Improvements in or relating to machines suitable for operating on shoe soles

919,343. Roughing, skiving and splitting shoe soles. BRITISH UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CO. Ltd. June 25, 1959 [June 28, 1958], No. 20810/58. Class 31 (1). A machine for performing the operations of reducing and roughing the margin of a shoe sole around the forepart and/or shank regions thereof and/or at the heel end portion thereof to form a breast flap comprises a matrix 5 so formed that when a sole is pressed thereinto, portions thereof project out of the matrix, a rotary cutter having cutting teeth 11, means for moving the matrix lengthwise of the sole therein relatively to the cutter, and means for pressing the sole into the matrix. A member 1 carries a horizontally-reciprocable slide 3 having secured to the upper face thereof the matrix 5 which has an opening to receive a sole blank, the opening having loosely placed therein one or more packing pieces 31, 33, 35 which lie on the slide 3 so that when the sole blank is placed over the packing piece(s) selected portions of it project above the matrix according to the operation(s) to be performed on the sole blank. The workpiece, while being operated on, is pressed down into the matrix by means of presser devices 51, 53, 55 and a hold-down device 67 engages the workpiece as it emerges from the cutter. Each device 51, 53 comprises a thin metal plate 59, the lower end of which is pressed down on the workpiece by a series of flexible rods 61, the pressure of the central pairs of which is variable by means of heads 65 provided on adjustable rods 63. The member 1 is movable from a lower position, in which a workpiece which has been operated upon may be removed from the matrix and replaced by another workpiece, to a raised position, in which the upper face of the matrix is just below the cutter, by means of a pivotally-mounted hand lever 41 which has an arm 45 provided with a cam face 47 arranged to engage an eccentrically-mounted roller 49 on a post 29 to which the member 1 is secured. Specifications 221,865, 408,581 and 791,087 are referred to.