Room 15
The Development of the Sewing Machine
by Edward Ward
1888-93
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
October 1888
As an introduction to the subject announced in the title, it may not be out of place to endeavour to give the reader some idea of the aim and object of these articles and of the kind of knowledge they are intended to convey. It is not proposed here to write a general history of the sewing machine, but rather to trace from their origin, so far as the evidence at our disposal will allow, those ideas which, generally crude in their conception, do still in their perfected forms embody those salient points more or less common to the successful machines of the present day. In doing this we hope to pay due honour to those men who, though themselves prevented by reasons from presenting their ideas to the world in a practical form, have pointed out the path which others, more fortunate, have followed to success. There is no intention in this to attempt to disparage the labours of the later workers in this field of invention, but merely to claim from them a fair measure of justice for their less fortunate predecessors. While on the subject of inventors, a hint to those who may posses, or imagine they posses, the inventive faculty will, perhaps, be acceptable, especially as it is not offered in a dictatorial spirit and the need for it having been shown by personal experience. When an idea is conceived, it is essential, before taking either time or trouble, to bring it to a practical conclusion, that information should be gathered from every available source, to enable the would-be inventor to become acquainted with what has already been done by others in the particular direction to which he intends to devote his energies. It would appear on the face of it that common-sense would dictate this so strongly as to render entirely unnecessary such a hint as has been given, but experience proves the contrary and many broken and disappointed men might, by taking this simple precaution, have not only averted their misfortunes, but have benefited themselves and possibly their fellow-men, either by commencing their labours at the point where others had laid down the task or by turning their thoughts to other matters. The sewing machine industry has been very prolific in re-inventions or the bringing forward of old ideas under new titles and though they enjoy but an ephemeral existence as a rule, a knowledge of what has already been accomplished would undoubtedly have saved much loss to those who invest either time or capital in them. To return to the more immediate object of these articles, the question as to who invented the sewing machine is one that has often been asked and whenever a single name has been given in reply to it the answer is decidedly incorrect. The sewing machine is the result of the thoughts of many minds, some originating, others improving and perfecting the various details and it is obviously unfair to give to one the credit due to so many.
The first attempts at sewing by machinery seem to have been confined to imitations of the work already produced by hand, the distinctive feature being the use of a needle pointed at each end and having its eye placed in the centre of its length. This needle was the subject of an English patent so far back as the year 1755 and although the idea has been adopted by many others since that time, a successful machine has never yet resulted from its use.
On May 30th, 1804, a patent, GB 2.769, was granted to John Duncan, in reference to a machine for tambouring upon cloth, &c.. In this machine a number of barbed needles or hooks were caused to pass through the cloth simultaneously and while in this position a thread was fed into each barb or hook. Upon the needle being withdrawn it carried the thread through the cloth, the thread being thus formed into a loop through which the needle passed in its next descent and on again rising drew a second loop through the one first formed and so on in succession. Here a step seems to have been gained towards the production of a practical machine, the slavish imitation of hand sewing is abandoned and the well-known chain-stitch is produced. In this patent is also an arrangement of parallel rollers and sliding frames, capable of giving a compound motion to the material operated upon and apparently fore-shadowing the feed of later machines.
October 1888
(to be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
November 1888
(Continued from October 1888)
After Duncan's patent in 1804, a considerable period elapsed without any apparent progress being made and this seems to have been caused, not from any lack of inventors, but by the direction in which their energies were expended. In spite of the possibility dimly shadowed forth in Duncan's machine, the idea that a machine to prove its capabilities, required to perform its work in a manner peculiar to itself does not appear to have been fully grasped, the result being that the machines of this period, being still trammeled by the servile imitation of hand sewing, were unsatisfactory both in the work they produced and the manner in which they accomplished it.
This state of affair continued until, in 1830, Barthelemy Thimonnier, a native of France and a tailor by trade, obtained, in his own country, letters patent for a sewing machine. In the machine by this inventor a barbed needle was used, in combination with a thread carrier having a radial motion and situated beneath the material being sewn.
Thimonnier's machines were designed to unite two or more fabrics by a single thread or tambour stitch. Motion was transmitted to the various parts by means of drums having cords coiled around their circumferences, one end of the cord being attached to the drum and the other end to a treadle actuated by the foot of the operator. The cord and drum was again used in the first patent for another and more successful machine introduced from America. Springs were used to effect the return motions of the different parts in these machines and, however rude this device may appear, it is still to a limited extent in use to the present day.(*)
Surrounding the needle at its upper part or shank was an adjustable nipple forming part of the needle holder or slide and moving with it. When the needle had descended to its lowest position, this nipple was firmly pressed upon the material, holding it in place while the thread carrier passed round the needle and engaged its thread with the barb. So soon as the needle commenced its upward motion the pressure on the material was removed and it then had to be held in position by the operator while the needle was withdrawn and the loop of thread pulled through. Thimonnier afterwards improved upon this idea by giving to the nipple a motion independent of the needle, by means of which the nipple remained pressed upon the work during the time the needle and loop were withdrawn. The nipple arrangement will perhaps be best illustrated by an ordinary telescope pocket pencil, the needle taking the place of the lead point and the nipple being screwed into a tube having an upward and downward motion. The idea of a self-acting feed does not appear to have suggested itself to Thimonnier, who made use instead of an extremely ingenious notion. Provision was made in his machine for varying, at the will of the operator, the height to which the needle rose above the work, the length of the loop of thread drawn through the material, of course, depending upon the height that the needle rose above it and this variation in the length of the loop was made to control the length of the stitch in the following manner: Suppose the barb of the needle to have risen above the material one-eighth of an inch, a loop of similar length would be formed, upon the descent of the needle this loop is slackened, the thread carrier having no tightening action upon it. Before the needle again entered the fabric the operator had pushed the work as far as the slack of the loop would allow and in this way a certain amount of regularity in the length of the stitches was attained, depending, of course, very much on the skill of the operator. It will be seen that the whole of the slack could not be taken up on account of the needle entering the material before it was possible to stretch the loop to its full extent, the little remaining being pulled in and each stitch tightened by the formation of the loop for the next one. This feeding arrangement, although it cannot be considered at all suitable for the ordinary sewing machine, is, with slight variations, still in use to produce the ornamental fan stitch employed in the stay trade. The stem of the thread carrier was hollow, the thread passing through the centre on its way to an eye placed at the end of a curved piece or horn projecting from the side of the stem. The thread thus formed a radius of the arc described by the horn and in consequence no slack or loose thread was produced by the thread carrier at any part of its action. Under the name of a whirl and in a slightly modified form, the thread carrier of Thimonnier is successfully used at the present time in the boot sewing machines of Whittemore and others and it is also used in an improved form in certain machines making the double thread chain stitch. Thimonnier's machines were constructed of wood and he appears to have carried out his ideas under extremely adverse conditions. The capabilities of his invention are perhaps best proved by the fact that a number of his wooden machines were employed in the manufacture of clothing for the French army and are reported to have worked at the rate of two hundred stitches per minute, a speed which, however slow it may be regarded at the present day, was a great advance upon the hand sewing that these machines superseded. In spite of a partial success circumstances were too strong for the man, his machines were wrecked by an ignorant and infuriated mob and the result of the labour of years were ruined in a few moments. After meeting with these and other reverses Thimonnier came to England, where in 1848 a patent was granted to him. He had in the meantime improved his machine and metal instead of wood was used in the construction, but his invention did not meet with the recognition it deserved and although he sent his machine to the Exhibition of 1851 it did not receive any notice. After a bitter struggle with adversity this energetic and unfortunate inventor eventually died in 1857, poor, neglected and obscure. Judging the achievements of Thimonnier by the light of modern progress, there is much in his work that the is crude and undeveloped, but if it is remembered that the man was surrounded by circumstances difficult to overcome, that he lacked the mechanical training so necessary to give proper expression even to the ideas of a unexplored and was therefore unable to derive much assistance either from the success or failure of others, when these things are considered, while the misfortunes of the man may excite sympathy, the ingenuity of his ideas will always command admiration.
(*) note:
The return motion of the feed after moving the work is almost invariably obtained by the use of a spring.
November 1888
(to be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
December 1888
(Continued from November 1888)
The next step of importance in the development of the sewing machine was taken by Messrs. Newton & Archbold, who, on May 4th, 1841, obtain a patent in which was embodied an idea, simple in itself, but which has met with a more universal application in the construction of sewing machines than any other invention in connection with them. A brief extract from the specification of the patentees, after describing certain machinery, consisting of a frame or holder to contain a series of gloves or the cut-out materials for gloves and also the arrangements for causing six needles to simultaneously produce as many rows of sewing upon each glove, proceeds as follows: Each needle is made with an eye near its point to receive the thread, which it carries upwards through the glove and on receding leaves it in the form of a loop; this loop is caught by a hook and drawn lengthwise over the spot where the needle will next pass through the glove, then on the needle ascending through the glove and through the loop, the hook releases the loop, which is drawn tightly round the needle and as the needle recedes the hook catches the newly-formed loop and drawn it lengthwise as above described. The important part of the foregoing extract lies in the description of the needle and here, for the first time, mention is made of the needle "having an eye near its point", or, as it is commonly termed, the eye-pointed needle. The inventors do not seem to have attached much importance at the time to this part of their patent, partly, no doubt, from its very simplicity and also because it was impossible that they could foresee what an important factor it would become in the sewing machine industry, for, as is well known in every description of sewing machine, with very few exceptions, whether they are lock or chain stitch, working with looper, spool or shuttle and sewing from boots to button-holes, however much they may differ in detail, they all have one point in common, the use of the eye-pointed needle.
Up to this period there is no record of any attempt being made to produce a lock stitch, but the truth of the adage that "coming events cast their shadows before" would seem to have been exemplified in the patent granted to Samuel Lister and James Ambler, March 14th, 1844. This patent applied to a machine for fringing shawls and other articles and although it was not a sewing machine in the popular acceptation of the term, a certain part of its action had a very important bearing upon the shuttle lock-stitch machine is described as a series of fixed needles, each having an eye near its point. These needles having been filled with the thread intended to form the fringe, the shawl is pressed upon them. The points of the needles are thus passed through the shawl, carrying with them the fringing threads. The shawl is then drawn slightly back towards the points of the needles, causing that portion of the thread between the shawl and the eye of the needle to slacken and form into a loop, which is then drawn through the shawl to a suitable length to form the fringe. This action is precisely similar to that usually adopted in shuttle lock-stitch sewing machines. The needle, after passing through the work to the full extent of its downward motion, is then slightly drawn back to form the loop and either remains in that position or makes a second slight descent, to give the shuttle sufficient time to pass through the loop.
With Lister & Ambler's patent we arrive at what may be considered the end of the initial stage of progress in the evolution of the sewing machine and before quitting this it is necessary to notice a machine, to which future reference will have to be made, although it does not of itself bear directly upon the subject of these articles.
This machine, patented by Leonard Bostwick in 1844, (GB 10.134), the same year as that of Lister & Ambler, may be taken as a type of that class of which it was the progenitor. It produced a running or basting stitch in the following manner: two toothed wheels of different diameters are provided and the cloth in passing between these teeth is by them formed into a series of corrugations. The needle, having its eye and point at opposite extremities, is peculiarly formed; starting from the eye it is straight for a portion of its length, it is then curved into a semicircular shape and again bent near the point into the same straight line as the first part. Situated behind the toothed wheels already mentioned are two small pinions, each having upon its periphery a narrow groove. The curved part of the needle is then laid upon one of the pinions in the groove formed to receive it; the other pinion being so placed as to retain the needle in proper position to pierce the work. The thread, which can be either in lengths or running from a spool or ball, having been passed through the eye of the needle, the corrugations formed in the cloth by the toothed wheels are pressed by them upon the needle, which remains stationary, each succeeding fold of the cloth pushing forward those before it, until they pass off at the other extremity of the needle. The length of the stitch is determined by the size of the teeth in the wheels, which form the corrugations in the cloth. This description of machine has been in use among dyers and bleachers for tacking together in a temporary manner the materials upon which they operate.
At this point it may be as well to briefly consider the results already arrived at, which may be summed up as follows: Duncan's invention, which comes first in order of precedence, plainly contains certain features of importance, which were afterwards used in succeeding machines. To Thimonnier must be accorded the honour of proving the practical value of the sewing machine and its applicability to the needs of humanity. By the introduction of the eye-pointed needle Messrs. Archbold & Newton may be said to have laid the foundation upon which has been reared by far the greater part of the sewing machine industry, while the method of forming a loop, shown by Messrs. Lister & Ambler, play a very important part in the action of machines of the shuttle lock-stitch variety. The next step brings us to the introduction of the shuttle in connection with the sewing machine and a few observations upon this ancient implement will fittingly preface the matter to be considered. There is no doubt that it is to the art of weaving that the sewing machine is indebted for the shuttle, the double-point form given to it when first applied to the machine being sufficient of itself to proclaim the source of its derivation. The origin of the weaver' shuttle is so remote as be quite obscured by the mist of antiquity, the Chinese being credited with its use 2.700 B.C. and Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, mentions it in connection with the Babylonians and Egyptians. The following is an old description of a weaver's shuttle: The weft or crossing-thread is carried through by an instrument called a shuttle. This is a kind of wooden carriage tapering at both ends and is hollowed out in the middle for the reception of the weft, which is wound on a piece of turned wood called a pirn or bobbin; the weft unwinds from the bobbin as the shuttle runs from one side to the other.
December 1888
(to be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
January 1889
(Continued from December 1888)
In the study of those inventions which have become of practical benefit to man it is interesting to note how gradually, as a rule, they are developed, how by degrees the leading principles are laid down, until that which at one time is considered wild and chimerical, or treated as the mere vain dream of a disordered mind, becomes the common necessity of a later and more advanced period and the supposed impossibility of one age appears as the accomplished fact of another. Generally speaking but little attention is given to the embryonic stages of an invention, except by those directly interested in its production and this is perfectly natural, since to attract the popular notice in favour of that which, to most people, is probably a new idea it is necessary that its capability to produce the desired effect should have been conclusively proved. This want of attention, however, on the part of the general public to the preliminary phases of an invention often gives rise to an erroneous impression with regard to the rapidity of its rise and progress. The majority of people, who hear little and trouble less, about fresh ideas until those ideas have been so far perfected as to command attention by their practical utility, are extremely apt to regard that as a thing of yesterday whose growth has really been gradual and slow and to give credit and fame to men who, working upon principles already laid down by others, have been but the perfecters of details and who have been enabled by favourable circumstances to present those principles to the notice of the public at the most auspicious moment. The rapid rise of the sewing machine is a subject that has been often mentioned both in speech and writing, but, as a matter of fact, the progress of the machine has not been nearly so expeditious as is usually conceived to be the case. The work of nature is not hurriedly accomplished and invention, being founded upon purely natural causes, is also guided by the same rule.
The machine of Messrs. Fisher & Gibbons, which next presents itself for consideration, well illustrates the truth of the foregoing, marking, as it did, an epoch in the annals of the sewing machine and introducing, for the first time of which we have any authentic record, the principle upon which depends the formation of the lockstitch, a principle which, by the increased security and durability its use has given to the work produced, has contributed in a great measure to the success of the sewing machine and to the high position it holds in the popular estimation. The principle of the lock-stitch, which has remained without alteration since its introduction by Fisher & Gibbons may be thus described:
Two threads are used, which are called respectively the needle thread and the retaining thread and are situated one on each side of the material to be sewn; a portion of the needle thread is carried through the material by the needle, the retaining thread then passes between the needle and its thread leaving a part of its length remaining in the loop of the needle thread; upon the withdrawal of the needle its thread is held in the material by the action of the retaining thread with which it is engaged; by the repetition of these actions the two threads are retained together in a succession of links and a row of lock-stitch sewing is the result. The following explanation of Fisher & Gibbons' machine will show the means used to effect the lock-stitch:
The Fisher & Gibbons' invention, English patent GB 10.424, granted on December 7th, 1844, is described as a machine having a curved needle in combination with a double-pointed shuttle for sewing thread, gimp, or cord in patterns upon the surfaces of fabrics, or for uniting two fabrics by means of sewing. The needle was hot curved throughout its entire length, but only in that part of it which was passed through the work, the object of the curve being to provide an open space between the needle and its thread, through which the shuttle might pass. Two eyes were provided in this needle, one at or near the shank and the other near the point; the thread being brought through the first eye was passed round the outer or convex side of the curve and then through the eye near the point. The needle was grooved between the eyes to protect the thread from any friction in passing through the material. The needle bar, to which the needle was secured by means of a leaden casting, was placed beneath the fabric to be sewn and had a vibratory movement imparted to it which, in conjunction with the ordinary up and downward motion, constituted the means by which the curved portion of the needle was passed through the fabric. In pointing out the source whence the shuttle was drawn, reference has already been made to the fact that in Fisher & Gibbons' machine it was pointed at each end and these points were caused to enter the needle loop alternately from opposite directions.
The bobbin, upon which was wound the retaining thread or its equivalent, worked in a hole at one end of the interior of the shuttle and a slotted recess formed in the other end. Two recesses were also made upon the exterior surface of the shuttle, one near its end. Two vibrating arms, carried by rocking shafts and actuated by cams, have their free ends slotted to receive two L-shaped pawls; each of these pawls is capable of motion about the point at which it is connected to the vibrating arm and has one end resting upon the edge of the shuttle race, the other end of the pawl being of such a shape as to engage in the recess provided for it upon the outside of the shuttle. The edge of the shuttle race had two inclines formed upon it, which, acting upon the ends of the pawls, alternately engaged and released them from the recesses in the shuttle. The action of the machine was as follows:
The needle being in position for the passage of the shuttle the pawl farthest from the needle is engaged in its recess in the shuttle and propels the shuttle partly through the loop, by means of the motion transmitted to it from the vibrating arm to which it is attached. As the first pawl approaches the needle thread the incline upon the edge of the shuttle allows the second pawl to drop into its recess and carry the shuttle through the loop, while the first pawl was raised to prevent it from coming in contact with the needle thread. The amount of slack in the needle thread, necessary for the passage of the shuttle, is controlled by the weight of the thread rollers over which it passes. A pair of cloth-covered rollers, capable of lateral and longitudinal motion in a horizontal plane, provided a means of moving the work in any required direction and constituted the feed of the machine. Mr. John Fisher, of Radford, in Nottinghamshire, was the actual inventor of this machine, Mr. Gibbons having so little interest in it that in 1846, or two years after the date of the patent, he relinquished all claim upon it. Mr. Fisher being at this time a minor and not possessing the capital necessary for the proper working of his patent, brought the matter under the notice of his uncle, Mr. James Fisher, a lace manufacturer, having a considerable business in Nottingham, to whom he eventually assigned his patent and who undertook in return to incur the expense that would be necessary in order to bring the machine before the notice of the public. Mr. James Fisher accordingly expended about £ 1.400 in the construction of machinery carrying out the ideas contained in the invention, but met with a formidable obstacle to success in the popular prejudice, which at this time ran very strongly against new ideas and methods and was especially adverse to the sewing machine, since it was supposed that the miserable condition of the ill-paid seamstress, so graphically described in Tom Hood's "Song of the Shirt", would be rendered still worse by the introduction of such an article. It seems strange at this time to look back upon the period when the machine, which now is regarded as a necessity in almost every home, was looked upon with so much disfavour, but such was the case at that time; indeed, it was not until the date of the Crimean War that the sewing machine began to make headway, owing to the prominent manner in which it was brought before the public by the following circumstances. At the time when many of our soldiers were perishing in the Crimea for want of proper clothing, an order was given for the manufacture of a number of sheep-skin coats to protect them from the bitter cold and hand labour not being available for this kind of work the machine was tried, found to answer exceedingly well and has made steady progress ever since. To return, however, to the Messrs. Fisher, their labours were suddenly interrupted by the death, in 1849, of James Fisher, the uncle, whose interest in the patent was by this event transferred to his sons, but they made no effort to bring the invention into notice, nor could John Fisher, in spite of repeated applications, prevail upon his uncle's executors to expend any money upon it. Eventually the patent was again assigned to John Fisher for a nominal consideration and he, being now the sole owner of it, made an application to the Privy Council for an extension of his patent, stating that, although he had failed to render it a commercial success, it contained parts essential to all lock-stitch sewing machines; but the application was refused upon the technical ground that he was in the position of an assignee of one who was himself an assignee. Here, then, we have an example of the manner in which circumstances may sometimes combine to crush an inventor. That the invention was not crushed is proved by the fact that the principle which it introduced was eagerly adopted by others and remains to this day as the basis of the lockstitch sewing machine and the merit of introducing this principle, undoubtedly and upon the best of evidence, belongs to John Fisher of Radford, in Nottinghamshire, whose invention, had it been worked with energy and fostered by capital, would surely have reaped a golden harvest for its owners and have added a new lustre to the inventive reputation of the English race.
