US1867560A - Nail distributor - Google Patents

Description

July 19, 1932. J BENJAMIN 1,857,566

NAIL DISTRIBUTOR Original Filed Oct. 24, 1,924 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ill IIEHHJHILW lilllllili y 1932- J. M. BENJAMIN 1,867,560

NAIL DISTRIBUTOR 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Oct. 24, 1924 220 20a Fig.7.

mmmnm I mm F1318 A Patented July 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT orFrc j JOHN M. BENJAMIN, 013 BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY,"A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY NAIL DISTRIBUTOR Original application filed October 24, 1924, Serial No. 745,684. Divided and this application filed October 15, 1925. Serial No. 399,847.

This invention relates to nail-distributors, such as are employed for supplying nails in successive groups to an apparatus which is to insert them. An example of an apparatus with which my invention may be employed is furnished by a heel-attaching machine. The

present case is a division of thatfiled in myname in the United States Patent Office on October 2%, 1924, this hearing the Serial No.

1 745,684. 011 December 23, 1930, the application became Patent No. 1,7 85,928.

An object of the present invention is to generally improve the efiiciency and convertience of nail-distributors. To this end, there I 1 are provided novel means for applying power to drive the movable elements of the distributor, rendering easy their control by the operator; an improved arrangement of nailholding drums which may supply simultaneously diiierent lengths of nails, of raceways :1 j distributor;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line IIIIH of Fig. 1;

Fig. is a vertical section on the line IV IV of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of a nailseparator with the adjacent portions of the raceway;

Fig. 6, in a like manner, illustrates the lower portion of the actuating mechanism for the nail-separatorsg Fig. 7 is a perspective View, enlarged, of the cam of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of a loader by which nails may be transferred from the distributor of this invention; and

F ig. 9 illustrates in perspective the. mount;

ing of the lower nail-drum.

v A heel-attaching machine which this distributor may supply includes a frame 10, upon which are mounted a jack 12 and avertically movable head 14,,by which pressure is applied to the heels, to hold them in place upon the jacked shoes during the nailing operations. Reciprocating within the jack, through nail-tubes 16, are drivers 18, the nails to be inserted being supported upon the upper extremities of the drivers in the tubes,-

and-forced by said drivers through the heelseat of a jacked shoe into a heel pressed against it by the head 14. For supplying nails to the tubes, I employ the apparatus of the present invention. r

Carried at thetop of the ing, whichis preferably. formed iii-upper and lower sections and 22, respectively. The first of these is shown as smaller than its companion, and is especially intended for holding the nails, one of which is included in eachlgroup to be driven. This single nail may be of special form, as provided with a helical rib, or it may be of different length from those contained in the casing 22. 'The upper portion of each casing may be provided with an opening normally closed by a cover 23, through which openings access may be had to the interior of the casings, as for the introduction of the nails to be fed. Each casing is shown as having rearwardly diverge ing upper and lower walls, and just below the juncture of the walls of each casing are supported nail-conveying raceways 24 and 26, belonging respectively to the sections 20 and 22 and inclineddownwardly and forwardly through .slots in the lower casing-walls. From the upper casing there is shown as leading one of these raceways, and fromthe lower, four, though the numbers may be varied as desired. Surrounding the rear extremities of the raceways 24 and 26, respectively,-and closing these portions of the casings, are naildrums 28 and Y30. The upper drum 28 is rotatableabout aspindle 27, extending horizontally'from a supporting portion 29 conveniently formed with the casing 20 and upon which the upper extremity of the raceway 2.4-

