GB2048647A - Shoe heel-pressing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A press for attaching soles to shoes has a device for pressing shoe heels mounted thereon. The device comprises a first lever (1) pivotally mounted intermediate its ends, on a pad box of the press such that the first lever affords two oppositely extending lever arm portions of which one carries a conventional felt or similar pad (9) whilst the other is adapted to be forced by the effort of powered actuator means (4) to tend to cause said pad to engage a said shoe heel. A second lever (13) is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the first lever. One end of the second lever having a support surface (16) for the lower end of said shoe heel and the other end of the second lever being acted on, in use, by actuator means (25) to tend to cause said support surface to engage said lower end. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Shoe heel-pressing device The present invention relates to a heel-pressing device particularly but not exclusively for shoes of the 'Louis' type (high-heeled), for use in conjunction with a press for sticking soles to shoes.

In our British Patent No. 1 538458 there is described a device for pressing heels for shoes of the above-mentioned type, comprising a lever pivotally mounted on a pad box of the press and carrying at the point of application of the resistance a felt pad or the like intended to bear against the profile of the heel, said lever being subject to the action of an actuator at the point of application of the force.

This device satisfactorily accomplishes its task in the case of application of the sole and heel to shoes of the 'Louis' type, in accordance with conventional technology which provides for three distinct operations (not taking into account the operation of applying the adhesive): 1) Prior fastening of the heel to the assembled shoe; 2) Truing and joining by hand the sole on to the bottom part of the shoe and on to the front part of the heel; 3) Pressing the sole over all the surface involved.

Shoes of 'Louis' or high-heeled type have a very irregularly shaped lower surface. In fact, these shoes have an almost flat fore surface corresponding to the foot sole, a waist or shank more or less pronounced towards the centre and, finally, a surface almost perpendicular to the first one and corresponding to the front part of the heel.

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional technology, in order to stick the sole to this latter part of the heel it is necessary to exert a pressure in a horizontal plane, which pressure in the case of the main patent is, in fact, exerted by the lever pivotally mounted on the pad box of the press.

Developments in the technology related to the fastening of the sole to the shoe by adhesive means has recently made it possible to modify the operating cycle in the case of shoes of 'Louis' type. At present, in fact, there is successfully carried out the separate prefabrication ofthe entire portion which is attached to the lower surface of the shoe in the form of a combination of the two sole/heel elements, which are already intimately and finally joined together.

Therefore, the remaining operation to be carried out in this case with the press is limited to fastening with adhesive the entire upper surface of this composite element against the whole lower surface of the shoe.

Naturally, during the pressing operation all the elements are rigidly supported together and thus the action of the device forming the subject-matter of the main patent remains efficient and essential, but this device no longer fully meets the operating requirements in the application of this recent technology, since it lacks an element which makes it possible to exert a suitable pressure also beneath the heel, so as to press against the lower surface of the assembled shoe also that portion of the composite sole/heel element which is situated in the zone of the heel itself.

The object to be achieved by the present invention is that of providing the lever forming the subjectmatter of the main patent with a device able to exert said pressure in suitable manner in a vertical direction and on the lower surface of the heel, the necessity of which has just been described.

However, since it is a question here of shoes of the 'Louis' type, the heels of which are very often extremely slender and very delicate in respect of the materials from which they are made and in respect of the finishing operations which they have previously undergone, it would be unacceptable for the pressure exerted under the heel to be equal or directly proportional to the powerful hydraulic pressure exerted against the rest of the sole and shoe in general.

Instead, this pressure has to be exerted in a special, delicate manner and should have values which are proportional exclusively to the nature, shape and dimensions of every single type of heel.

Therefore, it is logical to deduce from this that the element which exerts said pressure should necessarily be independent of all the other elements, these latter also exerting a pressure and being present in the machine, just as the device for adjusting said pressure should be independent and extremely sensitive.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to bear it in mind that it is indispensable for the pressure applied under the heel to remain constant even when the shoe sinks into the rubber blocks of the pad box when the powerful main pressing action is applied under the rest of the shoe. From this there is derived the necessity for the device in question to have the capacity to be lowered together with the heel against which it is pressed, while maintaining the desired pressure under it.

