US2543178A - Machine for tacking footwear - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 27, 1951 K. KVQAP IL ET AL 3,178

MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR Filed March 25, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS/ Feb. 27, 1951 K. KVAPlL ET AL MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25, 1947 INVENTORS Patented Feb. 27, 1951 MACHINE FOR TACKING FOOTWEAR Klement Kvapil and Josef Zaoral, Zlin, and Vilm Ostril, Horni Mostenice, Czechoslovakia, assignors to Bata, narodni podnik, Zlin, Czecho- Slovakia Application March 25, 1947, Serial No. 737,074 In Germany September 30, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires September 30, 1964 8 Claims.

This invention relates to a fixing device in toe tacking machines for footwear, which pull over the upper part and at the same time tack it, which device comprises a system of fixing stations distributed in a fan-like manner and serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the last and the inner sole, and consists in this, that the individual stations are provided with independent hydraulic drives which efiect the pushing forward of separate stations into operative position till they strike against the work.

Toe tacking machines which pull over the upper part and at the same time tack it on have hitherto become known only in the patent literature on the subject; they are rarely to be found installed in works. For tacking on shoe toes the general practice has hitherto been, first of all to give a preparatory tacking to the upper part on a pulling over machine, that is to say, the upper part is drawn and stretched over the last and, in that position, is secured with a few fixing means, whereupon in a further machine, a shoe finishtacking machine, the provisionally tacked upper part is finish-tacked in a similar manner to that employed in the known heel tacking machines. Shoe finsh-ta-cking machines for operating on provisionally tacked upper parts are provided, on the one hand, with wiping members which lay the marginal portion of the upper part after the latter has been pulled over and already secured at the most important places, such as the toe and the sides, over the edge of the last and the inner sole and, on the other hand, with a nailing device which through apertures in the wipers fixes the said marginal parts on the inner sole. In the great majority of such tacking machines the sole is operated on with its under part turned upwards, so that above the shoe sufficient space is available for the nailing device which is disposed above the wipers and is, in most cases, directly connected with the wipers. A great disadvantage of this arrangement of the wipers and the nailing devices is, that on machines which have to operate both on left-foot and right-foot shoes, and, what is more, in different sizes, each shoe can be finishtacked only in the symmetrical part of the toe, that is in the part extending from the toe to just behind the toe cap at the sides, as, even in different sizes of shoes, this symmetrical part has approximately the same shape. In order that the tacking shall not be performed so mechanically and shall better adapt itself to the shape of the last, or, for instance, to enable heels as well to be tacked on a toe tacking machine without having to alter the setting of any parts, it has already been proposed to provide in place of the usual two-part, hinged wipers and the nailing device connected to the same an articulated arrangement of the nailing devices which then act at the same time as wipers. These articulated nailing devices are mostly interconnected by means of a flexible band which is subjected along its entire periphery simultaneously to a uniform pressure action, for instance produced, hydraulically, the articulated nailing device moving under the influence of this pressure over the edge of the last and the inner sole inwards towards one another, at the same time wiping the marginal portion of the upper part. When their movement has been completed, the fixing means are driven in in all the devices with a single blow. This arrangement and another similar arrangement with hydraulic drive (with individual members of circular form, which are disposed closely next to one another, so that they can move only in circular paths, each member being controlled by its own piston and all pistons being actuated from a single common pressure chamber) are not suitable for tacking machines which have to pull over and simultaneously tack the upper part, since the stroke (forward movement) of the nailing or fixing members is very short and would not be suflicient for enabling the members to be removed so far from the place of operation as not to be in the way during the operation of the pulling over nippers or of the toe form, without which a toe tacking machine which is to pull over and-at the same time finish-tack an upper part cannot be constructed. The nail supply to the fixing members and the actuation of the striking hammers would also present great difficulties.