frame is a, casrests. To hold the drum in place upon this spindle, a nut 34 may be threaded upon the outer end of the latter. At one side of the lower casing is pivoted a horizontal yoke 31, which extends to the opposite side of the casing, where it is normally secured in place by a pin 32. This engages vertically alined openings in the yoke and in spaced lugs upon the casing. From the center of the yoke there projects inwardly a horizontal spindle 33, about which the drum 30 turns. When the yoke is fixed in place by the pin 32, the drum may be held in close engagement with a finished face upon the adjacent end of the casing, thus serving as a closure for it. When access is desired to the drum, as for removing the nails, it is only necessary to take out the pin and swing the yoke about its pivot. At this time, the nails may fall from the drum and over a lower inclined surface of the casing 22 into a receptacle placed to receive them. Upon a support 35, held horizontally between the opposite sides of the casing 22, rest the upper extremities of the raceways 26, this support having no extension upward or downward to be engaged by the nails. The mounting of the upper drum is simple and secure, while that of the lower entirely frees the multiple raceways from supporting elements which might tend to interfere with the travel of the nails through them, and also facilitates the removal of the drum for changing the nails. Formed about the exterior of each drum is a peripheral series of gear-teeth 36, with which meshes a pinion 38 fast upon a horizontal shaft 40 journaled in the frame supporting the cas ings, and driven by worm-gearing 42 from a vertical shaft 44. At the lower end of the shaft 44 is secured a friction-wheel 46, the periphery of which rests against the face of the fly-wheel 48 of the machine supplied with nails. Within the drums, blades or buckets 50 elevate the nails as said drums rotate, and

allow them to drop upon the upper ends of the raceways, to pass therethrough; The lower wall 52 of each casing inclines downwardly and rearwardly from the raceways, terminating at the corresponding drum, and furnishing a chute by which nails falling from the raceways are returned to the drum.

Each raceway consists of parallel walls forming channels 54, in which the nails hang carried by a shaft 60 journaled horizontally just within the curved forward extremity 62 of each casing, the teeth of the disks being in close proximity to and substantially concentric with the curved surface. The disks of both casings are frictionally mounted upon their shafts, so they may slip when excessive resistance. is offered to their rotation, as by the catching between them and the casingwall of fragments of nails. Referring particularly to the illustration in Fig. 4 of the disks of the lower casing, which are arranged in a series, rather than singly, as in the casing 20, there is near one extremity of the shaft a flange 64, while the other extremity is threaded to receive a nut 66. The disks are spaced from one another and from the flange and nut by collars 68, also loose upon the shaft, and of a diameter substantially that of the disks. This is to prevent nails from being drawn in between the collars and casing, and thus clogging the apparatus. At the center of the series, the shaft carries a loose worm-wheel 70, with which meshes a worm 72 upon the shaft 44. A spring 7 4 is interposed between the nut 66 and the end or head of the adjacent collar, serving to press together the whole series of elements, including the disks, worm-wheel and spacing collars, with sufiicient force to cause them to normally rotate with the shaft, but to allow the shaft to turn through them when there is undue resistance to their rotation. The frictional driving force may be varied by changing the position of the nut upon the shaft, thus increasing or decreasing the force exerted by the spring. The shaft 60 of the upper casing may receive its motion from the upper shaft 40 by way of a vertical shaft 73 and gearing 75.

