March 25, 1969 G.

LISCHER ET AL 3,434,171
HEEL ATTACHMENT BY SCREWNAIL
original Filed Sept. 21, 1964 Sheet Of 4

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March 25, 1969 G. LSCHER ET AL 3,434,171
HEEI, ATTACHMENT BY SCREWNAII,
Origina? Filed Sept. 2, l964
March 25, 1969 G. LISCHER ET AL 3,434,171
HEEL ATTACHMENT BY SCREWNAIL
Original Filled Sept. 2, 1964 Sheet of 4

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March 25, 1969 G. LISCHER ET AL 3,434,171
HEEL ATTACHMENT BY S CREWNAIL
Original Filed Sept. 2, 1964 Sheet 7 of 4
 United States Patent Office 3,434,171
Patented Mar. 25, 1969
1. 2
3,434,171 patent application Ser. No. 397,711, wherein a screwnail
HEEL ATTACHMENT BY SCREWNAIL is inserted in a driver sleeve before the lasted shoe to
Georg Lischer and Jakob Gaus, Frankfurt am Main, Ger be assembled is placed thereon, which lasted shoe can
many, assignors to Maschinenfabrik Moenus AG, 'be instantaneously connected with the heel while being
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Original application Sept. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 397,711. firmly presed together with the latter. By the sudden
Divided and this application Oct. 14, 1966, Ser. penetration into the plastic material of the heel by he
No. 586,710 screwnail, this material is locally rapidly heated and
Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 1, 1963, plastically deformed so that the scored parts of the
M 58,386 shank of the screwnail will be firmly anchored therein.
Int. CI. A43d 67/40; F16b 33/02, 25/00 Another important point also is the discovery obtained
U.S. C. 12-147 2 Claims 0 by nailing tests that the flat head of the screwnail must
not protrude over or above the insole, and that its side
facing the shank must be a substantially flat slightly
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE conical shape in order to be able to affix the substan
In a heel attaching process for securely anchoring a 5 tially thinner insole durably to the heel.
loose plastic heel to a lasted shoe having an insole by It is also essential according to our method to do away
means of a single screwnail actuated by a striking device, with any preliminary heel boring or attaching operations,
the steps of compressing the lasted shoe and heel together; all of which require time and expense, but must be able
aligning a screwnail having a double thread with the to drive the shank of our novel fastening element through
axis of the bore of the last but spaced from the insole; 20 a thin layer of insole material into a much stronger heel
and then actuating the striking device to drive the screw material, in a self-cutting manner. For this purpose, a
nail through the bore of the last through the lasted insole coarse cutting thread is provided.
and into the heel for the purpose of preliminarily and According to our invention the screwnail is inserted,
finally anchoring the screwnail to prevent detachment standing upright within the driver sleeve through the
thereof by mechanical means, thereby eliminating the 25 bore of the last which is aligned with the driver sleeve
necessity of preliminary boring the preliminary per when the last is placed in the shoe, and hence the screw
foration of the insole and heel, and the necessity of nail is confined during its movement within fixedly deter
removal of the last from the shoe during the attaching mined boundaries conforming with the dimensions of
process. the head of the screwnail and the diameter of the driver
30 sleeve. The underside of the head of the screwnail must
This application is a division of our copending applica offer a sufficiently large annular area to the material of
tion Ser. No. 397,711, filed Sept. 21, 1964, and now the insole as is necessary for the durability of the at
abandoned. tachment. However, the length of the shank of the screw
nail is somewhat limited by the undulated, wavy, or bent
This invention relates to the process for attaining, in shapes
one operative step, a durable attachment of the heel to of the heels themselves.
a lasted shoe, by means of a fastening element Such In the drawings, the machine tools and the screwnail
as a screwnail, utilizing only one such fastening element, areFIGURE
illustrated with reference to one embodiment.
1 is a side elevation, partly in section, through
without necessitating any previous auxiliary attachment,
and without necessitating removal of the last from the 40 a heel attaching machine on which the process is based.
shoe, and also without necessitating boring or punctur forFIGURE 2 shows the hydraulic upper clamping device
the heel, in a vertical Section.
ing
heel.
a perforation for the screwnail beforehand in the FIGURE 3 is a vertical section through the hydraulic
Previously, for fastening heels to insoles, it was cus mechanism for driving the screwnails and the last support
tomary to utilize either a plurality of nails, for example, in FIGURES
connection therewith.
five or seven, which were driven into the preattached 45 top view of a 4-5 normal
represent an elevational view and a
cross-slotted screw, and
heel, or several cross-sloted Screws havinga wood cutting FIGURES 6-7 illustrate, in comparison with the last
thread and having a conical portion at the head within mentioned figures, a novel screwnail of the type to be
a cross-slot screw driver connection was provided. It employed in connection with the present invention.
was discovered that these cross-slotted screws are suitable
for a preliminary fastening, but not for a durable final 50 nailFIGURE 8 shows the position of the driven-in screw
in the heel of a shoe.
attachment of the heel, since they were not solid enough.
Furthermore, the insertion of the screw driver required screwnailmachine
The for attaching the heel by means of a
has been described in detail in our above-men
too much time, and this is not necessary any more ac tioned patent application. It will suffice to note here that
cording to our novel process.
The invention resides in providing a self-cutting cylin 55 the last for the shoe upper (FIG. 8) has a bore having a
drical screw stem, having a double thread and a trun last sleeve 188 seated therein. By means of this sleeve