Another problem arising in the course of production in accordance with the most recent technology is caused by the continuous variation in the height of the heels which are periodically presented for pressing and by the necessity for the device in question to be able to adapt itself automatically, without adjustment operations by the operator, at each occasion to the new condition, whilst retaining the already described operating characteristics.

The invention provides a press for attaching soles to shoes has a device for pressing shoe heels mounted thereon. The device comprises a first lever pivotally mounted, intermediate its ends, on a pad box of the press such that the first lever affords two oppositely extending lever arm portions of which one carries a conventional felt or similar pad whilst the other is adapted to be forced by the effort of powered actuator means to tend to cause said pad to engage a said shoe heel. A second lever is pivotably mounted intermediate its ends on the first lever, one end of the second lever having a support surface for the lower end of said shoe heel and the other end of the second lever being acted on, in use, by actuator means to tend to cause said support surface to engage said lower end.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a heel pressing device according to the invention, and Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a detail of the device in Figure 1.

Referring to Figure lit is evident that the device comprises an assembly mounted on the support for an element (generally designated pad box) of a press for sticking soles to the bottom of shoes. Said pad box is of the type consisting of mutually paraliel vertical rubber blocks which are self-adjustable according to the lower profile of the shoe to be pressed.

A feature of this type of pad box is that the first of the vertical rubber blocks, designated by the numeral 19, has limited travel and in the region below it there is situated an electric microswitch which can control a pneumatic electrovalve when the rubber block 19 is compressed by the shoe.

The assembly essentially comprises a lever 1 pivotally mounted on a pin 2.

A threaded stud 3 is screwed to the bottom end of the lever 1 and when the lever is in the operation position, as shown in Figure 1, said stud is in contact with the ram 4 of a hydraulic cylinder.

At the upper end of the lever 1 there is provided a guideway 5 along which slides a slide 6 which can be vertically adjusted by means of a knob 38.

A plate 8 is pivotally mounted at 7 on the slide 6, which plate carries a contact element 9 have a felt or similar pad mounted thereon and is constantly acted upon by a return spring 10 which maintains said plate in contact with an adjusting ring nut 11 screwed to the slide 6.

The slope of the element 9 is varied by screwing the ring nut to a greater or lesser extent into the slide.

The parts of the device described so far correspond to the device described and claimed in the Patent No. 1 538458.

In accordance with the present invention, a second lever 13 is pivotally mounted at 12 on an arm of the lever 1.

Athreaded abutment 14 is screwed to one end of the lever 13 and which, upon being screwed up or unscrewed, regulates the initial inclination of the lever 13. At the opposite end of the lever 13 there is provided a guideway 39 in which can slide a small carriage 15 on one end of which is mounted a small plate 16 by means of a pin 17 which enables the small plate 16 itselfto pivot about it.

The small carriage 15 is constantly urged forwards by the spring 18 which has the purpose of keeping the front end of the small carriage itself always in contact with the face 19' of the rubber block 19.

Athreaded stud 23 keeps the small plate 16 anchored to a pin 24 through its threaded shank with acallipersystem.

The inclination of the small plate 16 is varied by screwing up or unscrewing the stud 23.

Two lugs 36 serving to support a pneumatic cylinder 25 project from the rear part of the lever 1.When compressed air is admitted to the cylinder, a rod 26 emerges from said cylinder and bears against the abutment 14. Before reaching the cylinder, the compressed air passes through a regulator 28 which controls its pressure, it being possible to read this latter on a pressure gauge 27.

The mode of operation of the above-described device is as follows:- When the device is in the rest position, i.e. when there is no compresed air in the cylinder 25, the piston rod 26 is withdrawn upwards urged by the abutment 14 screwed to the lever 13 subjected to the constant action of the spring 29 and the lower 13 is inclined in the opposite direction to that shown in Figure 1. The small carriage 15 and its small plate 16 are situated in a low position.

Once the shoe 22 has been placed in the operating position on the rubbers 30 of the pad box 30, the press is set into action and the lever 1, adjusted in position by the stud 3 and thrust by the ram 4, presses the pressure element 9 (adjusted for height by the knob 38 and for inclination by the threaded stud i 1) into contact with the heel 21 a moment before the cylinder of the press thrusts the pad box 31 with the shoe 22 against the stop members 32 and 33.