January 1889
(to be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
February 1889
(Continued from January 1889)
The consideration of the next step introduces one who eventually occupied a very prominent position among those whose labours have been expended upon the sewing machine and who has also been very generally credited with the invention of that useful piece of mechanism, an idea the correctness of which will be left to the reason and judgment of the reader to determine after a perusal of the facts, which will be fairly and impartially presented for consideration.
Elias Howe, of Spencer, Massachusetts, U.S., having in 1846 taken out an American patent for a sewing machine, communicated the details of his invention to Mr. William Thomas, of Cheapside, London, to whom he had sold the exclusive right to his machine in England and who, in his own name, obtained an English Patent GB 11.464 on December 1st, 1846. One of the principal claims for this invention is the manner of effecting a lock stitch by the use of a vibrating grooved needle, having an eye near its point, in combination with a shuttle. The main action of this machine is that the needle having pierced the cloth and formed a loop of thread, the shuttle passes through that loop, thereby securing the needle thread and leaving a part of its own upon the face of the cloth. After the needle is withdrawn the cloth is moved forward the length of the desired stitch, the succeeding stitch being produced by the next penetration of the needle and corresponding stroke of the shuttle. The needle, which is affixed to one end of a vibrating arm, is curved, forming an arc of a circle struck from the working centre of the arm to which it is attached and this arm receives motion from a second vibrating lever, which works upon a centre and passes through an eye or saddle piece on the end of the needle arm. The second lever is provided at its upper end with an anti-friction pulley, which engages with the groove of a cam by which the lever is actuated. The needle is grooved on both sides in order that the thread may lie therein and so be protected from unnecessary friction when the needle pierces or is withdrawn from the cloth. The material to be sewn is hooked on to what is termed a baster plate, which consists of a thin rib of tempered steel, one edge of which is furnished with a series of projecting pins upon which the thicknesses of material are pressed and held together during the operation of sewing. The baster plate is also provided with perforations into which gear the teeth of a spur pinion rotating on the under side of the bed plate. The shaft which carries this feed motion pinion is fitted with a ratchet wheel, which receives an intermittent motion from a pawl attached to the end of a vibrating lever actuated by a cam on the main shaft of the machine. The intermittent motion of the ratchet wheel is, by means of the feed motion pinion, communicated to the baster plate and consequently to the cloth to be sewn. An adjustable stop screw is provided for regulating the extent of the vibrating lever's return stroke, so that its pawl may rack a greater or less number of teeth in the ratchet wheel and consequently impart to the baster plate the amount of motion requisite to produce the desired length of stitch. The material to be sewn is held in position against the shuttle race by a presser plate, which is hinged at its upper edge and by means of an adjustable screw, provided for the purpose, is capable of exerting any required degree of pressure upon the material. A slot or perforation is made in the presser plate to allow the needle to pass through it and a corresponding opening is formed in the shuttle race, so that, when the needle is in, the shuttle may pass freely through the loop. The shuttle race is a kind of trough of just sufficient width to allow the shuttle to traverse freely and to give motion to the shuttle and Howe made use of a device employed in the ordinary weaver's power loom, in which the shuttle is driven by what are technically known as picking sticks, which consist of a pair of levers that are caused to strike the shuttle alternately and so drive it to and fro along the race, the requisite action of the levers being derived from a cam on the main shaft. The needle thread is supplied continuously from a reel, an adjustable friction band being used for the purpose of keeping up the proper amount of drag or tension on the thread. In order to take up the slack of the thread produced when the needle is accomplishing its inward motion, use is made of a rod which is attached at its upper end to a lever worked by a cam for the purpose of giving an up and down motion to the rod, the lower end of which carries two pins standing out at right angles to each other. One of these pins serves to guide the rod in the proper direction by working in a suitable cam groove formed on the side of the presser plate, while the other pin, on the ascent of the rod, catches the needle thread, which it draws up and prevents from becoming slack. The guiding cam groove is so formed that, when the pin which moves therein has arrived at the top of its stroke and is about to descend, it will push the rod slightly to one side for the purpose of releasing the needle thread from the holding pin and allowing the stitch to be tightened by the outward movement of the needle and on the pin reaching the bottom of the groove the rod is pushed by a spring towards the needle, so that it shall be in a proper position to again take up the slack of the needle thread. Although it is stated that this contrivance is not absolutely essential to the working of the machine, yet it prevents all danger of the thread becoming entangled or of the needle piercing or splitting the thread as it enters the cloth. In using this machine the cloth is placed upon the baster plate, which is either straight or curved according to the form of the sewing to be produced. The baster plate is then adjusted over the feed motion pinion and the presser plate is brought to bear on the cloth in order to hold it against the shuttle race. On giving a rotary motion to the main shaft the needle penetrates the cloth, through which it carries the thread to the inside of the shuttle race. When in this position a slight backward motion is given to the needle to slacken the thread and open the loop. The shuttle is then impelled through the needle loop, in which it leaves a part of its thread to prevent the loop from being drawn out of the cloth by the return of the needle and, the needle having been withdrawn, the cloth is moved a distance equal to the length of stitch required. As the shuttle only passes through the needle loop in one direction it is pointed only at one end and its return motion is simply for the purpose of bringing it into proper position to pass through the succeeding needle loop. It will be seen from the foregoing description of the Howe machine that it contained several important improvements over its predecessors. The needle having a regular curve from point to shank, the extra vibratory motion necessary in Fisher & Gibbons' machine to pass the needle through the cloth was not required, while the shuttle, having but one point instead of two, forms a twisted cord with the needle thread; whereas in Fisher & Gibbons' machine the threads are not twisted and would part freely from each other but for the intervention of the cloth. Howe's machine also introduced for the first time a distinct take up, by which the slack of the needle thread was controlled and the arrangement for regulating the tension is more practicable, since it could be readily adjusted by the operator. The feed motion is certain in its action, although, having regard to the varied requirements of the sewing machine, it cannot be considered suitable for general purposes. In the "Thomas" patent on the Howe machine the needle and shuttle formed a part of the claim, although these had already been covered by the patent granted lo Fisher & Gibbons in 1844 and this fact sufficed to destroy the validity of the patent; but so confident was Mr. Thomas of its capability of undergoing judicial investigation, that he filed several bills in Chancery and brought actions at law against manufacturers, importers and users of sewing machines. The determination manifested by these proceedings intimidated many, who readily paid large sums as royalties, rather than engage in a struggle where, even in the event of a decision favourable to them, the cause at issue would be taken from court to court, from Common Pleas to Chancery, where the slow, tedious and expensive methods of procedure and their effect upon the minds and means of the unfortunate litigants, furnished Charles Dickens with the materials for the truthful and masterly picture of the evils of litigation which he gave to the world in Bleak House. In spite, however, of a partial success, Mr. Thomas found it necessary to amend his specification and accordingly on May 9th, 1855, he filed a disclaimer, in which he disclaims the use of several needles and shuttles and confines his claim to the use of one needle and one shuttle. However, there were some of his opponents who still held the opinion that Mr. Thomas had by his own specification endeavoured to secure an undue monopoly in the manufacture of sewing machines, that he was claiming as his invention part of the subject of Fisher & Gibbons' patent of 1844 and that the exercise by him of his alleged invention involved an infringement of that of Messrs. Fish & Gibbons and they resolved to offer a strenuous resistance and endeavour to obtain a final decision as to the validity or otherwise of the Thomas patent. Proceedings had been instituted by Mr. Thomas against Messrs. Baker & Darling as importers, Mr. George Waide Reynolds as a user and Mr. Foxwell as a maker. Into the details of these trials there is no necessity to enter, with the exception of that of Thomas v. Foxwell, in which a final decision was ultimately arrived at. In consequence of a decision obtained in the Court of Queen's Bench, Mr. Thomas was granted leave to enter a second disclaimer, by which he reduced his claim for invention to the general arrangement of machinery described in his specification and shown in sheet of his drawings and also to the arrangement of the parts for actuating the needle, as shown in sheet 2 of his drawings. The plaintiff, Mr. Thomas, being dissatisfied with the decision of the Queen's Bench, took proceedings in the Court of Error, where, after hearing the arguments of counsel, judgment was delivered affirming that of the Court below. The question decided was one of construction of specification. Fisher & Gibbons, in the specification of their patent, dated December 7th, 1844, describe a machine in which a shuttle is used for carrying a thread, gimp, or cord, which is sewn on in pattern by means of a needle, the shuttle passing between the needle and its thread each time the needle pierces the fabric. Thomas, in his specification, describes a peculiarly constructed needle, which he uses in combination with a shuttle and he claimed the application of a shuttle in combination with a needle, as shown in sheet 1 of his drawings. The Lord Chief Baron, in delivering judgment, expressed his opinion that the combination in the plaintiff's second claim went beyond the mere use stated as shown in fig. i, sheet i, of the drawings. The plaintiff claimed the application, not of the shuttle in combination with the needle as shown, but of a shuttle in combination with a needle. His Lordship quite agreed with the Court of Queen's Bench that the reference to sheet 1 of the drawings was merely meant by way of example, as would also appear from other parts of the specification; so that what was shown on sheet 1 was not the entire thing, but merely one arrangement out of a great many. His Lordship was therefore of opinion that upon the construction of plaintiff's specification a needle and a shuttle did not mean the needle and the shuttle shown in sheet 1 of the drawings, but that the claim extended to other needles and other shuttles. Moreover, that which appeared at the end of the plaintiff's second claim seemed to his Lordship to make this more clear, since the plaintiff claimed a needle and a shuttle, whatever be the means employed for working such needle and shuttle when employed together. If, therefore, there were no other possible means of working a needle and shuttle except that shown by plaintiff, his claim would be good, but as this was not the case, inasmuch as there were many possible ways of effecting the purpose, the patent could not be sustained. After referring to the plaintiff's first disclaimer, which recites that it had been brought to the plaintiffs knowledge that previous to the granting of his patent a machine had been described in the specification of a patent granted to Messrs. Fisher & Gibbons on December 7th, 1844, wherein a series of needles were arranged to act simultaneously, together with a like number of shuttles, for the purpose of ornamenting fabrics, but that the plaintiff could not ascertain that such machine was ever put into practice and that he believed it to be incapable of being worked usefully, his Lordship observed that it was very odd that a patent specified so far back as 1844 should only have come to the plaintiffs knowledge since he obtained his own patent and also expressed himself in terms of strong disapproval at the attempt on the part of the plaintiff to traduce the invention of another. His Lordship then stated that it appeared to him that the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench was right and must be affirmed, with which decision Justices Williams, Crowder and Willis and Baron Bramwell concurred. Howe, whose machine provided so much profitable occupation for English lawyers, after working some time in England for Mr. Thomas, eventually returned to America, where, in the endeavour to assert the rights of his patent, he at first met with much opposition; but the American holders of sewing machine patents were wiser than the English and, instead of wasting money in ruinous law proceedings, agreed to form a combination for the purpose of securing to each one the full benefit of his invention.
February 1889
(to be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
March 1889
(Continued from February 1889)
Following the American Howe, the next whose contributions to the progress of the sewing machine are worthy of notice was Mr. Charles Morey, whose specification, dated August 30th, 1849, contains descriptions of no fewer than five different machines, producing between them three distinct kinds of sewing. The first of these machines effects a basting or running stitch and belongs to the class typified by the machine of Leonard Bostwick, already described in these articles, wherein the fabric is pressed upon a stationary needle by means of toothed wheels. Morey's machine, which was designed especially for uniting coarse kinds of materials, such as canvas or sacking, differs from Bostwick's in the use of a straight needle instead of one curved for a portion of its length. The eye and point of this straight needle were formed at its opposite extremities, the end nearest the eye being held in a fixed bracket, while the point rested in a circular opening formed by the coincidence of a series of notches in the teeth of the crimping wheels. The material having, by the action of the toothed wheels, been pressed forward in a series of folds until the needle had passed through as many as it could hold, the end of the needle was then lifted from the bracket and the folds drawn off, thus leaving room for a fresh supply. Morey's claim in this machine is limited to the use of the straight needle. The second machine made the chain or tambour stitch by means of a needle and a hooked instrument, the feed being effected by two bars, between which the work was held, a rack and pawl giving motion to the work in a straight line only, thus rendering the feed very unsuitable for general purposes. The mechanical arrangements of this machine are very complicated and it contains nothing of moment to the subject of these articles.
Mr. Morey's third machine was by no means so unimportant, since it contained the germs of certain improvements which have contributed in no slight degree to the success of the machines in which they have been adopted. This machine produces the lockstitch by the use of a curved needle, in combination with a shuttle, which travels in a circular groove or shuttle race, the face of the shuttle being curved to suit the race in which it moves and round which it has a continuous circular motion, the shuttle thus traversing the entire circumference of the race at every stitch made by the machine, so constituting the first rotary shuttle machine of which there is any authentic record. The body of the machine is supported on a pillar, to the top of which is fitted, concentrically, the circular plate in which the shuttle race is formed. The driving shaft is horizontal and carries a mitre wheel, which gears into a corresponding wheel on a vertical shaft, whose axis is identical with that of the pillar upon which the machine is supported. The vertical shaft gives motion to the shuttle and is for that purpose fitted at its upper extremity with a driver, which consists of two spring arms, which carry at their outer ends studs or pins and these pins take into corresponding holes in the shuttle and as the arms rotate they carry the shuttle along with them. In order that the passage of the shuttle through the loop of the needle thread may not be impeded by the studs or pins on the arms of the driver, these arms are caused to rise in succession as the shuttle is passing through the loop, so that the studs may avoid contact with the needle thread and in order to retain the shuttle under the influence of the driver, the arm which is first elevated resumes its contact with the shuttle before the second arm commences to rise, sufficient time being allowed to permit the loop to pass freely under the studs; the rising of the arms is accomplished by causing them to pass over a double incline formed in the standard immediately over that part of the shuttle race where the needle thread forms its loop. The needle and the method of actuating the vibrating arm to which it is attached, are similar to the descriptions already given in reference to the "Thomas" (Howe) patent. The feed of this machine was of novel construction and although it was undoubtedly crude and immature, it certainly contained the elements of the wheel feed which has been so intimately connected with certain successful machines. The feed consisted of a ring or circular basting plate, the circumference of which is provided at suitable intervals with spurlike pins, upon which the fabric to be sewn is pressed. This ring is arranged eccentrically with the shuttle race and is supported at one side by a projection on the circular plate, the opposite side resting on an arm, which is provided with an anti-friction pulley that bears against the inner face of the ring for the purpose of guiding it in its rotary motion. One edge of the ring is provided with a series of ratchet teeth and a pawl, which is carried on the end of a vibrating lever, engages with the ratchet teeth and so imparts to the ring an intermittent circular motion. The driving shaft, which can be rotated either by a handle or by a driving strap and pulleys, actuates the vibrating feed lever by means of a cam. The same defect occurs in this machine as in all other machines using the baster plate as a self-acting feed motion, viz., the material being sewn is not free to be guided in any direction by the hand of the operator, but must of necessity follow the motion of the baster plate or wheel to which it is attached. Mr. John Alexander Lerow, an American, obtained a patent for improvements on this machine. He discarded the horizontal shaft working both needle and shuttle from the vertical one; the feed wheel was also placed in a vertical position and the needle acted on the top instead of at the side; in other respects it was merely a reproduction of the machine just described. Mr. Morey's fourth machine was the most important of those described in his specification, for the reason that it introduced a more perfect feed motion than any that had up till that time been invented. The bed-plate of this machine was supported on four standards, the driving gear being affixed beneath the plate. The needle is curved and is attached to a vibrating needle arm working on a fixed centre motion being given by a curved lever, which is connected by a link to a crank on the shaft. A second shaft is provided to carry the necessary arrangements for giving motion to the shuttle and these shafts are connected by means of a spur wheel and pinion, it being imperative to give to the shaft from which the needle derived its motion a speed twice as great as that given to the shaft which actuated the shuttle. A reciprocating motion is given to the shuttle by means of a lever provided with two fingers or drivers which embrace the shuttle. The curve of the shuttle race is struck from the centre upon which this lever works and the shuttle is curved to correspond with the race, two grooves being also formed in its sides to receive the edges of the plates which form the two sides of the race and which serve to guide and steady the shuttle during its movements; the shuttle is also pointed at both ends and enters the loop alternately from opposite sides. The feed of this machine was its most important feature since it provided a means of giving motion to the material at the same time leaving the direction of the sewing entirely under the control of the operator. For this purpose a feed bar was placed beneath the bed of the machine, teeth being formed upon a portion of the bar on which the fabric was pressed. A to and fro motion was given to the feed bar by the combined action of a T-piece on the shuttle driving lever and two blade springs, one of the springs being attached to the feed bar, while the other was secured at one end to the underside of the bed-plate. The feed bar is acted upon by the shuttle lever at a time when it is impossible for the feed to take place, owing to the fact that the needle is in the material, the force of the shuttle lever is therefore used in compressing the blade spring attached to the feed bar and the power thus stored up gives motion to the feed when the withdrawal of the needle allows the material to move. The use of the second blade spring, which is fixed to the bed of the machine, is to effect the return motion of the feed, the length of the return and consequently of the stitch, being controlled by an adjustable stop. No provision was made in this machine to allow the feed teeth to drop away from the material at the return motion and to prevent the work being drawn back the feed teeth were so inclined as to have no holding power upon the work except when moving in one certain direction. The material was pressed upon the feed by a presser bar, which was secured at one end to the bed of the machine, the other end being perforated to permit the needle to pass and exerting just sufficient force upon the material as to allow the feed teeth to move it. The presser bar, being stationary, is perfectly smooth on its under surface, to allow the material to slip freely beneath it and an auxiliary claw is also used to assist the feed by removing the slack of the material. Of the fifth machine described by Mr. Morey but little need be said, it being but a modification of the one first mentioned, but the sewing machine is certainly indebted to Mr. Morey for the introduction of what subsequent improvements have rendered two valuable details of the machine, the wheel feed and the step feed. Mr. Morey, who is believed to have been a French Canadian, evinces considerable ingenuity in many of the details of his machines and taking the ideas of others as a foundation for his own work, he certainly improved that which he took in hand. He also gave promise of becoming a prolific inventor, but his career was unfortunately cut short in a tragic manner. Being confined in a debtor's prison in France, he was looking from the window; this was contrary to the rules of the place and he was shot by a sentry who concluded that he was attempting to make his escape.