The disposition of the nailing or fixing device in toe tacking machines which pull over and at the same time finish-tack the upper part is rendered still more diflicult, owing to the circumstance, that, for facilitating a check as to whether the stretched over upper part is in its correct position on the last, these machines operate like the known pulling over machines with the under part of the shoe turned downwards. The nailing on and wiping must thus also be effected from below. The result of this is, that in the known toe tacking machine which itself pulls over and at the same time finish-tacks the upper part, whilst the wiping of the marginal portions of the upper part is carried out by means of the usual smoothing wipers of known construction, the nailing devices are, in contradistinction to all known arrangements of this kind,

arranged separated from the wipers in a single block. This block, the shape of which corresponds to that of the shoe toe, is disposed between the pulling over nippers below the shoe support. Apart from the circumstance, that, if left and right shoes of the same kind in diiferent sizes are to be operated on in a single machine, the finish-tacking of the shoe toe without changing the nailing block and without adjusting the wipers can be carried out only in that part of the shoe toe, which in the left-foot and right-foot shoe and in some few sizes of the same kind of shoe will be at least approximately the same, that is only in the toe part, a further disadvantage of this arrangement is the difficulty of feeding nails to the nailing block. As this nailing block is situated between the pulling over nippers below the shoe support, it is completely covered up after the shoe has been placed in the machine, so that the operation of filling the block with nails can only be performed at a time, when there is no shoe in the machine, that is, after a finish-tacked shoe has been removed from the machine. It will be clear, that the running of the machine can in this case only be interrupted, when the supply of nails is exhausted, and that the fresh shoe to be operated on can only be placed in the machine, when the machine has come to rest, which causes a considerable loss of time and a consequent reduction in output.

In contradistinction thereto, the arrangement in accordance with the invention of the fixing device in toe tacking machines makes it possible to keep up the supply of fixing means without loss of time and also does away with the other, previously mentioned disadvantages of known fixing devices, through enabling the upper part to be finish-tacked in the whole of the forward part of the shoe, that is, from the toe to the waist of the shoe, both in left and right shoes over a large range of boys or girls shoes to the largest sizes of mens or womens shoes.

The supplying of nails to the individual fixing stations disposed in accordance with the invention, when these are for instance provided with nailing devices, takes place, when the said stations are pushed well back out of the operative position, and at a time, during which other parts of the machine, for instance the known toe form,

are in operation. According to the invention each fixing station has its own hydraulic drive which is independent of the drive of the other stations, so that the individual stations can be brought into the operative position in any desired sequence which makes it possible to adopt a novel tacking procedure, such, for instance, as that described in the' concurrent patent application Serial No. 737,072, now abandoned. Since the known toe forms adapt themselves closely to the shape of the last, the coming into position of the individual stations and the driving in of the fixing means in consequence also takes place exactly in accordance with the shape of the last, irrespective of whether it is a left or a right one or of large or small size.

For obtaining perfect smoothing of the upper part at the toe of the shoe these stations may also cooperate with toe wipers of a known kind. The formation of folds between the individual fixing stations is prevented by a special formation of the front surfaces of the fixing stations, which efiect the wiping, whilst at places, where according to experience the folds occur most frequently, that is in the ball part of the shoe, the end surfaces overlap one another, which is made possible through the individual stations being pushed forward successively.

The arrangement according to the invention of the fixing devices also makes possible an advantageous construction and actuation of the driving hammers, when nails are used as the fixing means. Whilst in known nailing devices of this kind all the nails are driven in simultaneously, for which purpose considerable force is required, which must be produced, not by one blow, but by steady pressure which is transmitted by a system of levers and rods, in the arrangement according to the invention the nails of each fixing station are driven in independently. For this purpose a far smaller force is sufficient and the nails can be driven in by impact which is released by a compressed spring. The compression of this spring is performed by each fixing station itself during its return motion out of the operative position. The release of the blow takes place, on the working position being reached, in the correct position in each case through the action of a trigger device on impact, for instance against the toe form. The noise of the impact of the striker can be suppressed by means of a silencer.

The correct driving in of the nails in the direction of motion and the axial direction of the striking hammers is ensured by the latter being magnetised, whilst the striker heads, in which the hammers are guided, are made of non-magnetic material, so that each introduced into the striker head with the nail head downwards is held by the magnetic hammer in the upright position, until it is driven in.

The front parts of the fixing stations are pref erably made yielding in the vertical direction, in order that they may adapt themselves in the vertical direction as well, on driving against the upper part on the last.

Further advantages and features of the present invention will be gathered from the following description of a constructional example according to the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a general arrangement of the fixing stations provided with nailing devices for a toe tacking machine in plan view;

Fig. 2 shows details of one of the fixing stations.

