Toe and ball laster and the like

Abstract

A machine to apply adhesive to the toe and ball region of a footwear upper assembly that includes a last, an upper draped about the last and an insole at the last bottom. The machine includes a pair of adhesive nozzles to apply the adhesive onto the footwear upper assembly near the edge of the insole, a pair of nozzle arms, one nozzle arm of the pair of nozzle arms being secured to each nozzle of the pair of adhesive nozzles and adapted to move the nozzle secured thereto; and a mechanical structure operable to guide the nozzles along respective paths adjacent each edge of the insole to deposit a ribbon of adhesive onto the upper assembly from the toe of the upper assembly to the ball region of the upper assembly. The mechanical structure includes a nozzle-guide template that is configured to an outline that, together with other mechanical structures, matches the outline of the insole between the toe and the ball region of the smallest upper assembly of the style to be lasted. The nozzle-guide template has a guide surface and is shiftable to accommodate, for example, right footwear upper assemblies and left footwear upper assemblies of the style to be lasted: The nozzle-guide template is composed of a plurality of segments at the toe region thereof to permit angular adjustment of one segment relative to the other to match the shape of the insole for footwear sizes larger than the smallest footwear upper assembly. A template follower is connected to each nozzle arm, one follower being positioned to ride along the guide surface of each nozzle-guide segment. A drive mechanism is provided to move the template follower from the toe region of its associated nozzle-guide template to the ball region thereof.