March 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
April 1889
(Continued from March 1889)
The machine patented on August 10th, 1852, by Edward Joseph Hughes, to whom the details had been communicated by Messrs. Grover & Baker, was chiefly remarkable for the production of a stitch different both in its appearance and its mode of formation from that of any previous sewing machine and for the very great improvement effected in the feed of the machine, by which this part of the mechanism was practically perfected and assumed that form which it still retains in many of our modern machines. So much has been said in the course of these articles with respect to the feed of the sewing machine, that it may appear to many that too much prominence has been given to it; but if it be remembered that the regularity upon which so much of the beauty of sewing depends, is only to be attained by the use of a perfect feed, it will be seen at once that this part of the subject has not been invested with undue importance. As the machine, mentioned at the commencement of this article and others of a similar description, achieved a considerable amount of success, the following detailed account is appended. The table or bed of this machine is supported by four legs and is fitted with an overhanging bracket which carries the mechanism for actuating the straight needle. The needle is held in a slide, which works vertically in grooves formed in the front end of the bracket. One end of a bell-crank lever, contained in the bracket, is connected to the needle slide, the other end of the lever being provided with an anti-friction roller working in a suitable cam, which is affixed to the main driving shaft. The rotation of the driving shaft causes the cam to impart a vibratory motion to the bell-crank lever, which, in its turn and by means of its connections, gives an up and down motion to the needle slide and consequently to the needle. The driving shaft is carried in bearings situated beneath the bedplate of the machine and is fitted with ordinary driving pullies, or with a flywheel and handle, according as the machine is to be driven by power or by manual labour. A second cam is fastened to the driving shaft, whose object is to give a reciprocating motion to a segmental toothed rack, whose teeth gear with those of a spur pinion which is fastened to the stem of a curved instrument, usually known as the circular needle. The title of needle commonly given to this instrument seems somewhat inappropriate, since it has nothing to do with penetrating the material to be sewn, its only resemblance to a machine needle being that it is provided with an eye near its end or point. The use of this curved instrument or needle is to carry the under thread and engage it with the loops of the upper or true needle thread, which it accomplishes by means of a reciprocating circular motion,derived from the combination of the pinion, toothed rack and cam, already mentioned, the stem of the needle working in a small bracket bolted to the under side of the bed. Besides the eye near its point, the curved instrument or needle has another eye at the commencement of its curve and the space between the two eyes is grooved for the purpose of retaining the under thread in its proper position upon the periphery of the curved needle. The feed motion consists of a bar working by means of a slot on a fulcrum or pin in a small bracket, so that its free end is capable of being raised or lowered; at the same time it can slide bodily in a longitudinal direction for the purpose of imparting the requisite feed to the cloth. The bar is fitted with an adjustable screw, having a flat plate on its inner end nearest the driving shaft. Against this plate strikes a feeding cam or wiper, on the end of the driving shaft and consequently the feed bar is forced back more or less, according to the distance between the plate and the cam and by this means the length of the stitch is regulated. A second cam strikes a prolongation of the feed bar on the under side, thereby elevating the free end of the bar at each stroke of the cam. The combined effect of the two cams acting on the feed bar is to give to it both a vertical and horizontal motion, suitable springs serving to return the bar to its original position in both directions. The free end of the feed bar is curved upwards, the upper surface of the curved portion being serrated to enable it to take hold of the material when it comes in contact with it. The serrated part of the feed bar moves in an aperture formed in the bed of the machine, of a size sufficient to allow of the horizontal movement of the feed, the serrations or teeth on which are at the proper time raised through the aperture until they are slightly above the level of the upper surface of the bed-plate. The material to be sewn is laid upon the bed-plate, upon the surface of which it is held by a yielding presser-foot, which consists of a plate having an opening for the passage of the needle, a corresponding opening being made in the bed-plate, so that when the needle descends, its point and eye may pass entirely through the cloth. The presser-foot is attached to a vertical slide and when in action is held down upon the work by a helical spring. When not in use it is held up by means of an L-shaped tumbler, jointed to the slide and so disposed as to bear on top of the bracket. In this machine both the upper and under threads are supplied direct from the reels, the under thread being arranged in the following manner: From the reel the thread is first inserted through the eye formed at the commencement of the curve in the circular needle. It then passes into the groove and through the eye near the point. The cloth having been laid upon the table or bed-plate and the presser-foot brought down upon it, the driving shaft is rotated and the straight needle descends, pierces the cloth and forms a loop of thread on the under side. The circular needle then commences to rotate and in so doing inserts its point with a loop of the under thread through the loop formed by the needle thread. The straight needle now rises, leaving its loop round the curved needle and the cloth is moved forward the length of a stitch. Before the curved needle returns to its original position, the straight needle descends again and passes another loop through the one formed by the under thread on the curved needle which returns to its first position while the straight needle still remains below the cloth. This back motion of the curved needle leaves the first loop formed by the straight needle round the loop of the curved needle, so preventing it from being drawn out of the cloth by the tightening of the straight needle thread. The curved needle during its back stroke also leaves its own thread looped round the straight needle and its thread, but before the straight needle rises again the curved needle makes another advance and forms another loop through the needle loop; whereupon the needle rises, the stitch is drawn tight, the cloth is moved forward for another stitch and the whole operation again repeated. The result of these movements is a double-chain stitch, consisting of two threads looped together below the fabric and differing from the ordinary shuttle stitch in so far as the filling thread is double or loop formed, instead of being single. The slack of the needle-thread is controlled by a small roller on the bracket and a projecting-piece on the needle-slide, the needle-thread being held between these two during the time they are in contact, the formation of slack being thus prevented. The great advantage of this machine was in the means provided for allowing the feed to drop away from contact with material during its return motion, thus allowing the work to be more easily guided and straight or curved seams to be sewn with equal facility.
The feed of Mr. Hughes' machine, afterwards well known as the four-motion feed, was decidedly a great advance upon all that had preceded it and the writer of these articles has often been asked why the proprietors did not claim royalties from other makers, for, although it is true that it first appeared on a double-chain machine, it was still part of a sewing machine. However, about forty actions were commenced on Mr. Judkin's patent, who claimed the application of the four-motion feed to a shuttle machine. Proceedings began in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, but were stayed by Lord Westbury, then Lord Chancellor, who ordered a case to be stated before him. This was done and after the plaintiff's case had lasted for nine days, the Lord Chancellor stated that, before the defence commenced, a delay of twelve or thirteen days should transpire, during which time he would study his notes and give the matter his consideration. After the time had expired, notice was given to attend the Lord Chancellor's Court and his lordship gave his decision against Judkin's patent, on account of the construction of specification. Messrs. Grover & Baker then tried to amend the specification for the four-motion feed by putting in disclaimers, but this was objected to and the patent was lost.
April 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
May 1889
(Continued from April 1889)
The second machine patented by Mr. Hughes, to whom the idea had been communicated, was, after certain modifications and improvements had been effected, destined to become, under the name of the "Singer", one of the most widely known and popular of modern sewing machines. Partly on this account and also because of the introduction of new features of interest, this machine is worthy of a detailed description.
The sewing produced was of the lock-stitch variety, and was effected by the combination of a needle and shuttle, which derived their motions from two shafts which were arranged parallel to each other, one above and one below the bedplate of the machine, and were called respectively the upper and lower shafts. These shafts were provided at one end with spur pinions gearing into a spur wheel that revolved upon a stud and was fitted with a winch handle by means of which motion was given to the machine. The needle slide and presser-foot were similar to those in the machine last described, but the method of actuating the needle slide was very different and constitutes one of the chief claims to originality that this machine possesses. Upon that end of the upper shaft situated nearest to the needle slide a disc is fastened, from the face of which projects a pin that forms a stud for an anti-friction roller. A curved slot, of the kind generally known as "heart cams", is formed in the back of the needle slide and in this slot the roller on the disc of the upper shaft is engaged and so, from the revolution of the shaft, the needle slide receives its motion. The curves of the slot or heart cam are so arranged that when the needle reaches its lowest position it rises sufficiently to throw out the loop of thread for the shuttle to pass through and when the shuttle has advanced enough to secure the loop the needle makes a second dip for the purpose of allowing more time for the passage of the shuttle and to prevent the needle thread from being drawn up too soon. The shuttle moves in a suitably shaped race and is carried by a forked driver, in which the shuttle has sufficient play to allow the free passage of the needle loop and the shuttle driver is actuated by a similarly shaped cam and disc to that employed for the needle, that part of the cam which produces the dip in the needle being used to give a slight backward motion to the shuttle driver after the shuttle had passed the loop, thus freeing the end of the shuttle from contact with the driver and reducing the amount of friction upon the needle thread when being drawn up. The feed motion of this machine differs materially from any of those previously introduced, the mechanism consisting of a wheel working upon a fixed stud, the periphery of the wheel being cut into a number of very fine annular grooves, the edges of the projecting ribs between the grooves being serrated so as to lay hold of the cloth, which is pressed on the periphery of the feed wheel by the presser foot. The necessary intermittent motion is imparted to the feed by the following means:
Round the periphery of the feed-wheel and near to its front edge is formed a groove, in which is placed a gut band or strong cord, which encircles the greater portion of the circumference of the wheel. One end of this band or cord is attached to a spring secured to one of the supports of the bed plate and the other end is fastened to a screw spindle, which is connected by an adjustable nut with a lever. This lever is fast upon a rocking shaft, which carries a second lever actuated by a tappet or wiper on the under shaft. At every revolution of this wiper it depresses the second lever, the effect of which is to draw back the first lever to which the cord surrounding the feed wheel is attached, this cord being pulled to a greater or less extent according to the length of stitch to be produced. The pulling of the cord is allowed for by the spring and as it takes place it gives a certain amount of rotary motion to the feed wheel, which thus propels or feeds the material to be sewn. A friction detent prevents the feed-wheel from moving back in the opposite direction when the tappet or wiper has passed the lever, and the spring draws back the cord to its original position, by which means the intermittent or step-by-step motion is imparted to the feed wheel in one direction only. Regulation of the length of stitch is obtained by means of the adjustable nut with which the screw spindle is provided, the alteration of the nut having the effect of increasing or diminishing the distance between the wiper and the lever upon which it acts, so that the lever may be depressed by the full stroke of the wiper, or, if the lever be maintained at any distance from the wiper, by a portion of its stroke only. The slack produced in the needle-thread upon the descent of the needle is controlled by a friction-pad or finger which is worked by a small projection upon the disc that actuates the needle-slide and serves to prevent the formation of loose thread above the work and on the rising of the needle this pad or finger simply holds the thread in its proper place.
It will be noticed at once by those who have a knowledge of the later "Singer" that many of the claims in the original have not been utilised in the more modern machine. For instance, the cord for actuating the feed-wheel was discontinued, and was replaced by a gripping lever, also a combination of spring and lifting wire was substituted for the thread controller, while the heart cam was abandoned in favour of the crank, to give motion to the shuttle, but, for actuating the needle, the heart cam still holds its ground and forms the needle-motion in the majority of cheap machines at the present day. The specification of this machine does not give by any means a clear and distinct description of it, but rather furnishes us with one of the many instances in which inventors seem to have attached little value or to have entirely overlooked those details of their inventions which time and experience have proved to have been of the utmost importance.
May 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
June 1889
(Continued from May 1889)
Before concluding that part of the subject which embraces the machine introduced by Mr. Hughes, a short description will be given of a third machine patented by him. This machine would scarcely be worthy of comment, either for its intrinsic merits, or for the share it has had in the development of the sewing machine, but, owing to the fact that it has but recently been again invented and brought before the public as something quite hovel, notice is taken of it here for the purpose of emphasising the remarks made in the introduction to these articles, as to the necessity which arises, both for inventors and investors, that they should endeavour to obtain some knowledge of what has already been done, so that the energies of the one should not be expended upon doing that which has already been accomplished, nor the capital of the other be wasted on those things which have been proved not to possess the qualities necessary for success.
In Mr. Hughes' third machine two straight needles were used, fitted to adjustable needle-bars or carriers. These needles were situated one on each side of the fabric to be sewn, and each alternately penetrated the material at an angle of about 45 degs., thus working at or about right angles to each other. After the upper needle had passed through and formed a loop, the under needle, before entering the fabric, engaged the loop formed by the upper one, which is thus retained. The under needle then pierces the work and, the upper needle having been withdrawn, it passes through the loop cf the under needle before again entering the material, which is then moved forward the desired length of stitch. As during the operation of sewing either one or the other of the needles was always in the material, provision was made for withdrawing both the needles when it was required to take the work from the machine. It will be seen that the stitch produced by this machine consisted of loops formed alternately upon each side of the material, and, although it is essentially a chain-stitch machine, all the merits of a lock-stitch were claimed for it by the re-inventor. At this time (1852) the lockstitch machines were not held in very good repute either by manufacturers or their employees, many of the latter openly boasting of unfair means taken by them to foster the prejudice against this class of machines. On the part of the manufacturers it was supposed that in the lockstitch machine the shuttle thread would lay straight on the under side of the work and thus cause the sewing to lack the elasticity necessary for durability. The endeavour to overcome this objection exercised the minds of many inventors and on September 10, 1852, (GB 14.287) Mr. Julian Bernard patented a machine which certainly went a great way towards a solution of the problem. In this machine that kind of sewing known as back-and-fore stitching is produced, and to effect this it is necessary that a peculiar motion should be imparted to the material being sewn. The needle, having passed into the material and formed the stitch, is withdrawn, and the work is then moved forward the length of two stitches ; the needle then again pierces the fabric, forms another stitch, and is again withdrawn and the work is then moved backward the length of one stitch; the next forward motion of the material is again double, followed by a backward motion equal to the length of one stitch. Disregarding the mechanical details of this machine, the feed motion above described at once attained the desired end by giving to the lock-stitch an elasticity which, up till that time, it had not possessed and the kind of sewing produced by Mr. Bernard's machine has found great favour with sack-makers and others who require great elasticity in their seams.
A patent, dated October 19, 1852, (GB 14.328) was taken out by Mr. William Edward Newton for a machine, the details of which had been communicated to him from abroad and which was so similar to the circular needle machine of Mr. Hughes already explained as to need no description here, excepting for that part which relates to the method of producing the tension or drag on the thread, which is effected in the following manner; a spindle, round which is a helical spring, is provided with a cone of suitable angle and is fixed to one end of the machine; the reel is placed on the spindle and the point of the cones enters one end, and a second cone is screwed on the spindle until it presses against the other end of the reel with sufficient force to produce the required degree of tension, while to prevent any movement of the second cone, owing to the friction of the reel, it is securely fastened by means of a lock-nut. In the specification concerning this machine, a description is given for the first time of a horse-shoe folder for binding the edges of fabrics.
June 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
July 1889
(Continued from June 1889)
A new departure in the method of effecting the lock stitch was taken in the patent obtained by Mr. Bellford on October 6, 1852, the details of the invention having been communicated to him from abroad. The main feature of novelty in this machine, of which two varieties are described in the specification, consists in the use of a rotary hook for the purpose of expanding the loops formed by the needle thread to a size sufficient to allow a bobbin containing a second or filling thread to pass through them. The needle thread was supplied from a reel placed on the upper part of the machine, either on a stationary pin, or upon one moving with the needle lever, as was found most convenient, while the filling thread was carried by a bobbin which, as already stated, had to pass through every loop of the needle thread, after the said loops had been duly opened by the action of the rotating hook. The two machines described in the specification differ in the fact that, whereas in one of them the bobbin containing the filling thread is stationary, in the other the bobbin has a reciprocating movement given to it in the direction of its axial line. When the bobbin is stationary it is so formed and arranged in relation to the rotary hook that as the loop is extended it is passed over the bobbin by the hook, but, if the bobbin receives a reciprocating motion, it is passed through the needle loop in alternately opposite directions, every passage of the bobbin through a loop securing a stitch when that loop is tightened. It is somewhat difficult, without the aid of drawings, to convey a clear idea of the mechanism used to give the motion. The machine in which the stationary bobbin is used is fitted with a main driving shaft carrying a driving pulley and the rotating hook. This hook is formed of a disc having a concave face, a portion of the disc being removed to form the nose of the hook and the bobbin or spool is held within the concavity on the face of the disc by means of a ring attached to an adjustable bar, which serves to hold the bobbin in its place, at the same time allowing it to rotate on its own axis when required to supply thread to the needle loop. The bobbin, which is somewhat similar to those employed in the carriages of lace machines, consists of two plates or discs and was made as flat or narrow as was practicable for the purpose of occupying little space, the discs being brought nearly close together at the edges, but bellied out towards the centre for the purpose of holding a larger quantity of thread. In this machine a curved needle is carried by a vibrating needle lever working on centres and actuated by an eccentric on the main shaft, the rod of the eccentric being jointed to the shaft containing the working centres of the needle lever. The feed motion so closely resembles that contained in Mr. Hughes's machine, known as the four-motion feed, as to render a detailed description unnecessary. In sewing by the machine just described, the needle, after passing through the cloth, forms a loop which is caught by the nose of the rotary hook by which it is extended and carried round the bobbin containing the filling thread and on being drawn tight, completes the stitch. An important feature in this invention is that each stitch is tightened by the act of opening the loop in forming the succeeding stitch, a device being applied to the hook to prevent the loop passing entirely over the bobbin until the hook has secured the next loop and the tightening of the previous loop commences. In the second machine the bobbin carrying the filling thread is caused to pass through the needle loop alternately in opposite directions and to effect this object the driving shaft is hollow or tubular and is grooved for the purpose of acting as a cam by which the reciprocating motion is imparted to the bobbin which may be of the ordinary construction. The hollow of the shaft is large enough to admit the bobbin or spool, which is caused to move in and out of the hollow shaft by means of a rod or driver worked by the cam grooves. One end of the driver is connected to a piston rod, the piston of which works freely within the shaft and serves to push the bobbin out when requisite; the opposite end of the driver being curved up so as to lie across the front end of the bobbin and force it into the shaft when the motion is reversed. A stationary spindle receives the bobbin when it is pushed out from the hollow of the shaft and the rotary hook is formed upon the front part of the hollow shaft and is of a spiral shape, cut away at one part to form the nose of the hook; the needle being similar to and actuated by the same method as that already described in the first machine. The needle, after passing through the material, descends to its lowest position, on rising from which the nose of the hook passes close to the needle and engages with the loop formed by the needle thread, which is drawn down and extended by the revolution of the hook, one half of the loop being in a straight line across the extremity of the shaft, while the other half is retained on the periphery of the hook by the action of a screw thread formed thereon. When the hook has accomplished about five-eights of a revolution from the needle, the loop is sufficiently extended to permit the passage of the bobbin or spool, which is then moved through the loop by means of the rod or driver, the traverse of the bobbin being effected so quickly that the shaft has only time to perform a very small part of a revolution during such traverse and the bobbin is consequently through the loop before the hook completes its revolution. As the hook continues to rotate, that portion of the loop which was retained upon its periphery is, by the action of the screw thread already mentioned, moved outwards until it slips off the end of the hook and passes between the end of the shaft and the stationary spindle. Meanwhile the needle has been raised by the action of the eccentric and is again depressed to carry down a second loop, which in its turn is caught and extended by the rotary hook, so as to allow the bobbin to pass through it in a reverse direction to that in which it passed through the preceding loop. The hook in this machine also draws up and tightens each loop by the act of opening the loop immediately succeeding. The use of the rotary hook in these machines was certainly a novel idea and one that has greatly occupied the attention of those who have been engaged upon the development of the sewing machine. As regards the second machine it seems to be a rude imitation of a shuttle machine with the disadvantage of extending the loop before the spool can be passed through and although many attempts have been made to perfect this kind of machine, they have, up to the present, proved a failure in every case.
