Sewing assembly

A sewing assembly including a needle, a loop secured to the trailing end of the needle, and a driver member in the form of a thimble adapted to fit on and over the finger of the user and including a hook portion extending upwardly from the main body portion of the thimble and adapted to be inserted into the seat defined by the crotch defined at the juncture of the forward end of the loop with the trailing end of the needle. The loop thus coacts with the needle to facilitate ready threading of the sewing assembly, to define a seat for receipt of the hook portion of the driving member, and to provide cam surfaces to guide the hook portion into firm seating engagement with the seat at the trailing end of the needle. In an alternate form, the driver member is in the form of a finger ring and the hook portion extends upwardly from the main body of the ring.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to sewing assemblies and more particularly to a 
sewing assembly especially adapted to facilitate movement of a sewing 
needle through resistant fabrics. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The conventional sewing needle comprises a thin elongated needle body with 
a point at one end and thread receiving means at the opposite or trailing 
end so that thread may be secured to the trailing end of the needle and 
the required sewing operation may be performed by passing the pointed end 
of the needle through the related fabrics, and/or articles to be attached 
to the fabrics, and thereafter passing the trailing end of the needle 
through the fabric to pull the thread through the fabric. Whereas this 
conventional needle has been used successfully for centuries in many 
sewing applications, there are applications where the fabric to be pierced 
by the pointed end of the needle is extremely resistant to such piercing, 
due either to the extreme thickness of the fabric or the resistant nature 
of the material of the fabric. In these situations, great difficulty is 
experienced in passing the needle successively through the fabric with the 
result that the sewing operation is rendered at best very difficult and at 
worse impossible. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is directed to the provision of a sewing assembly in which 
means are provided to readily assist the needle in its movement through 
resistant fabrics. 
In the sewing assembly according to the invention, the sewing needle 
defines a seat at a location spaced rearwardly from its pointed front end 
and a second assembly member is provided which defines a driver sized to 
engage the seat on the needle and which is operative to exert an axial 
driving force on the needle to facilitate movement of the pointed end of 
the needle through a resistant fabric. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the second assembly member 
includes a main body portion sized to fit over the finger of a user and 
the driver comprises a rod member secured to and projecting outwardly from 
the main body portion. This arrangement allows the required axial force to 
be readily applied to the needle by appropriate manipulation of the 
related finger of the user. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the rod member has a hook 
configuration so as to discourage movement of the rod member out of its 
seating engagement with the seat on the needle. 
According to a further feature of the invention, the main body portion is 
in the form of a thimble sized to fit on and over the end of the user's 
finger. This arrangement allows the well known thimble to also serve the 
function of providing the driving rod member to assist in moving the 
needle through the resistant fabric. 
Acording to a further feature of the invention, the sewing assembly further 
includes a loop secured to the trailing end of the needle, and the seat on 
the needle is defined at the trailing end of the needle at the crotch 
defined at the juncture of the forward end of the loop with the trailing 
end of the needle. With this arrangement, the loop facilitates threading 
of the needle and also provides ramp or guide services for guiding the rod 
member into engagement with the seat on the trailing end of the needle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The invention sewing assembly, comprises a needle 10, a loop 12 and a 
driver member 14. 
Needle 10 may be of known form and includes a main body portion 10a, a 
pointed leading end portion 10b, and a trailing end portion 10c. The 
trailing end portion 10c is necked down in known manner to form flat 
parallel recessed surfaces 10d and 10e, and further includes an aperture 
10f normally employed for receipt of a thread. The needle 10 is preferably 
formed of a suitable metallic material. 
Loop 12 is formed of a suitable resilient metal, such as spring steel, and 
has a generally diamond shaped configuration. Loop 12 includes parallel 
attachment end portions 12a and 12b, short front arm portions 12c and 12d, 
and long rear arm portions 12e and 12f. Front arm portions 12c and 12d 
define an acute angle at their juncture with the trailing end of the 
needle; long rear arm portions 12e and 12f define an acute angle at their 
juncture; arm portions 12c and 12e define an obtuse angle at their 
junction; and arm portions 12d and 12f define an obtuse angle at their 
junction equal to the obtuse angle defined between arm portions 12c and 
12e. The acute angle defined between rear arm portions 12e and 12f, 
because of the unequal length of the front and rear arm portions, is less 
than the acute angle defined between short front arm portions 12c and 12d. 
