about two stitches across the welt joint into the leading end of the welt. Thereafter, the timing relay TRZ closes, actuating the machine stopping solenoid 22. During this latter portion of the attaching operation, as the shoe moves through the attaching mechanism, the feelers flex upwardly on the end of the leading end of the Welt and ride along the upper surface thereof.

Although in the illustrated embodiment of the invention the mechanism for applying the conductive material to the welt is actuated automatically by the cut-off knife, it will be understood that other actuating means may be used if desired.

Since certain other obvious changes may be made in the illustrated embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained herein be interpreted in an illustrated and not a limited sense.

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

1. A machine for attaching a strip of material'to an article, comprising means for applying a conductive material to the leading end of the strip, attaching means, feeler means disposed in the path of travel of said leading end of the strip and means responsive to contact of said feeler means with said conductive material to terminate the operation of said attaching means.

2. A machine for attaching a strip of material to an article, comprising means for applying a conductive material to a portion of the strip to be next attached, attaching means, strip cutting means, means responsive to ,contact with said conductive material for actuating the strip cutting means, and means responsive to the ac tuation of said strip cutting means for actuating the means for applying the conductive material to the portion of the strip to be next attached.

3. A machine for attaching a strip of material to an article, comprising means for applying a conductive material to the leading end of the strip, attaching means, strip cutting means, feeler means disposed in the path of travel of said leading end of the strip, and means responsive to contact of said feeler means with said conductive material to actuate the strip cutting means.

4. A machine for attaching a welt to a peripheral portion of a partially fabricated shoe comprising attaching means, strip cutting means, means responsive to the contact with a conductive material previously applied to the leading end of the welt for actuating the strip cutting means and means responsive to the actuation of said strip cutting means for applying a conductive material to the leading end of the next portion of the welt to be attached.

5. A machine for attaching a welt to a peripheral portion of a partially fabricated shoe comprising Welt attaching means, means for applying a conductive material to the leading end of the portion of the welt to be next attached, welt cutting means, means responsive to contact with said conductive material for attaching the welt cutting means, and means responsive to the actuation of the Welt cutting means for actuating the means for applying the conductive material to the leading end of the portion of the welt to be next attached.

6. In a machine for attaching a welt to a partially fabricated shoe, comprising attaching means, operatorcontrolled starting and stopping means, auxiliary stopping means, a welt cutter, and means responsive to the operation or said welt cutter for actuating said auxiliary stopping means, the improvement comprising means re- 10 means responsive to contact with said conductive material near the termination of an attaching operation for actuating the welt cutter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,592,115 Lindgren July 13, 1926 2,908,237 Winberg Oct. 13, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,170,842 France Nov. 30, 1959 (Addition to 72,760)

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