As the nails proceed along the raceways, their shanks encounter in each a device which separates the terminal nail of the series from its companions, and discharges it singly. As illustrated, each separating device consists of a disk 76 (Fig. 5), the upper surface of which is inclined downwardly and outwardly. The disk is shown as so fixed upon a shaft 78, journaled at one side of the corre sponding channel 54 upon one of the race way-bars, that its upper surface is somewhat below the delivery-surface of the raceway upon which rest the nail-heads. In the pe riphery of the disk is a depression 80, of a size suitable to receive the shanks of the nails, one at a time. Fixed to the lower extremity of each shaft 78 is a crank-disk 82 having depending from ita crank-pin. The crank-pin of the single discharge device of the upper raceway 24 has joined to it a connecting member 84 (Fig. 2) while the crankpins associated with the lower raceways 26 are all united by a rod 86 (Fig. 5), which is suspended upon them, being supported upon collars 88 fast upon the lower ends of the pins. At the center of the rod 86 is an enlargement 90, in which is a vertical slot to receive a pin 92 projecting from the lower extremity of a vertical arm of a bell-crank lever 94 fulcrumed at the forward extremity of the casing 22. The connecting member 84 of the upper crank-disk is united to an upwardly extending arm of the bell-crank lever. To a generally horizontal arm of the lever 94 is articulated a rod 96, extending vertically and guided in a bracket 98 (Figs. 1 and 6) projecting from the frame. This rod is sectional, the end of one portion being threaded into another at 100. This permits the length of the rod to be varied, and thus the throw imparted through the connecting elements to the separator-disks, to determine the extent of movement of the depression 80 in one direction. The amount of rotation of the disk in the opposite direction may be governed by the contact of a nut and checknut 102 with the upper surface of the bracket 98. Rotatable upon the lower end of the rod 96 is a roll 104, which is engaged by a cam 106, the manner of driving of which will later be described. In the normal position of the cam, the rod 96 is permitted to rest with the nuts 102 supported upon the bracket 98. At this time, the depression 80 in each separator-disk is alined with the channel in a continuation of the corre sponding raceway, while the lowest nail of the series in said raceway lies with its head resting upon the upper surface of the disk, and its shank against the cylindrical edge. When the cam rotates, the rod 96 is raised, turning the separator-disk until the depression is opposite the upper raceway-channel 54, so that the shank of the lowest nail enters said depression. Upon the passage of the cam-projection from beneath the rod, a spring 10'. joined to the lever 94 restores the separator-disk to its initial position. Therefore, the single nail, which has been thus separated from its companions, is discharged,

its fall from the disk being facilitated by the inclination of the upper surface.

From the raceway 24 and each of the raceways 26. the nails discharged by the separating devices enter end raceway-sections 108. Since here the nails movesingly and under less momentum than the heavier series in the upper portions of the raceways, the sections 108 are more steeply inclined. As a result of this, the single nails will not be stopped by the frictional resistance. In each channel of the raceway-sections 108, in proximity to the lower vertical ends of the raceway-bars, is a contact member 110, by which the nails are reversed. This member has a vertical wall 112. against which the shanks of the nails strike, and a downwardl and forwardly inclined wall 114, over which the nails slide, now inverted head downward, so they will be properly positioned for upward driving.

The thus-reversed nails fall into vertical conduits 116 between the back-plate and cover-plate of a tube-holder 118 (Fig. 1), this being mounted vertically at the forward ends of all the raceways and receiving the raceways 24 and 26 at upper and lower levels, respectively. The lower extremities of the conduits deliver the nails to tubes 120 leading to openings 122 in a foot-plate 124 supported upon the frame at a point somewhat above and to the rear of thejack 12. The arrangement of the openings 122 in the footplate is in accordance with the nailing design corresponding to the tubes 16 of the jack. The nails are temporarily arrested in the o enings 122 by a shutter 126 sliding in guides against the under face of the footplate. A spring 128 surrounds a screw threaded into the foot-plate. Said spring, abutting against the side of the plate and against an upturned end of the shutter, exerts its force to normally hold openings 130 in the shutter out of alinement with those in the foot-plate. Pressure exerted upon the forward portion of the shutter will bring the two sets of openings into registration, so that the nails which have fallen through the tubes 120 may be delivered.