July 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
August 1889
(Continued from July 1889)
Mr. Bellford, whose patent was considered in the last article, obtained another patent for improvements in sewing machines on October 12, 1852, the idea being a communication. This machine needs no explanation, it being merely a reproduction of the oblique double needle machine, already described in the matter referring to Mr. Hughes's third machine.
On October 16th, 1852, Mr. Charles Tiot Judkins obtained an English patent (GB 413) for a machine, the constituent parts of which consisted of a vibrating needle in combination with a horizontal traversing shuttle and a serrated feeding bar working after the manner described in Mr. Hughes's specifications. The novelty claimed for this machine was the introduction of the shuttle into the double chain-stitch machine, utilising the needle and feed motions of that machine with a slight alteration in the time of the cams by which they were driven, and using the lever that revolved the circular needle in the double chain machine to propel the shuttle in the lock-stitch. So impressed was the patentee with the value of this alteration that royalties were claimed by him from all makers of lock-stitch machines using the shuttle and four-motion feed, and the sum of 40s. for each machine was paid by many who preferred to take that course rather than defend an action in Chancery, the numbers filed being so great that the attention of the Lord Chancellor (Lord Westbury) was directed to the matter, with the result that he at once stayed all proceedings relating to the subject in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, and ordered a case to be stated before him, when after many days' trial a decision was given against the patent, without the defendants being called upon to plead.
A machine using a straight needle acting vertically, the filling thread being passed through the loop by means of a reciprocating shuttle working in a rectilinear groove or race and having a wheel-feed motion, was patented by Mr. John Henry Johnson on November 11th, 1852. This machine in itself possesses no distinctive features worthy of record and is noticed in these articles only because of the fact that with it was introduced one of those simple ideas which have done so much towards perfecting the machine for special kinds of work. The machine was arranged to sew stout materials and the idea above referred to was the provision made to lubricate the needle thread. A small reservoir containing the lubricating agent is fitted to the top of the overhanging arm or bracket and through this reservoir the needle thread is caused to pass on its way from the reel to the needle; simple as this arrangement undoubtedly is, it has proved of very great importance to the leather trade and is extensively used at the present day in stitching heavy leather goods, and if due regard be paid to the composition of the lubricating material, great solidity and durability are given to the work produced and the fibres of the leather are less likely to be cut than they would be if exposed to the friction of a dry thread.
The machine patented by Mr. Alfred Vincent Newton (a communication), January 18, 1853, was, like that of Mr. Johnson, chiefly noticeable on account of the introduction of one especial feature. The machine was one of that class in which a barbed needle is employed, an arrangement being made by which the barb of the needle is closed during the withdrawal of the needle from the work, this closing arrangement having since been modified in various ways. The fabric is carried by circular racks working in suitable grooves made in the face of the circular bed-plate of the machine. The especial feature of this machine consists in the use of a piercer or stiletto, which is used in conjunction with the needle, being fixed to, and actuated by, the same vibrating arm, the use of the stiletto being to pierce a hole in the material, through which the needle afterwards easily passes without being subjected to the strain it would have to bear if it had to force its own passage. Newton's machine has not met with any success in this country, but the stiletto or piercer has been utilised in the boot-sole sewing machines of the present day.
August 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
September 1889
(Continued from August 1889)
On February 15, 1853, provisional protection was granted to Mr. Henry Dircks for an improved sewing machine, which was, with one exception, identical in form, construction and mode of operation with that of a previous inventor, Mr. Hughes, whose machines we have had to refer to so frequently in the course of these articles. The exception alluded to above is the peculiar method of driving the feed wheel. It may be remembered that in Mr. Hughes' machine the feed wheel was driven by a gut band attached to a spring, the band being placed in a groove round the wheel; but, in lieu of the band, Mr. Dircks employed a very ingeniously contrived lever, which imparted motion to the feed wheel by frictional contact and is described as a bent lever working levelly upon the central boss of the feed wheel, the said wheel being carried on a fixed stud fitted into a bracket projecting from the under side of the bed plate or table of the machine. An inside projecting boss is formed on the lever, the boss being notched to receive one end of a loose piece of metal, which the patentee terms a knuckle, the outer end of which bears against the inner side of the rim formed round the wheel. This knuckle is so disposed as to form, in conjunction with the boss of the lever, a kind of toggle or knee joint, so that when the lever is moved in the direction in which the wheel has to rotate it forces the knuckle against the rim of the wheel, which is then, by the frictional contact of the knuckle and rim, carried round the requisite distance. On the motion of the lever being reversed the pressure of the knuckle against the rim of the wheel is removed and the knuckle is then free to move back without giving any motion to the wheel, which is subjected to a certain amount of drag or friction by the use of a flat spring bearing against its side. A study of the various wheel feeds that followed Mr. Dircks' will show at once the importance of his invention and, although many alterations have been made, the toggle pawl still holds its place: at the same time it has been much improved and a far greater amount of durability given to it, by causing it to grip on both sides of a flange, instead of the inside only, as in the original invention. The boo-closing machines at present in use owe much of their success to this arrangement of feed wheel and it seems to have been an oversight on the part of the patentee that he did not obtain a special patent for this arrangement, making it applicable to all kinds of sewing machines. Mr. W. H. Johnson obtained a patent on the 21st of April, 1853, for a machine to sew cloth, leather and other materials. The mechanism of this machine is very intricate and a full description of the details is not warranted by the importance of the results arrived at. The machine, however, contained some novel features, which have since been practically developed, one of which is the means employed for the feed motion, the material to be sewn being fed along by means of the needle. To effect this the needle has, besides the ordinary vertical movement for piercing the cloth, a lateral vibratory motion given to it by means of an intricate arrangement of levers and slides and by this compound motion of the needle the use of a separate feed motion is dispensed with. A further improvement was claimed for attaching the spool or reel, by which the needle is supplied with thread to the top of the needle slide, so that in all positions of the needle the distance between the spool and the eye of the needle will be constantly the same and the thread will consequently be supplied in a steady and regular manner to the needle, while the formation of slack thread is, to a great extent, avoided. This method of placing the spool on top of the needle slide has been of great service in certain single-thread, chain-stitch machines, upon some of which it is in use up to the present time. Mr. Johnson's machine produced, what was called by the inventor, a belaying double-loop stitch and did not in its original form prove a commercial success but, after several alterations, it was again brought out as a double thread chain-stitch machine and was for a time extensively used in the production of seams in which the elasticity of the sewing was the chief requisite. The lock-stitch machines at that time had the reputation of elongating that part of the material upon which they worked, the consequence being that the edges of the fabric, when taken from the machine, were usually found to be in a corrugated or wavy form and to prevent this stay tapes were placed between the material but, although this obviated the difficulty, it was not practicable to use the tapes in every case, as, for instance, in trousers seams; hence the use of the double chain-stitch machine, which, in combination with the needle-feed, was not open to the same objection as the ordinary lock-stitch machine. But the double chain-stitch soon proved unsuitable for seams, as the raised cord formed by the thread and the operation of pressing the goods, caused the material to assume a shiny appearance on the outside, along the line of sewing, the result being that the lock-stitch was again used on this work and resumed a position from which it has not since been dislodged. The following amusing instance, illustrating this peculiarity of the double chain machine, occurred within the knowledge of the author. A West End tailor had made a coat for a gentleman and by way of novelty had caused the side bodies, forming part of the inside of the coat, to be quilted in a very elaborate design; this was done on the double chain machine, the coat was pressed, finished and sent home, the gentleman expressing himself satisfied with it. After a few days, however, the customer appeared at the tailor's accompanied by the coat. "See here ! see here ! Mr., said he, what is the matter with my coat? It is blossoming out into an elaborate architectural design and if I should wear it in the street folks would believe that I was desirous to revert to the practices of the ancient Britons and ornament my body with scrolls". Upon examining the coat it was found that every line of the sewing on the inside had been faithfully reproduced by a shiny streak on the outside of the coat, the necessary pressing having rendered the material more dense in that part and although this did not show while the coat was damp, it soon made its appearance afterwards, much to the astonishment of the customer and the consternation of the tailor.
September 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
October 1889
(Continued from September 1889)
It may have been remarked by the reader that the immediately preceding articles of this series have been almost entirely devoted to the consideration of the feed motion and as this part of the machine will again form the main subject of the present article, a few observations, touching the importance of the feed motion in relation to the sewing machine, may be necessary, as showing that undue prominence has not been given to this part of the subject, and if it be remembered that the beautiful regularity of the sewing and the rapidity with which that sewing is executed depend mainly upon the excellence of the feed motion, it may be easily seen, even by those whose knowledge of the sewing machine is not of the most intimate character, how important a factor this part of the machine becomes, and also how large a measure of the success which the sewing machine has achieved is due to the development of the feed motion. Compare the method of the Frenchman, Thimonnier, in whose machine the work was fed by hand, the regularity of the sewing depending chiefly upon the skill of the operator, or the cumbrous system of slides and rollers introduced by Duncan, or, again, the slow and awkward method of steel ribs or plates as used in the earlier machines of Howe; compare any or all of these with the feed of the present machine, with its rapidity, accuracy and ease of working and the wonderful development of this part of the machine will at once become apparent. The needle feed, introduced by Mr. W. H. Johnson, whose machine was commented upon in the last article, was an attempt to overcome a difficulty that had appeared in most of the machines up to that date (1853), The defect consisted of a difference in the size of the stitches when sewn in a straight line to those produced on a curve; the stitches also varying according to the direction of the curve, becoming larger than those in the straight line if the curve was inclined one way and smaller when the direction of the curve was reversed.
The success of Mr. Johnson's machine was not an enduring one and it was reserved for Mr. W. F. Thomas (son of Mr. W. Thomas, of the "Howe" claim cases) to invent a feed that is still unsurpassed for certain kinds of work. Mr. Thomas's invention is generally known as the "top feed", since it acts upon that side of the fabric from which the needle enters, and so dispenses with the use of a separate presser foot, the feed releasing its grip of the work at each stitch to allow the operator to move the work in any required direction. The patentee, in his specification, describes the feed as an instrument, acting on that surface of the fabric which the needle enters, its use being to move the fabric after each stitch, to facilitate which movement the face of the instrument which acts upon the fabric is serrated or roughened, the motion being imparted by two levers worked by suitable cams or wipers. This instrument also, or another acting therewith; serves to hold the work during the insertion of the needle and again during its withdrawal, and by releasing the holding means from the fabric while the needle is therein the direction of the next stitch can be varied at will. Mr. Thomas also made other claims in the same specification (27th of April, 1853) as for the application of a wire lengthwise of the shuttle, over or around which the shuttle thread is passed after leaving the bobbin, by which means the irregular motion of the thread when pulling from or near the ends of the bobbin was greatly lessened. Also for the use of springs in the shuttle to press on the thread from the shuttle and give tension thereto. Springs were also employed to press against the shuttle and prevent it jumping, thus controlling the supply of the under thread and producing a more even and regular locking of the stitch. These springs were placed one at each end of the shuttle race to prevent the shuttle from rising and fouling the thread, but one of these springs was afterwards dispensed with, that one which acted upon the shuttle after it had passed the loop and in its place a spring was fixed on the shuttle-carrier so as to press upon the back of the shuttle and keep it against the face of the race, and it was sometimes arranged to keep the shuttle in contact with the carrier, it being a well known fact that the shuttle when running at a quick speed does not stop simultaneously with the carrier, but continues its motion until it comes against the front of the carrier, from which it rebounds to a certain extent. There is also a claim for an arrangement for the purpose of shifting the centre of motion of the levers actuating the needle carrier, so as to vary the traverse of the needle, and this is also accomplished by making a slot in the end of the lever, and moving the roller nearer to or farther from the centre of motion.
On August 3rd, 1861, Mr. William F. Thomas made a disclaimer and memorandum of alteration, by which he discarded nearly the whole of the claims contained in his specification, with the exception of those claims which were relative to his feed motion, which had, by this time, proved its value. By this act the various ideas, including the application of springs to the shuttle carrier, became public property. The Thomas feed has been described by some as the four motion feed of Hughes reversed from the under to the top of the machine, but a close examination will show that its motions are but three, approaching closely to the form of a right-angled triangle, instead of the rhomboidal movement of Mr. Hughes' four-motion feed.
October 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
November 1889
(Continued from October 1889)
In studying the histories of inventions it is interesting to notice how often it occurs that the minds of inventors, each working independently of the other and often under very dissimilar conditions, do yet arrive at certain results so nearly together in point of time and effected by methods so much alike as would make it appear that the time having come when humanity would be benefited by an invention or discovery, its success was not allowed to depend upon the capabilities of one man's brain, but that nature, prodigal of her resources, ensured the fulfilment of her plans by the number of her agents.
An illustration of this similarity of thought is shown in comparing the feed-motion in Mr. W. F. Thomas's machine, fully described in the last article, with that contained in a machine by Mr. W. Wickersham, of Lowell, U.S.A.
The "Thomas" feed-motion was effected in an entirely novel and original manner and proved of great value to the sewing machine and yet at the very time that the "Thomas" patent was being applied for and before its details had been made public, a description of Mr. Wickersham's machine was on its way to this country from America and the feed-motion of this machine was so similar to that of the "Thomas" as to render a separate description quite unnecessary.
Beyond the feed motion the resemblance between the two machines ceased. Mr. Wickersham's invention, for which a patent, dated May 10th, 1853, had been granted to Mr. William Johnson, to whom the details had been communicated, was described as a machine capable of producing two distinct kinds of sewing; one in which the well-known single thread chain stitch is made, while in the other two threads are interlooped in a manner to be explained in the following: A hooked needle having a vertical motion was fitted with a slide for closing the hook previous to its withdrawal from the fabric and working in conjunction with the hooked needle and slide were two thread guides or carriers, each of which was supplied with a separate thread from two reels or spools placed beneath the platform or table of the machine. The sewing produced by the use of these two threads resembles on one side the ordinary tambour stitch, from which however it materially differs, inasmuch as the loops are formed alternately from two different threads instead of from one thread as in the case of the tambour stitch. The shank of the hooked needle is grooved on one side to receive the closing slide, which works vertically in the groove by means of a motion derived from the needle carrier. The hooked needle first descends and passes far enough through the cloth to carry the top edge or barb of the hook some distance below the under side, the closing side being retained in an elevated position by means of gripping springs until a projection on the descending needle carrier strikes the top of the slide and forces it through the opening already made by the needle in the cloth, but not quite so far through as the top of the hook, which is now free to receive a thread from one of the thread guides, after which operation the needle rises independently of the closing slide, which is kept at rest by the gripping springs, until the lower end of the slide is met by the hook, thereby closing the hook and enabling it, together with the slide which it carries with it, to pass freely upwards through the cloth and the previous loop without catching in either. The cloth is now fed forward and the needle having risen to its full height, again descends, passing at the same time through the loop last drawn up by it and the various operations are again repeated, with the exception that the thread is this time supplied from the other thread guide and these guides acting alternately it follows that the two threads are interlooped and secured by each other. The hooked needle and slide combined are extensively used at the present time in machines employed upon heavy leather work.
On the 13th of May, 1853 and again on the 14th of July, 1853, Mr. Robert Smith Bartleet obtained patents for improvements in needles and needle holders for sewing machines. The invention chiefly relates to tools for producing the needles and for forming the points, grooves and the impressions for the eyes simultaneously, by stamping or pressing in dies. The most important and useful part concerns the production of needles with angular or lancet-shaped points, but this idea had, however, been already claimed by Mr Julian Bernard, whose specification contained a clause relative to a needle with an angular point to be used in producing the square awl stitching that has been already noticed and described in these articles.
November 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
December 1889
(Continued from November 1889)
In the specification relating to a patent for various modifications and novel arrangements of sewing mechanism, granted to Mr. Robert Smith Bartleet on the 12th August, 1853, we find, for the first time, mention made of the stitch indicator, the object of which was to regulate the length of the stitches and, as used by Mr. Bartleet, to show also the exact length of the stitch being produced, a feature that has been re-arranged by many inventors to suit their special machines. A description is also given of an arrangement of rollers to the face or top side of the bedplate or table, by which the movement of the fabric is facilitated; this arrangement does not constitute the feed motion, but is of very great assistance to it when articles of a large size are being made up. The patentee also proposed, as a substitute for "basting", to use a number of metal clips for the purpose of holding two or more thicknesses of material together, to give assistance to the presser-foot during the passage of the fabric. Another novel feature was the application of glass plates to the tables or bedplates of sewing machines, so that the under parts of the machines might be seen without reversing them and by constructing the presser-foot in such a form that a glass plate could be fixed in it, the operator was enabled to see the line of sewing up to the very point where the needle entered the fabric and this part of the invention formed a great feature in the improved machines sent to this country by the Wheeler & Wilson Company (Mr. Bellford's patent, October 6th, 1853) and added much to the popularity and esteem in which these machines were held.
On August 15th, 1853, a patent was obtained by Archibald Douglass, the avowed object of the patentee being to imitate, as closely as possible by mechanical means, the ordinary operation of hand sewing. To effect this, the patentee makes use of the double-pointed needle, which is passed quite through the fabric by means of metal fingers or clamps and he also claims various forms of clamps or nippers for holding the work. The principal claim is for an arrangement of feed motion, working step by step and capable of receiving motion in such a manner that back-stitching may be produced and to effect this a retrograde movement equal to half the forward motion is alternately given to the feed, thus producing stitches of two different lengths. The double-pointed needle described in this specification had already formed the subject of a patent by Charles Weisenthal nearly one hundred years previously; while the method of accomplishing the back-stitch had already been shown in the specification of Mr. Julian Bernard that was recently considered in these articles and these facts show at once the utter absence of novelty in the patent of Douglass, which is referred to here merely as being typical of a class of patents which may be described as being retrogressive in their tendencies and if there were an intelligent system of supervision exercised by the patent office officials such patents would never be allowed to appear side by side with the thoughts of men worthy of the title inventor. Surely, in view of the heavy fees exacted from inventors, some preliminary examination into the merits of the various applications might be made and although it is true that, in many cases, few besides the originator of an idea can see the possibilities that may be in store for it, still it can be neither unjust nor unreasonable to desire that those applications whose utter absence of novelty can be proved by the patent office records shall by the patent office be rejected and so cease to supply the foreigner with what he considers to be a plain proof of the poverty of British inventive talent. As illustrating these retrogressive patents, the following may not be inappropriate: The writer of these articles had a mechanical arrangement submitted to him, with a request from the "inventor'' for an opinion as to its merits. This opinion was soon formed and given, for the "invention" was as old as the cogwheel itself. However, the "inventor" was by no means inclined to accept this view of the matter; for, having shown the arrangement to several of his friends, not forgetting to explain the value of it upon every occasion, he had, by a constant repetition of its excellencies, become deeply impressed with the importance, both of his idea and of himself as the originator; consequently, he could not be satisfied until he had secured a patent. The matter was, therefore, at once placed in the hands of a patent agent, who soon placed the wished-for patent in the hands of his gratified client, at the same time telling him that the idea was void of novelty and in common, everyday use and that, should he meet with it in public, it would be advisable not to notice it in relation to his claim. The client, who it is almost needless to say, was an amateur and the pet genius of a family, took this advice readily enough for, had he not got his patent? And cheerfully paid the necessary expenses, reckoning them as the cost of a pedestal upon which he could pose, before a small and select circle of admiring friends, as an "inventor".
