US2348327A - Ribbed insole and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

May 9, 1944. Q J. CALLEO RIBBED INSOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 19, 1941 Patented May 9, 1944 RIBBED INSOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Joseph Calleo, Endicott, N. Y., assignor to Puritan Manufacturing Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 19, 1941, Serial No. 419,74o

THE

11 Claims.

This invention relates to insoles for welt shoes, and particularly to soles of the type in which a separate rib for receiving the stitches of the inseam of the shoe is applied to a flat body. Insoles of this type have long been made in which the rib is composed of a stiff core and a strip of flexible material folded to embrace the core closely and provided with flaps or flanges bent away from the core and laid flat against the body of the insole, and secured thereto by sewed seams or adhesive. Such an insole is shown in the patent of Jesse V. Poole No. 1,137,282, dated April 27, 1915.

In the commercial manufacture of such insoles it has been the practice to use as the covering material strips of plain woven duck cut on the bias so that the interwoven threads make angles of approximately 45 with the length of the strip, in order thatthe flanges may stretch in being carried around convex curves and lie flat against the surface of the body. The necessity of stretching is particularly marked with respect to the outer rib flange at the toe end of the sole Where the curvature of the rib is sharp and embraces a large angle. If without capacity for stretching, the flange surrounding a part of such sharp and extensive curvature would be drawn strongly away from the body of the insole and could not be smoothly held flat against the body. The bias cut fabric is capable of thus stretching in sufiicient degree. But the preparation of bias cut strip material in the great lengths required for economical commercial manufacture of such insoles involves considerable expense additional to the cost of the fabric itself. This is because the continuous long strips must be composed of a large number of relatively short strips cut diagonally from the woven fabric are joined together at their ends. There is also some incidental waste of material and loss of effective length in the continuous strips due to the overlap at the joined ends of the constituent bias cut strips.

One object of my invention is to eliminate such expense and waste by making possible the use of fabric covering strips which are out lengthwise of the woven cloth and may therefore be made of anyidesired Iength,.however great, in integral continuity without joints,,junctions or overlaps. Another object is to enable other flexible materials than woven fabrics, which have little or no appreciable capacity for stretching, to be used in making ribs of the type described.

The invention comprises the method ofapply;-

ing such a rib to the body of an insole and simultaneously slitting the outer flange thereof in lines extending (preferably perpendicular to, the length of the strip) from pointsnear the outstanding rib to the outer edge of the strip; and slitting the inner flange as well if desired. It also comprises a means for thus slitting the outer flange, or both flanges, of such a rib and the combination thereof with means for applying the rib strip to the insole body. It'further comprises the resulting insole provided with a flanged rib of which at least the outer flange is slit or cut through at short intervals in at least that portion which follows the outline of the toe end of the sole.

The drawings furnished herewith show an insole made in accordance with this invention and an illustrative embodiment of means for folding a rib strip, applying such strip to the body of an insole, and slitting the outer flange of the strip in the course of applying it; and in the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bottom of the insole referred to;

Fig. 2 is a cross section of the insole taken on line 2-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation, partly cut away and shown in section, of a machine for applying a rib strip to the body of an insole and slitting the outer flange thereof;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the tool or instrument of such machine by which the slitting of the strip and feeding of the insole is accomplished;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 55 of Figs. 3 and 6;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the strip folding, slitting and feeding means of the machine, being the parts beneath the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures.

The insole shown in these figures, like that of the Poole patent referred to, consists of a body a and a rib composed of a folded strip 17 embracing a stiff reinforcing or core strip 0 and having an outwardly turned lip or flange b and an inwardly turned lip or flange b laid flat against the body and secured thereto. Preferably, and in accordance with the common present day practice, the strip b is covered with a coating of dried rubber latex and the area of the body a against which it is applied is likewise provided with a coating of the same substance. When these coatings are brought in contact and firmly pressed together, they unite and create a powerful bond.

Preferably the strip b is made of cotton duck.

33, reciprocate the bars 24 and 23 and oscillate the rocker 25 through connections of known character, such as those illustrated in the patent to J. V. Poole No. 2,042,275 dated May 26, 1936. These connections are constructed and arranged to advance the bar 24 toward the work when the a convex curve. Such spreading is shown in the drawing at the toe end of the sole; and it the sides of the fore part. .The'tongues of fabricbetween the opened slits lie flat against the adjacent surface of the body and are firmly united thereto by the bonding material.