The machine is provided with an ordinary shoe support I, on which the shoe to be operated on in the machine rests with the bottom part facing downwards. Around this shoe support is grouped in the usual manner a system of pulling over nippers, of which 2 represents the toe nippers, 3, 3' the side nippers and 4, 4 the ball nippers. After the upper part has been stretched and pulled over the last by the said pulling over nippers, the upper part is held firmly in the stretched over position by a toe form 5 of a known kind, which embraces the last as far as the waist part. At the lower side of the toe form 5, which lies in the same plane as the bottom surface of the shoe, which is being operated on, there is provided a two-part wiper 6 of known construction, which smooths in the marginal portions of the upper part at the toe in the usual way. In this wiper -6 there is a series of apertures T, through which at the toe the fixing nails, for instance, are driven in.

The wiping of the marginal portion of the upper part at the places, where the toe wiper 5 does not act, and the tacking on of the upper part in the whole of the forward part of the shoe 7 as far as the waist part is carried out by a series of fixing stations, of which the station I acts in the longitudinal axis of the last, whilst the stations II-II, III--III', IV-IV, V--V and VIVI' are distributed fanwise around the working place, each two oppositely disposed stations lying symmetrically and all the stations, when in the inoperative position, being at a sufficient distance behind the pulling over nippers, so as to give the worker free access, when placing the shoe into the machine, and not to hinder the pulling over nippers in their work. The individual fixing stations are all of the same construction except for minor differences as regards the number of nails driven in simultaneously.

The fixing station consists of a standard 8 which is mounted rigidly in the machine frame 9 and is at a definite distance from the pulling over nippers. On the lower part of the standard 8 is mounted a hydraulic cylinder I0, into which lead two pressure fluid conduits II, I2. Slidable in the cylinder I3 is a piston I3, the length of stroke of which corresponds to the greatest possible forward motion of the fixing station, occurring in the manufacture of the smallest shoe sizes in the machine. The piston rod I4 extends through a stufling box I5 and is provided at its outer end with a head piece I6 having a neck II. In this neck I! is engaged an arm I B of a slide I9 which is provided in its sides with two pairs of rollers 38, 68' which are guided in grooves 69 on the inside walls of the standard 8. The left-hand extreme position of the slide l9 with the piston I3 is determined in the standard 8 by a securing lever in which is supported by a pin II mounted so as to be rotatable in the side walls of the standard 8 and is controlled by a hand lever I2 which is also fixed to the pin II, but is situated on the outside of the standard 8. In the operative position the levers I0 and i2 occupy the position shown in Fig. 2. When the slide is to be removed from the standard (which is carried out with the slide in its lefthand extreme position), the lever 12 is turned by hand in the counter-clockwise direction through 90; this causes the lever II! to get out of engagement with the arm I8 of the slide and the latter together with the piston I3 can be pushed a short distance further to the left, until the roller 68 leaves the groove 69 of the standard and the rollers 68' come below the opening 13 which leads out of the groove 69 upwards. In this position the entire slide I9 can be lifted upwards out of the standard 8, the arm I 8 leaving the head I6 of the piston rod I4. In the reverse way the slide can be replaced into the standard. In the standard 8 there is also an inclined ramp 2!], the purpose of which will be described below.

In the upper part of the slide I9 is a recess 2I, in which on a pivot 22 a two-armed lever 23 is rockablc, which on the arm directed towards the place, where the work is carried out, supports a nailing head 24 made of non-magnetic material. This nailing head is provided with nail apertures 25 for the reception of the nails and for guiding the striking hammers 23 which are magnetised. The number of nail apertures of a single fixing station may vary, as will be seen from Fig. l. The nailing heads 24 are therefore of different shape which is determined, on the one hand, by the number of nails to be driven in by one station and, on the other hand, by the contour of that place at the shoe toe, at which the nailing head comes into operation. The nailing heads of those stations which come into action at the operative place of the smoothing wipers 6, that is, the nailing heads I, IIII and III-III', have straight front surfaces (as can be seen from Fig. 1). The heads of the other stations, however, viz. the stations IV-IV, V--V' and VL-VI', are provided with projections 21, which serve the purpose of smoothing out the folds at the wiper marginal portion of the upper part. It will be seen in Fig. 1, that the projection 21 of the station IV--IV is formed at that part of the head 24, which lies nearer the heel, as is also the case at the stations VI--VI:whereas at the stations VV the projections 2! are formed at the parts of the heads facing the shoe toe. The object of this arrangement will be explained below. The upper parts 28 of the front surfaces of all the fixing stations, whether provided with projections or not, are rounded in the front part, as will be seen from Fig. 2, in order that the nail guiding head, when striking against the last, can adapt itself in the vertical direction as well to any inequalities in the thickness of the tacked on marginal portion of the upper part without damaging it. The front surfaces 28 of the nailing stations I, 11-11, IIIIII', which operate in the effective range of the smoothing wipers 6, lie in one plane with the under surface of these wipers whilst the front surfaces of the other stations lie in the plane of the lower part of the shoe, that is to say, higher by the thickness of wipers. The nail guiding head 2 is enabled to adapt itself to the thickness of the material of the upper part through the two-armed lever 23 which carries the head 24 resting on a rubber block 29 which is fixed firmly in the body of the slide I9. This rubber block allows of any required depression of the nail guiding head 24, if the marginal portion of the upper part should happen to be thicker at the place, where the nail guiding head is operating. 'The initial position of the nail guiding head 24 is vertically adjustable with respect to the working plane, for instance by means of an adjusting screw 36 which is screwed into the shorter arm of the lever 23 and is secured against working loose by a slot 3| drawn together by a securing screw 32.

