USRE12288E - Reissued nov - Google Patents

Description

{KM/Q 0 No. 12,288. r REISSUED Nov. 22, 1904.

- v E. P. NICHOLS.

EVENING AND GRADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13, 1904.

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E. P. NICHOLS. EVENING AND GRADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13, 1904.

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No. 12,288. BEISSUED NOV. 22, 1904. E. P. NICHOLS.

EVENING AND GRADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION TILED JAN. 13, 1904.

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' UNITED STATES Reissued November 22, 1904.

PATENT O CE. V}

ELMER P. NICHOLS, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE LAGENE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

EVENING AND GRADING MACHINE.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Reissued Letters Patent No. 12,288,dated November 22, 1904.

Original No. 711,585, dated October 21, 1902. Application for reissue filed January 13, 1904- Serial No. 188,917-

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER P. NIcHoLs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, county of Hillsboro, State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in Evening and Grading Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyingdrawings,isaspecification, like letters of the drawings representing like parts.

The purpose of my invention is to-do by machinery what has heretofore required the judgment of skilled hand-labor. In certain kinds of heavy. leather-such as employed for soles, taps, counters, and top .15 lifts the thickness varies considerably, and it becomes necessary to even it and grade it, as it is called in the trade, meaning'thereby the shaving off or cutting away of the thicker portions and bringing the leather,usually after it has been cut out into soles, taps, &c., down to auniform thickness throughout-- the piece and thereafter sorting or grading the different pieces as tothickness. The usual way in which this has heretofore been done is for a skilled operator to take each pieceof leather been done the grading, &c., are subsequently accomplished by hand, all these procedures re-- quiring unusual skill, being necessarily slow and expensive and usually more or less inac- 40 curate. Accordingly I have devised amachi'ne which itself does all the work explained above and preferably accomplishes the entire .opera tion automatically. j y

In the preferred embodiment of my invention the leather is simply fed into the machine,

and feelers engage the leather-at oneormore points for. automatically adjusting a gage to the thickness detected by the feelers, and the leather continuing on its way is then evened or shaved down to a uniform thickness corresponding to said adjustmenhand finally the thickness of each piece is gaged and marked.

Furthende'tails and advantages and the operation and construction of my invention will be more fully pointed out in the, course of the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, and the latter will be more particularly defined'in the appended claims also forming apart of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view takenon the line 1 1, Fig. 2, partly broken away for convenience of illustration; Fig. 2'is a top plan vi'ewfof the machine with the pressure-plates for holding the work on the feeding-chain omitted. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 3,F.ig. 1. Fig. 4 is abroken detail in side elevation of a portion of the Fig. 5 is a transverse sec.

gage adjuster. tional view-thereof on the line 5 5, Fig. 4:.

The work is fed in at the right-hand end of the machine, viewing Figs. 1 an'd2, the feeding mechanism herein shown comprising a lower feed-roll a, suitably ournaled at its I ends in the frame A of the machine, and an .upper presser-roll a, whose journal-boxes a are vertically movable in guides a and nor-,

rhallyrheld with a downward pressure by springs (0*, being provided at one end with a gear a, meshing with a pinion a of a stub driving-shaft a carrying fast and loose beltpullcys a a. with sprocket-teeth a) for engagei'nent with a sprocket feed-chain (1 provided with feed-- ing-teeth a here and there along its length,

The feed-roll a'is also provided the sprocket-chain a passing over a sprocket idler a, so as to bringthe teeth of the sprocketchain into feeding position above the bed a? of the machine.

At some convenient placein the machine, herein shown as at its rear end I provide a cuttingknife a herein shown as ad ustably held by clamping-bolts a" and set-screws a in a block or cross-piece a of the frame.

