Shoe upper conforming machine

A shoe manufacturing machine comprising:

• a last support with a last, a shoe upper, and an insole supported thereon;
• a plurality of grippers arranged about the last support for gripping marginal portions of said shoe upper;
• means for effecting relative heightwise movement between the last support and the grippers to cause said upper to be tensioned over said last;
• an operator-controlled tensioning device associated with each gripper for varying at the discretion of the operator the tension in said shoe upper applied in the locality of said gripper, wherein said tensioning device comprises a lever operatively connected with said gripper associated with the device;
• actuating means for effecting heightwise movement of said lever and said gripper relative to said last support, to vary the tension in said shoe upper, wherein said actuating means comprises a wedging member movable in a direction transversely of the heightwise movement of said lever and having an inclined abutment surface, said member co-operating with a further abutment surface provided on the lever, the inclination of the wedging member and the co-efficient of friction between said member and said further abutment surface being such that the application of an upward force to the wedging member as a result of the tension in said shoe upper is insufficient to dislodge said wedging member in a direction transversely of the heightwise movement of said lever.