BRITISH PATENT  1.414 - 1857

GB 1.414  Abel Foulkes, of the City of Chester, Glove Manufacturer, for an invention for improvements in sewing or pointing gloves and in machinery for such purposes. This invention relates to the mode of ornamenting the backs of gloves, sometimes called the French point and consisting of three plain seams, whether fair seam, or raised seam, or round seam, each with a line of stitching along each side. The improvement consists in the addition to the table of a sewing machine of a groove in which the seam previously made moves along while the stitching is being done. The groove, of sufficient depth and width to receive the seam, is made on one side of the needle hole. Two arrangements are described: In the first the table either is fixed, or is moveable (or a portion is moveable) so as to adapt it for stitching at different distances from the seam; if moveable the needle hole is elongated a little to allow of the motion.The second consists in applying moveable plates with grooves in different positions and slipping these plates into a recess in the table. The raised seam may be produced in a sewing machine by placing a raised guide on the table in proximity to the needle and employing a one-sided feeder or a feeder with one side removed. The folded material is kept in contact with the guide while the seam is formed; afterwards the material is unfolded; the raised seam is passed along the groove and the stitching on each side is produced.

Letters Patent sealed.                                                               May 20, 1857