All the striking hammers 2B of a nailing station are actuated by a common striker 33 which has the form of a two-armed lever capable of rocking about a pivot pin 36 supported in the slide I9. In a preferred way of establishing the connection of the hammer pins 26 with the striker, the lower ends of the hammers 25 are provided with ball heads 35 which are guided in dovetail grooves 36 at the end of the striker. The driving blow of the striker is released by a compressed spring 31 which bears with one end against an upper collar of the casing 38 fixed to the'slide I9 and rests with the other end on the fork 39 which is pivotally attached to the lefthand lever arm of the striker 33. The fork 39 is connected by a tie rod All extending through the spring 3'! with an adjustable guiding head 4| which, after the release of the blow, strikes against a rubber cushion 42 which is housed in the upper end of the casing 38 and is drawn over the tie rod to. The head ii and the cushion 42 serve the purpose of limiting the length of stroke and cushioning the stroke itself. From above, the guiding head All is covered by means of a cap 43 fixed to the casing 38.

When the blow is delivered, the spring expands suddenly and must, therefore, be recompressed for delivering another blow. This compression takes place during the return motion of the slide I9 from the operative position and hand end of the striker lever being moved along an inclined rail 20, whereby the left-hand end of the striker is raised and consequently the fork 39 together with the rod 48 and the head 4| is also pushed upwards and the spring 31 is again compressed. The securing of the spring 3! in the compressed position and of the hammers 26 in the lower positions with respect to the guiding channels 25 before performing the hammering in operation is ensured by a latch 45 which has at one end a flattened projection 45, whilst its other end is provided with a guiding pin 47, over which a compression spring 48 is slipped. The latch 45 together with the spring 48 is housed in a bore 49 in the rear wall 50 of the slide [9. The bore 49 is reduced at its lefthand end to a smaller internal diameter, through which the guiding pin 41 projects outwards through the rear wall from where an adjusting nut 5| is screwed. The spring 48 which bears against the shoulder in the bore thus keeps the latch 45 forced to the right with the nut 5| bearing against the outer wall of the reduced part of the bore 49, so that the projecting part 46 of the latch enters into engagement with a corresponding offset 52 of the lefthand arm of the striker 33, which after the return movement of the slide I9 is caught in the forced up position, as will be seen in Fig. 2.

Now, when the hammering stroke of the striker 33 is to be released, the engagement of the offset 52 of the striker with the projection 45 of the latch 45 must be interrupted, which is effected by the latch 45 being forced in opposition to the pressure of the spring 43 into the bore 49. This forcing in is effected by a trigger device 53 coacting with a push bar 54. The trigger device 53 is in the form of a lever provided in its rearward part with a longitudinal slot 55 and mounted in a cut-away part 56 of the two-armed lever 23 on the pin 22, the forward part of the lever being guided in a recess 5'! of the lever 23. The upper surface of the forward part of the trigger 53 lies in the same plane as the top surface 28 of the nail guiding head 24, a shoulder 58 being formed in the front part of the trigger 53 at a distance from its end, corresponding to the thickness of the toe forming band 5 at the operative place of the nailing station. The push bar 54 which is guided at one end in a recess 51 of the rear wall 50 of the slide and at the other end on a pin 59 is provided with two arms, of which the upwardly directed arm 65 is in engagement with the rear part of the trigger 53 and the downwardly directed arm 6| with the latch member 45 which under the influence of the spring 48 holds the trigger 53 in the position shown in Fig. 2, that is, the trigger is in its right-hand extreme position, in which the longitudinal slot 55 bears with its left-hand end against the pin 22. In the middle part of the push bar 54 is an opening 62 which allows of the free passage of the fork 39. The release of the striker 33 takes place, when the slide moves forward into the operative position and the shoulder 58 of the trigger 53 strikes for instance against the toe form, so that a relative displacement of the trigger 53 on the pin 22 towards the left is brought about. This displacement is transmitted by the push bar 54 to the latch member 45 which also moves to the left in opposition to the pressure of the spring 48, so that its projection 46 releases the left-hand end 52 of the striker 33 and the latter can under the influence of the initially stressed spring 31 perform its rocking motion for driving in the nails.

