US893739A - Method of forming blanks for covering eyelets. - Google Patents

Description

the word blank UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A mii-:wr LATHAM, or WALTHAM, MAsSAOnUSETTS, Ass1e`Non To' BOSTON FAST coton EYE- Ls'r OOMPAN Y, or PORTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OFMAINE.

" METHOD 0F FORMING BLANKSFOR COVERING'EYELETS.

specification @Latem Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

`application and omber 2e, 1906, semi No. esem. Renewed December i2, 1907. sei-iai no. 406,202.

ToavZZ iuhom fit may, noncern:

'Be it known that l lALBERT LATHAM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Wal-v .following description, in connection with thel accompanying" drawings, -1s a' s ecification,

like re erence-characters on the awings'in- (heating like-parts in the several figures. l

This invention relates to the treatment of covering material Y in "the manufacture of blanks used to yform wear-resisting coverings for eyelets.

The invention comprises a method of forniing blanks in which 1g'eat economy is practiced by utilizing materialwhich, in processes hitherto employed, basbeen wasted.

In the following specification andclaims willbeused to denote that portion of the covering materialwhich is a pliedt'o an eyelet, whether said lportion be ormed or shaped before or during the covering operation.

IThe inventlon will 'be described as em ploying sheet covering material and the expression blank-area will be used to denote that area of a'sheet of material'which is occupied by' a'blank.. The-expression inside the blank-area'V willbe used to indicate that portionof a sheet -which is surrounded by the blank-area.

It has been a common practice to cover e elets with lastic'` material in the form of a 's met, a portion of the material, of substanblankI 'intended .to register fwith 'the' lacing.' passage of an eyelet.. This method was disadvantageous since the considerable area of,

material thus removed-was Wasted. When y 'blanks for several eyelets iwere formedfrom a sheet, superfluous mate al'intervened be- ,tw'oen the curved, outl nes ofy ad'acent blaiiks, andl this su 'erfl ous materia `also was wasted. Y In met ods lieretfo're used it has been considered nece ary'to use a sheet of a thickness a proxima ing the maximum .thickness inten ed-for th blank, and hene, those portions of a sheetjwhich' were vWasted com rised considerable'j'areasof' relatively .thic stock.

Many millions ot material by ncreasi relatively thin sheet within a blank-area, t o form a blank of greater thickness than the yearly with eelluloid,`the material commonly used for 'this purpose, and the multiplied waste occasioned as above suggested is a source of serious expense to those en a ed in this industry. The initial cost of cel u oid is so catas toforbid discarding waste materia 4and consequently all waste is carefully preserved and reworked into new sheets or the like. This' does not, however', avoid a considerable-loss because the process of reworkin is' itself expensive. Obviously it is highly esirable to utilize as much as possible of the Vmaterial .in its initial form thereby reducing the amount of waste necessary tobe reworked and eliminat'in in large part the secondar expense hereto Oie involved `in the use of celulold. To this end the present invention contem- .plates the employmentvof a relatively thin sheet of covering -`material so that wasted ortions ,shall beof lesslvvolume than when ost from a thick sheetl and theinvention also contemplates a flirther reduc'ton of waste by using material whiclr would otherwise be wasted, in increasing the thickness ofthe relatively thin sheet to form the thick 'parts of a blank.

More specifically this invention consists in amethod ol forming blanks from sheet the thickness of a sheet.

In the particular a plio'ation of the invenf tion herein shown an described, the method is' characterized by moving material from insi'de the blank-area" outward to utilize -tliat waste material in the blank.

"Other characteristics of the will be explained in the following description Iandwill bedefned in the claims.- i

increasing the thickness .got

invention I.

Devices which may convenientlylb'e used .in the practice ofa method embodying this f invention are' shown in? the'accomp'anying' drawings "in'which Flgure :1 1s Aa vertical sectionl through-a 2'is a view in perspective cfa 's eet ofplastic' material with a blank formed thereon'b thedies shown in Fig."1, (reduced one-hat from Fig". '1). Fig. 31s a bottom planview ofthe-'acti face o f the upper die shown in Aviso reduced one-half). Filis.4v 4

.pair of cooperating blank forming dies.l Fig;

- forming die.

ln preparingy a blank for covering an eyelet having a central lacing passage, b v the preferred application of this novel method employing the specific devices shown in the drawings, a relatively thin sheet of plastic covering material, preferably Celluloid, is used land an annular rim of greater thickness than ,the sheet, is formed upon said sheet b v 'movingr material from inside the rim rmtwardly and from outside the rim inwardly to contribute to the increased thickness of said rim.

As shown in Fig. l a sheet A of plastic material rests on a flat die B and is acted upon by a die 'l`htl die C has an annular recess c and two presser-faces E and l". face li is concave and frusto-conical in form and inclincs inwardlv to the recess c. The face F is circular and flat.

'lhe plastic material usually employed in covering eyelets is normali)` hard orrigid and n'lay eonvenicntlv be rendered plastic by the ap )lication of heat. To this end the dies ain or either of them alone, mav be heated inauy suitable manner, or the reet A may be heated se ara-telygrand introduced to the dies in its a tered state. Any other practicable method of rendering the. sheet A plastic may be adoptedif desired.4

In practicing this invention by the above descri ed devices, the die C is brought down upon the sheet A of plastic material and subjected to suitable pressure. The lower edge of the presser face E engages the sheet A 1n the circumference of ,a circle, and as it descends the inclined face E moves material inwardly from said circumference `to contribute to the formation of'a blank in the recess c. The face F meets the sheet A 'on a circle inside the blank-area and as it descends, saidface F moves material from beneath -it outwardly into the. recess c to com lete the formation of the blank.