December 1889
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
January 1890
(Continued from December 1889)
A novelty in sewing machinery was introduced by Mr. Thomas William Gilbert and patented by him on September 10th, 1853. The idea was to facilitate the operation of sewing sails, carpets and other heavy goods, whose size and weight rendered their manipulation in the ordinary manner both awkward and cumbersome and to obviate this difficulty the inventor reversed the usual order of things and instead of moving the work upon the machine it remained stationary and the machine was traversed along the work. To accomplish this the machine was mounted upon a frame of sufficient length to allow for the requisite traverse and along this frame the machine was moved at each stitch by a step by step motion derived from a ratchet. When two or more parallel rows of stitching were required, the work was more expeditiously accomplished by arranging the necessary number of machines to move and work together, or two or more needles and shuttles could be used in one machine and in some cases two needles were used with one shuttle, the effect of which was to produce a ladder-like stitch upon the under side of the fabric and the rows of sewing were, upon the return motion of the machine, flattened by means of rollers affixed for that purpose. The traversing machine, which Mr. Gilbert was the first to put into a practical form, is still used for the purpose of uniting carpets and other heavy goods, the inevitable modifications on the ideas of the original inventor having meanwhile, of course, taken place. To those who hold certain opinions with respect to the equality of the sexes, or are impressed with the desirability of the movement whose object is to forward the rights of woman, it will no doubt be interesting to learn that on September 14th, 1853, the names of two ladies appeared in the records of the patent office as joint inventrices, to coin a word, of a sewing machine. France was the proud country of their birth and John Henry Johnson the lucky man to whom their ideas were communicated in this country, but the author never having unfortunately been privileged by seeing the machine, the reader must be content with such details as can be gathered from a mere description of the invention of these ladies, whose names were respectively Adrienne Elizabeth Figuier and Euphrasie Cherault. According to the description then, the invention consisted in placing a number of hooked needles side by side in a sliding carrier at such distances apart as are equal to the length of the stitches to be made. The needles are passed through the fabric and while in this position are supplied with one thread common to all the needles, this thread being laid by means of suitable thread guides or carriers in the hook of each needle. The needles are now withdrawn, carrying with them the thread with which they have been supplied and which is thus formed into a series of loops on the opposite side of the fabric and through these loops a second thread is carried, which acts as a filling thread, after which the row of loops are drawn tight and an amount of sewing completed equal in length to the row of needles employed; a second length is then commenced and finished in a similar manner, each successive row of sewing being completed by a double stroke of the needle slide. With all due respect to the feminine portion of the community, it seems strange that women, who of all people might be supposed to understand best the requirements of the seamstress, should have conceived a machine in which no provision was made to alter the size of the stitch, or to enable the operator to sew round curves, &c. However, the ladies seem to have had some misgivings as to the success of their invention, for the patent was never carried beyond the stage of provisional protection. About this period, 1853, the sewing machine was slowly but surely asserting itself in the manufacture of heavy clothing, the makers of these goods having a great desire to employ the machine upon their productions; the workmen, on the contrary, held opposite opinions and in many cases stood out against its introduction, ostensibly for the following reasons: That the eye of the needle chafed the thread, so that no durability was left in it and that consequently the seams sewn by the machine would give way; also that the under thread was not pulled into the face of the fabric and that the sewing would not be sufficiently elastic. There was a certain amount of truth in these objections, the trouble being chiefly caused by the bad quality of the silks and linen threads which were being supplied to users of the sewing machine, the threads being lumpy and uneven, while the silks, being hand spun, were open to the same objection, besides being knotted at intervals and in some cases, in the endeavour to produce a cheap article, were so overweighted with dye as to be quite unsuitable for use in the machine and these things combined to enhance the difficulties with which the machine had to contend, limiting its operations both in speed and quality and casting upon it blame that more properly belonged lo other quarters. These troubles are now, however, things of the past and the improvements in spinning machinery which have produced the excellent quality of sewings, both silk and thread, that are now obtainable have increased the speed of machines to an extent which would have been formerly considered utterly impossible. As showing the ignorance with regard to the sewing machine which existed among those whose interest one would suppose would have prompted them to gain some knowledge of it the following is given: The author had in charge about this time a number of machines which were being driven by steam at the rate of 900 stitches per minute; this speed was unprecedented and many manufactures came to see them operated so quickly, amongst others a Mr. Thomas B., a Staffordshire shoemaker, who adjusted his glasses and took his seat at a safe distance from the steam-driven machine, which was started, kept running while the shuttle thread lasted and then stopped. Mr. B. expresses no surprise at the rapidity of the operation, but delivers himself thus: " Yes, yes; very good indeed; it's an excellent contrivance for putting the holes in the leather, but I should like to know how you are going to put in the stitches" and the operation actually had to be repeated before he could believe that what he had seen was really sewing produced by the machine.
January 1890
{To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
February 1890
(Continued from January 1890)
Mr. A. V. Newton obtained a patent on the 21st September, 1853, for an improved method of forming seams and ornamental stitching and in machinery for effecting such operation, part of which machinery is applicable to the forming of other seams and stitches. Mr. Newton's invention (communicated to him from abroad) is of too intricate a character to be clearly explained by a mere letterpress description, without the illustrations accompany the specifications. The object of the first part of this invention is to form a seam with one thread, as in the well-known tambour stitch, but without the objections to seams formed by such stitches. It is well known that in the event of the bottom looper failing to engage the loop of needle thread, there will be what is known as a slip or miss stitch and from this part of the seam the work is liable to ravel out (this does not take place in the lock-stitch; when the shuttle fails to pass through the loop of needle, a long stitch is the result, which, although unsightly, does not render the seam unreliable). The first part of this invention is to overcome the defect of such missing or slip stitch and the needle, with the eye near the point for the reception of the thread, enters the cloth and carries the thread with it. The second instrument or looper then moves forward between the needle and the thread and in its return motion catches the thread and forms a loop as the needle is drawn out, the loop being drawn back, that is, in the direction the reverse of the progress of the seam. The needle and thread are then forced through the cloth. The looper, with its previous loop on its shank, is moved forward and enters between the needle and thread and in its back movement catches the thread which lies in the eye of the needle and, as the needle is drawn back, forms a second loop, which is drawn through the first loop and then liberated to complete the stitch. In this way the seam progresses stitch by stitch. Should the thread break, the end will be drawn through the loop and there held by the looper, as in the case of the last stitch of the seam. The needle can then be re-threaded and the operation continued as in beginning a new seam, in which case the end of the thread is completely gripped by the first stitch. Should the looper, however, in any portion of the seam, fail to enter between the needle and the thread and thereby fail to make the next loop, the previous loop still remains on the shank of the looper and when the looper does finally enter properly and forms another loop, the connection is continued and the only consequence to the seam will be one long stitch in lieu of two or more short ones. The main point of difference between this stitch and the ordinary tambour stitch is, that in the latter the loop must be drawn in the direction of the progress of the seam, so that the needle may enter such loop to accomplish the concatenation and should the needle fail to enter, or the loop by some accident not be formed, the concatenation is broken and the thread behind the missed stitch is liberated; whilst on the other hand, in this new stitch, the loop must be drawn away from the needle to prevent the needle from entering it and the concatenation is produced by drawing the last formed loop through the previous one, so that each stitch completes the concatenation and, as a consequence, the failure at any time to catch the thread when carried through the cloth by the needle does not break the concatenation, but simply causes a long stitch to be taken. The general arrangement of the machine, whereby this stitch is produced, consists of the usual table or platform, upon which the articles to be sewn are laid, with an overhanging bracket carrying the vertical needle slide and mechanism. The needle itself is slightly modified in form. It is formed with the eye near its point, as in other sewing machines, but just above the eye it is crooked, for the purpose of keeping the loop well open for the entrance therein of the looper, the thread of needle being extended across the crook or bow, after the manner described in Fisher and Gibbon's specification, previously referred to in these articles. In addition to the crook or bow there is a feather or projecting rib on the shank end to guide the fixing into the needle slide. As the needle is carried down towards the end of its downward motion, the bulge formed by the crook comes in contact with an adjustable surface beneath the bed-plate, which has the effect of forcing the needle sideway, until the part below the crook is brought into contact with a guage-plate; this is also conveniently placed beneath the bed plate. The face of the adjustable surface is grooved, so as to hold the needle steady and prevent all lateral motion. By these means the needle, however flexible, is, when once in its place at the end of its downward motion, always brought to its proper position and held firmly therein during the next succeeding operation in the formation of the stitch. The needle having passed through the cloth and carried with it its thread, which stretches across the crook or bend, the point or nose of the looper enters the space between the body of the thread and the needle at the crook. This looper is attached to a carrier, which slides horizontally below the table and is actuated by a cam on a cam shaft beneath the machine.
February 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
March 1890
(Continued from February 1890)
The looper works in a groove in the table and at right angles, or nearly so, to the motion of the needle. The face of the looper next to the needle is slightly convex in its vertical section, so as to fit the concave portion of the crook or bend of the needle and the side of the groove against which it works is of corresponding form. The point of the looper is lancet-shaped and is hooked or barbed. The moment the barb passes the needle, the needle begins to rise, thereby drawing the thread into the recess of the looper or within the barb and then as the looper is moved back the thread is drawn out to form a loop. The looper then pauses for a time whilst the needle completes its upward movement, the thread being drawn tight by a spring in the upper part of the machine, which draws the previous loop tight, this being aided by the needle carrier coming into contact with the spring and forcing it upwards by a positive movement. The moment the needle has completed its upward movement, the looper is re-started to complete its back movement, for the purpose of drawing out the thread and extending its loop and as the thread, which passes round the looper, is held above by the tension of thread and also in the cloth forming the previous stitch, this back movement draws the thread tight in the cloth and is equivalent to pulling on the single thread, which forms the stitch on the face of the cloth, because the thread on the other side yields to the downward motion of the needle. A small lever is connected by a pin with the body of the looper and when the forward end of the lever is pushed down, the looper is entirely closed and has an eye instead of a recess, the end of the lever being made to fit in a suitable recess inside the barb to leave the lower edge smooth and even so as not to catch on the thread. But when the end of the lever is thrown up to the top of the recess, then the barb is open and free to receive the thread to form a loop. When the looper is in its back position the thread forming the loop lies in the hollow of the looper and extends thence diagonally on each side to the cloth and as the looper is drawn back the thread forming the loop is drawn between the inner face of the looper and a piece of cloth attached to the side of the groove. When the loop is pushed forward to form another loop, the previously formed loop is held back by the friction against the piece of cloth, so that the lever slides into the succeeding loop and as the looper is drawn back with the thread forming the second loop in the forward part of the recess, the forward end of the lever, which is then within the previous loop, is pushed down into the barb to close the recess. This is done so that the previously formed loop may be liberated and drawn from the looper by its continued back motion and the tension on the thread as the needle continues its upward movement. It thus follows that as the first formed loop is liberated over the one last formed, the concatenation of the stitches is effected with the previous stitch. An incline is used for opening or closing the looper, the incline being hinged at one end for rising when the looper makes a forward stroke, so that the end of the lever will pass under the incline without being interfered with. The feed of the cloth is derived from a presser foot, which is roughened on its under surface and is raised from the cloth by a suitable cam after the needle entered the cloth, so that the cloth may yield to the crook of the needle during its downward motion and to admit of changing the position of the cloth to give the required direction of the seam whilst the needle is in the cloth and before it begins to rise; thus the needle forms a centre for the cloth to turn on, which greatly facilitates the making of a seam in any line or curve required. Whilst the presser foot is held up from the face of the cloth, it is pushed back the distance of a stitch by the action of a spring against the upper end of a lever to which the foot is attached; the range of feed being regulated by an adjustable screw. The cam which elevates the presser foot then permits it to be forced down on to the cloth again by the tension of a helical spring, in which position it remains until the needle is drawn out. The forward feed motion is given to the presser foot so as to push the cloth along by a pin on the periphery of a wheel, which strikes a cranked arm in connection with the upper part of the presser foot lever and so moves it forward the extent of one stitch at a time. The needle with its crook should make its upward movement whilst the presser foot is down on the cloth, since at that time the foot is furthest removed from the needle and therefore the flexibility of the cloth and elasticity of the needle will combine to allow of the easy passage through the cloth of the crook or bent portion of the needle without any positive shogging motion being imparted to the latter. The patentee also proposes to use a shuttle in connection with the peculiar form of needle last described. The stitch, after all, is a one-thread chain or tambour stitch and is equally liable to be ripped out on one of the thread ends becoming unfastened. Mr. Newton describes, however, another stitch and mode of producing a seam, composed of two interlooped or interlocked threads. In this stitch, instead of the alternately looping of one thread round the other, the looper, carrying the filling thread which may be called thread No. 2, is passed through between the needle and No. 1 thread. A second loop is then formed with No. 2 thread, which loop is carried back through the loop of needle or No. 1 thread and also through the first formed loop of No. 2 thread, thereby completely tying the second thread round the first one. The thread No. 2, doubled, is passed through the previously formed loop and is thus gripped and held whilst the thread No. 1 is completely embraced by the thread No. 2. The sewing, when completed, presents on one side the appearance of hand stitching and on the other three threads are shown lying smooth and flat side by side and admirably adapted to ornamental embroidery. As the three threads lie flat and smooth, the whole of them must be worn through at once before the stitch can be ripped out (For further details see drawings in specification). To be brief, then, this invention consists in combining with an eye-pointed needle for carrying one thread through the cloth, a looping apparatus for carrying the second thread within the reach of the looping apparatus, so that the said thread may be formed into loops on each of the needle-threads, the looping apparatus being so constituted as to draw the loop last formed within the second thread through the loop of the needle-thread and the previously formed loop of the second thread. This feed motion somewhat differs from the one previously described, inasmuch as the needle has a lateral motion imparted to it after it has entered the cloth in the line of feed, in addition to its vertical action and the needle being straight instead of crooked.
March 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
April 1890
(Continued from March 1890)
Mr. Joseph Hughes obtained a patent on the 26th of October, 1853, for improvements in machinery or apparatus for sewing or stitching, in the specification of which he describes various modes of stitching by machinery; but we do not know that any of them have ever been found practicable. Our purpose, however, is to give a short notice of such of the leading features as appear to us the most striking. The invention consists more particularly of improvements in the machines patented by Mr. Hughes in 1852 and previously referred to. The first machine described in this specification is arranged for using two straight needles, moving diagonally in needle frames, so as to cross each other at every stitch, the one needle being above the cloth and working downwards and the other below the cloth and working upwards, both needle carriers and frames being actuated by lever arms from one cam, which serves also as the fly-wheel of the machine. This machine is a mere modification of the mechanism for working the two diagonal straight needles previously described in Mr. Hughes' first specification and is of no practical value whatever. Mr. Hughes in his specification describes the application of endless notched or roughened surface chains passing over pulleys, for the purpose of feeding the cloth along, the presser foot holding the cloth down upon a portion of the feed chain, which is brought up through an opening in the table or platform of the machine. The requisite intermittent or step by step motion is imparted to the feed chain by means of a series of falls of various lengths, working a ratchet wheel and carried by a vibrating lever which is actuated by a cam or wiper on the main shaft. This feed is quite a novelty, but we are at a loss to see its advantages over the wheel feed, which is less costly and not so liable to get out of order as a chain feed. The stitch made by this machine is what is known as the double thread chain-stitch and the appearance of the illustration shows it to be a firm and lasting stitch and no doubt is so when made, but the mode of producing this stitch is by no means clearly described in the specification. Three different combinations of apparatus are illustrated and described in the specification for forming the stitch in question, to which document we beg to refer such of our readers as may feel sufficiently interested in the invention to desire to become masters of the same. Another portion of Mr. Hughes' invention relates to a means of performing the operation technically known as "closing", viz., the sewing together of two edges of leather in boot or shoe uppers. For this purpose it is proposed to use peculiarly formed clamps. The materials are placed between the holding jaws and are moved along under the needle while being sewn by means of a rack and pinion, or other similar contrivance. Motion is given to the pinion from the main shaft of the machine by means of a cam, lever and ratchet gear. In one end of the rack is a pin or stud, to which is fitted one end of the lower clamp or jaw, so as to turn loosely round the stud. The same stud serves also to secure a spring, which presses or bears upon a projection on the end of the upper jaw and thus pressing the two jaws forcibly together when the work or material to be sewn is placed between them. A second stud is finally secured to the opposite end of the lower jaw and passes up through a slot made in the upper jaw. A screw thread is formed upon this stud and an oblong nut passed thereon, so that on screwing up the nut the jaws may be made to compress or hold the material firmly between them, which, when requisite, can be instantly released by simply turning the nut so as to correspond exactly with the slot, whereupon it will pass through and the clamp will fly open. These clamps are made of suitable form to adapt them to the form or deviation of seams to be produced, so that the stitching may always be close to the edge of clamp from one end to the other. In place of the arrangement above described, the clamps may consist simply of two curved springs, having thin convex sides together and one end of each spring screwed to the corresponding end of the other spring by an adjustable screw, the other two ends, after the work is placed between them, being pressed together by hand and retained by the notched spring-catch. When this latter form of clamp is used, the work and clamp are held and guided by the hand and the work is fed along by suitable feeding apparatus and the clamps may be made straight and placed far enough from the seam to be out of the way of the parts of the machine near the needle. The inner sides or surfaces of the jaws or clamps which press upon the material are grooved or furrowed, so as to have a firmer hold upon the material contained between them. Another part of this invention relates to an improvement upon, or rather a modification of, the machine previously patented in 1852 by Mr. Hughes, wherein a vertical needle worked in conjunction with a curvilinear needle working horizontally. In lieu of the curvilinear needle previously adopted a straight one is substituted. It is carried by a holder connected with a horizontal slide by a screw pin, so as to allow the holder to vibrate upon the pin as a centre. Motion is imparted to the slide by a cam, into the groove of which works a stud pin fastened in the end of the slide. A slight vibration is given to the horizontal needle holder by a cam on the shaft, which cam in its rotation presses against an arm or lever to which is attached the hooked projection connected with the holder and adjusted by a set screw. The reverse lateral motion of the needle and holder is obtained from a spring. The thread for the vertical needle is obtained in the usual manner from a spool or bobbin for this purpose, whilst a second spool or bobbin supplies the second or filling thread to the horizontal needle. The combination of instruments and their movements are extremely complicated, whilst the description and drawings are anything but clear and explicit. Our readers really have no idea of the amount of patience and perseverance requisite to dissect some of the very ingenious mechanical combinations constituting that imaginary class of sewing machines whose sole existence has been in the fertile brain of an inspired inventor and on the paper upon which they have been drawn.
April 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
May 1890
(Continued from April 1890)
Mr. W. Anderson and A. W. Murphy applied for a (british) patent on the 14th of November, 1853, for improvements relating to the class of goods known as Ayrshire sewn work, used as collars, &c. A sewing machine is described, but the invention consists in using a black or coloured muslin as a ground fabric in lieu of white, whilst the sewing or embroidery produced upon its surface is white or coloured, or a combination of colours.
A patent was granted to Elmer Townsend, on the 24th of November, 1853, for certain improvements which had been communicated to him from William Butterfield. These improvements appear to have been confined to the formation of a one-thread chain stitch by the aid of a hooked needle, which after having passed through the cloth or material to be sewed, had its thread laid in its hook, so that on ascending again it drew up the thread with it, in a double or looped state, through the cloth and through the previously formed loop. This is a very simple machine, rather too simple to be durable and produce good and lasting seams.
