Muller

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mulling apparatus for the purpose of conditioning articles, in particular parts of shoes, such as soles, uppers, counters and the like prior to or after assembly on a last preparatory to the various lasting operations are old in the art. Such apparatus is shown in the Kamborian Patent 3,122,763 in which there is a chamber for generating steam and a heating coil for generating a dry atmosphere for treating uppers of shoes with a combination of heat and moisture. Such apparatus is also shown in Klein, 3,203,018, Ricks, 1,864,671 and Abell, 2,372,755. The purpose of this invention is to provide a mulling apparatus of very much simpler construction than that shown in the foregoing patents, inexpensive enough to be employed as an adjunct to each lasting machine so that each operator has exclusive use of it for his own purposes and therefore can keep track of the uppers being conditioned and to provide an apparatus in which there is a choice of atmospheres available, for example, a moist atmosphere, a heated moisture atmosphere, a dry heated atmosphere and optionally a super-heated atmosphere.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the invention the muller comprises a free-standing housing embodying a generator for providing an atmosphere of a predetermined kind and a treating chamber for supporting articles to be exposed to the atmosphere. The generator comprises in concentric relation a center chamber and an annular surrounding chamber, the chambers being open at the top so that the atmosphere generated therein is free to rise uniformly into the treating chamber. A hanger fixed to the inner side of the treating chamber at the top and centered with respect to the center chamber of the generator mounts a hub for turning about an axis of the hanger as a center, the hub having radially extending spokes on which are adapted to be suspended the articles to be treated. There is means for supplying water to the chamber in the generator and to maintain a constant level as it is used up, a heated coil supported in the annular chamber in concentric relation to the center chamber for generating steam to supply moist heat to the treating chamber, and a heating element supported at the center of the center chamber for supplying dry heat to the treating chamber. With both heating elements in operation the annular chamber supplies an annular column of moist heat to the treating chamber which rises about the suspended articles and the center chamber supplies a cylindrical column of dry heat to the treating chamber which rises within the circle of suspended articles. The generator is a casting comprising a flat bottom wall and embodies a circular outer wall and a circular inner wall rising from the bottom to the same level as the outer wall and forming in conjunction therewith with the annular chamber. The inner wall contains within it the center chamber. A plurality of blocks are situated on the bottom within the annular chamber around the inner wall for supporting a circular heating coil and a hollow pedestal rising from the center of the bottom wall within the inner chamber to a point substantially midway between the bottom and the top of the generator supports the heating element in the center chamber. The treating chamber is a sheet metal structure comprising a cylindrical part corresponding substantially in diameter to the generator and a conical top part surmounting the cylindrical part. There are external and internal peripheral right-angularly disposed flanges at the lower end of the cylindrical part, the external flange being adapted by engagement with the supper edge of the generator to support the treating chamber on the generator and the internal flange being adapted to support a grating at the junction of the treating chamber with the generator. The cylindrical and conical portions of the treating chamber contain a side opening providing access to the interior thereof.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a vertical diametrical section of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the generator; and

FIG. 4 is an elevation of a helical coil adapted to be placed in the annular chamber by means of which superheated steam may be delivered thereto.

Referring to the drawings (FIG. 1), the muller comprises a free-standing housing 10 of generally cylindrical configuration comprising a lower cylindrical structure 12 which is a generator for providing an atmosphere of predetermined kind surmounted by a cylindrical treating chamber 14, the top of which is conical for supporting articles to be exposed to the atmosphere produced in the generator and provided with a side opening 16 which affords access to the interior of the treating chamber to enable placing articles in the chamber and removing them therefrom. The housing may, if desired, be mounted on a supporting frame 18 provided with legs 20.

The generator 12 is a casting and has a flat bottom wall 22, a cylindrical outer wall 24 and a concentrically arranged cylindrical inner wall 26 spaced from the outer wall so as to provide an annular chamber 28 and an internal central chamber 30. The walls 24 and 26 are of the same height and the annular chamber 28 and circular chamber 30 formed by these walls are open at the top. A plurality of blocks 32 are formed integral with the casting on the bottom wall within the annular space and are adapted to support a circular heating coil 34 in the annular chamber. A hollow cylindrical pedestal 36 is formed integral with the bottom at the center of the center chamber and extends upwardly therefrom to a level substantially midway between the bottom of the chamber and the top of the chamber for supporting a flat circular heating element 38. Conductors Cl and C2 extend from the two heating elements through suitable packing in the walls 24 and 26 into a switch box 40 which in turn contains means for selectively supplying power to either or both elements and for adjusting the current supplied thereby to enable raising or lowering the temperature and hence heating capacity of the heating elements. A nipple 42 is set into the outer wall 24 so as to be in communica

3,474,476 tion with the annular chamber 28 and this is connected at its outer end to a float control valve 44 for supplying water to the annular chamber and maintaining it at a predetermined level.

The treating chamber 14 is a sheet metal structure and has at its lower end a right-angularly disposed exteriorly located annular flange 46 fastened thereto which is adapted to rest upon the upper edge of the outer wall 24 of the generator to support the treating chamber above the generator. The lower edge of the chamber 14 extends below the flange into telescoping engagement with the generator chamber 12. The treating chamber also has at its lower end an internal right-angularly disposed annular flange 48 for supporting internally thereof a grating 50 to prevent articles placed in the treating chamber from accidently falling into the generator.

At the top of the treating chamber 14 in the conical portion there is a downwardly extending spindle 52, the upper end of which is secured to the apex of the conical portion and the lower end of which has on it a circular bearing head 54. A hub 56 is mounted on the spindle so as to rest on the bearing head 54 for rotation about the axis of the spindle which coincides with the center of the chamber and with the center of the generator and on this hub there are a plurality of radially extending spokes 58 from which are adapted to be suspended the articles to be treated. The spokes 58 are bent slightly upward intermediate their ends so as to easily accommodate the ferrule of a last thus making it possible to mount a plurality of lasts within the treating chamber on which uppers are mounted so that they may be supported in the chamber for rotation therein to subject the uppers to treatment. Alternatively, unlasted uppers which are ready for lasting may be supported in clusters on the spokes.

The spokes 58 project radially from the hub so that they are situated in overyling relation to the annular chamber 28 in the generator. Hence when the generator is in operation they are exposed to an annular column of hot moisture laden air and within the circle about which they hang to a column of dry heated air provided, of course, both heating elements are in operation. The moist air conditions the leather or upper material and the hot air softens the adhesive or other stiffening materials employed in the lining, counters and the like so that the entire upper is thoroughly preconditioned for the lasting operation.

Optionally the conditioning may be done exclusively with a heated moist atmosphere by turning off the dry heating element 38 to a dry heated atmosphere without moistening by turning off the heating coil in the annular chamber.

If desired, the apparatus may be converted to supplying super-heated steam to the annular chamber by removing the float valve 44 at the outer end of the nipple 42 and connecting it directly to a source of super-heated steam and by replacing the heating coil 34 with a helical coil of copper tubing 60 (FIG. 4) containing openings 62 through its walls and connecting this to the inner nipple. The opposite end of the coil is connected by a nipple 64 to a return 66.

The device as a whole is quite simple in construction and operation and can be easily disassembled and re-assembled for cleaning and reuse and so provides an extremely satisfactory and inexpensive piece of equipment and may be supplied for use with lasting machines of all types to effect conditioning of the uppers prior to heel lasting, toe lasting and side lasting.