US2423500A - Splitting machine - Google Patents

Description

July 8, 1947. c. E. JOHNSON SPLITTING MACHINE Filed May 3, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 [nven tor tTJofmson July 8, 1947. c, JOHNSON 2,423,500

SPLITTING MACHINE Filed May 3, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fnven'toh Char/es EJo/maon Jul 8, 19i7.

c. E. JOHNSON 2,423,500

SPLITTING MACHINE llllllllI-llllll 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor Filed May 5, 1946 Char/9s 5 Jo/mson ?aiented .Fuly 8, 1947 SPLITTING MACHINE Charles E. Johnson, Belmont, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application May 3, 1946, Serial No. 666,995

8 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for splitting or evening sheet material and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine particularly adapted to even thick pieces of leather such, for example, as heel lifts.

Leather splitting machines commonly comprise a knife or cutter, and'a pair of separable rolls which feed the work to the knife. One of these rolls, commonly the lower one, is a pressure roll which is located beneath the plane of the knife, is urged upwardly by heavy springs against a stop, and is designed to be pressed downward when the leading end of a piece of work enters between the rolls, and to yield to irregularities in the thickness of the work while the work is being split. The other roll, called a gage roll, is commonly located above the yielding pressure roll and the plane of the knife in rigid but adjustable bearings; and its adjusted position above the cutting edge of the knife determines the uniform thickness to which the work will be split or evened.

In a splitting machine of this general type comprising a knife to which the work is fed by two cooperating rolls, it is desirable that the distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls to the edge of the knife be as small as possible. This distance cannot be zero since with such a position of parts there is insufi'icient clearance between the knife and the rolls for the passage between the knife and the rolls of the split piece of work and of the waste split or skiving. In splitting or evening pieces of work with machines of this kind in which the knife is set as close as practical to the plane which passes through the axes of the rolls, and the distance between said knife edge and said plane always remains the same, there is a tendency to start the splitting or evening out too far from the pressure roll so that the cut-is made for a short distance at first on a downward bevel before it straightens out at the desired level. The result is a finished piece of work which is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its major portion but is more or less abruptly beveled at one of its ends. This beveling or nipping, as it is commonly referred to, of one end of the piece of work'is in many instances very disadvantageous. For example, when heel lift blanks are thus split or evened, there results a plurality of heel lifts each of which has been nipped or sharply beveled along one edge so that at this locality each lift is thinner than throughout its major portion; and when, for example, such heel lifts are built into a heel, the height of the heel is reduced along that edge in which the beveled portions of the lifts lie.

The purpose of the present invention is to avoid or prevent this nipping or beveling of the leading end of the work.

It is desirable in splitting machines of this type, as has been stated, that the cutting edge of the knife be located as close as possible to the plane connecting the axes of the rolls. At the same time, of course, there must be sufficient clearance between the knife and the rolls to permit the finished piece and the split to pass respectively between the knife and the gage roll and between the knife and the pressure roll. If

the knife is set too close to the plane which passes through the axes of the rolls, there will not be clearance enough for the finished stock and the split or skiving.

In the illustrated construction, according to the present invention, the distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls is small when no work is in the machine and remains so until the leading end of the work has entered between the rolls and contacted with the edge of the knife. As soon as this happens and the knife is in contact with the leading end of the work at the desired level, the distance from the edge of the knife to a plane passing through the axes of the rolls is automatically increased, proper clearance is thus supplied, and the splitting out, having started at exactly the proper level, continues at the level, and the finished piece of work thus has a substantially uniform thickness throughout.

This and other features of the invention, including certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will be described as embodied in an illustrated machine and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machine in which the invention is embodied;

Figure 2 is a View principally in end elevation of the machine, the pointer which indicates the setting of the gage roll having been omitted. In Figures 1 and 2 there is no work in the machine; and 1 Figure 3 is a View similar to that of Figure 2 but on an enlarged scale and showing a piece of work in process of being split or evened.

