US3141183A - Machines for lasting footwear - Google Patents

Description

July 21, 1964 s. T. RALPHS MACHINES FOR LAISTING FOOTWEAR r b m 4 Sheets-Sheet l GEORFE WEI 0Q EAL/ H5 Filed June 50, 1960 Ar/omey July 21, 1964 RALPHs 3,141,183

MACHINES FOR LASTING FOOTWEAR Filed June 30, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 B MW/ Af/ome V5 July 21, 1964 G. T. RALPHS MACHINES FOR LASTING FOOTWEAR Filed June 30, .1960

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 21, 1964 G. T. RALPHS 3,141,133

MACHINES FOR LASTING FOOTWEAR Filed June 30, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 m venfor GEORGE TREVOR RAL PH5 United States Patent 3,141,183 MACHINES FUR LASTHWG FGOTWEAR George Trevor Ralplis, Oadby, England, assignor to Ralphs Engineering Company Limited, Leicester,

England Filed June 30, 1960, Ser. No. 39,911 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 1, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 12-82) This invention is for improvements in or relating to machines for lasting footwear and is concerned more particularly with a machine for lasting the heel seats of shoes, the term shoe being used herein, wherever the context so permits, in a broad sense to include all forms of outer footwear. The invention has for one of its objects to provide a machine and apparatus whereby the lasting of the heel ends of shoes and the shaping of the heel end parts thereof can be performed simultaneously in a simple, convenient and effective manner.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a lasting machine for operating on the heel end of a shoe comprising a mounting for a shape or form adapted to engage within the heel end of the shoe upper, means for holding a shoe in position on a shape or form on such mounting, an inflatable mould adapted to embrace the heel end portion of the shoe upper on such shape or form and grip it thereagainst, and wiping means to wipe the lasting margin of the upper material around the heel end of the shoe against an insole on such shape or form whilst the heelward part of the upper is embraced by the mould and gripped by it against the shape or form. Preferably the shape or form is provided with means whereby it may be heated to facilitate moulding the heelward end of the upper to the requiring shape. The wiping means which conveniently comprises wiper plates are preferably also heated to activate the adhesive for securing the lasting margin to the insole of the shoe.

The machine is specifically adapted for lasting the heel end of a shoe upper fitted with a stiffener which is not pro-moulded, that is a stiffener which has been shaped approximately to the final form of the heel end of the shoe. The shaping of said heel end is effected by the shape or form in cooperation with the inflatable mould under pressure and heat, and the stiffener employed should be such as to facilitate the shaping.

The shape or form aforesaid may conveniently be a sole mould for the heelward end only of a shoe and it may be provided with means for locating the heelward end of an insole on its bottom face. For this purpose the said shape or form may have its top face provided with pegs to engage locating holes in the insole. The means for holding the shoe upper in position on the shape or form may be adapted to provide the tensioning stress to draw the upper snugly against the shape or form and apply if necessary a stretching stress on the sides of the upper.

A preferred form of machine comprises two stations adapted to accommodate respectively left and right shoes, or a multiplication of two such stations. It may be organised so that atone station of a pair, lasting is performed whilst the other station is being discharged and re-loaded and vice-versa. The sole mould forming the shape or form and the inflatable mould to embrace the heel end of a shoe are at each station so mounted as to be readily interchangeable with other moulds to suit shoes of different styles or sizes.

The invention includes the provision for use in a lasting machine for operating on the heel end of a shoe, of a inflatable mould comprising two supporting plates adapted to extend around the heelward end of a shoe and pivoted to one another at the position of the heel end, a flexible diaphragm secured to said plates to extend along them inwardly thereof and supported at its edges by said plates, and an inflatable bag to press the diaphragm towards the heel end of a shoe upper on a shape or form and to cause the diaphragm and the shoe upper to assume the required shape, said diaphragm and inflatable bag being adjustable with their supporting plates widthwise of the shoe about the common pivotal axis of the plates.

The foregoing and other provisions of the invention are incorporated in a preferred manner of construction which is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings and will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view partly in cross section of relevant parts of a heel seat lasting machine,

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view looking downwardly on parts shown on the right of FIGURE 1,

FIGURES 3 and 4 are detailed cross sectional views taken on the line IIIIII of FIGURE 1 and drawn to an enlarged scale to illustrate in two positions the manner of gripping and pulling the shoe upper,

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross sectional elevation view taken on the line V-V of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a flexible mould for engaging a heel,

FIGURE 7 is an end view of a portion of the mould,

FIGURE 8 is a cross sectional view taken on the line VIII-VIII of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a similar cross sectional view taken on the line IX-IX of FIGURE 6, and

FIGURE 10 is a bottom plan view showing somewhat diagrammatically the manner of operation of the mould.

