AN IMPROVEMENT IN SINGLE-THREAD SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SINGLE-THREAD SEWING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by William Cleveland Hicks,
of Boston, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 28th November 1861, and dated the 8th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th August 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County.of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SINGLE-THREAD SEWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to give security to seams formed by the
tambour or single-thread stitch, and prevent them from unravelling or ripping
up when from any cause one stitch has given way. To this end it is proposed
to introduce into the line of stitches at suitable intervals short stitches, which
will serve to retain the loop of the adjacent long stitch that may have been set
free in its own loop, the shortness of this latter having the effect of binding on
the loop that has been set free by the break in the concatenation of stitches.
The short stitches may be thrown into the work alternately with the long
stitches, or at every third stitch, or other suitable interval; but in practice it is
preferred to make a short stitch after every long one. In order to adapt the
single-thread machine to this kind of work, the back traverse of the feeding

page_text: bar is arrested after the formation of, say, every second stitch, by a cam,
which receives rotary motion from the looper shaft. The feeding bar being
thus arrested will make a proportionately short forward traverse, and thereby
feed the cloth the proper distance for throwing in the short stitch. The
regulation of the length of this short stitch may be effected by shifting the
arresting cam on its shaft, or otherwise, as thought desirable; but the adjust-
ment of the length of the other stitch is effected by an adjusting screw carried
by the feeding bar, and brought into contact with a fixed stop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no. others, from time to tinie and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN SINGLE-THREAD SEWING MACHINES," being a communication
from abroad by William Cleveland Hicks, of Boston, in the United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months: next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent; Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto. annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign.
correspondent, is to give security to seams formed by the tambour or single-,
thread sewing machines, and prevent them from unravelling or ripping up
when from any cause one stitch has given way. To this end it is proposed to
introduce into the line of stitches at suitable intervals short stitches, which will
serve to retain the loop of an adjacent long stitch that may have been set free
within its own loop, the shortness of this latter having the effect of binding on
the loop that has been set free by the break in the concatenation of stitches.
The short stitches may be thrown into the work alternately with the long
stitches, or at every third stitch, or at any other suitable interval; but in
practice it is preferred to make a short stitch after every long one. In order
to adapt the single-thread machine to this kind of work, the back traverse of
the feeding bar is arrested after the formation of, say, every second stitch, by
a cam, which receives rotary motion from the looper shaft. The feeding bar
being thus arrested, will make a proportionately short forward traverse, and
thereby feed the cloth the proper distance for throwing in the short stitch.
To illustrate the advantages of this Invention, I would observe, that when
the stitches (whether coarse or fine) are of equal length throughout the seam,
as represented in Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, at Diagram Fig. 4,
no difficulty is experienced after the breaking of one stitch in ripping the
seam and separating the united pieces of cloth, as the stitches readily pass the
one out of the other in succession, the cloth in separating giving a sufficient
space for them to do so. By the application of this Invention the ripping of
the seam is made impossible, whether the attempt to rip be begun by straining
to tear at a "dropped" stitch, or cut or worn stitch; yet while thus making
what may be termed a light seam, all the advantages of a single-thread or
chain stitch are retained, the operator being enabled to pull out the seam by
hand from one end (termed "ravelling "), as heretofore.
The Invention is applicable to any chain stitch sewing machine, and the
mechanism for carrying it into effect may be variously modified, but the herein-
after described devices will suffice to explain the mode of carrying out the
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a single-thread sewing machine fitted according to
this Invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a partial
end view, shewing the parts for limiting the traverse of the feeder in a some-
what different position to that in which they stand in Fig. 2.