Gaging-rolls cooperate with this knife and are shown herein as comprising a yielding lower or presser roll a, held upwardly by a spring a and an unyielding top or gage roll a,

whose journal-boxes a carry a pressure-bar a, extending lengthwise of the roll to be engaged by gage-arms e a, fast on a rockshaft a. The roll a? is supported in guides a at its opposite ends and provided with springs a for holding it firmly against the agms e a. The roll a is driven by a gear journaled in the frame of the machine beneath the bed is a shaft c /having a pinion a at one end in mesh with the pinion a, and at its other end a pinionla, meshing at opposite sides with a gear a? for driving thelower galgeqoll a5 and a gear a for driving the feedro a. i Conveniently located between the feed-rolls 'and gage-rolls provide one or more feelers,

there being herein shown for convenience of description and clearness of illustration two of these feelers b 6, each in the form of a roll or wheel mounted, respectively, at the lower on said ratchet, as by tongues and grooves b",

and cooperating with said ratchet are pawls b" b", pivotally mounted in a pawl-carrier 71.

, vertically guided at 6 at the side of the frame and connected to a wrist-pin if of a-face-plate 5, carried by a sleeve 8, loose on a shaft 6 The shaft 11 is driven by a band-wheel 6 and band 17 from a band-pulley a on the driveshaft and carries a clutch, shown as a notched wheelb fast on the shaft, to be engaged by a dog 6 normallyheld by a spring 1/? toward the clutch and pivoted at 6' to an arm 6',

fasten the sleeve 6, so that when the clutch is lockedwithsaid sleeve the latter rotates and operates the gagingrnechanism. The dog'bi" isl normally held out of engagement With the clutch bya notched detent-b pivoted at Z) to'the' frame, and held upwardly by a spring 7), said detent being operated automatically by any suitable means, as bya plunger b, pivotally connected to a bell-crank b, adjustably pivoted in the bed of the machine at I) for different lengths of leather pieces and having its free arm projecting upwardly in the path of the leather pieces, so that as a piece is fed into proper position on a mesh with the pinion a, and suitably anism ishnon-responsive, as .the feelers and connected mechanism are inactive or inoperative after the bell-crank b has been tripped.

My invention as a distinct feature also includes an automatic grade-marking device,

' herein shown as comprising a marking-wheel;-

0, provided on itsperiphery with the proper designations corresponding to the various thicknesses according to the current trade scale, said wheel being mounted on ashaft-c',

supported at its endsvin swinging journals 0 a. 4 0 -,-'the latter carrying a rack 0 ,-engag1ng at one end a pinion o on said shaft, and at its other end being connected to a bell-crank c,- operated by-a link 0 extending from thearm a for properly rotating the wheel, so as to bring the correct stamping-number in proper position. Thewheel is depressed by a rod 0*, connected at one end to a projection a of the swinging journal 0 and at its other end engaged by a cam-lug 0 on the sleeve 6." The rod 0 is made yielding in any suitable man'- ner, as by a spring a", for the purpose of permitting the wheel 0' to accommodate itself au-' tomatically to different thicknesses of leather. In operation the uneven stock is inserted between-the rolls a a and .is positively fed. forward thereby and by meansof the feed-chain- It, and as it passes beneath the feelers b 7) they followthe unevennesses of the leather and correspondingly shift the guards or ratchetadjusters,.which shield the ratchet 1), downwardly, as best shown in Fig. 4, thereby limiting to a corresponding extent the point of,

engagement therewith of the pawl-carrier, so that when the dog b 'is tripped by the engagethe tripping device or bell-crank 6? on the ta- 'mcnt of the forward end of the leather with I ble the sleeve 6 is caused to rotate with the shaft 6 thereby at once pulling downwardly upon the pawl-carrier 7), and as soon as either pawl b" or 6" thereof ,is permitted to engage the ratchet I) further downward movement of the pawl-carrier acts through-the ratchet to pull downwardly on the arm a and low'er'the gageroll a.

This adjusts the gage-roll at precisely that distance above the edge of the knife a which corresponds to the thinness of the leather, its-determined by one or the other of the feelers Z) I), and as the leather passes 'betweenthe rolls a a the former yieldsso as to permit the extrathickness of the leather to be iadj ustment.