The invention may be applied to a single or twin head machine for lasting the heel ends of shoes. Generally it will be preferred for it to have two heads side by side adapted to operate respectively on rights and lefts. Precisely similar parts will be provided at the two heads and the drawings illustrate one set only of such parts.

Referring firstly to FIGURES 1 and 2, the machine illustrated comprises a supporting arm 15 for supporting a shoe, such arm being pivoted to rock about a horizontal pivot 16 carried by a fixed part 17 of the machine. The arm 15 extends from a piston 18 and cylinder 19 which also rock on pivot 16 and is in screw threaded engagement with a hollow piston rod 18a of the piston 18 being fitted with a knurled screw threaded locking disc 20 for locking the piston rod 18a in a desired setting on the arm 15, thus enabling the arm 15 to be adjusted to different distances from the pivot 16. At the upper end of arm 15 there is a boss 21 supporting a mounting 22 for a shape or form 23 to fit in the heelward end of a shoe. The shape or form 23 corresponds to the heelward end only of the last. On the boss 21 there is a forwardly extending table 24 which supports on runways 25 a central gripper member 26 movable along the runways and presenting outwardly gripper jaws 27. To co-operate with the latter there are movable gripper jaws 28 mounted one on each side anchored to the free ends of levers 29 having their opposite ends pivoted at 30 to the ends of a cross head 31, see FIG. 2. The cross head 31 is secured at its centre to an operating rod 32 extending centrally under the table 24 and having attached to its end seen on the left of FIGURE 1 a post 33 on which the central gripper member 26 is mounted. The rod 32 extends through bearing lugs 34 and 35 provided under the table 24 and also passes freely through a slidable plate 36 which is urged by a spring 37 into engagement with lug 35 to limit its movement in one direction. The slidable plate 36 is formed with forwardly converging camming slots 38 in which engage upstanding pins 39 fixed to the levers 29 and carrying rollers 40. The rod 32 is coupled at its forward end by means of a block 41 to a piston rod 42 of a pneumatically operated cylinder 43 anchored at 44 to a lug on the boss 21. Thus when the pneumatic cylinder 43 is energised to operate the piston rod 42 the rod 32 and cross head 31 are moved forwardly to draw with them the levers 29 which will carry their pins 39 along the camming slots 38. This movement rocks the arm 29 to close the gripper jaws 28 towards the jaws 27. When the jaws have closed the levers 29 and cam plate 36 move bodily together away from the shape or form 23, this action being permitted by the yielding of spring 37 the force of which then holds the gripper jaws closed.

The piston and cylinder 18, 19 are adapted to be operated for a purpose later described by admission of compressed air through an inlet port 45 in the cylinder 19.

The shape or form 23 is arranged to be detachably mounted on its holder 22 by having its underpart formed with dowel holes positioned to engage with at least two dowel posts 46 and 47 projecting upwardly from the support 22 at a central position thereof and spaced longitudinally of the shape or form 23. The support 22 is conveniently formed with a recess 48 opening on to one side to accommodate connections running .to an electric heating element 76 fitted plugwise upwardly into the shape or form 23. The latter is further provided with two locating projections or shallow pegs 49 by which an insole I may be accurately located against the shape or form 23 by apertures in the insole embracing the projections 49.

Associated with the parts so far described there is a flexible mould assembly indicated generally at 50 in FIG- URE l and mounted on a fixed part of the machine by means of a separate bracket 51. The mould assembly is shown more particularly in FIGS. to 9 and as viewed in plan is of horseshoe shape and is formed of two pivotally connected sections to embrace the heel end of a shoe when on the shape or form 23. The mould assembly comprises two rigid backing plates 52 and 53 pivoted to each other at 54 on a vertical pivot pin which supports them on the mounting bracket 51 behind the center of the mould. FIG. 6 shows the mould assembly with the backing plates 52 and 53 in edge view and shows also the partly arcuate plates 55 and 56 and the similarly shaped clamping strips 57 and 58 which are associated with the partly arcuate plates. mounting for a semiflexible sheet 59 which forms the shoe-engaging face of the mould.