The supplying of the channels 25 of the nail guiding head 24 with nails takes place in the pushed-back position of the slide i9 inv the standard 8, as can be seen in the left-hand part of Fig. 2. In this position the nail guiding head 24 has its channels 25 below the outlet opening 63 of nail guiding member 64 which is made of non-magnetic material and is adapted to rock about the pivot 65 on the standard 8. Into the nail guiding member 54 lead small flexible tubes 65, through which the nails are fed point upwards from a filling and sorting device of a known kind (not shown). The number of open ings 63 of the nail guiding member 64 corresponds of course to the number of channels 25 in the nail guiding head 24.

The supply of pressure fluid alternately to the inlet pipes H and I2 of the working cylinder H1 is effected with the aid of a control slide valve of a known kind (not shown) through a pressure pipe provided with a safety valve which, on a certain pressure being exceeded, allows the pressure fluid to escape into the waste pipe. This case always occurs, when the movement of the piston l3 with the slide 49 to the right ceases, on the shoulder 58 of the trigger 53 striking against the toe forming band 5.

The described arrangement operates as follows:

Before the work is placed in the machine all the fixing stations are in their initial positions, as

shown in Fig. 1 at the stations II, III, V and VI. The actuating devices of the individual stations occupy the position illustrated in the left-hand part of Fig. 2, that is, the slide 19 together with the piston l3 and all the connected parts are in the left-hand extreme position. In this state there is sufficient free space around the working place for the worker to introduce the shoe to be operated on into the machine without diihculty and to insert the marginal portions of the upper part between the opened, pushed up pulling over nippers. As soon as the upper part has been pulled over in the usual way, the shoe is embraced in a known manner by a toe form 5 which presses the stretched over upper part at the entire periphery against the edge of the last from the toe to the waist. The toe and side nippers 2, 3, 3' thereupon release the upper part, whilst the ball nippers 4, 4 may still be left in the tensioned state. While the pulling over nippers or the toe form are in action, the nail guiding heads 24 may be filled with nails.

According to the tacking method described in the concurrent patent application, Serial No. 737,072, now abandoned, for carrying out which the fixing device according to the present invention is particularly suitable, the upper part is first of all finish-tacked at the places of greatest tension, that is, at the sides, where the fixing stations IV, IV are operative. For this purpose the supply of the pressure fluid through the inlet pipes I I of the working cylinders i 0 of the fixing stations IV and IV commences, whilst the inlet pipes l2 are connected to the waste, so that the pistons l3 of the said stations move to the right. The slides [9 together with the striking levers 33 secured in stressed positions and the other described parts are thereby pushed to the right out of the standard 8. The shoulder at the same time throws the nail guiding member 64 upwards, which under the influence of the elasticity of the flexible tube 66 first swings back behind the shoulder 58 and then slides freely along the upper surface of the trigger member 53. During the forward motion of the slide l9 out of the standard 8 the projection 27 first drives with its end surface 28 from below against the marginal portion of the upper part, which after being released by the side nippers juts out downwards, and turns it in over the edge of the last towards the axis of the shoe, in the manner shown in the right-hand part of Fig. 2. The motion of the slide i9 is, of course, shared by the part 53 of the trigger arrangement, the forward part of which, lying in the same plane as the face 28 of the nail guiding head 24, alsopasses under the toe form 5. The joint movement of trigger part 53 and the slide l9 comes to an end, however, as soon as the shoulder 53 strikes against the outer edge of the toe form 5, whilst the slide it with the nail guiding head and the pin 22 drives on a short distance further, namely by an amount corresponding to the length of the slot 55. When the slide has travelled this distance, the pin 22 strikes against the right-hand end of the longitudinal slot 55 and can move no further. While the pin 22 is travelling in the longitudinal slot 55 from the left-hand to the right-hand end of the latter, the bar 5 is forced by the reaction of the left-hand end of the trigger part 53 which has already come to rest to the left and in the same direction forces the latch member 45 into the bore 49, so that at the same moment, in which the slide I9 comes to rest, the left-hand end of the striker 33 is released and the latter under the action of the expanding spring 3? delivers the blow, that is, swings suddenly about the pin 3!; in the counter-clockwise direction. The magnetised hammer members 26 hold the nails in the upright position in the axial direction of the nail guiding channels, as the nail heads are held firmly by the magnetic force against the upper surface of the hammer members. The nails thus remain in the upright position also during the nail driving motion of the hammer members 26 upwards in the guiding channels 25, so that they penetrate with certainty through the turned over marginal portion of the upper part into the inner sole and are clinched over against the base of the last, which is usually covered with sheet metal (of the operative position of the nailing device shown in the right-hand half of Fig. 2).

