Side and heel lasting machine

A machine, operable on a footwear assembly comprising a last having an insole located at its bottom and an upper mounted thereon with the toe portion of the upper margin wiped against and secured to the insole and unwiped portions of the upper extending heelwardly of the wiped margin portion, which unwiped margin portions extend upwardly at an open angle to the insole, for applying adhesive in the region between said unwiped margin portions and the corresponding portions of the insole at said region, said machine comprising:

• a footwear assembly support for supporting the footwear assembly with the insole directed upwards;
• a pair of nozzles spaced upwardly from and facing said insole and mounted for motion toward and away from the insole as well as transverse and longitudinal movement with respect to the insole, said nozzles being operable to apply adhesive into said region;
• a lasting tool operable to clamp the upper tightly against the last and to apply light backup pressure against the unwiped margin to support the same, but nevertheless maintaining the open angle between the unwiped margin portions and the insole to permit application of adhesive into said region, said lasting tool comprising two lasting instrumentalities each comprising an inner lasting pad, one inner lasting pad being disposed at each side of the footwear assembly, each lasting pad being made of an elastic, flexible and deformable material, one end of each inner lasting pad being formed into a plurality of relatively rigid segments;
• actuator means to press the rigid segments of the inner lasting pad at each side of the footwear assembly inwardly of the footwear assembly to press the upper tightly against the last and to apply said light backup pressure while maintaining said open angle, which actuator means presents the two inner lasting pads at one level when the adhesive is being applied and, subsequent to application of the adhesive, moves the two lasting instrumentalities to a second level upwardly of said insole while simultaneously moving the relatively rigid segments of the two inner lasting pads inwardly and over the insole in a wiping action to fold the margin onto the insole to press the adhesive between the margin and the insole to adhere the margin onto the insole, part of said actuator means being pivoted during wiping from an orientation at which forces upon the pads are directed at a small acute angle to the footwear assembly bottom to an orientation at which the forces are at a much larger acute angle to the footwear assembly bottom.