From the several views in FIGS. 6 to 9 it will be seen that the sheet 59 extends down, the mould over the backing plates 52 and 53, then horizontally inwards and up the inside of the mould where its upper edges are clamped to the partly arcuate plates 55 and 56 by the backing plates 52 and 53 and by the strips 57, by means of clamping screws 60 passing through members 52, 53 and 57. The sheet 59 is thus maintained in the form of a horseshoe-shaped tubular pocket extending around the inner periphery of the mould from end to end thereof. At the two ends of the mould the sheet 59 is anchored to blocks 61 which also serve to close its tubular ends. Clamping strips 62 extend down the inside of the inner edge of the sheet 59 and under the lower portion thereof and are traversed by screws 63 and 64 for securing the ends of the sheet 59 to the blocks 61. In the region of the pivot 54 the partly arcuate plates 55 and 56 and the clamping strips 57 and 58 are cut back to enable the arms of the mould assembly to be moved inwardly toward each other to clamp a shoe as and when required. During such movement the inner middle part of the sheet 59 at the position indicated at 65 in FIG. 6 adjacent the hinge 64 is then permitted to bellow inwardly to permit such movement.

Between the edges of the plates 55 and 56 at the region of the hinge there is preferably a bridging sheet extending above them across the gap. This bridging sheet serves to retain at this place within the tubular form of the sheet 59 an inflatable bag 66 conveniently formed by a rubber tube sealed at its ends and extending throughout the These parts form the combinedlength of the tubular form of the sheet 59. The inflatable bag 66 preferably has interposed between it and the outer portion of the sheet 59 a semi-flexible backing strip 67 of a width to extend throughout the depth of the mould. In the lower part of the mould suitable packing 68 is provided by narrow strips which pack the lower portion of the mould between the bag and the flexible sheet 59 so as to make this part of the mould relatively incompressible where it is required to. engage the heelward portion of the shoe upper in the region of the feather line. The backing plates 52 and 53, at positions removed from the pivot 54, are fitted with angle brackets 69 slotted at 70 for engagement by means for varying the width of the mould assembly. As shown in FIGURE 10 the width of the mould assembly 50 is varied to close and open the mould for engagement and disengagement with the heel part of a shoe assembly by means of pneumatic cylinders 71, one at each side, these being provided with heads 72 for engaging the angle brackets 69 and are pivoted at 73 to fixed parts 74 of the machine frame.

For wiping over the lasting margin around the heel of the shoe the apparatus shown is provided with wiper blades indicated diagrammatically at 75 in FIGS. 1 and 5, these being of usual form and conveniently consisting of two plates supported by a mounting at the back of the machine to project forwardly and be movable with a pivotal swing inwardly towards each other and across the top portion of the mould assembly 50 and inwardly across the heel seat of a shoe on the shape or form 23 so as to press down the lasting margin around the heel seat of the shoe against the insole. The wipers 75 are preferably heated electrically in known manner so as to apply heat to activate the adhesive for securing the lasting margin in place against the insole.

In the operation of the apparatus shown an appropriate shape or form 23 to fit a shoe to be lasted is placed on the mounting 22, and while the arm 15 is swung to a forward position, as shown in FIG. 1, an insole is placed on the shape or form and positioned by means of the projections 49. An assembled shoe upper U, FIGS. 3 to 5, is then placed around the shape or form 23 with its sides interposed between the gripper jaws 27 and 28. Thereupon the pneumatically operated cylinder 43 is energised so that the jaws 27, 28 are first closed to grip the sides of the upper and are then drawn forwardly to tension the rearward part of the shoe upper U around the shape or form 23'. The positions of the gripper jaws 27 and 28, shoe upper U, and the shape or form 23 before and after the cylinder 43 has been energised are shown diagrammatically in plan view respectively in FIGS. 3 and 4.

With the heelward part of the upper U tensioned around the shape or form 23 the arm 15 is rocked rearwardly about its pivot 16 to cause the heelward part of the upper U to be engaged within the heel mould assembly 50, and the pneumatic cylinders 71 are then operated to bring the sides of the mould assembly together to embrace the shoe upper, the bag 66 being also inflated so that the diaphram or sheet 59 exerts an all over pressure on the shoe upper to hold it moulded in conformity with the shape or form 23. The shaping of the upper is assisted by heat applied to the shape or form by means of the electric heating element 76. While the heelward part of the shoe is held in conformity with the shape or form the wiper plates 75 are moved inwardly to the position indicated in FIG. 5 to turn inwardly the margin M of the upper and press it firmly against the insole I as in FIG. 5. Heat is applied in known manner through the wiper plates 75 so as to activate adhesive for attaching the margin M to the insole I. Such adhesive may be preapplied to either or both of these parts. To enhance the pressure of the wiper plates 75 on the inturned margin M the pneumatic cylinder 19 is energised by admission of air under pressure through the inlet 45 so as to urge the piston 18 and the arm 15 upwardly and thereby urge the shape or form 23 and the shoe assembly thereon firmly against the wiper plates.