The strip is folded and applied progressively to the body of the insole, thework is fed step by step, and the outer flange is cut-with each feeding step, Icy-correlated means, of which an illustrative form is shown in' the drawing. These means-comprise a table it on which the body 'a is placed, a folder-"ll secured to the table, a' presser J2, a slitting knife 13, which is also a feeder and, preferably, one or more additional feeding pointsorawls M and H5. The knife and "awls are mounted to have a reciprocating vertical movement beneath the presser l2, and also a lateral movement to right and left with respect to the position shown in Fig. 3.- The folder H is secured to the table located infan v inclined position beneath the table with its do livery end directly under the presser, and is arranged to receive the strips b and c from any suitable sources of'supply, here diagrammatically represented as rolls or spools mounted conveniently near to the fo'lder'on suitable supports, not shown. The folder here shown is of well known character, not of my invention, and need not be described further than by saying that it contains a passageway for the core strip, a passage for the fabric strip, and internal formations adapted to bend the fabric strip longitudinally around the core strip and bend the flanges b" and b away from the core strip inthe same plane. The folder 'is so located as to deliver'the strip against the under side of the innerisole body, and has a top surface l6 (Fig. 6). underlying a portion of the presser i2 and cooperating therewith to press the coated side'ofv the rib flanges b and b forcibly against the coated area of the body. Openings IT and I8 are provided in the delivery end of the folder to receive, and permit back and forth movements of, the knife and feeding awls. The presser is secured to a bar '!9.which is movable endwise in the overhanging head 28 of the machine, and is pressed upon, by a leaf spring 2|; the spring forcing'the presser toward the surface I 60f the folder. An arm 22 secured to bar l9 typifies means-by which the presser may be raised to admit and release the work, and may also be considered as typifying automatic means, such as those with which sewing machines are commonly equipped, for relieving the presser in timewith the work feeding steps.

.The knife and feeding awls are secured to a block 23 on a bar 24 which reciprocates in a rockerI25 secured to a rock shaft 26 in the machinebase 2?. 'A second bar 28 also reciprocates in the rocker', 25 and carries fingers 2d and 30 which embrace and supportthe knife and awls near the. work. A shaft 3! carrying. two eccentrics, one of which is shown at 32, and a cam rocker is near the right hand limit of swing (with respect to Fig. 3), swing therocker from right to left while the knife and awls extend to some extent into the work, withdraw the bar 28 at the end of this swinging movement, and swing the rocker from left to right while the knife and "awls are clear of the work.

i The fact is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 that the knife it" is: arranged to move toward and away from theplane irryvhich the body a is held, at that side of the rib from which the flange b projects. ts width, and the length and position of its cutting edge, are such that it will cut the flange b from the outer edge thereof inward to a point near the base of the rib; It is provided with a shank 34 adjustable endwise'in a socket within the block '23, and is set, and secured by a set screw 35 so that its edge will pass all' the way throughthe thickness of flange b, in the course of the upwardimovement of bar 29. The awls I A and 15' are similarly'mounted and adjustable, and are set so that they will penetrate the insole deeply enough to propel the insole without slip during the feeding movements. The knife cooperates with the awls in feeding the work, besides performing its exclusive function of slitting the rib flange. The feeding steps are made of suitable length to'space the cuts at convenient distances apart and to feedthe work at a sufficiently rapid rate. Considerable, latitude is possible in this regard. I may say however, by way of illustration and not limitation of themvention, that I have found three or four six teenths of an inch to be a very. suitable and convenient-length for the feeding steps.

Variations from thespecific disclosure here shown maybe madewithin the scope of the invention. For example, the operation of slitting and feeding may be combined with a sewing operation so as to secure therib by seams, as'speciflcally shown in the before mentioned .Poole Patent 1,137,282. Also it is not essential that the rib be made with an inserted core. Other known forms of rib strip which have. base flanges or, lips may be applied and slitted in the same way. Again, if desired, a knife similar tothe knife l3, but oppositely disposed, may be. substituted for the awls I 4 and I5 with its shank set in thesocket of the awl I4, for slitting the inner flange as well as the outer flange. Butsuch second knife is generally unnecessary, because the inwardly convex curves of insole ribs are ,seldom sharp enough to cause elongation of the margin of the inner flange beyond the capacity for lengthwise stretching of cotton duck. And it goes with out saying that either or both of the .awls may be omitted without substitution of a knife, al-

, though it is preferable'to have at least one awl to assist the operator in correctly guiding the work.

It will be readily understood that the means here shown and described, and equivalents thereof, enable the objects set forth in the introductory part of this specification to be accomplished with certainty and without difficulty. Toe curvatures of any degree of sharpness may be surrounded by base flanges slit in the manner described, and thesegments of the flange between the slits will lie flat against the surface ofthe insole body with no more tendency to draw away therefrom than is present in the case of bias cut fabric or straight portions of any material. And any other material, which is sufficiently flexible to be folded in the manner described and applied in a curved line to the surface of a body, may be used in place of cotton duck as the material for the rib, including such as have even less capacity for stretching than that of cotton duck in the direction of its warp.

The term straight cut where used in the following claims to characterize the fabric strip is defined as meaning that, in cutting wide fabrics to make the strip material, the fabric is cut along the direction of one of its sets of interwoven crossed threads or yarns so that such threads extend lengthwise of the strip. More specifically, it signifies that the strip is severed from the fabric in the direction of the warp.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

, 1. The method of making a ribbed innersole which comprises leading a folded strip of flexible material having outwardly turned flanges to the body of an insole in such fashion that said flanges are brought against one surface of said body, feeding the strip and body step by step simultaneously in the same direction at the same speed, and slitting one of said flanges crosswise in timed relation with the feeding steps.