' Fig. 2 shows a blank formed as just de,- scribed. The 'presser-face E has acted to move material inwardly to form the blank a, leaving the thin annular portion b; and the presser-face F has acted to movematerial outwardly from inside the blank-area to the blank a leaving the thin circular portion d. It will be noted that the portions b and' d are materially thinner than the normal thickness of the sheet (see e, Fig. l), consid- The i thevpa'rticular form of the finger.

'time the blank is irefer'abltv plastic as when `manner the eyelet is covered.'

erable waste material having been removed from said portions to increase the thickness of the blank.

It is by no means essential that this improved method of preparing blanks be practiced in connection with such apparatus as is here shown and described .or 1n 'making blanks of the type used for illustration. The

. invention is not to be restricted inits application to use in connectionl with any particular sort of mechanical contrivance.

By way of illustrating the many possible forms of apparatus which might be used in practicing a method embodying'this invention a modified form of blank-forming die I is shown in Figs. 4 and'5. This die has in general the same characteristics as one of the I dies shown in Fig. 1, except that the presser face E is omitted in the modification. This die I has a recess c for sha-ping the blank, and it also4 has a presser face F which acts upon the sheet materia-l to move material from inside. the blank-area into the recess .In the use of this die. no, material is moved from vaccording; Ato this invention may be used,

eyelet covering dies are shown in Fig. 6 and aV covered eyelet isshown in Fig. 7.

The eyelet to be covered is shown as having an outwardly projecting flange at one end. This eyelet is positioned in a cvlindrical aperturefi'n a. lower' cove-ringdie G, (see Fig. (i). with-the lower face of its flange resting on su )ports g g which project upwardly from t ie face of the die. `A blank is placed upon the eyelet flange and an upper die ll is pressed upon it.

'lhe die ll has an annular recess lnwhich gives the filial shape to the l'covering of the exvelet ant-l which has the proper conformation to suit this pur iose; The blank a is preferably formed to it approximately within said recess z. 'lhe die llalso hasa trimmin edge i and a dependingfinger j. L As the die I descends the finger y' ienetrates the thin portion d inside the blank-area und either removes it entirelv 'or wipes part of it. down on the inside of the flange,l or it may be, into the 'barrel of the c velet, according t o At this 4supports g g. The trimming edge cuts away any fragments which ma Y have been left around the ,edge of the blau a. In

-It isnot intended to claim as a part of this l invention the specific met-hed of covern a'nforming eyelets, having heads 4or coverings eyelet just describedybut any metho -of ot' niasie material7 which involves the use of :i blank formed in amorlanee with this invention. comes within the proper seope ol this invention as it is delined in thi` claims.

While the method ol' this invention has been deseribed as applied to tht'l formation oi a blank l'or covering an e \elet having a central lacingr passage, it is to be understood that in its broad aspects the invention is applicable to the formation ol' blanks for eovering; laeiney hooks and similar articles, and therefore the nord U e \'elel \\-here\'er occurringv in the specilieation and elaims should when the eontext permits be eonstrned as includingr eyelets, latingdtooks and similar articles.

Having fully described my invention what vl rlainras new and desire to secure b v lietters Patent is 1w l. The method ,ol` forming: blanks from sheet material which consists in eoneentrating material ol' a relatively thin sheet in a. blank-area to l'orm a blank which `is thicker than the sheet material.

.f. 'l`he method ot loi-ming blanks l'rom plastie material which consists m moving "waste material into a blank lo l'orm a blank which thicker than the plastic material.

Si. The method ol forming blanks from plastic. l'natelial` prior to the ejrelet covering operation, whieh eons'ists in moving material 5. The method of formingT blanks from sheet material "hieb consists in moving material from inside av blank-area into said area to produce a greater thickness in said area, than the thickness ot' the. sheet material.

6. The 'method ot' forming blanks l'rom sheet material wh'ieh consists in movingr material from inside the blank area. and from otside. said area. into said area to form a blank thicker than the sheet lnate-rial.

7. The method of forming blanks l'rom sheet material which consists in moving material from inside the blank-area and l'rom ontside said area7 to that part olI said area which is desired to be thick.

'8. The method ol forming blanks from sheet material which consists in moving waste material tio increase the thickness ot a portion of -a .sheet thereby forming a. blank which lies substantially in the'plane of the sheet.

E). The method ol" forming blanks lronr sheet material which ronsists in moving material laterallv in the planey of the sheet to increase the thickness et material in a blanlarea. l

10, The' method of forming blanks from sheet, material which consists in forcing material radialhV outward from inside a blankto those points where a blank is desired to be.

thick to form a. blank of' `greater thickness than the plastie material.

fl. l`ho method ol' forming blanks l'rom sheet material which consists in inereasing the thickness ol'A the sheet. in a blankarrea by moving material from inside said blank-area outward,

area and radially inward l'rom outside, said areay and shapingr the material so moved to l'orln a blank thicker than the sheet material. In testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in the l'n'esence ol' two subscribing` witnesses.

' i ALBERT LATHAM. litnessesz JOHNSON MoaoAN, BENJ. J. Tnmras.

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