To transfer the nails from the foot-plate to the jack-tubes, a reciprocatory loader-block 132 may be provided, it appearing inFig. 1 of-the drawings. This is preferablv carried at the forward extremity of a bar 134 moving between the walls of the frame 10 in a I line just above the top of the jack. In its extreme rearward position, an adjustable stop-screw 136, threaded horizontally through a lug upon the frame, holds nailreceiving openings 138 in the blockalined with the openings 122 of the foot-plate. At this time, an adjustable screw 140, threaded through the upturned end of the bar 184, strikes the shutter 126, so that, when the loader-bar comes to rest, the shutter-openings 130 open communication between the footplate and the loader-block. permitting the nails in the former tobe delivered. During movement of the bar in the opposite direc tion, as adjustably determined by the contact of a sto -screw 142 which it carries with a portion of the frame, the nails are held in the openings 138, supported b a shutter 144 (F 8} pivotally mounted to move across the under face of the loader-block. It is normally held to close the openings bv a latch 146 guided by screws 147 to slide upon the block. This latch retains the shutter against the pull of a spring 148 tending to draw it clear of the openin s. The spring is shown as extending between the outer edge of the shutter and the adjacent extremity of the latch. so that the shutter may not only be drawn by it away from the loader-blockopenings, but the latch 146 is also held in its shutter-engaging position. Threaded through the latch and projecting forwardly therefrom is a contact-screw 150, which, when the loader is in its nail-delivering position, strikes against the rear of the jack. This forces the latch away from the shutter, releasing it, so that the spring 148 carries said shutter to its nail-releasing position. The shutter is reset to close the loader-blockopenings by contact of its edge, during restoration of the block to the nail-receiving position, with a projection from the frame of the machine, indicated at 152 in Fig. 8 of the drawings.

For moving the loader-block automatically between its nail-receiving and nail-delivering positions, it has, formed at the under side of the bar 134, a rack 154, with which meshes a gear 156 (Fig. 3) surrounding a shaft 158, which also carries the cam 106. The gear is about a sleeve 160 keyed upon the shaft 158 and having a flange 162, between which and the adjacent side of the gear is interposed a friction washer 164, of some such material as leather. The gear is thrust against the washer, and this against the flange, by a spring 166 surrounding the sleeve and abutting at its outer end against a collar 168 adjustably threaded upon said sleeve, so that the force of the spring may be altered. This connection between the shaft and gear permits the former to drive the loader in either direction by continuously applied power, the friction slipping when the loader reaches its limits of travel. Also surrounding the shaft 158 are two bevel-gears 170 and 172, the former being continuously rotated through worm-gearing 174 (Fig. 1) from a horizontal shaft 176 journaled in the frame 10, this, in turn, being driven by worm-gearing 178 from a vertical shaft 44. The gear 172 is continuously rotated in the opposite direction through a bevel-idler 180 meshing with it and with the gear 170. At the inner side of each of the bevel-gears 170 and 172 is formed or attached a j aw-clutch member 182. Sliding upon the shaft 158 into engagement with either of the members 182 is a clutch member 184. The shaft is tubular, and contains within it a rod 186 connected to the membef'184 by a pin 188 passing through a slot in the shaft. Fulcrumed at 190 upon the frame is a clutch-actuating lever 192 having pivotally mounted on it a sleeve 194. At opposite sides of the sleeve are fixed to the rod, to communicate the movement of the lever to it, collars 196, 196. A spring 198 extending between the lever and frame draws said lever to the right, as viewed in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to normally hold the clutch member 184 in driving engagement with that upon the gear 170. Since, through the gear 170 and the pin 188, the shaft 158 is at such time rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed from the right of Fig. 3, the gear 156 acts upon the rack 154 to move the loader-bar to the right (Fig. 1). The bar is thus held normally against the stop-screw 136, the friction at 164 between the shaft and the gear slipping. Upon the forward extremity of the lever 192 is a hand-piece or pad 200, situated at substantially the level of the top of the jack at one side and just to the rear thereof. This is convenient for contact by the hand of the operator as he unjacks a shoe. It is desired that when the lever is moved to the left by the operator, so that the clutch member 184 is separated from the gear 170 and brought against the gear 172, the shaft 158 shall turn over once, to carry the loaderblock to its nail-delivering position over the jack, the member 184 then being restored to its engagement with the gear 170 for the return of the loader-block to its normal position. To effect this, the lever carries a detent 202 mounted to yield against a spring 204. The detent is normally held by the spring 198 in adepression 206 formed in the outer side of the cam 106, which surrounds the shaft 158 outside the frame. Between the cam and shaft is interposed a oneway clutch of the Horton type, of which the rolls and co-operating contact-faces appear at 208 in Fig. 7 of the drawings and which is effective in a clockwise direction (Fig. 6). WVhen, by the movement of the lever 192 to shift the engagement of the clutch member 184, the operator incidentally withdraws the detent 202 from the depression 206 and then releases the lever to proceed with a heeling operation, the cam 106 is at once started in rotation, as a result of the turning of the shaft 158 by the gear 172. This carries the depression away from the detent, so that the end of the latter now bears against an annular surface 210 upon the cam, temporarily maintaining the engagement of the clutch member 184 with the gear 172. Under the influence of this rotation of the shaft 158, the loader-bar 184 is moved forward from beneath the foot-plate 124 until the stop-screw 142 strikes the frame, at which time the loader-block-openings 138 are over the nail-tubes 16 of the jack. Then the shutter 144 is tripped, and during the delivery of the nails the friction at 164 is slipping. lVhen the depression 206 again reaches the detent, the spring 198 is permitted to draw the lever 192 to the right (Fig. 3), disengaging the clutch member 184 from the gear 172, and restoring it to driven relation with the gear 170. The loader-block is therefore returned to its nail-receiving position beneath the foot-plate, as has just been described. lVhen the loader-block leaves the foot-plate in its advance toward the jack, the departure of the screw 140 allows the shutter 126 to close the foot-plate-openings. The cam 106 raises the rod 196 and permits it to be lowered by its weight and the spring 107, actuating the separator-disks to release a nail from the series in each raceway. These are reversed at 110, and descend through the tubes 120 to the foot-plate-openings.