"shaved ofi by theknife, thereby reducing the entire. leather piece in accordance with said Meanwhile the marking-wheel c has been rotated tocorrespond to the gaged thickness of the leather by reason of the fact 1 thatjt is rotated to an extent corresponding ,lfil ddenly brought down forcibly by means ofthe cam-lug c f eud ofthe rod the result being that the :tothe downward movement of the arm 60, saidrotation being effected by the link a,

bell-crank 0, and rack-bar c, and as the leather gets along beneath said wheel 0 the lever is which engages the crooked leather isstamped to indicate the precise thickness to which it has been. gaged by the machine and is being dressed or cut.

It will be understood that for handling extra large pieces of leather I employ a large number of. feelers; but for ordinary purposes,

especially in handling died-out stock, two feelers and in some instances one feeler will be suflicient, the idea being simply to provide yigm'eans which will feel or detect the thin portion, or portions of the leather and set the gaging mechanism to correspond thereto, so that when the leather reaches the cutting mechanism of whatever kind it may be said c pmechanism will remove all stock over and above the thickness to which the gaging-mechanism has; thus been automatically set. 1 Preferably the marking of the pieces takes 'place as they pass from the feeding-in end of .w the'tmachine to the cutting .end, although it maybe located elsewhere. and it may be of different construction, as the purpose is simply todesignate or distinguish the different grades of leather, sothat all those of one grade can b'edistinguished from those of difv resortcd to within the spirit andscope of my invention I llowever, besidsclaiming my invention broadlyinfterms commensurate with what I regard as novel andas constituting my general 'inven'tion I have limited certain of my claims to, more or less of the details of the present embodiment.

In practice it is essential that the pieces of i leather'being fed" by the chain and impaled upon the. points thereof be kept down upon the chain while the latter acts to feed the material through the machine. To effect this, I provide the machine with suitable yielding pressure-plates, one of which is. represented at 7, mulhese .plates may be sustained in any suitable manner with relation to the bed, so

that they 'mayyicld and adapt themselves to the thickness of material being carried by the Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A machine, comprising mechanism for evening or cutting ofi' the thicker portions of uneven leather, and automatic means for adjusting said mechanism to the thickness of the leather at its thinner portions.

2. A machine, comprising mechanism for evening or cutting off the thicker portions of uneven leather, automatic means for adjusting said mechanism to the thickness of the leather at its thinner portions, and automatic mechanism for designating the different grades or thicknesses of the different pieces of leather put through the machine. 7 3. A machine, comprising means for permanently grading the different pieces of leather' with reference to a corresponding location in all the pieces, and automatic mechanism for adjusting said means with relation to the thinner portions of the leather for said location in each piece.

4. A machine, comprising means for applying a distinguishing grade-mark to each piece ofleather passed through the machine, and automatic controlling mechanism for selecting, with relation to the thinner portions of the leather, the particular grade-mark for each piece.

5. A machine, comprising moans'for applying a definite grade-mark to each piece of leather passed through the machine, automatic setting means operated by the leather piece for permanently setting said means for each piece, and operating mechanism for operating said-means once only for pach piece.

6. Amachine, comprising means fonapplying a definite grade-mark to each piece of leather passed th rough the machine, and auto maticc'ontrolling mechanismthereforactuated yvith reference to corresponding lengthwise localitiesof successive pieces, and once only for each piece.

7. A machine, comprising mcansior apply.- ing a definite grade-mark to each piece of leather passed through the machine, automatic mechanism for adjusting said applying means thereto, and automatic gaging mechanism for,

with relation'to the thinner portions of the ling automaticallv the extent to which the matically setting said means once for-each piece and with reference to the same region justing said means with relation to the thinner portions of the leather, and ad ustable means I ally regulating said adjusment to the thicksetting the machine to cut the leather to the leather, a gage roll or device for limiting the moving the thicker portions of an uneven piece gage-adjusting means.

given thickness to which it is desired to be reduced.

10. A machine,comprisinga cutter for evening an uneven piece of leather, feeding mechanism for feeding the leather thereto, a fee'ler adapted to follow the unevennesses of the thickness to which the leather is to be cut, means for moving said gage device toward and from said cutter, and means connected with said feeler and said moving means for controlgage device ismoved.

