ADJUSTABLE ANGLE MECHANISM FOR CRIMPING-BLOCKING MACHINE WITH NO DEFORMATION OF LEATHER AND/OR SYNTHETIC MATERIALS

The present invention relates to a leather and/or synthetic materials crimping-blocking mechanism, being capable of providing vamp forming to a suitable usable fault-free shoe component, without the need for re cutting, that is designed, manufactured and marketed by us exclusively for the first time.

The present mechanisms known to those skilled in the art of crimping- blocking machines i.e the process in which a purposely cut and geometrically calculated, based on a relevant shoe last and relevant shoe design for that last, a piece of leather is formed so as to have a steep angle in order to be placed and further processed (stitched, glued etc) in the toe and throat area of a boot shoe, consist of two different approaches. The oldest system, in a general description in accordance with the prior art shown in figure 1, consists of two metal plates (11), that clamp the piece of leather to be formed, and after that said piece of leather is forced through an adjustable opening (12), that stretches the material into the desired shape. The newer system, in accordance with the prior art shown in figure 2, is a flexible male mold, of various shapes and sizes (13), on which the piece of leather is placed and then this is pressed onto a mold (14), of a relevant form that gives said leather piece a bend shape.

Both prior art mechanisms mentioned above present various problems. The plate mechanism due to the nature of the process plastically deforms the leather, creating wrinkles in the process and irregularly deforms the geometry of the piece to such an extent, so that in order to be used it must be trimmed over a suitable trimming jig after the operation, thus causing time and materials waste, while most of the synthetic materials cannot be processed by this system, since the nature of the process destroys the material surface in most cases, and moreover another big problem is that since the shape of the metal plates is fixed the system can only produce one angle and consequently any other angles needed require replacement of the plates, this being a costly and time consuming process. The newer system with the elastic mold, although it is capable of producing a wrinkle free formed piece, it achieves very limited angles, while the nature of the pressing creates a lot of compression on the center of the piece, that rapidly decreases as we radiate towards the piece edges. Any effort to increase the final angle by pressure, results in stretching of the materials and wrinkles start to form, since the overstretching of the elastic mold causes excess elongation that results in deformations. This system is suitable for synthetic materials, also since it forms on a more female-male mold principle and not on a stretching principle, and although it is able to vary the angle of the formed piece by adjusting the pressing pressure, the maximum angles achieved are far for the desirable, and finally it is only able to handle simple geometries and unable to do the steep angles needed as the plates system can.

The objective of the present invention is to overcome and eliminate all problems and disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above, by providing a new mechanism for leather and synthetic materials crimping - blocking, being capable of giving the materials the desired angles needed without irregular deformations, with said angles being adjustable, also being able to work with any kind of material, and to eliminate the need for after process trimming or ironing, as well as to press uniformly the whole material area. In accordance with the present invention there is provided an adjustable angle mechanism for crimping - blocking machine with no deformation of leather and synthetic materials, consisting of a main frame (9), a sub housing movable frame (10), housing two bending cylinders (6), and a displacing cylinder (7), wherein said sub housing movable frame (10), is itself being displaced by another suitable cylinder (8), and travels towards a fixed female mold (1) on said housing frame there are two rocker plates (5) with one pivot point for each (4), and on said plates (5) there are two sliding surfaces (3), with openings that house and lock in position a flexible male mold (2), also controlling its elongation, and said invention mechanism is capable of achieving many different angles without irregular deformations that can be adjusted without the need of changing the molds, it works with any kind of material and eliminates the need for after process trimming or ironing, and furthermore it ensures a uniform pressing of the whole material area, and almost zero elongation of the flexible male mold. Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig 1, shows the fixed shape plates mechanism of the prior art, in a perspective view. Fig.2, shows the flexible mold mechanism of the prior art, in a perspective view.

Fig.3, shows the invention mechanism, in a perspective view.

Fig.4, shows the invention mechanism, in a plan cross-sectional view, at rest position, and

Fig.5, shows the invention mechanism, in a plan cross-sectional view, at pressed position.

More particularly, referring to the drawings and to figs 3-5, an adjustable angle mechanism for crimping - blocking machine with no deformation of leather and/or synthetic materials, according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises of a main frame (9), a sub housing movable frame (10), a small traverse cylinder (7) of said sub housing movable frame (10), a main traverse and pressing cylinder (8), two properly attached on the movable sub frame bending cylinders (6) driving each one, a plate (5) that each pivots on a shaft (4), while on said plates (5) two sliding surfaces (3) are attached which house and lock in place a flexible male mold (2), said mechanism characterized in that, when activated and pressed against a fixed female mold (1), due to its overall design is capable of copying the shape of said fixed female mold (1), in a male-female manner· also it is characterized in that, it is capable of eliminating the need for after process trimming deformations on the material, for the design of the mechanism results in a pressing and bending motion made possible by timing the cylinder movements (8,6) driving the two rocker plates (5), by means of the pivot points (4), on which plates the two sliding surfaces (4) with openings, house and lock in position said flexible male mold (2), this resulting in an almost zero elongation of the flexible male mold (2), thus achieving a forming of the material without changing the overall material geometric shape also controlling its elongation· furthermore said mechanism is capable of achieving many different angles, by means of controlling the bending cylinders (6) independently, without the need of changing the molds, it also works with any kind of material and eliminates the need for after process trimming or ironing, and furthermore uniformly the whole material area, for when a piece of material is placed on the flexible male mold (2), the two traverse cylinders (7,8) are activated in sequence and then the bending cylinders (6), causing said flexible male mold (2) to bend in two arcs front and back, copying said fixed female mold (1), thus shaping and evenly pressing the overall area of the processed material, and during the circular movement said sliding surfaces (6), control the elongation of said flexible male mold (2), keeping it in check since they can slide on said rocker plates (5), thus achieving the required motion without elongation movement of said flexible male mold (2).