Outlining briefly the entire operation of the apparatus, it may be said that nails passing from the casings 20 and 22 into the drums 28 and 30 are elevated by the blades therein and received by the raceways, traveling along the channels 54 of these, suspended upon their heads, until they are stopped by the separator-disks 7 6. In transit, they are acted upon by the positioning disks 56, which arrange the nails properly in the raceways and displace any which may be lying transversely. Clogging and injury to the machine are guarded against by the frictional mounting of the disks 56 and their spacing and driving elements upon the shaft 60. As a result of the previous operation of the apparatus, groups of nails have been discharged by these separator-disks and delivered from the foot-plate 124 upon the shutter 144 of the loader-block 132, the shaft 158 of the actuating mechanism being driven through the clutch member 184 from the gear 170 to hold said loader-block in nail-receiving position. Because of the one-way connection of the cam 106 to the shaft 158 and because it is engaged by the detent 202 of the controlling lever 192, said cam is maintained stationary. The operator, in removing a heeled shoe from the jack 12, presses the back of the left hand against the pad 200 of the lever 192. This transfers the engagement of the clutch member 184 from the gear 170 to the gear 172. Opposite rotation is thereby imparted to the shaft 158, and the gear 156 now becomes effective to move the loader-bar 134 forward. The retreat of the screw 140 from the shutter 126 allows the latter to close the openings 122 in the foot-plate. The direction of rotation is now effective, through the clutch devices 208, to turn the cam 106. This, through the rod 96 and the lever 94 and its connections, oscillates the separator-disks 76 to pick off a nail from each raceway and discharge it into the lower section 108, where it is re versed by the member 110 and allowed to fall through one of the tubes 120 to the foot-plate. The cam there-upon passes away from the rod 96, and the separator-disks are restored to their normal positions. Meanwhile, the loader-block has been advanced over the jack, the alinement of the openings 138 with the tubes 16 being determined by the stopscrew 142. Here, as the friction 164 slips. the nails are delivered by the tripping of the shutter 144. The operator, having actuated the lever 192 to start the supplying apparatus in action, at once releases it, but the clutch-section 184 is for the time maintained in engagement with the gear 172 by the riding of the detent 202 upon the surface 210 of the cam. At the completion of a single rotation of the shaft 158, the nail-delivering action has been fully effected. The depression 206 then reaches the detent, which, enteringit, permits the lever 192 to return to normal, carrying the clutch-section 184 into co-operation with thegear 170. This moves the loader-bar 134 oppositely, or to the rear, 3 until the contact of said bar with the screw 136 alines the loader-block-openings with the foot-plate-openings, the shutter 126'being at this time moved by the screw 140 to also register the shutter-openings with those of the block. The previously-delivered charge of nails is therefore received by the loaderblock, and the apparatus is ready for the succeeding operation.