As soon as the nailing on operation has been completed, the infiow direction of the pressure fluid into the pressure cylinder It is reversed, that is, the pressure fluid is caused to enter through the opening [2, whilst the opening I I is connected to the waste. The piston 13 together with the slide i9 will then move to the left back into the initial position. During this motion the roller Ml rolls along the ramp 2!] and rocks the striker lever 33 in the clockwise sense in opposition to the pressure of the spring 3'? which is thereby compressed. The latch member 45 then jumps forward under the action of the spring 48 into the advanced position, the trigger part 53 being also pushed forward by the push bar 54 into the original position shown in Fig. 2, in which the longitudinal slot 55 bears with its left-hand end against the pin 22. Before reaching the lefthand extreme position of the slide and before reaching the highest position of the ramp the projection 52 of the striker lever 33 forces the latch member 45 a little farther to the left, so that, after the left-hand arm of the striker lever 33 has reached its highest position, the latch member 45 snaps with its projection 46 under 10 the lever end 52, holding the latter in the secured position for delivering its next blow.

As soon as the fixing stations IV-IV' return into their initial positions, the wipers 6 are put in operation, which in the usual way lay and smooth the marginal portion of the upper part at the toe over the edge of the last and inner sole. After this operation has been completed, the wipers 8 remaining closed (as shown in the righthand half of Fig. 1) the ball nippers 4 also release the upper part and all the remaining fixing stations are put in operation, which are controlled in the same manner as previously the stations IV IV. Each time the projection 58 of the trigger part 53 strikes against the outer edge of the toe form E and brings the slide l9 to a standstill, the marginal portion of the upper part, wiped by the appropriate fixing station, is nailed to the inner sole. The only difference is, that the fixing stations I, IIII, III-III, which coaot with the toe wipers 6, only serve the purpose of performing the nailing operation, whereas the stations V-V, VIVI, just as previously the stations IV-IV', not only nail on, but, before the actual nailing operation themselves also lay the appropriate marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the last and inner sole. The fixing stations I, 11-11, IIIIII, V-V, and VI'VI, may perform their operative motions either simultaneously or in groups, this being dependent on the particular method of manufacture employed.

As will be gathered from Fig. l, in the constructional example illustrated all the fixing station cannot operate simultaneously, because, for instance, the nail guiding heads 24 of the fixing stations IV and V and also the fixing stations III and IV would overlap one another in the working positions, approximately by the width of the projections 2?. The purpose of this arrangement is, to enable any folds which might form on the turned over marginal portion of the upper part between individual stations operating one after another by the projection 2? of a following station.

As the distance to which the fixing stations are pushed forward into the operative position is dependent'on their striking against the work, it becomes possible to fasten different sizes of shoes and also to fasten left and right shoes on a single machine, without it being necessary to adjust any of the parts of the fixing device.

The example illustrated, is, of course, not restricted to the described mode of operation in the manufacture of shoes. On the contrary, a fixing device with the features according to the invention can with advantage also be used in known types of machines which operate only on the toe part of a shoe. It would also be possible to substitute for the nailing devices of the individual fixing stations other fixing devices, for instance sticking and pressure applying devices. In this case the individual fixing stations would be provided with suitable known auxiliary means for moistening or electrically heating or activating the adhesive between the marginal portions of the upper part and the inner sole, which are to be joined.