cated-cone tip, with a flat head of relatively small diameter 188, the last is placed inverted upon the screw driver
which is driven by one single stroke through the bore sleeve 56 (FIG. 3) into whose upper end there was pre
in the last, the insole into the leather or plastic heel, viously inserted a screwnail according to FIGS. 6 and 7.
The heel is appropriately positioned on the insole 179,
without bursting or rupturing the heel; but which is, at 60 (FIG. 8), and is fixed by the holding device 38, FIGS. 1
the same time, sufficiently firmly attached, particularly and 2. Thereupon, the hydraulically actuated last pusher
at the head. This screwnail attachment can be employed 54 approaches the crest of the last of the shoe from
without varying the lasts during the assembly-line-type below. Heel holder 38 and last compressor 54 tightly com
shoe manufacturing process, since the striking tools can press the parts to be assembled against each other, under
become effective through the bore of the last without 65 pressure increase. At the suitable moment, i.e., when the
unlasting the shoe, and since only a single fastening pressure in the cylinder 52, FIG. 3, has become so large
element need be hammered in. Thereby, two operating that it overcomes the force of the spring 64, the piston
steps, namely, the unlasting and the relasting, are saved; 62 drives the screwnail through the insole into the heel
a good shape of the shoe is ensured; and the rotation as shown in FIG. 8.
of the lasts is lessened. 70
For this purpose, a specially equipped heel attaching A preferred screwnail which has been found particult
machine is provided as shown in my copending U.S. larly adapted for securing the heel is illustrated in FIGS. 6
 3,434,171
3
and 7, as compared with a conventional cross-slot screw
176 (FIGS. 4 and 5) such as has hitherto been used for
securing heels. Screw 176 has, due to the prominent coni
cal projection 177 on the underside of the screw head
178, only a narrow annular face 178 on the underside
thereof, the width b of which is just sufficient for prese
curing a heel but is not sufficient for a permanent at
tachment. Even if the screws are turned very firmly
through the insole 179 into the heel, the narrow annular
face 178 is not of adequate width to resist the stresses set
up during the wearing of the boot or shoe, and the heel
will therefore often tear off after a short time. The al
most completely flat head 181 of our novel screwnail
(FIG. 6) however has an annular face 182 of width B
the area of which is about double that of the annular
surface b. In addition to the normal screw thread 184,
this screwmail is also formed with a steep helical self-cut
ting thread 186 which under the force exerted by the driv
ing means 62 of the heel-attaching machine (FIG. 3)
penetrates of its own accord, with its plain pointed lead
ing tip 183, through the insole 179 into the heel and,
due to its large annular head surface B, retains the said
heel so firmly on the insole 179 that tearing-out of the
screwnail is not to be feared. In this connection, it is an
essential factor that the head of the screwnail, despite its
large annular face, can be kept so small in diameter that
it can be freely introduced through the sleeve 188 of the
last (FIG. 8) and through the driver sleeve 56 (FIG. 3)
introduced therein. One or more ribs 182 (FIG. 6) may
be provided on the underside of the screwnail head, in
order to additionally sustain the screwnail against turn
Ing.
Due to our novel mode of heel attachment, the ad
vantages of screwing-on of the heel for rigid seating, and
of nailing-on the heel for rapid operation and easy pene
tration, are combined, whereas the disadvantages of low
slip resistance of the nail, and relatively slow screwing
action of the screw with an excessively small annular
face, are avoided. Additionally, due to the approximate
doubling of the annular surface B, a degree of rigidity
is achieved which is necessary for a safe attachment of
the heel utilizing only one single screw and the presecur
ing of the heel simultaneously constitutes the final attach
ment of the heel so that only one operating step is neces
sary for attaching the heel.
4.
We claim:
1. In a heel attaching process for securely anchoring
a loose synthetic plastic heel to a lasted shoe having an
insole by means of a single screwnail including a single
elongated shank portion having a double thread thereon
actuated by a striking device, the steps of providing a last
having a single bore of constant diameter extending entire
ly therethrough and terminating opposite the heel portion
of the last; compressing the lasted shoe and heel together;
O
inserting said single screwnail having a double thread
within said single bore of the last but spaced from the
insole with said screwnail being aligned with the axis of
said bore, said screwnail having an enlarged head with a
wide flat annular surface on its underside; and then axial
5 ly actuating the striking device thereby driving the screw
nail by impact through said single bore of the last,
through the lasted insole and into the heel to prelim
inarily and finally anchor the screwnail to prevent detach
ment thereof by mechanical means, thereby eliminating
20 the necessity of preliminary boring and preliminary per
foration of the insole and heel, and the necessity of re
moval of the last from the shoe during the attaching
process.
2. In a process according to claim 1, said screwnail
25 being provided with a fine thread along its cylindrical
shank extending spirally in the longitudinal direction, and
being provided with steep spiral grooves along the shank
extending at a greater pitch than the fine threads, said
grooves being cutting edges; said screwmail having a plain
30 truncated conical outer tip.
References Cited
UNITED STATES PATENTS
1,055, 174 3/1913 Holler --------------- 151-37
2,324,479 7/1943 Brandt -------------- 12-125
2,332,710 10/1943 Goodchild ----------- 12-147-?
2,393,990 2/1946 Kamborian ---------- 12-147
2,423,908 7/1947 Small --------------- 12-147
3,238,546 3/1966 Dziki et al. ---------- 12-125
40 3,348,251 10/1967 Appleton et al. ------- 12-147
CARL W. TOMLIN, Primary Examiner.
RAMON S. BRITTS, Assistant Examiner.
U.S. C. X.R.
85-47; 151-37