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

1. In a nail-distributor, acasing including lower and upper sections, a nail-drum rotatable upon each section, a raceway leading through each casing-section from the drum, and a nail-delivering device to which the raceways are connected.-

2. In a nail-distributor, rotatable naildrums having a casing formed in upper and lower sections respectively oo-operating with the drums, a member provided with vertically extending conduits, and raceways leading from the nail-drums and connected to the conduit member at different levels.

3. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of rotatable nail-drums, a gear associated with each drum, a verticaldriving shaft, a horizontal shaft corresponding to each drum, and gearing between the driving shaft and hori- 100 zontal shafts and between said horizontal shafts and the drum-gears.

4. In a nail-distributor, a casing, a raceway extending through the casing, a supporting member mounted to swing upon the casing, and a nail-drum rotatable upon the supporting member and movable thereby into and out of co-operation with the raceway. 1

5. In anail-distributor, a casing having an open end, a raceway extending throughthe opposite end of the casing, a yoke movably mounted across such open end of the casing, and a nail-drum carried by the yoke and closing the end of the casing, the drum in its closed position receiving the end of theraceway. i 1

6. In a nail-distributor, nail-supplying means including a raceway having differently inclined conveying sections, and a rotatable na1l-separat1ng device'situated at the juncture of the sections and having an upper nail-engaging surface inclined downwardly and outwardly from the axis of rotation.

7. In a nail-distributor, nail-supplying means including a raceway having differently inclined conveying sections, a shaft rotatable at the juncture of the sections, anda disk fixed to the shaft and provided with a recess arranged tojreceive nails one by one from the '130 less inclined section'and deliver them to the more inclined section.

8. In a nail-distributor, upper and lower groups of raceways, a nail-drum delivering to each group of raceways, a movable nailseparator co-operating with each raceway, an actuating lever fulcrumed between its extremities, and connections from the opposite extremities of the lever to the separators of the respective raceway-groups.

9. A combination with a nail-distributor having a raceway and a movable nail-separator associated therewith, of a nailing machine provided with a jack, power mechanism for moving the separator, a. lever fulcrumed at the level of the jack and extending upwardly from its fulcrum to a point adjacent to the jack where it is provided with a hand-pad,

a spring arranged to force the disks and'collars into frictional engagement.

16. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of raceways, a shaft, a series of toothed disks loose upon the shaft and respectively co-opcrating with the raceways, a gear upon the shaft included in the series of disks, a series of collars arranged to space the disks and gear, a spring arranged to force the disks, gear and collars into frictional engagement, a casing surrounding the elements upon the shaft, and a driving gear meshing with the gear upon the shaft.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOHN M. BENJAMIN.

and connect-ions from the lever between the fulcrum and hand-pad to the power mechanism.

10. A combination with a nail-distributor having a raceway and a movable nail-separator associated therewith, of a nailing machine provided with a jack, a rotatable cam, a lever arranged to control the rotation of the cam, said lever extending adjacent to the jack and being located for actuation by the hand of the operator as he changes the relation of the work to the jack, and a rod movable by the cam and being connected to the nailseparator.

11. In a nail-distributor, a nail-conveyor, a movable support, a series of nail-positioning members frictionally mounted upon the support and associated with the conveyor, and driving means for the support.

12. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of raceways, a shaft, a member corresponding to each raceway frictionally mounted upon the shaft and having projections co-operating with the corresponding raceway, and means for rotating the shaft.

13. In a nail-distributor, a raceway, a shaft, a member mounted upon the shaft and having projections co-operating with the raceway, a gear frictionally mounted upon the shaft, a driving gear meshing therewith, and a casing extending over the disk and gear.

14;. In a nail-distributor, a plurality of nail-conveyors, a shaft, series of positioning members loose upon the shaft and respective- 'erating with the raceways, a series of spacing collars interposed between the disks, and

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