Improvements in or relating to shoe upper conforming machines

1,143,234. Boots &c. BRITISH UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CO. Ltd. 16 June, 1966 [17 June, 1965], No. 25638/65. Heading A3B. A waist lasting machine of the type in which the upper is tensioned and laid across the insole by flexible bands 112 has a set of fingers 400 which conform the insole to the shape of the last and which withdraw to an out of the way position when the flexible bands 112 tension the upper. As described the fingers 400 are incorporated in the waist lasting machine described in Specification No. 1,079,611. The machine has two sets of fingers 400 arranged to press on the opposite edges of an insole l positioned on a last L. Each finger 400 passes between the bands 112 and is pivoted to an arm 402 mounted on a freely rotating shaft 404. Tension springs 412 and 417 bias the fingers 400 so that they press on the edges of the insole. When the bands 112 tension the upper by movement of their carriers 106 about pivots 108, cam surfaces 426 on the carriers 106 engage cam surfaces 420 on the arms 402 to swing the arms 402 about the shaft 404 and so move the fingers 400 to their inoperative position (shown dotted). The fingers are held in this inoperative position by catches 422, 428 while the bands perform their lasting operation and are released at the beginning of the next machine cycle when the carriers 106 move to their operative positions.