Mr. Lewis Jennings obtained a patent on the 30th of November, 1853, in the specification of which he describes a novel kind of stitch produced by a vertical needle, having its eye near the point and a hook or finger working in a horizontal direction beneath the fabric. This machine produces two peculiar forms of one-thread stitches, but is also capable if found desirable of producing the ordinary chain or tambour stitch. The patentee states that his improvements are of a sufficiently independent character to ensure the stability of the seams so formed, even though the thread be severed in several places. If this be really the case, which, however, with all due deference to Mr. Jennings, we are inclined to doubt, a very important improvement on the single thread stitch has yet to be made that will make a seam of stability, or one that is unrippable, which would be the beau ideal of a practical sewing machine. Machines which are chiefly worked by young girls should have as few parts as possible liable to derangement and should be so constructed as to require the least possible delay in preparing for work, consequently the fewer threads there are and the fewer needles or instruments to be threaded the better. Although such a machine has not yet been put on the market, we feel confident the day is not far distant when such a machine will be produced. We will do our best to give a detailed account of Mr. Jennings' machine. In producing the stitch by Mr. Jennings' machine the needle first descends through the cloth, carrying the thread with it, which thread is next to be extended into a loop. This is effected by the advance of a finger, which by taking up the thread on its point prevents it from being drawn back on the ascent of the needle. The loop is formed on the finger and the needle depressed to form a second loop; the needle then rises slightly to slacken the thread and expand or open the loop sufficiently to admit the point of the linger, which now advances to the position, thrusting the first formed loop through the second loop, which is being made by tlie ascent of the needle. When the needle has risen clear of the work it will have left a loop round the shoulder of the finger, at which moment the fabric advances, the thread having been slackened off to facilitate this operation. The needle then descends again to make another stitch and the finger being still advanced and held under the needle by suitable means, the needle will now pass through the loop on the shoulder of the finger and as it continues to descend the finger will be drawn back. The loop thus caught by the needle will be drawn off the point of the finger and the loop formed on the shoulder of the finger will be drawn forwards on to the point. The continued descent of the needle will carry the thread through the loop round the needle point and when the thread is slackened by the partial rising of the needle the finger in its advance will carry the loop on its point through the loop formed by the slackened needle thread and by a repetition of these movements a row of stitches will be produced at a very considerable expenditure of thread. The same objection, though to a less extent, applies to the other form of stitch. To produce this stitch it is requisite to change the cam previously used for working the finger for another capable of giving the motions required to suit the stitch.
May 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
June 1890
(Continued from May 1890)
A patent was granted to Julian Bernard, on the 6th of December, 1853, for improvements in machinery, or apparatus for stitching or uniting and ornamenting various materials. One of the chief features of novelty in this invention is the use of a rotary arm or bracket, working round a fixed centre on the bed-plate for carrying the needle and part of the mechanism which actuates it, whereby the arm and needle may be brought to different positions over the surface of the bed-plate, so as to operate in combination with other subordinate combinations of mechanism beneath and consequently afford facility for producing, in one machine, two, three or more varieties of stitching, according to the different arrangements of mechanism beneath the bed-plate. In lieu of this rotary arm, a revolving table or bed-plate may be used. A stop-pin passed through a flange on the base of the bracket serves to fix the same in any desired position over the table, by dropping into a hole or notch suitably disposed in the expanded portion of the boss. The front portion of the arm which receives the needle slide or rod consists of a hollow cylinder having a cap screwed into the upper and lower extremities. These caps are perforated to allow of the passage therethrough of the needle slide and consist of a round spindle with a key-way to prevent it from turning. We must say that there are numerous ingenious features in Mr. Bernard's invention, but space will prevent us from going fully into them and W'e must therefore content ourselves with the outlines of the invention, leaving the more substantial details to be gathered by our readers from the printed specification, consisting of over twenty pages of letterpress and six sheets of drawings. One striking feature of novelty in Mr. Bernard's invention is the production of a three-thread stitch. A very pleasing ornamenting effect is produced by using three threads of different colours. Mr. Bernard describes two modes of uniting and actuating these threads. The material is fed or traversed under the needle, by being laid upon and pressed against an endless band of leather, or other suitable material, which is passed over two tension pulleys, carried in brackets attached to the under side of the table. The band passes through slots in the table and traverses for some distance along its upper surface. It is tightened by an adjusting screw, which causes the bearing on which the pulley works to slide backwards and forwards in a slotted bracket. There are guide pulleys or rollers for directing the course of the material and for keeping it in a continual state of tension, so as to effectually prevent its puckering. The guide rollers are respectively fitted in to the lower ends of forks or rods, which are kept pressed down by helical springs. Suitable arrangements are made to maintain the rollers at the desired elevation. The feed motion is derived from a lever worked by a tappet on the main shaft and giving motion to a peculiar friction arrangement placed inside a pulley, which imparts an intermittent or step by step motion thereto. This feed motion is a most ingenious contrivance and forms the subject of an independent patent, under the title of ''Improvements in obtaining differential mechanical movements", bearing date the 30th May, 1853. The length of the stitch is adjusted by means of a notched eccentric, in lieu of the ordinary thumbscrew. The action of this notched eccentric is to bring the end of the feed lever nearer to, or further from, the tappet on the main shaft, so as to regulate the amount of movement at each stroke of such tappet and so stop the feed. An indicator and dial, placed outside the machine, are also referred to in the specification, for the purpose of showing the exact length of stitch produced during the operation of the machine.
June 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
July 1890
(Continued from June 1890)
Another important feature of novelty in Mr. Bernard's invention is the sewing of buttons on to materials by a sewing machine, by bringing the holes of the button through which the needle is to be passed or inserted beneath the point of the needle by suitable mechanism and also the securing of buttons to materials by a thread passed in a double or looped form through the button and afterwards securing such thread by looping, either alone with itself or in combination with one or more threads. The arrangements consist of two compound sliding-plates, the one sliding or working in the other. To the lower plate is secured a vertical stud which is fitted at its lower extremity with a short pin, kept pressed against the periphery of a suitable cam by an india rubber or other spring. It is thus obvious that the rotation of the cam will impart a to and fro sliding motion to the plate. The shaft which carries this cam actuates, by means of mitre wheels, a second horizontal shaft at right angles to the first, which is fitted with another cam, whose periphery gives motion to a second slide, through a pin in the slide of the vertical stud secured to the upper plate. A spring also serves to keep this plate under the influence of its cam. This slide or plate works in a groove in the ether plate and the material to which the button is to be attached is laid upon the surface of the two plates. The button is then placed upon the material in a proper position by means of a disc or plate. This disc has a circular aperture formed in its centre sufficiently large to enclose the space occupied by the holes in the button; it is placed over tho button and material and is held in its proper position by two sharp pointed pins fixed to the plate and projecting up through the material. The needle being elevated, the plate with the button and material is pushed forward by the cam for that purpose a distance corresponding to the distance between the adjacent holes in the button and the needle then descends again through the hole brought beneath it. On the second rising of the needle the plate is slid to one side by a spring, thereby bringing a third hole beneath the needle. On the third ascent of the needle the plate is drawn back by a spring, so as to bring the fourth hole of the button under the point of the needle, which completes the movement of the machine. Mr. Bernard describes also a machine for stitching the edges of button holes, the first of the kind, we believe. The needle passes into the cloth near the edge of the button hole and again through the slit of the hole, or outside, when overstitching edges of material, a lateral motion being imparted to the latter for that purpose. The needle thread is brought over its point in the form of a loop at each movement by means of suitably arranged fingers, so that the stitch will have the appearance of the ordinary hand-made button hole. Amongst other contrivances described by Mr. Bernard is the application of clutches or friction discs and straps to sewing machines for the purpose of throwing in and out of gear and for regulating or stopping entirely, the various moving parts and the driving or actuating of sewing machines by means of a weight or spring, with a suitable escapement movement, on the principle of the movement of a clock. A machine thus constructed when once started will go on sewing by itself until run down. The idea was certainly novel and had it been pushed would have found favour amongst ladies for use in the drawing-room or boudoir. The application would certainly obviate the use of the unsightly treadle, which all the skill of the ornamental cabinet-maker can make nothing of but a treadle, for, however ornamental and fanciful it may be, it is an unmistakable foot-lever, which never harmonises with the rest of the furniture.
July 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
August 1890
(Continued from July 1890)
Mr. Hughes obtained another patent on the 27th of December, 1853, embracing various modifications and improvements in sewing machines. The first portion of this invention relates to various modifications in the construction of the needles of sewing machines formed with bearded or spring eyes, the object of these improvements being to prevent the beard from injuring the material under treatment whilst passing therethrough. Another portion of Mr. Hughes' invention consists in obtaining a cam motion from the rim of the fly-wheel, in connection with two vertical bearded needles and one sewing thread, the action of one needle being to draw the thread upwards through the fabric and of the other to draw it down again, so as to produce a stitch similar to that made by hand. A third part of this invention consists of a modified form of machine for making the stitch last referred to, the two bearded needles being used in connection with improved thread guides and feed motion. A fourth part of the invention relates to producing various forms of what is known as "back stitching" by means of one thread and one bearded needle. For this purpose a lateral as well as vertical motion is imparted to the needle so as to cause it to descend in the same place only at every alternate descent. In connection with the needle is used a thread guide for supplying the thread to the hook of the needle and a hooked arm for the purpose of catching the loop and drawing it entirely through the fabric on the underside thereof. An intermittent feed motion is employed for moving the cloth in alternately opposite directions, one motion being equal to the length of a stitch and the other a shorter distance in the contrary direction. By these means the specification avers that all kinds of back stitching or sewing may be accomplished. Mr. Hughes also describes an improved feed motion, which is applicable generally to all sewing machines. Another portion of this voluminous specification describes a mode of using two needles and two thread guides, or one needle and one thread guide. Each needle is formed with a large slot or eye near the point, through which a thread guide passes whenever the eye of the needle has advanced through the fabric and draws the thread through the eye. When two such needles are used one needle is placed below and the other above the fabric, each needle when in action moving between springs (one pair placed below and another pair above the fabric), which springs serve to hold the thread whilst the thread guide is taking it through the eye of the needle. When sewing, the lower needle rises between its springs and through the fabric until the eye is above the latter; the upper guide then catches the thread, which is held by the upper pair of springs and draws it through the eye of the needle; this being accomplished, the needle passes back out of the fabric and from between the lower springs, carrying with it the thread, which is caught and held by the lower springs. The upper needle now descends between the upper springs and through the fabric and the thread is drawn through its eye by the lower guide; after which the needle descends and draws the thread through the fabric, completing the stitch. A needle of the above kind with its thread guide may be substituted for the hooked needle and hook or thread guide previously described, producing a stitch similar to that made by hand.
August 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
September 1890
(Continued from August 1890)
Mr. Julian Bernard obtained a patent on the 31st of December, 1853, for improvements in stitching and ornamenting various materials and in machinery and apparatus connected therewith. Mr. Bernard's invention is described under five different heads: Firstly, the production by means of machinery of a peculiar kind of stitch, somewhat similar to that known as herring-bone stitch, which stitch is used for uniting materials and sewing their edges and also for ornamenting the same, to which the inventor gives the name of the diamond stitch. Secondly, the production of another improved form of stitch, suitable for uniting and ornamenting materials and sewing their edges and applicable also to the stitching of button holes. Thirdly, the production of another improved stitch and part of ihe means employed therein, which is similar to a certain extent to that known as crochet, tambour, or chain stitch, but unlike it in so far that the tendency to unravel or rip will be diminished or entirely prevented. Fourthly, a peculiar arrangement and construction of mechanism for hemming or sewing the edges of materials. Fifthly, placing or securing on one common bed-plate two or more sets of mechanism, each having independent needle mechanism for sewing or stitching. In producing the diamond stitch an alternate lateral motion or side travel is imparted to the material to be stitched or ornamented, in conjunction with the usual forward travel or feed, which compound motion has the effect of presenting the material beneath the needle in such a manner as to produce the peculiar arrangement of stitch. The arrangements adapted for producing the stitch above mentioned are clearly shown in the drawings (which we cannot take advantage of in this description). A portion of the bed-plate of the machine is a moveable plate, which gives the lateral motion to the feeding wheel or friction band. This band is passed through slots in the plate and travels over its surface much in the same way as in the arrangements used in a former machine. It is actuated by wide driving pulleys; the pulleys which carry the band may be made to slide to and fro laterally along fixed stud centres. There is also a crank bell lever working on a fixed centre in the underside of the table or bed-plate and connected by a pin and slot with the plate. The longer arm of this lever is actuated by a double-grooved cam, which is provided with a movable director or guide hinged between the two grooves, for the purpose, during the rotation of the cam, of guiding the end of the lever from one groove to the other, thus producing a lateral or vibratory motion at each turn of the cam, which motion is imparted by the smaller arm of the lever to the plate. The needle of the machine works in an elongated hole or slot in the plate, so as to allow for the lateral traverse thereof. In stitching or ornamenting by this machine, the needle with its thread is brought down through the cloth and the thread is retained therein by any suitable mechanism. The needle then rises and the material is traversed forward and laterally, so as to bring a different part of its surface under the needle, which again descends and rises and the material is again traversed forward and laterally to the extent of the stitch to be produced. The apparatus required for the production of the diamond stitch being of such a simple nature it may be adapted to most of the ordinary sewing machines and used when required, it being solely requisite in and out of gear or action to withdraw a pin, when the plate will remain stationary and the machine may be used as an ordinary sewing machine. The adaption is most ingenious and one tending to extend the use of the sewing machine, as it is obvious that when one machine is made to perform several varieties of stitching without materially complicating its mechanism, a step is made towards the general applicability of this modern wonder. As regards the fifth novelty of Mr. Bernard's stitch and apparatus we think there is no question of a doubt that Mr. Bernard does not confine himself to the imparting of a lateral motion to the fabric, as such may in some cases be imparted to the needle. This would certainly answer the same end and would be better adapted for heavy fabrics, such as carpets and sails.
September 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
October 1890
(Continued from September 1890)
In that part of Mr. Bernard's specification which relates to the securing of the edges of materials and the stitching of buttonholes, there is described an ingenious combination of instruments for effecting that operation. In carrying out this part of the invention one or more threads are employed and the thread is turned in a double or looped form from the one side of the material to the other, so as to overlap the edge thereof and the needle is then inserted through the loop so turned over. This turned over loop, when two threads are used, is obtained from the second or under thread, which is carried and passed by a suitable instrument or "opener" through the loop formed by the needle thread beneath the material. This loop of the second thread having been inserted through the loop of the needle thread is caught by a forked instrument or "returner", which extends it and raises it above the edge of the material and, when in this position, it is laid hold of bv a spring rod or finger, which draws it over the upper surface of the material in a proper position for the next descent of the needle, so that the needle may pass through it and through the material. When only one thread is used the "opener" does not carry a separate thread, but merely catches the loop of the needle thread below the material and by a lateral or partial circular motion expands the loop and admits of the entrance of the "returner" therein. This loop is carried up by the "returner" and laid over the edge of the material by the "finger", as before described. The needle then passes through the turned over loop and through the material, when a second loop is formed and the operations are repeated. The principal or main feature of this stitch is, that the loop, previous to the passage of the needle through it, is twisted or turned once or twice, so that the stitch will afford greater resistance to being drawn out or unravelled. The loop of the needle thread on being passed through the material is caught by a hooked instrument, previously brought into a position to receive it. On seizing the loop, the hook commences to revolve by a rack being brought into action and gearing with a long pinion. This has the effect of imparting a more or less twist to the loop. The hook is carried by a slide, a grooved boss being formed on the base of the hook, which enables it with its pinion to revolve freely in the slide, whilst a pin, fitting into an annular groove, keeps it in its place. The slide is worked to and fro longitudinally by a lever actuated by a cam and india-rubber spring serving to draw the lever and slide back after each impulse of the cam. A guiding slot or groove is formed on the crown of the hook for the purpose of partly guiding the needle so as to enter the loop held by the hook, the hook during the descent of the needle being always vertical. The needle having entered the loop, the hook makes a slight turn and simultaneously moves forward, the length of tiie pinion allowing for such forward motion, thereby releasing the loop and passing beyond the needle in a position, in readiness for taking a second loop therefrom. In order to enable the hook to pass beyond the needle it must move to one side slightly, so as to avoid the needle in passing and this lateral motion is obtained from a swell or incline on the shank of the hook acting against a fixed pin, the inherent spring of the shank admitting of this lateral displacement. The fourth part of Mr. Bernard's invention relates to the "hemming" of the edges of materials by the use of blades holding the fabric in a proper position for being hemmed. The material to be hemmed is doubled over the edge of a blade, which answers the purpose of the finger of the seamstress. The material having been folded over the first blade is laid upon a lower blade and is firmly held between these two blades by points in the under side of the lower blade. It is then turned over the rounded edge of the lower blade and is doubled back over the top of the blade and held by the points therein. A portion of the material is then doubled back again according to the breadth of the hem required and its extreme edge is made to project slightly beyond the part turned over the rounded edge. In hemming, the needle first penetrates the top fold and then passes through the turned over portion of the material. It will be seen from the above that the cheap kind of hemmer now in use was in the mind of Mr. Bernard at that time, although not in the simple form we now have it.
October 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
November 1890
(Continued from October 1890)
On the 3rd of January, 1854, Julian Bernard, Esq., obtained a patent, covering, amongst other things, the employment of sewing machines for sewing the uppers or fronts to the soles or bottoms of boots and shoes This invention relates more to the construction of the part of machine that holds the shuttle or filling thread; a curved shuttle is used, instead of the straight form usually employed.
Mr. Elmer Townsend obtained a patent, on the 10th of January, 1854, for certain improvements relating to machinery for producing the chain-stitch. For this purpose a notched needle and thread carrier was proposed to be used. The needle being supplied with thread forces a loop down through the material and leaves it; a hook fixed on the end of a revolving shaft then seizes the loop and brings it into a position for the needle to pass through it on its next descending and thus interloops the thread. Means somewhat after the fashion of a ciamp are employed for holding the material in such a manner as to admit of it being removed laterally as well as longitudinally beneath the needle.
Mr. Greenshields Walter took out a patent on the 18th of January, 1854, for an improved machine. Amongst other matter, reference is made in the specification to a sewing machine. Its use is for the purpose of working up ornamental parti-coloured chenille.
Mr. Nehemiah Hunt obtained a patent on the 19th of January, 1854, for improvements relating to the needle and shuttle machine and which improvements consist in imparting a slight backward movement and a pause or dwell to the shuttle driver after each forward movement, the object being to open the space between the heel of the shuttle and the end of its driver, so as to facilitate the passage of the needle loop off the heel of the shuttle. Mr. Hunt also refers to an improved mode of operating the break or clamp by which the feeding wheel is actuated.
Mr. Edward Howard and David Porter Davis obtained a patent, dated the 3rd of February, 1854, for improvements in machinery calculated to produce back stitch sewing, or the ordinary "running stitch", by means of two straight needles, which pass through the fabric in opposite directions alternately and are supplied with short pieces of thread. In carrying out these improvements the inventor and communicator, Mr. Roper, uses a groove, tube, or thread passage in combination with a hooked needle made to draw the thread into such passage, the object being to keep the thread from springing back and becoming entangled. Another part of the invention consists in making the shanks of the needle tubular and causing the closing slide to work therein. Each machine is provided with two such hooked needles and each needle is combined with the two thread carriers for binding the thread in two directions and across the needle and into the opening hook of the same. A set of lips or nippers are combined with the thread binders or carriers for the purpose of seizing the thread during the formation of each stitch and drawing the same closely into the material. Another feature of this invention is the combining of a stationary knife with the cloth presser and feeding apparatus to separate the length of thread employed in sewing from the roll of thread on the spool or bobbin.
November 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
December 1890
(Continued from November 1890)
Mr. R. A. Brooman obtained provisional protection dated March 20th, 1854, for improvements in sewing machines, wherein the friction braise is so constructed and applied upon the thread, that when operating on harsh materials at a high speed, the breaking of the thread at the period of great strain is obviated. Another feature in this invention consists in enlarging that portion of the needle which having entered the material is to retire from it before the pull upon the last loop has commenced; by this means, in sewing leather and similar materials, the hole is so made that the process of finishing the stitch is greatly facilitated. Another point in this invention is a peculiar formation of the bedplate upon which the work rests, whereby, when turning the work in order to sew a curve seam, each stitch may be as perfectly formed as when sewing in a right line (The boot closer of the present day will be glad to see the latter part of this invention perfected).