11. A machine, comprising a cutter for reof leather,agage device for holding the leather at a predetermined distance from said cutter, and means for positively adjusting said gage device toward and from said cutter, consisting of a pawl and ratchet, a feeler, means actuated by said feeler for controlling the point of engagement of the pawl with the ratchet, and lactuating means for reciprocating said paw 12. -A machine, comprising acutter for removing the thicker portions of an uneven piece of leather, agage device for holding the'leather at a predetermined distance from said cutter, means for positively adjusting said gage device toward and from said cutter, a feeler for automatically determining the adjustment of said gage device bythe passage of the leather through the machine, and means actuated by thepassage of the leather for operating said 13. A machine, comprising grade-distinguishingmeans for marking the grade with reference to the thinness of the leather at-corresponding regions of successive pieces, a 'feeler, and cooperating mechanism for autofor all of the-pieces marked.

14. A machlne, comprising marking means, automatic mechanism including a feeler for adfor varying the eli'ective position of operativeness of said feeler with relation to the leather.

15. A machine, comprising a cutter forremoving the thicker portions of an uneven piece of leather, feeding mechanism for feeding the leather thereto, a gage device, means for adjusting said gage device, a fe'elerautomaticness required, and mechanism for causing said adjusting means to operate, said mechanism being set in motion by the passage of leather, and being adjustable for different lengths of leather. I g

16. A machine, comprising a cutter for removing a portion of the leather, a yielding roll on one side thereof, and an unyielding roll on the other side thereof, the latter constituting a gage device and being provided with means for positively moving it toward and from the cutter, and automatic means for regulating the extent of movement according to the leather passing through the'machine.

17. A machine comprising'a cutter for removing a portion of the leather, a gage device, means for adjusting said gage device, a worksupport, a feelcr movable above said worksupport and adapted to be raised and lowered by the passage of the work, and a guard actuated by said feeler for controlling the opera;

tive movement of said justing means.

18. A machine, comprising acutter for removinga portion of the leather, a gage device, means for adjusting said gage device, a worksupport; a feeler movable above said worksupport and adapted to be raised and lowered by the passage of the work, and a guard actuated by said feeler for controlling the opera tive movement of said gage device by its adjusting means, a marking-wheel, means for. rotating said wheel to correspond to the extent 'of adjustment of the gage device, and means for engaging the wheel with the leather.

19. A machine, comprising a cutter for removing a portion of the leather, a gage device, a lever for moving said gage device toward and from the cutter, longitudinally-movable means fol-actuating said lever, said means being made in two parts adapted to be locked together at times for movement, a feeler, and

means actuated thereby for governing the locking together of said two parts.

20. A machine, comprising a cutter for'removing a portion of the leather, a gage device;

gage device by its a'd-i' 8 a ratchet, connections therefrom for moving said gage device toward and from the cutter, apawl and pawl-carrier, means for reciprocating said pawl-carrier, a feeler, and a guard having connection with said feeler a'nd' novablealong said ratchet in the path of said paw'lcarrier for controlling the point of engagemcnt of the pawl with the ratchet.

21. A machine, comprising a cutter for removing a portion of the leather, :1 gage device, a ratchet, connections therefrom for moving 'said gage device toward and from the cr tter, a pawl and pawl-carrier, means for rcc'lproeating said pawl-carrier, a plurality of feelers movable with relation to the leather at different points, and a guard connected with each feeler and movable along said ratchet in the path of said pawl carrier for controlling the I point of engagement of the latter'wlth the ratchet.

22. A machine, comprising acutter for re- "'and from the cutter, adjueting mechanism for automatically moving Said lever according to the thickness of the leather, 1: marking-wheel with grade-mafks, for stamping the means connected with said lever for,

men

rotating saixiwheel to bring the proper grade- Qmarkbp feltethe leatheniudicating the thick- 0 mess-toy i oh the gage device has been set, and

'n1oving'wportionof the leather,agagedeviee, means for bringing said wheel into contaet a leve'r for moving fsaid gage device toward withthe leather.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name i to this specification in the presence of two subscribingwitnesses. I r I a a i x E LMER 'RNIOHOLS;

Witnesses: I 1 f v GEO.'H. M-AxWELI THOMAS J. DRUMMonD;

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