Referring first to Figure 1, the machine comprises a frame 4 in which are rotatably mounted two rolls, an upper gage roll 5 and a lower pressure roll 6, The gage roll is held up by springs 1 with wedge-shaped stops carried by the roll-shaft bearings held against similar wedge-shaped stops carried by a bar 9 which is horizontally slidable in a cap piece ll, said cap piece being rigid with the frame of the machine. A hand wheel [3 may be turned to adjust the upper or gage roll, the axis of said roll remaining in fixed position when adjusted, said adjustment serving to hold this gage roll a fixed distance above the edge of the knife (later to be described) and thereby to determine the uniform thickness to which the piece of work shall be split. The lower or pressure roll 6 is yieldingly supported on heavy springs ll, 5 H which permit the 'roll to yield when a piece of work is entered between the rolls. Stop-screws 16 which engage with their lower ends a bar Hi I fast on a bearing block of the pressure roll 6 a limit the extent of upward movement. Behind the pair of rolls (Fig. 2) is a stationary knife or cutter l9 which rests upon afiat stationary support and is provided with elongated slots 24 through which pass bolts 23, said bolts holding the knife in adjusted position. A drive shaft 25 (Fig. 1) is provided with fast and loose pulleys, said shaft being also provided with gears which mesh with other gears to drive the rolls 5 and 6 in opposite directions so as to feed the work to the knife. The teeth on certain of these gears mesh loosely enough to permit the vertical adjustmerit of the gage roll 5 and yielding movement of the pressure roll 6 which have been described above. The meshing of these gears is also loose enough to permit asmall substantially horizontal movement of the pressure roll 6 as will be described later in connection with what is new in the machine.

Nofurther description of the general construction of the machine will be given since machines of this general type comprising an adjustable gage roll, a yieldingpressure roll and a stationary knife are old and well known. Such a machine is shown, for example, in United States Letters Patent No. 894,850, granted August 4, 1908, upon an application of F. J. Nash. The parts of the machine relating to the present invention will now be described in detail.

In the illustrated machine these parts relate principally to the mounting of the lower or pres sure roll 6 for movement toward and from the knife'in substantially the path of feed movement of the work. This movement is really a swinging movement about the horizontal axis of a rotatable spindle 21, but the extent of the movement is so small and the radius so long that the bodily movement of the roll 6 is substantially horizontal and in the path of feed movement of the work as it passes between the rolls 5 and ii. The roll 6 is carried in two bearing blocks, one of which is shown at 29 in Figure 2, said blocks being slidable substantially vertically in the opposite arms of two forked members, one of which is shown at 3|, which the bars 18 pass so that the pressure roll 6 may yield toward and from the gage roll 5 when necessary. Since the two forked members are alike, one slidably supporting a bearing 29 at one end of the shaft 33 of the pressure roll 6 and the-other slidably supporting a similar bearing at the other end of the shaft, only one of said forked members will be described in detail.

- Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the forked member 3| has two upright arms between which is slidably received the bearing 29. This bearing is supported upon the heavy spring ll which in turn rests upon a member 35, said member being in turn supported upon the end of a screw 31 which may be turned to vary the tension of the spring. Near its lower end the forked member 3| has threaded through its base two stop-screws, and the corresponding forked member l3! also has threaded through its base two stop-screws. These stop-screws, all of which are adapted to contact with a flat surface on stationary members, arearranged in pairs front and rear of the forked members. Of the rear pair, only one stopscrew M is shown (Figures ,2 and 3). The front These members 3| have slots through pair 43, e3 are both shown in Figure 1. The purpose of these stop-screws is to limit in both directions the swinging movement of the forked members 3|, Hit, and consequently the bodily movements of the lower roll 6 substantially in the path of feed movement of the work. In order to hold the forked members 3|, 13! to the right, as shown in Figure 2, and to permit them to be swung to the left, as shown in Figure 3, a screw b'is threaded through the base of the yokeshaped member 3! and bears with its lower end against a washer M which is supported on the upperend of a coiled compression spring 49, said spring resting on the base of the machine. It will now be apparent that normally, when there is no work in the machine as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the spring t9 swings the forked members 3!, E3! to the right, as viewed in Figure "2, as far as the adjustable stop-screw 4| will permit, and that, when there is work in the machine, the forked members 3!, ml are swung to the left, as viewed in Figure 3, against the action of the spring '59, as far as the adjustable stop-screws as will permit.

Referring now again to Figure 2, in which there is no work in the machine, it will be noted that the edge of the knife is substantially in line, considered in the direction of feed movement of the work, with the upper element of the lower roll 6, and that this roll occupies its right-hand position. At this time the distance of the edge of the knife from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls is somewhat smaller than it will be when the roll has been movedto its left-hand position.

Referring now to Figure 3, which is on a' larger scale than is Figure 2, the point 5| represents the position of the axis of the roll 6 when no'work is in the machine as in Figure 2. When apiece of work N30 is presented to the machine, 'itsfirst effect is merelyto depress the roll 6 to the level indicated by the line53QThe work is then fed forward by the rolls until its leading end contacts with the edge of the knife. This contact either stops the work or retards it, and at that time the lower roll, driven as it is in the directionindicated by the arrow, rolls on the work. This, .of course, swings the forked members 3|, 'I3l to the left (Fig. 3) againstthe force of the spring 49 as far as the stop-screws 43 willpermit. During this movement to the left (Fig. 3) the axis'of the roll moves to the point 55, and the splitting begins, said point, in the illustrated machine, being vertically below the axis of the upper rolljso that a plane passed through the axes of the rolls is exactly perpendicular to the plane of the knife and at just the right distance from the edgeof the knife so that the splitting operation proceeds with proper clearance for the finished work and'the split-off skiving. This mode of operation, in which the lower roll is first depressed and then the distance from the edge of the knife to a plane passed through the aXes of the rolls is increased to the proper distance, results in obviating the former nipping or beveling of the leading end of the work.