Loop 12 is secured to the trailing end of needle 10 by suitably securing 
attachment and portions 12a and 12b respectively to faces 10d and 10e on 
the trailing end portion of the needle. For example, portions 12a and 12b 
may be secured to faces 10d and 10e by soldering. 
In one embodiment of the invention, seen in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, driver member 
14 is in the form of a thimble member including a cup shaped main body 
portion 14a, including and end wall 14b having the usual dimples 14c, and 
a rod portion 14d upstanding from the main body thimble portion. Rod 
portion 14d is hook shaped and includes a driver section 14e, and a 
downturned end section 14f. As seen in FIG. 3, member 14 is positioned on 
and over the end of a finger 16 of the user in the usual manner of a 
thimble. Member 14 is preferably formed of a suitable metallic material 
and may comprise a standard commercially available thimble with a metallic 
rod portion 14d suitably secured thereto as by welding or soldering. 
Alternatively, member 14 may be formed of plastic or the like in a molding 
operation. 
The use of the invention sewing assembly is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5. 
In use, the needle is readily threaded by passing the thread 18 through 
the wide target presented by loop 12. The asymmetrical construction of the 
loop increases the acuity of the angle between arm portions 12e and 12f so 
that the thread is readily gripped between these arm portions at their 
juncture to preclude slippage of the thread relative to the loop as the 
needle is passed successively through the associated fabric in the course 
of the sewing operation. The asymmetric configuration of the loop also 
assures that the front arm portions 12c and 12d will be relatively stiff 
as compared to the rear arm portions 12e and 12f to thereby maintain the 
loop in an open configuration when unstressed. 
It will be understood that the loop easily deforms into a collapsed 
condition under the forces imposed on it by the sides of the fabric being 
sewn when the needle is drawn through the fabric so as not to harm the 
fabric. When a fabric is encountered which is resistant to piercing by the 
pointed end 10b of the needle, rod portion 14d of driver member 14 is 
inserted into loop 12 and driver section 14e is positioned in the seat 20 
defined at the crotch defined at the juncture of loop arm portions 12c and 
12d with the trailing end of the needle. Driver section 14e is guided into 
positive seating engagement with the seat 20 by the camming action imposed 
by arms 12c and 12d as the driver section aproaches the seat. After driver 
section 14e has been positioned in seat 20, the finger of the user is 
manipulated in a sense to pull driver section 14e in a direction aligned 
with the central axis of the needle 10 so that driver section 14e exerts 
an axial driving force on the needle to facilitate movement of the pointed 
end of the needle through the resistant fabric. In a typical sewing 
operation, needle 10 is grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the 
user and the thimble or driver member 14 is worn on the middle finger of 
the same hand of the user. 
FIG. 6 illustrates an alternate form of driver member, indicated by the 
reference numeral 22, in which the driver member is constituted by a 
standard finger ring 22a to which a rod portion 22b is suitably rigidly 
affixed. Rod portion 22b includes a driver section 22c and a down-turned 
end section 22d. Ring 22a is preferably sized so that the ring seats 
comfortably on the finger between the first and second joints of the 
finger, as seen in FIG. 6. The driver member embodiment of FIG. 6 has the 
advantage that the driver member can be worn on the forefinger of the user 
where it may readily be brought into play to exert an axial driving force 
on the needle when a resistant fabric is encountered. 
The invention sewing assembly will be seen to provide an inexpensive and 
simple device for facilitating threading of the needle and for 
facilitating movement of the needle through resistant fabrics. It will 
specifically be noted that the loop 12, in combination with the trailing 
end of the needle, serves several important functions. Specifically, the 
loop coacts with the trailing end of the needle to define a seat for 
receipt of the driver section of the driver member; the loop provides cam 
surfaces to guide the driver section of the driver member into firm 
seating engagement with the seat; and the loop facilitates the ready 
threading of the needle. It will further be noted that driver member 14, 
in thimble form, serves the usual thimble function and also serves to 
provide the driving means for moving the needle through resistant fabric. 
Whereas preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and 
described in detail it will be apparent that various changes may be made 
in the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of 
the invention.