When the shoe 22 and the last 37 inserted therein come into contact respectively with the fixed stop members 32 and 33 of the press, the shoe deforms in known manner the rubbers 30 of the pad box and is lowered with respect to the tray of the pad box itself.

At this stage the rams of the hydraulic cylinders 34 and 4, for pressing respectively against the pad box 31 and the lever 1 and already known from the main patent, operate at low pressure so as to allow a perfect matching of the rubbers 30 to the bottom surface of the shoe 22.

An instant before the rubber block 19 reaches the end of its travel, the microswitch 35 by actuating an electrovalve (not shown) supplies compressed air into the cylinder 25. As a result of this operation, the piston rod 26 exerts its pressure against the head of the abutment 14 and thus causes the lever 13 to rotate about the pivot 12, which enables the upper face of the small plate 16 to meet the lower surface 20 of the heel 21.

As the end of the small plate is always in contact with the surface 19' of the rubber block 19, contact of all the surface 20 of the heel 21 with the surface of the small plate 16 is always ensured.

At this point, by pressing a button (not shown) and in an already known cycle sequence the pad box 31 subsequently ascends under high pressure so as finally to press the sole, whereas the heel-supporting plate 16 exerts on the surface 20 of the heel 21 a constant pressure for as long as the pad box effects the pressing at high pressure.

The pressure exerted by the small plate 16 can be adjusted by means of the regulator 28, according to necessity.

As a result ofthis operation it is apparent that the rod 26 ofthe cylinder 25 undergoes a reversal of travel without, however increasing the pressure in the cylinder 25, this being possible because the regulator 28 automatically discharges the excess air.

This mode of operation is advantageous because it relieves the heel of excessive pressure which could cause damage thereto.

At the end of the pressing cycle, while the lever 1 and the pad box 31 return to their rest position, the rod 26 urged by the spring 29 of the abutment 14 also re-enters the chamber of the cylinder 25, thus allowing the heel-supporting plate 16to move downwards and release the shoe.

The above-described device necessarily is of such dimensions as not to permit its being turned over into an inoperative position when not in use, as is possible, however, with the device described in the main patent.

However, if it is necessary or expedient to eliminate its overall obstruction from the machine on which it is mounted, it may be easily removed by withdrawing the pin on which it is mounted and which, for reasons of simplicity, has not been described and illustrated here, and for which reference should be made to the main patent. This feature has, moreover, the inestimable advantage that the improved device according to the invention can replace a device according to the main patent on any machine already on the market and in normal use for production, simply by withdrawing the pin in question.

Although only a single form of embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it is, of course, possible to introduce numerous variants and modifications without departing from the scope of the invention itself

Claims (8)

1. A press for attaching soles to shoes and having a device for pressing shoe heels mounted thereon, the device comprising a first lever pivotally mounted, intermediate its ends, on a pad box of the press such that the first lever affords two oppositely extending lever arm portions of which one carries a conventional felt or similar pad, whilst the other is adapted to be forced by the effort of powered actuator means to tend to cause said pad to engage a said shoe heel characterised in that a second lever is pivotably mounted intermediate its ends on the first lever, one end of the second lever having a support surface for the lower end of said shoe heel and the other end of the second lever being acted on, in use, by actuator means to tend to cause said support surface to engage said lower end.

2. A press according to claim 1, characterised in that the support surface for the lower end of the heel is situated on a slide sliding in a guideway provided at the end of the second lever and pressed by a spring into constant contact with the front surface of a rubber block of the pad box in contact with the front portion of the heel.

3. A press according to claim 2, characterised in that the support surface for the lower end of the heel forms part of a small plate pivotally mounted at one end on the slide.

4. A press according to claim 3, characterised in that the small plate is provided with means for varying its inclination by rotating the small plate about its pivot point on the slide.

5. A press according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it carries at the end subject to the action of the actuator is threaded shank, terminating in an abutment for the piston rod of the actuator, for altering the inclination of the second lever by varying the amount the threaded shank is screwed into the lever.

6. A press according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the second lever is connected to the end of the first lever carrying the felt pad or the like by means of a spring.

7. A press according to any one ofthe preceding claims, characterised in that the actuator acting on the second lever is coupled to a pressure regulator.

8. A press substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.