We claim:

1. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear, which wipe the upper part and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the inner sole, and independent hydraulic drives 11 for the individual fixing stations, these drives effecting the pushing forward of the separate stations into operative positions till they strike against the work and tripping arrangements provided at the individual stations, which, on the operative positions being reached, start the opera- .tions of the stations.

. 2. For use in toe tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upper part and tack it, a

fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations, each having a slidably guided slide, independent hydraulic drives for the individual fixing stations, a two-armed lever mounted on each slide, and a nail-guiding head supported at one end of each two-armed lever, the upper end surface of each nail-guiding head being formed with orifices constituting nail-guiding channels, and the said upper end surface constituting means for wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the inner sole.

3. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upper part and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part, a slidably guided slide at each fixing station, a Wiping and fixing element on each of the said slides, a striking hammer at each station for driving in the fixin means and a pivoted springloaded striker lever at each station for impelling the striking hammer upwardly, a securing latch member at each fixing station for holding the striker lever in a tensioned position before the initiation of the striking motion, and a tripping arrangement at each fixing station for releasing the striker lever as soon as the slidably guided slide drives against the toe form that holds the upper part.

4. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upper part and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part, a slidably guided slide at each fixing station, independent hydraulic drives for the individual fixing stations, a two-armed lever mounted in each slide, the two-armed lever being formed with a recess, a nail-guiding head supported at one end of the two-armed lever, the upper end surface of the nail-guiding head being formed with orifices constituting nail-guiding channels, and the said upper end surface constituting means for wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the inner sole, a pin carried by the two-armed lever, a trigger .member displaceably mounted on the pin in the recess, and an abutment shoulder on the trigger member, the said shoulder striking against the outer edge of the toe form when the slide is pushed forward into the operative position, thereby bringing the forward motion of the slide to a standstill and releasably causing the striking action of the fixing station.

5. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upper part and at the same time tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations, a toe form holding the stretched upper part, a slidably guided slide at each fixing station, a wiping and fixing element on each of the said slides, a two-armed lever mounted in each slide, the two-armed lever being formed with a recess, and nail-guiding means at one end of the two-armed lever, a resilient block on which the front arm of the two-armed lever rests, an adjusting screw engaging the other arm of the lever to determine its position in a vertical direction, a pin carried by the two-armed lever,

a trigger member displaceably mounted on the pin in the recess and an abutment shoulder on the trigger member, the said shoulder striking against the outer edge of the toe form when the slide is pushed forward into the operative position, thereby bringing the forward motion of the slide to a standstill and releasably causing the striking action of the fixing station.

6. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations distributed in a fan-like manner, an immobile standard at each fixing station, a slide guided in each immobile standard for forward and backward motion, an inclined ramp on each standard, a striking hammer at each station for driving in the fixing means and a pivoted spring-loaded striker lever at each station for impelling the striking hammer upwardly, the inclined ramp being adapted to bear upon the striker lever during the backward motion of the slide in such a. manner as to stress the spring of the striker lever and to secure the lever itself in the stressed position.

7. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which Wipe the upper part and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations and serving the purpose of wiping the marginal portions of the upper part over the edge of the inner sole, and independent hydraulic drives for the individual fixing stations, these drives effecting the pushing forward of the separate stations into operative positions till they strike against the work, a two-armed lever mounted in each slide and a nail-guiding head supported at one end of the two-armed lever, the upper end surface of the nail-guiding head being formed with orifices constituting nail-guiding channels, and filling devices for nails, which come into alignment with the nail-guiding channels of the individual stations when the said stations are pushed back out of the operative position.

8. For use in toe-tacking machines for footwear which wipe the upper part and tack it, a fixing mechanism, comprising a system of fixing stations distributed in a fan-like manner, a standard, formed with a recess providing a pair of trackways, at each fixing station, a slide in each standard, two pairs of rollers engaging said trackways, respectively, for guiding each slide in its standard, and a latch associated with each slide for locking and releasing its slide so that each slide is releasable and removable from its standard.

KLEMENT KVAPIL. JOSEF ZAORL. VILEM OSTRCIL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 8,764 Hatch June 17, 1870 608,555 Nazel Aug. 2, 1898 1,514,614 Gouldbourn et a1. Nov. 11, 1924 1,699,673 Pym Jan. 22, 1929 1,710,729 Gouldbourn et al. Apr. 30, 1929 1,999,545 Muller Apr. 30, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 413,010 Great Britain July 12, 1934

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