Although in the illustrative machine the roll moves away from the knife after the leading end of the work has depressed the-pressure roll and itsleading edge has contacted with the edge of the knife, it should be understoodthatother means for increasing the distance from the edge of'the knife to a plane passed through the axes of the rolls may be employed, and that the in- Vention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has been shown and described.

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

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pair of rolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to which the work is fed by said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward and from the knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will be split, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knife the split which is removed from the work passes, yielding means for permitting the pressure roll to move away from the gage roll in response to the entering of the work between the rolls, other yielding means for normally holding the parts with the edge of the knife at a small distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls whereby, when the leading end of the work has moved forward and contacted with the edge of the knife, relative movement of separation between said knife and plane takes place to increase said small distance, and means for limiting this increase.

2. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pair of rolls rotatable in opposite directions, a knife to Which the work is fed by said rolls, one of said rolls being a gage roll adjustable toward and from the knife to predetermine the thickness to which the work will be split, the other roll being a pressure roll between which and the knife the split which is removed from the work passes, the edge of the knife lying substantially in a plane extending in the path of feed movement of the work and passed through that element of the pressure roll which is nearest to the gage roll, yielding means for permitting the pressure roll to move away from the gage roll in response to the entering of the work between the rolls, other yielding means for normally holding the parts with the edge of the knife at a small distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls whereby, when the leading end of the work has moved forward and contacted with the edge of the knife, relative movement of separation between said knife and plane takes places to increase said small distance, and means for limiting this increase.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a co-operating pressure roll, a knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, the edge of the knife being located in the path of feed movement of the work at a small distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, means including the work and operating substantially when the leading edge of the work has entered the rolls and contacts with the knife for increasing said distance, and yielding means operating as soon as the work has finished passing between the rolls for restoring said increased difference to its original smaller extent.

4. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a co-operating pressure roll, a knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, the edge of the knife being located in the path of feed movement of the work at a small distance from a plane passed through the axes of the rolls, means including the work and operating substantially when the leading edge of the work has entered the rolls and contacts with the knife for increasing said distance, means for limiting said increase, and yielding means operating as soon as the work has finished passing between the rolls for restoring said increased difference to its original smaller extent.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a co-operating pressure roll yieldingly mounted for movement away from the gage roll in a direction substantially perpendicular to the path of feed movement of the work, a knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, the plane of the knife being normally substantially in a plane passed through that element of the pressure roll which is nearest to the gage roll, whereby, when the leading end of the work has been entered between the rolls and the pressure roll thus moved away from the gage roll, the leading edge of the work contacts with the knife at the desired location, yielding means and stop means acting up to the moment of contact to maintain a given distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls and thereafter permitting relative movement of separation between the knife and said plane to increase said distance, and means for limiting said increase.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a co -operating pressure roll, a knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, yielding means and a stop for maintaining a given distance between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls while no work is between the rolls, and means operating after the leading end of the work has entered between rolls and while the work is in contact with the knife for causing relative movement of separation between the edge of the knife and a plane passed through the axes of the rolls.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two co-operating rolls one of which is yieldingly mounted for movement away from the other in a direction substantially perpendicular to the path of feed movement of the work, a stationary knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, yielding means at all times urging one of the rolls toward the edge of the knife substantially in the path of feed movement of the work whereby, when the work has entered between the rolls and its forward movement is retarded by contact of its leading edge with the knife, said last-named roll rolls on the work away from the edge of the knife, and means for limiting said movement.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a gage roll, a pressure roll, yielding means for urging the pressure roll toward the gage roll in a direction substantially perpendicular to the path of feed movement of the work, a stationary knife to which the work is fed by the rolls, said pressure roll being also mounted for movement toward and from the edge of the knife in substantially the path of feed movement of the work, yielding means urging the pressure roll toward the edge of the knife whereby, when the work has entered between the rolls and its forward movement is retarded by contact with the leading edge of the knife, said pressure roll rolls on the Work away from the edge of the knife, and means for limiting said forward movement.

CHARLES E. JOHNSON.

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