Elmer Townsend applied for a patent on the 30th of March, 1854., for certain improvements communicated to him by Alfred Twingle. These improvements have reference to a machine for performing the operation of sewing with two threads. One thread is passed through an eye near the point of an upright needle, which carries it upwards through the cloth, so as to form a loop in the same manner as in machines in which a needle and shuttle are used, but on the upper surface of the cloth. The second or binding thread is used in short lengths and is combined with the first thread by the use of a vibrating hook and a vertical forked thread carrier to which an intermittent rotary motion is communicated. When the loop has been formed by the ascent of the needle, the hook passes through and seizing the binding thread (which extends upwards from the cloth and is held between the rearmost leg of the thread carrier and spring attached thereto), draws it through the loop and through the space between the foremost leg of the carrier and its spring. When the thread is drawn through the carrier, it is left supported by the said leg and its spring and whilst thus supported and during part of the descent of the needle, a semi-rotary movement of the thread carrier takes place, so as again to present the thread in a perfect position to be seized by the hook when it advances through the loop formed by the next ascent of the needle. By the intermittent rotatory motion of the forked thread carrier, the upper thread is wound round the lower thread during the operation of sewing and in this respect the sewing differs from that produced by ether machine.
December 1890
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
January 1891
(Continued from December 1890)
MR. A. V. Newton obtained a patent, dated the 1st of April, 1854, for certain improvements which had been communicated to him from abroad, the essential features of which appear to be the application of magnetism to a sewing machine for the purpose of keeping the shuttle in contact with the face of the shuttle face, the magnetic attraction serving as a substitute for springs or other devices. This idea was novel and curious, but failed to answer the purpose when put into practice. Another and more practical improvement consists in inserting a hollow cap in the shuttle without any spindle or spool, whereby facility is afforded for drawing the thread off, the inside of the cap in place of from the outside, which enables a uniform draught on the cap thread being maintained. In order to obtain a uniform tension on the shuttle thread during the drawing up or tightening of the stitch, a slot is formed in the face of the shuttle, through which a stud in the race projects, which draws the thread from the shuttle. An arrangement of double acting pawls and ratchet wheel is used for feeding forward the cloth during the descent of the needle. In order to remove the slack of the needle thread out of the way of the descending needle and prevent it from being split or broken, a peculiar spring nipper is proposed to be employed, which is jointed to the guide of the needle bar and seizes the needle thread when slack. A similar arrangement to this was described in the specification of E. J. Hughes, dated August the 10th, 1852, it being worked from a cane used to actuate the needle slide.
Mr. Bellford took out a patent on the 6th of April, 1854, for modifications communicated to him from Messrs. Grover, Baker, & Co. This invention consists of improvements upon and modifications of the sewing machine belonging to that well-known firm and patented in this country under the name of William Edward Newton, on the 19th of October, 1852. This we previously noticed. The first object of present improvements is to afford facility for making the longitudinal seams on cylindrical or conical bag or hose-like articles, such as legs of boots, trousers, &c. For this purpose, instead of the platform or table described in former patents, a hollow cylinder or cylindrical body is used containing the feed and other motions previously described placed beneath the table. In this latter arrangement, however, the direction of the feed is altered, as the material is required to travel longitudinally with respect to the cylinder, whereas, by the former arrangement, it would have a tendency to travel transversely thereto. All that is requisite for this purpose is to alter the shape of the cane, which directs the motion. In order to facilitate comparison with the previous improvements above referred to, the feed cane is so constructed as to act by its lateral edge in lieu of circumferentially upon the head of an adjustable screw spindle. By these alterations the feeding motion of serrated or roughened bar is performed at right angles to that of the previous machine, the motion in the present machine being direct from the end of the cylinder or table towards the driving pulley. With this single exception the construction and operation of the machine is similar to that referred to. By changing the direction of the feed to a right angle, transverse seams may be sewn round cylindrical or tubular articles. An improved guide for binding the edges of fabrics and materials is shown, the binding being guided and folded thereon by a fixed guide plate or plates secured to the bed of the machine. This arrangement was modified and afterwards known as the horseshoe binder.
January 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
March 1891
(Continued from January 1891)
The shuttle carrier is worked by means of a segmental lever arm, which in place of being provided with rack teeth as in a former device, is made to contain and carry a shuttle or thread carrier to and fro through the loop of the needle thread. The loop passes under the point of the thread carrier and slips off again at the thick end. Whilst the thread carrier passes through the loop it unwinds a sufficient quantity of thread and again resumes its starting position. The essential feature of this invention is the free suspension of the thread carrier resting upon an implement which carries it through the loop, without causing it to slide upon a solid body. The patentee also describes a simple and effectual mode of regulating the drag, or tension of the thread, proceeding from the upper bobbin. This is effected by putting the thread through a hole, made transversely through a vertical pin, mounted on the frame upon the needle and provided with a button head having a number of nicks or notches made in its circumference. The thread, after passing through the hole in the pin, is wound one or more times, according to the tension required, round the shank of the pin and is lastly hooked into one of the notches in the button head. Another improvement refers to the yielding presser foot and consists in making the foot double, or of two or more pieces, whereby facility is afforded for its due action upon fabrics of varying thickness, when at rest holding down the fabrics to be sewn. The plates are held together by a helical spring passing round the bar of presser foot and bearing on the upper plate, which is in itself a yielding part of the foot, the bottom plate is rivetted or fastened to the press-bar. There is also described an arrangement of presser-foot and guide-plates, to be used for hemming or sewing such fabrics as have a tendency to curl up at the edges. For this purpose the fabric before reaching the presser-foot passes between two plates, which pinch it and keep it well stretched and in order to facilitate the passage of the fabric beneath the presser-foot its forward edge is cut diagonally in place of its right angles to its sides. A tubular thread carrier or shuttle is used. This shuttle is composed of a cylindrical piece of steel terminating in a point and bored out for the reception of a cop or thread bobbin. The thread emerges from one of the openings made in the top of the shuttle and is passed under and over one or more teeth of a combe-shape steel (yielding) plate secured to the shuttle. The friction thereby produced prevents the thread coming off the cop or reel too easily. Another feature we select from eighteen different heads, of which this compendous specification is composed is peculiar, apparatus for cording and binding articles. The hem is laid, or turned down, by passing between two inclined points; the gradually diminishing distance between which effects the desired turning of the hem. This hem is then sewn up with a cord inside, by passing beneath the needle of the machine. A binding apparatus is also shown for binding hats, clothes and other articles. A feed apparatus is described wherein the serrated or notched face bar moves to and fro horizontally only, without the compound vertical motion and when this arrangement is used two rods are employed for lifting the material from the bar whilst it makes its back stroke, thereby preventing it from carrying the material back with it. According to another modification in the feed motion the notched or rough face bar is applied to the upper side of the material to be sewn, instead of causing it to act on the under side as previously done. It is further proposed to give a periodical lateral motion to the notched feeding bar, which admits of different kinds of stitching being performed or, the same result may be obtained by using a separate additional feeding bar, moved laterally at stated periods by a separate and distinct lateral feeding cam. The patentee proposed also to employ in the case of heavy or unwieldy pieces of material an endless chain, worked by the notched bar, for moving and directing the work. In the making of lap or flat seams a clamp is employed, consisting of two distinct pieces, between which the two thicknesses of material are secured throughout the whole length, or part of the seam, in such a manner that the material cannot shift at the seam. A slot is formed it the jaws of the clamp to allow the needle to pass. The last head of this invention relates to the use of a point or points for directing or guiding material such as leather, by retaining the point, or points in a furrow or groove made along the material, in the direction required to be sewed. There are numerous other heads in the specification, some relate to single thread stitch made by Mr. Jennings's machine before noticed. The use of lubricating matter is another feature, though not a novel one; a mode of mounting the bobbin for regulating the supply of thread and a peculiar knee lever for holding bar or foot up the presser are also explained- This lever is now extensively used and does not require further description.
March 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
April 1891
(Continued from March 1891)
On the 6th of April, 1854, Mr. Julian Bernard obtained a patent for a novel kind of stitch composed of one thread, which is so ingeniously tied or knotted in the material by suitable instruments as to entirely prevent it from unravelling should the thread break at any part of the seam. A knot or tie may be formed on each succeeding loop, or through several other loops. Mr. Bernard proposes also to apply breaks or other suitable contrivances to sewing machines to prevent such machines from turning in any but the right direction, as a reversal of the machine is sometimes attended with injurious effects on the mechanism. A spring arm is also proposed for taking up the slack of the thread in the button-hole machine previously described. Another feature in Mr. Bernard's invention is the uniting and ornamenting of materials by a three-thread stitch produced by interlooping the three threads together in such a way as to form an ornamental braiding on one side of the material. Mr. Bernard proposes to stitch the soles to the uppers of boots and shoes and to stitch various other parts of boots and shoes, by means of two needles working from the outside or on one inside of the boot or shoe. Each of these needles carries a thread through an eye near its point and in sewing each thread is secured alternately by a loop of the other. The two needles are caused to work in such a manner that their points will pass each other and enter between each needle and its respective thread alternately, so that when one needle is inserted in the material, before it is withdrawn the other needle is caused to descend and insert its point, with part of its thread also in form of a loop. The first needle is now withdrawn, leaving a loop of its thread round the second needle and is again inserted, passing in its descent between the second needle and its thread, the loop of the first thread being still round the second needle, which at this part of the operation is withdrawn. These movements are repeated until the part is stitched. This is a similar stitch to the diagonal needle arrangement referred to under Hughes' patent of August 10th, 1852, but its application to the sewing of boots and shoes is novel.
Mr. Julian Bernard obtained a patent on the 18th of April, 1854 for improvements in stitching and machinery and apparatus connected therewith. This invention relates generally to a means of tightening the stitch and actuating the needle in stitching machines and also to a mode of inserting the needle into and through the material, also to combining stitching machines with ornamental tables and the peculiar mode of constructing such tables. The peculiar mode of tightening the stitch in a sewing machine where a continuous thread is used consists in pulling that portion of the thread which is between the eye of the needle and the material by means of two pins or thread grippers. This thread gripper consists of two arms sliding vertically in collar bearings screwed into the front of the main bracket of the machine and kept down near to the surface of the material by a suitably-constructed spring. One arm is jointed to its fellow arm and is kept in close contact therewith at the lower extremity by a tail-piece or prolongation, which is made of tempered steel and bears against one of the collar bearings so as to keep the jaws of the tightener closed. A pin A is connected with the slide or carrier and works between the two arms of the tightener. On the first arm there is a projection formed and on the second arm there is an incline; this incline and projection being operated upon by the ascent and descent of the pin A in the following manner: As the needle slide or carrier descends for the purpose of inserting the needle into the material, the pin A acts upon the incline and opens the jaws to allow the needle thread to pass freely therethrough; but by the time the needle has risen again and has just left the material, the pin A will have again passed the incline and allowed the jaws to close and grip the thread. The further ascent of the needle carrier brings the pin against the projection, which has the effect of raising the two arms bodily in the bearings and of drawing or tightening the stitch without applying any strain whatever to the needle. Drawings are given to illustrate the peculiar and ingenious means adopted by Mr. Bernard for actuating the needle carrier. This he proposes to do by connecting the slide or carrier, which is made in the form of a round steel bar, to a curved or semicircular slide contained within the corresponding curved bracket and sliding in a circular course corresponding to its own arc. The requisite reciprocating motion is imparted to the curved side by means of a cam engaged with a small roller on the bottom of the centre vertical rod. There are short links for connecting the needle carrier and the rod to the curved slide. This is a simple contrivance for working a sewing machine needle. It enables the design to be improved and heightened, whilst the mechanism itself is entirely concealed. We have referred to Mr. Bernard's patent of the 6th of December, 1853, to his notion of driving sewing machines by clockwork. He now proposes to construct a lady's boudoir machine, the whole of the mechanical works being concealed within the hollow supporting pillar or stand of the table, which Mr. Bernard proposes to ornament and elaborate with a view to its general introduction into the boudoir. The upper part of the table is made to open when required for work and to close in and conceal the machine entirely when not in use.
April 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
May 1891
(Continued from April 1891)
On the 6th of May, 1854, Mr. Bernard obtained another patent comprising, amongst other devices, a mode of feeding the material to be stitched or ornamented and various modifications are shown and described in the specification. In one a pair of curved arms A & B represent the upper and lower arms of a pair of pliers which hold the fabric between their fattened jaws. These arms work on the respective centres in a vertical stud pin carried by the table or end-plate and serving as a fixed centre round which the pliers move laterally or in a horizontal direction over the head-plate. A spring serves to keep the jaws open whilst a cam is so formed as to press them together at the proper time and grip the material. A second cam is fastened on the same shaft which carries the first mentioned cam, imparts a lateral motion to the pliers through a stud pin fixed on the lower arm B and is maintained pressed against periphery of the cam by a spring. It will readily be understood that on this feed motion being set to work the cam will first cause the pliers to grip the material and hold it during the lateral or feed motion of the pliers derived from the cam, on the completion of which the cam allows the pliers to open and return again in readiness for the next grip and pull off the fabric, the extent of each lateral movement being regulated to suit the length of stitch required. By another modification a fixed spring may be substituted for the upper arm A and the pliers may be made to move in a straight lateral direction in place of round a centre, point, or pivot. Mr. Bernard proposes to secure the needles of sewing machines into their carriers by splitting the end of the carrier and forcing the needle into the split which is slightly open to receive it and so arranging the holding arrangement that a set screw can be dispensed with. This arrangement has the advantage of keeping the needle in a direct line with the needle slide, the best illustration of this arrangement can be seen in the Wilcox & Gibbs machine of the present day. Another portion of the invention consists in the substitution of china, porcelain, glass, &c.,* for the ordinary and less elegant materials employed in the manufacture of the table presser-foot or other parts of a sewing machine, by which novel application the appearance of the machine will be greatly enhanced, whilst such application offers also the important advantage of great cleanliness as compared with iron or wood. Another portion of the invention consists in the employment of two endless travelling bands or chains, for traversing the fabric beneath the needle, which passes beneath the two bands. These bands are carried by rollers and an intermittent motion is imparted to them by any convenient contrivance.
Mr. Bernard obtained another patent on the 9th of June, 1854, the details of which are too complicated to be given without the illustrations in these curt notices. Amongst these improvements there are described a mode of passing one thread over another in the form of a loop by enlarging such loop sufficiently to pass over a reel or spool of thread contained in a suitable holder-cage or case, in plain words we have here a two reel lock stitch machine.
This invention relates also to improvements on the machines for making or sewing edges of button-holes, previously described in these notices of patent, dated December 6th, 1853 and consists of an arrangement for carrying the thread over the edge of the material without passing behind the needle, so that in forming a buttonhole the stitch will be an overcast stitch. Another part of the patent relates to needle travelling instead of the work.
*The arrangement of a presser-foot in the Wheeler & Wilson machine, so extensively used in their curved needle machine, shows the value thrown out in this specification by Mr. Bernard.
May 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
June 1891
(Continued from May 1891)
George Holloway took out letters patent on the 17th of June, 1854, for certain improvements bearing upon sewing machines, the first of which consists of a means of holding the thread of sewing and embroidery machines in tension, so that, whatever the quantity of thread upon the bobbin or bobbins, the same amount of tension will be preserved without putting any injurious drag upon the thread. This tension consists of a zig-zag wire, the thread passing on alternate sides of a greater or less number of several bands, according to the amount of drag to be imparted to the thread. On any sudden increased resistance occurring, the elasticity of the bent wire will admit of its yielding or extending longitudinally, in place of exerting a rigid tension or drag upon the thread.
Another improvement relates to the circular needle in the Lancashire Sewing Machine.
Mr. George R. Chittenden obtained a patent for an invention, communicated to him from abroad, on the 20th of June, 1854, which invention consists almost entirely of the application to sewing machines of peculiar apparatus for folding bindings for edges of hats and other articles and for holding such bindings correctly during the operation of sewing; also for folding or turning over the edges or selvages of fabrics, for the purpose of hemming the same and, when desired, introducing cards into hems or folded edges; also for holding and regulating the letting off of the thread employed.
Mr. Edward Joseph Hughes obtained an English patent for certain improvements in stitching, which had been communicated to him from abroad, on the 10th of June, 1854. The specification of this invention is very voluminous and contains many devices too numerous to detail. According to one arrangement, a single-thread stitch is produced by means of a needle and a hook; the latter takes the loop of the thread after it has been taken up through the cloth and down again; in another plan, round a spool, or thread case, which supplies the single thread, thereby producing a perfectly locked stitch from one thread. The spool case, with its spool, is placed in a cup-shaped hollow, fitted on to the extremity of a horizontal shaft beneath the end-plate or table of the machine and in such a position as to allow the needle, which is in the form of a hook, to pass down freely on the outside or front of the spool case. A rotary motion is imparted to the spool case by suitable slides connected with the cup-shaped holder, which slides engage and disengage themselves successively with the spool case as it rotates, to allow of the free passage of the loop of thread round it, as we shall see presently the spool case makes one turn for every stitch produced. On the spool case there is formed a hook, extending from the side of the case furthest from the needle to the side next to the needle and is so formed as to take the loop from the crooked needle and draw it over or round the case and cause it to be looped round that portion of the thread which extends from the spool to the cloth. A suitable thread-guide is employed for guiding the thread into the hook of the needle. The needle having descended through the cloth receives the thread in its hook and draws it up in the form of a loop back through the cloth. The fabric is now fed forward, one stitch and the needle again descends, with the loop still in it, which is caught up by the hook of the spool case and is carried round the case thereby, when a fresh portion of the thread is placed in the hook of the needle, which is carried up through the cloth in the form of a loop as before, at the same time drawing the previous stitch close and firm. By means of similar arrangements of parts, with certain additions thereto, a stitch may be produced having a twist in each loop on the surface of the fabric; this is accomplished by imparting a semi-rotatory motion to the hooked needle by means of a return inclined groove on the needle carrier, in which works a fixed stud or projection. This and Mr. Bernard's, previously referred to, are the only twisted loop stitches we have come across up to the present time. We shall again refer to Mr. Hughes' modifications in our next month's article.