When the upper margin M has been lasted and secured in place, the pressure of cylinder 19 is released and the wiper plates 75 are withdrawn. The cylinders 71 are deenergised or reversely operated to open the mould assembly 50 and the arm 15 is rocked forwardly by gravity or otherwise about its pivot 16, the pneumatic cylinder 43 being then released so as to open the gripper jaws 27 and 28 and permit the shoe assembly to be removed from the shape or form 23 in readiness for a repetition of the lasting sequence on a fresh shoe assembly.

In practice a complete set of parts as shown is preferably provided at each of two stations side by side on a twin head machine. The pneumatic actuating means may be so controlled as to cause the required sequence of upper clamping and wiping and margin pressing operations to be performed automatically. Timing control may be provided to determine the dwell of a shoe assembly whilst under pressure at each station in the machine after the lasting margin has been wiped over the heel end of the insole. Alternatively the machine may be so arranged that the loading of one station automatically releases the lasted shoe assembly from the other station.

It is contemplated that in the use of the machine in accordance with the invention, heel seat lasting of a shoe assembly will be performed before lasting of the toe end and sides of the shoes is eifected.

What I claim is:

1. A lasting machine for operating on the heel end of a shoe comprising a mounting, a form supported by the mounting and adapted to be received in the heel end of the shoe upper, means for holding a shoe in a definite position on the form, an inflatable mould adapted to embrace and grip the heel end portion of the shoe upper while on the form and to press it thereagainst, means comprising a backing strip extending throughout the depth of said mould together with shorter length packing strips disposed between said backing strip and inflatable mould, said packing strips comprising the portion of the mould engaging the shoe upper in the region of the feather line and being relatively incompressible, means for wiping the lasting margin of the upper material around the heel end of the shoe and against an insole while on said form and while the heelward part of the upper is embraced by said mould and pressed by it against the form, and means for tensioning the shoe upper by drawing the same tightly against the form, said tensioning means comprising a central gripper member and a gripper jaw on each side thereof for gripping and tensioning the shoe upper.

2. A lasting machine as set forth in claim 1, in which the form is provided with heating means to facilitate the moulding of the heelward end of the upper to the contour of said form, and wherein the form is provided on the top face with pegs for engaging in holes in said insole.

3. A lasting machine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means for wiping the lasting margin comprises wiper plates and means for heating said plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,008,072 Halmgren July 16, 1935 2,043,305 Reed June 9, 1936 2,153,570 Jorgensen Apr. 11, 1939 2,244,067 Jorgensen June 3, 1941 2,406,738 Brophy Sept. 3, 1946 2,689,362 Hill et al Sept. 21, 1954 2,965,909 Quinn et a1 Dec. 27, 1960 2,933,742 Kamborian Apr. 26, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,241,921 France Oct. 23, 1959 474,676 Great Britain Nov. 4, 1937

Claims (1)

1. A LASTING MACHINE FOR OPERATING ON THE HEEL END OF A SHOE COMPRISING A MOUNTING, A FORM SUPPORTED BY THE MOUNTING AND ADAPTED TO BE RECEIVED IN THE HEEL END OF THE SHOE UPPER, MEANS FOR HOLDING A SHOE IN A DEFINITE POSITION ON THE FORM, AN INFLATABLE MOULD ADAPTED TO EMBRACE AND GRIP THE HEEL END PORTION OF THE SHOE UPPER WHILE ON THE FORM AND TO PRESS IT THEREAGAINST, MEANS COMPRISING A BACKING STRIP EXTENDING THROUGHOUT THE DEPTH OF SAID MOULD TOGETHER WITH SHORTER LENGTH PACKING STRIPS DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID BACKING STRIP AND INFLATABLE MOULD, SAID PACKING STRIPS COMPRISING THE PORTION OF THE MOULD ENGAGING THE SHOE UPPER IN THE REGION OF THE FEATHER LINE AND BEING RELATIVELY INCOMPRESSIBLE, MEANS FOR WIPING THE LASTING MARGIN OF THE UPPER MATERIAL AROUND THE HEEL END OF THE SHOE AND AGAINST AN INSOLE WHILE ON SAID FORM AND WHILE THE HEELWARD PART OF THE UPPER IS EMBRACED BY SAID MOULD AND PRESSED BY IT AGAINST THE FORM, AND MEANS FOR TENSIONING THE SHOE UPPER BY DRAWING THE SAME TIGHTLY AGAINST THE FORM, SAID TENSIONING MEANS COMPRISING A CENTRAL GRIPPER MEMBER AND A GRIPPER JAW ON EACH SIDE THEREOF FOR GRIPPING AND TENSIONING THE SHOE UPPER.

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