2. The method of making a ribbed innersole which consists in folding a straight out strip of textile fabric to form a rib and outturned flanges at the base of such rib, applying and securing said flanges to one face of an innersole body in a manner such that the rib protrudes from the body and extends in a line generally similar to the outline of the body, and slitting one of the flanges transversely from its outer edge toward the base of the rib.

3. The method of making a ribbed innersole which consists in folding a straight out strip of textile fabric to form a rib and outturned flanges at the base of such rib, applying and securing said flanges to one face of an innersole body in a manner such that the rib protrudes from the body and extends in a line generally similar to the outline of the body, and slitting one of said flanges at points near together and in lines extending from its outer edge transversely of the length of the strip toward the base of the rib.

4. The method of making a ribbed innersole which consists in folding a straight cut strip of textile fabric to form a rib and outturned flanges at the base of such rib, applying and securing said flanges to one face of an innersole body in a manner such that the rib protrudes from the body and extends in a line generally similar to the outline of the body, and slitting one of the flanges transversely from its outer edge toward the base of the rib simultaneously with the step of applying the rib to the insole body.

5. The method of making a ribbed insole which comprises progressively bringing an innersole body and a flanged rib strip of flexible material into contact on one of the sides of such body in a line generally similar to the outline of the body and successively cutting slits across one of the flanges of such strip during the progress of bringing the strip flanges and insole body together.

6. The method of making a ribbed insole comprising placing a flat body of such insole in position to receive a 'rib, leading a flanged flexible rib "strip toward and .into contact with one face of such body, passing the edge of a knife toward said body from a location at a distance therefrom in a path and to an extent such that the knife edge passes through one flange of the strip and enters, but without penetrating, the substance .of said body and severs the said flange in a line extending from its outer edge toward the base of the rib, moving said knife transversely of its edge to feed the work, withdrawing the knife clear of said body and rib flange, moving the knife while clear of the work oppositely to the feeding movement, repeating the above described cycle of movements of the knife a number of times, and guiding the said body and rib strip so as to cause the rib strip to be applied thereto in 3 lne conforming generally to the outline of the 7. An apparatus for producing ribbed insoles having an attached flanged rib with transverse slits in one flange of such rib, comprising a slitting knife, means for moving said knife in a cycle consisting of advance, edge foremost, feeding movement in a direction transverse both to its edge and to the direction of its advancing movement, withdrawal, and return to starting position; combined with an opposed abutment arranged to support an insole against the thrust of the knife in position to cause penetration of the knife edge through the flange of such rib, the knife being arrested in its advancing movement short of such abutment.

8. A machine for applying a flanged stitch receiving rib to an insole body and slitting one of the flanges of such rib comprising a guide for such a strip having a surface adapted to support the flanges of the rib, a presser cooperating with said surface to put such flanges and the body of an insole under pressure, a knife having a cutting edge on its end projecting toward said presser from the side thereof at which the strip guide is located, said knife being mounted to move toward and away from said presser and also in a direction transverse both to its edge and to the direction of its first named movement, and means for so moving said knife in a cycle consisting of advance toward the presser, displacement laterally in one direction, withdrawal from the presser, and displacement laterally in the opposite direction.

9. A machine for applying a flanged stitch receiving rib to an insole body and slitting one of the flanges of such rib comprising a guide for such a strip having a surface adapted to support the flanges of the rib, a presser cooperating with said surface to put such flanges and the body of an insole under pressure, a knife having a cutting edge on its end, a carrier for said knife holding the same with its cutting end extending toward said presser from a location at the same side thereof as the strip guide, the knife being movable back and forth on said carrier in the direction of its length, its movement toward the presser being limited to end at a distance from the presser less than the thickness of such innersole body, and the carrier being movable back and forth transversely both of the cutting edge and of the direction of the first named movement, and mean for imparting their prescribed movements to the knife and knife carrier respectively in a predetermined sequence. 7 r 4 I 10. A machine for the purpose set forth comprising a presser and a folded flanged strip guide arranged to receive an insole body and the flanges of a rib strip between and in contact with them, a carrier movable back and forth in a path substantially parallel to the coacting portions of said guide and presser, a knife holder mounted on said carrier and guided to move thereon in a path transverse to the movement of the carrier, a knife secured to said holder having an edge at one end in a line transverse to both the movement of the carrier and the movement of the knife holder, and correlated mechanism for moving said carrier and knife holder in their respective paths and in a predetermined cycle.

11. In a machine of the character described having a rock shaft, a rocker secured to said shaft and a bar movable endwise in said rocker in a path transverse to the movements of the rocker; a knife secured to said bar having a cutting edge at one end lying in a, line transverse to the directions of movement of both the rocker and bar.

- JOSEPH CALLEO.

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