June 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
July 1891
(Continued from June 1891)
The third part of Mr. Hughes' specification describes another form of single thread stitch, produced by means of a hooked needle and discordal or circular spool or thread case. The needle descends through the cloth to receive the thread, which it carries upwards in the form of a loop, the cloth being shifted the extent of a stitch the needle again descends, carrying with it the loop, which loop is then taken from the hook of the needle by a hook on the side of the thread case and is carried partly round the case, whilst the needle without the thread rises out of the cloth, which is again fed along sufficiently far for another stitch. The loop is now carried round the spool case and the needle descends to receive the thread, which it guides therein by the thread guide and is carried upwards through the cloth in the form of a loop. The cloth is again fed along the length of another stitch and the needle descends as before with the loop. It is proposed to vary this stitch by imparting a lateral movement to the needle carrier whereby a zig-zag or species of herring bone stitch may be produced. Under the fourth head of this invention two needles are used having each an eye near the point with two threads and two hooks or catchers, so as to form a stitch by means of passing each needle and thread from the opposite sides of the fabric or material in diagonal directions, each needle thus passing its thread through a loop formed by the other. The two hooks are placed one above and the other below the cloth and worked by slots in the needle slides in which slots an anti-friction roller, carried by the stem of each hooker, is engaged, consequently the sliding motion of the needle slide or carriers impart an oscillating or vibratory motion to the hooks, so as to cause them to enter a loop, or to be disengaged therefrom as required. Each needle is supplied with a separate thread of its own and the stitch is produced in the following manner:
The needle A having carried its thread up through the cloth, No.1 hook passes into the loop, which is opened by a slight withdrawal of the needle and the needle is then drawn back entirely out of the cloth leaving its loop round the hook in No.1 . The cloth is now fed forward the extent of a stitch when needle B carries its thread through the previously formed loop and through the cloth downwards, the hook No.2 catching the loop of the needle B beneath the fabric. The needle B is then withdrawn, leaving its thread round the hook No.2 and drawing the previous stitch tight, the hook No.1 having been already withdrawn out of the previous loop. The needle A again rises and passes its thread through the loop on the hook No.2 and through the cloth and its thread is caught as before by hook No.1. A repetition of these movements produces the double thread chain stitch. The last part of Mr. Hughes' specification describes a mode of sewing two parallel seams at the same time by one machine, which he proposes to accomplish by causing two needles, carried by a common slide or carrier, to pass the thread or threads for each seam through the material simultaneously and securing the loops and guiding the threads in such manner that the movements necessary for forming one seam may be made available for producing two seams at the same time. The needles by which the threads are passed through the material are hooked and worked in combination with two piercers or awls, provided for the purpose of piercing leather or strong material at the points where the hooked needles are to pass through.
Following on the same lines as Mr. Hughes, Otis Avery obtained a patent on the 6th of July, 1854 ; in the specification of which he describes a method of making a tambour locked embroidery or chain stitch in cloth or leather, with a single thread by the action of two needles, one of which has an eye near the point, the other being a split or loop-holding needle. The latter needle works on the underside of the fabric and moves in the same vertical plane, but at an obtuse angle, to the upper or eye pointed needle. The eye-pointed needle first carries the thread through the fabric or material, then the split needle passes between the eye-pointed needle andd its thread and holds the loop close to the cloth until the eye-pointed needle has been withdrawn and again passed through the cloth and through the loop held by the split needle when the latter is withdrawn. It will be seen that this is a very similar arrangement to Mr. Hughes' plan of stitching with two diagonal needles with this difference however, that only one thread is used in place of two threads as in Mr. Hughes' arrangement.
July 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
August 1891
(Continued from July 1891)
Mr. Samuel Szontagh, patent dated the 11th of September, 1854, relates to the flat pointed needle (Leather Point). Another part of the invention consists in applying magnets to take the place of springs, the shuttle and race, this invention having been forestalled by Mr. Newton and Julian Burnard, Esq., it will be of no service to describe the claims in these notices.
Mr. Bellford obtained a communication patent on the 20th September, 1854, the specification of which is very lengthy and the mechanism of a highly complex order, but we gather however that the invention relates to the needle and shuttle machines and consists in giving a lateral movement to the needle or fabric in addition to the ordinary feed traverse, whereby button-holes, whips and herring-bone stitches can be produced. This Mr. Bernard had previously done, as will be seen on referring to the notice of his English patent of December 31st, 1853. Another improvement, mentioned in this patent, consists in the use of a curve needle to enter each loop formed at the edge of the button-hole and retain the same during the next interlacing of the threads in the cloth and until the sewing needle enters in its next movement past the edge, so that every loop formed at the edge may be clasped by its predecessor. Mr. Bellford also describes an arrangement of feed mechanism whereby the fabric is moved in the direction of the line of sewing once for every two operations of the needle and shuttle, when working the buttonhole stitch, by which means the visible parts of the thread are laid parallel to each other and the zig-zag form that would be produced by feeding after each single operation is avoided. An ingenious arrangement is also described for causing the instantaneous stoppage of the feed motion when the needle thread breaks, or the loop is otherwise prevented from being formed or drawn tight. Another feature in this invention is the drawing of the shuttle and needle thread in opposition to each other when tightening the stitch, so that the interlacing of the threads may take place as nearly as possible in the centre of the cloth and the shuttle thread be prevented from drawing through to the upper surface of the cloth. Another feature is the longitudinal adjustment of the shuttle which enables the shuttle to receive just sufficient motion to carry it through and clear of the loops and no more.
Mr. Walter Sneath obtained a patent on the 29th of September, 1854, but we fail to discover the novelty of a sewing machine wherein a single thread and eye-pointed needle are used in combination with a hook which catches the loops of the needle-thread and holds it until at the next descent of the needle the same passes through the fabric and through loop so held, thereby producing all but the exploded chain stitch. This plan, however, forms the base of Mr. Sneath's invention.
Mr. Julian Bernard obtained provisional protection on the 21st of October, 1854, for various improvements relating generally to balancing the arm or lever which actuates the needle of sewing machines; the imparting a lateral motion to the arm which actuates the needle attaching one or both the jaw pressers for feeding the fabric to the needle actuating arm; a mode of imparting motion to the feeder; moving or travelling sewing machines, upwards or laterally in the case or stand which may contain them; use of a flv wheel for sewing machines so constructed and arranged as to enable the operator to work the machine by hand or power; also making grooves in the feed plate and presser foot or traveller.
August 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
September 1891
(Continued from August 1891)
Mr. Bellford obtained a patent for an invention communicated to him from abroad dated the 13th December, 1854. This invention relates to the class of sewing machines wherein two threads are employed to form the stitch, one thread being carried through the cloth and left protruding in the form of a loop, so as to receive the second thread, thereby producing the interlocked or shuttle stitch. The improvements here consist principally in the substitution for the ordinary shuttle of a thread case so arranged relatively to the line of motion of the needle that, instead of requiring, like the shuttle, a movement of its own, to carry the locking thread through the loop of the needle thread, this loop is drawn over it by the withdrawal of the needle, thus simplifying the construction of this machine.
Mr. Elmer Townsend obtained a patent on the 11th of January, 1855, for certain improvements communicated to him from abroad. The improvement in question relates to that class of sewing machines wherein a hook needle ascends through a hole in the material previously punctured therein, by an awl or punch and catching the thread, which is properly presented to it by a guide or carrier, draws it, in the form of a loop, through the material and through the previously formed loop, which is thus released from the stem of the needle; each successive loop remaining on the stem until it is released by the needle descending, in order to draw the loop through it. The chief improvements for which the patent was obtained consist in certain peculiar arrangements of parts for feeding the material and holding the same during the operation of sewing, a grooved needle holder, for communicating a vertical reciprocating motion to the needle, combined with a semi-rotary or rotary movement of the needle on its longitudinal axes and of means for ensuring a proper and uniform tension of the thread when a waxed thread is employed.
Mr. Joshua Kidd obtained a patent on the 21st of February, 1855, for constructing sewing machines in such manner as to render the same capable of producing the ordinary chain stitch and the double or cross chain stitch, by simply changing the needle or thread carrier. The principal operating parts consist of a straight needle, formed with an eve to receive the thread, descending at equal intervals through the fabric or material and worked in combination with a needle or thread carrier and appendages placed beneath the bed or table of the machine and moving in a horizontal direction. In making the cross chain stitch the thread passed by the upper needle through the fabric is interlooped with a thread carried by the lower needle, but when a single chain stitch is required the second thread is dispensed with and the upper needle in its next descent will carry a new loop through. This invention also includes certain methods of feeding the fabric and thread and regulating the stitch, which, however, are not sufficiently important for detailed notice.
Charles Heaven obtained a patent on the 10th of March, 1855, for an embroidering machine whereby an embroidery stitch similar to the button-hole stitch is produced, but as we do not see the application of this machine to sewing or uniting fabrics we pass it over without further notice.
September 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
October 1891
(Continued from September 1891)
We now come to a more extensively known machine. We refer to the Foxwell sewing machine. Mr. Daniel Foxwell obtained a patent for his invention on the 8th of May, 1855 and it has been extensively employed in the manufacturing establishments of Manchester and the neighbourhood. Mr. Foxwell's name is also well known through his protracted litigation with Mr. Thomas.
Mr. Foxwell has taken the Hughes or Grover & Baker sewing machine as his type and his invention appears from his claims to consist of certain mechanical improvements in and addition to, the working details of what is known as the Grover and Baker machine and his arrangement for insuring the formation of the loop on the proper side of the vertical needle is somewhat of a novelty. The thread of the vertical needle is supplied from a bobbin placed loosely upon a pin or stud without the adjuncts either of springs, nuts, or screws for regulating the tension of the thread, which is affected by a series of rods or pins, between which the thread is more or less passed according to its strength and the degree of tension or drag required. In lieu of these pins the patentee states that perforated plates may be substituted, the thread being passed through a greater or lesser number of holes according to the tension required. The bobbin thread for supplying the under needle is passed round a series of pins fcr the purpose above referred to. There is a helical spring, the object of which is to overcome the back lash of the belt-crank lever which works the vertical needle, one end of the spring being secured to the fixed bracket of the machine and the other to the top of the needle slide. The needle, in place of being fitted directly into a socket formed in the bottom of the slide or carrier, is secured into a pin or spindle by a set screw, which spindle is fitted horizontally into a long box formed on the lower end of the slide and is adjusted therein by a second set screw. By this arrangement, it is stated, greater facility is afforded for accurately adjusting the position of the needle in the machine. The arrangement for insuring the formation of the loop on the proper side of the vertical needle consists of a lever centred at a suitable part and working on such centre or pin. This lever is provided at its upper end with a pin which presses against the thread on one side of the vertical needle by a spring. This pressure is released by the action of a cam carried on the main shaft of the machine, which cam bears against the lower end of the lever and forces the pin out of contact with the needle thread. A blade spring presses against a segment lever for actuating the under needle, the object of this spring being to prevent back-lash of the under needle. The end of the under or main shaft of this machine does not work in bushes or ordinary bearings, but upon pointed centres. Mr. Foxwell claims as his invention the use of perforated plates or rods for the thread to pass through; the use of a spring to overcome the back-lash of the levers, cranks, &c.; the use of pointed centres to the ends of shaft and to such other parts as may be found convenient.
Mr. Edwin A. Forbush obtained a patent for an arrangement of mechanism for sewing leather, doth, &c., on the 10th of May, 1855, wherein the work is held by a pair of clamps mounted on a carriage which traverses across the machine on a pair of rails on each side of such rails at right angles thereto. There is another pair of rails, between or upon which a compound carriage travels. Each carriage is provided with a needle and piercer and its movements are so controlled as to cause the piercer to advance and puncture a hole in the fabric (held vertically between the two carriages) and then the needle is inserted in the punctured hole and drawn through the same by the aid of grippers on the opposite carriage, which then runs out to draw the thread. This is a most complex piece of mechanism and we therefore refrain from giving anything more than the above general outline of its character, as our readers would only be mystified were we to attempt to describe it without illustrations. Although the machine is arranged to pass two threads through each hole in opposite directions other arrangements could be made for shuttle or chain stitch.
October 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
November 1891
(Continued from October 1891)
Mr. Bellford obtained provisional protection on the 28th May, 1855, for improvements in sewing machines, consisting of a peculiar kind of looper, working in combination with a needle to form a stitch with a single thread; a method of operating the needle in connection with the looper so as to throw the thread over its point; a peculiar arrangement of mechanism for carrying out the operation last referred to and a feed motion for moving the cloth in the line of the seam. The needle is of the ordinary construction used in sewing machines, with an eye near its point, it carries the thread downwards through the fabric in the form of a loop, near the point of the "looper", which consists of a piece of metal which is straight, except at one end, where it is slightly curved and pointed. This instrument is placed parallel to the line of motion of the needle and below the bed of the machine, with its pointed end downwards. When the needle rises and leaves its thread slack, it also turns on its axes towards the point of the looper and as it continues to ascend, it draws the thread in the form of a loop over the looper, which latter instrument, without detaining the loop, merely keeps it open in position for the needle to pass through in its next descent. When the needle again descends, the loop is drawn over and off the "looper" by the consequent tension of the thread, the combined movement above described producing a single thread chain stitch.
William Meyerstein obtained provisional protection on the 3rd of August, 1855, for a machine for sewing by means of a straight needle vibrated vertically by a lever arm and acting in combination with a shuttle, which travels in a horizontal circular course, the straight needle and shuttle each carrying a separate thread. The material to be sewn is advanced between the successive movements of the needle, by a suitable feeding apparatus, capable of being adjusted by turning a screw so as to vary the length of the stitches at pleasure. The novelty of this machine, or so-called invention, remained in the mind of the inventor, the provisional protection certainty does not disclose it.
Alfred Heaven, on the 10th of August, 1855, obtained a patent for an arrangement of apparatus for piercing, puncturing, or cutting holes of various shapes in fabrics by means of stilittoes or punches applied to the ordinary embroidery machines previous to performing the operation of embroidery or sewing by such machines, the object being to produce a clear outline in the design and to make the embroidery or sewing as strong as that performed by hand.
Mr. William Emerson Baker, of the Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Co., U.S., obtained a patent on the 16th of August, 1855, for improvements in sewing machines, the chief features in the invention being the making of the stand or frames of sewing machines in the form of a box or case which is to enclose the machine when out of use and keeps it from dirt and dust. Also a mode whereby the bulk of the machine may be reduced so as to be capable of being packed or contained in a conveniently sized box, which object the patentee proposes to accomplish by making the driving handle or crank pin capable of being passed through the fly-wheel inside the machine when out of use and of being pulled out and projected outside the wheel, when required for use.
Another point in the invention is the use of a peculiar combination of helical spring and slotted spindle for keeping the thread in a proper state of tension. Also a mode of sewing two parallel rows of stitches by employing one retaining or locking thread.
November 1891
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
January 1892
(Continued from November 1891)
The patent of Mr. W. E. Baker also mentions the application of apparatus to sewing machines for winding thread on to the bobbins. There is a handle or holder for the machine bobbin and the bobbin being fitted on to a centre point at one end and against a chuck or rotatory disc provided with studs at the other end. A spiral thread or worm is formed on the periphery of this chuck or disc, which thread or worm gears with a worm wheel imparting a to and fro motion by means of a link to the thread guide, which distributes the thread which has passed through a notch in the guide, in an even and regular manner upon the bobbin as fast as it unwinds form the spool. The bobbin is rotated and the winding effected by pressing one end or chuck against the rim of the flywheel, the friction obtained being sufficient to cause the bobbin to revolve and wind on the thread, laying it evenly at the same time by the aid of the slotted guide. The chief features of novelty claimed by the-patentee are the making the stands or frames of sewing machines in the form of a box or case as described; the arrangement and manner of applying the crank or handle; the combined apparatus for keeping the sewing thread in a state of tension; the mode of sewing two rows of stitches by employing only one retarding thread at the back and the thread winding apparatus applied to sewing machines as described. The leading features of the machine are the same as those of the Grover & Baker machine, patented in 1852, by Mr. Hughes and already referred to.
A patent was granted to John Avery for improvements in sewing machines, communicated to him from abroad, dated August 25th, 1855, which improvements relate to certain means of feeding the material to be sewn, which are applicable to the working of button holes, embroidery and the sewing of curved or crooked work generally. The feed plate is held down by a helical spring applied to the shank or stem of the shoe which bears upon the top of the feed plate; this shoe also serves to guide the feed plate, by means of two pins on its under side, entering two parallel grooves in the upper surface of the feed plate. These grooves are made to correspond in form with the form or contour of the seam or line in which the sewing is to be produced; for example: for working a button hole, portions of the grooves are in the form of parts of circles, which are concentric with the circular portion at one end of the button hole, whilst the other portions are straight and parallel with the sides of the button hole, all the parts of the respectives grooves being equidistant from the nearest part of the button hole. The two pins on the under side of the shoe do not stand opposite to each other in their respective grooves, but at some distance from one another, in order to give greater steadiness to the feed plate and prevent improper lateral motion. For the purpose of giving the feed plate the necessary movement to carry the cloth in a proper direction beneath the needle, a third groove is formed on the feed plate, which may be of a V or other form, in transverse section, but in plan should correspond in form with the other two grooves. This last mentioned groove receives a dog or feeder, which have either a reciprocating or a rotary motion. The end of this dog or feeder and the interior of the groove, have their surfaces serrated or roughened in such manner, that as the dog moves in the grooves between the time of taking the stitches, it will take hold of it and move it a certain distance. The motion of the dog should be so regulated that it will be greater on passing a curve than a straight line, as the curve in the groove is described with a radius so much larger than the radius of the line of sewing. In order to give the material a lateral movement to the line of sewing, which is necessary in working button holes and some other kinds of sewing, the head which carries the shoe is arranged to receive a movement in the requisite direction, the feed plate being in that case moved by the pins of the shoe and the needle working in a fixed line.
January 1892
(To be continued)
The Journal of Domestic Appliances and Sewing Machine Gazette
March 1892
(Continued from January 1892)
A patent was granted on the 27th of August, 1855, to Benjamin Moore, for improvements in sewing machines communicated to him from abroad, which improvements comprise a so called new feed, a means of taking up the slack of the thread on the downward passage of the needle, a peculiar combination of cams for moving from the back end of the machine the levers for actuating the needle and shuttle (Mr. Moore's machine is a shuttle machine) and taking up the slack of the needle thread, a self-acting apparatus for sewing or binding hats or similar articles, the use of certain peculiar binding gauges or guides and lastly the use of peculiar rollers and spring foot pads for holding down the cloth to be sewed. Mr. Moore's feed apparatus, has an arrangement for obtaining a wide range of stitches. For this purpose a shaft is fitted with a cam which is cut out or notched in two diametrically opposite places. In front of this cam are two other cams or lappets, which acuate a bent lever, the upper end of this lever being furnished with two rectangular notched or roughened plates. The guide rod connected with this lever draws the lever back by the action of a coiled spring so soon as the cam ceases to act. The stroke or traverse of the roughened plates is regulated by means of a screw, by unscrewing or screwing by which longer or shorter stitches may be obtained, a smooth plate or flat surface formed on the upper end of a crank lever and upon this plate the fabric to be sewed is held by the downward pressure of a foot pad or presser plate, as is well known. The object of this smooth plate is to prevent the fabric from being dragged back by the return motion of the notched or roughened feed plates. For this purpose the lever is raised by the cam when the return motion of the feed plates takes place and the fabric is thus held firmly by being gripped between the smooth plate and the presser foot before referred to, but when the feed plates perform their forward motion, the smooth plate descends out of contact with the fabric. It will thus be seen that Mr. Moore's feed mechanism is composed of a peculiar combination of two plates, the one being roughened and acting as a propeller of the fabric, the other smooth and acting, in conjunction with the presser foot, as a gripper or retainer of the fabric. We cannot help thinking this a most round-about way of arriving at the object desired. The inventor appears to have been of our opinion, for on reading further on in the specification we find instead of the feed motion, with a smooth and notched plate as previously described, another feed motion may be used in which the smooth plate is dispensed with, the notched plate alone being used and made to perform a compound motion in such a manner as to rise above the platform of the machine, advance, then descend and recede back again below the level of the platform to its starting point. Did the ingenious inventor ever see a Grover & Baker machine? In conjunction with the last described feed motion, the inventor proposes to use a peculiar guide for binding hats, the upper guide plate, which is straight and the lower guide plate. These two plates are fixed to a solid piece of brass and the three parts serve to guide and maintain the riband or binding. There is an improved form of presser foot described. It consists of a roller or castor (rotary presser), which is free to turn at the end of the bar and whose axes stand at right angles to the line of motion of the fabric, the latter being held between this roller and the moveable notched plate. The presser foot is applicable for many kinds of work, but is a ranged for the binding of hats.
February 1892
(To be continued)
This was last article in my Archive
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