page_text: . A is the bed or table of the machine; B, the. reciprocating eye-pointed
needle; and C, a revolving hook or. looper for catching the loop as it is
brought down by the needle, and causing it to interlock with the succeeding
loop; D is an ordinary feeding bar or device, operated by a cam or cams on
the looper shaft E, and arranged to project through the bed A; so as in con-
nection with a foot or presser above it to feed the cloth forward intermittently,
or at intervals, by working up against the cloth, and moving it forward the
length of a stitch, and then moving down from the cloth and in a contrary
direction to the feed, as is well understood. Such rising and falling, and
reciprocating intermittent feed, with its ordinary stops, and means for varying
its constant stroke in the formation of a seam to sew coarse or fine, or any other
ordinary feeding mechanism, is only calculated to effect sewing in stitches of
equal length successively according to the "set" given to the feeder, as coarse
or fine sewing is required. With this cloth-feeding mechanism are combined
a stationary projection F and spring G, the latter bearing against the former,
and acting at its other end against the feeding bar to urge the back at the
close of each feeding stroke. Attached to the feeding bar on the opposite side
of the projection F, to which lies the spring G, is an adjusting screw H, that
being adjusted to strike sooner or later, the projection F in the return, stroke
of the feeder regulates the general length of the stitches, that is, varies the
feed to sew coarse or fine. This screw, however, need only be used in the
present instance to regulate the length of the long stitches in the combination
of long and short stitches, as it is seldom that the short stitches in such com-
bination require to be varied. A special or additional device is used to limit
the stroke of the feeder to effect the short stitches, which additional device
need not, as previously observed, limit the feeder in its long strokes, and may,
if desired, be adjustable to regulate the length of the short stitches. Thus
geared with the shaft E by the spur wheels I, J, of disproportionate diameters,
is a shaft K, revolving in the present instance once only during every two
revolutions of the first-named shaft E. When, however, the arrangement of
stitches is not designed to be first a long and then a short one alternately, but,
say, two or three long and one short, or two or three short and one long, then
the relative speeds of these shafts may be varied from that indicated in the
Drawing by changing the gearing wheels, or the altered condition may be
otherwise met. On the feed end of this second shaft K is an excentric or
cam L, which may be called the feed changer, inasmuch as it intersperses with
the long or general feed, whatever its adjustment may be a series of short
feeds at intervals. This excentric is shewn so set as that the feeding bar D
every alternate back stroke strikes it before the adjusting screw I reaches the

page_text: stationary stop F, which, of course, necessitates, every alternate stitch being;
made shorter than the next stitch, and this difference in the stitches, as effected.
by the adjusting screw H and excentric L; acting as stops to the feeder
in succession, should preferably be made considerable. By shifting the
excentric L on its shaft, the length of the short stitches may be increased or.
diminished. Also by sliding the excentric L out of striking play with the
feeding bar, or otherwise disconnecting these devices from acting the one.
against the other, the ordinary chain stitch or stitches of equal length, and
adjustable by the screw to any fixed uniform length, may be used. When
a combination of alternate long and short stitches is required, the adjusting
screw I may, if desired, be dispensed with, and the feeding bar made to strike
alternately the excentric L first at a point farthest from the centre of the
latter, and next at a point nearest thereto, and so on in succession; but this
may not be desirable, excepting where very long stitches are required. Now,
it will be seen on reference to Fig. 5, in which two pieces of cloth are shewn
as sewn together by alternate long and short chain stitches, that in attempting
to rip the seam by separating the two pieces of cloth, the short stitches will
prevent the united pieces from separating sufficiently far to let any one long
stitch pass through its adjoining short stitch, and that the long stitch is caught
by the short stitch, and the latter by the strain thrown upon it is caused to
form a tight noose, so as to clip or hold the long stitch; the greater the effort
therefore to separate the cloth, the tighter the short stitch is drawn round or
on the long stitch. In this way the seam, though sewn by a series of chain
stitches, is made a tight one.
Another arrangement for carrying out the object of this Invention is shewn
in Sheet II., Figures 1 and 2 being cross sections of a single-thread sewing
machine with the parts for operating the feeder in different positions; and
Fig. 3 being a plan view with the table and upper parts removed.
In this machine A is the feeder, which receives its traverse motions from a
cam B on the main shaft, while its up-and-down motions are derived from the-
hook slide C. The feeder A is jointed loosely to a rock lever, D, which is
keyed to an axle that has its bearings in the main framing. A pin E is
attached to this lever, and projects through a slot made in the framing. This
pin rests against a set screw F (which passes downwards through the table of
the machine) when the feed cam B is not in contact therewith, a tendency being
given to the rock lever to maintain the position shewn in Fig. 1, by reason of
a coiled spring D¹ enclosed in a cylindrical opening in the framing, and its
opposite ends being connected the one to the knob on the axle of the rock
lever, and the other to the framing, as shown at Fig. 3.
A small pinion ɑ.

page_text: attached to the main driving shaft gears into a pinion 6 of twice its diameter,
which is mounted loosely on a stud axle. The pinion 6 is, therefore, caused
to revolve once for every revolution of the main shaft. This pinion 6 has on
its inner face a cam c (see Fig. 4), which, by its revolution, presents itself
once in every two revolutions of the main shaft before or opposite to the pin E
before mentioned. When this occurs, the pin is prevented coming up against
the set screw F, and the feeder A is held in the position shewn at Fig. 2.
The rock lever D carries a bowle D*, which stands immediately over the feed
cam B. The higher therefore this bowl is raised, the less action will the
cam B give to the rock lever D, and, consequently, the shorter will be the
traverse of the feeder. Now, when the cam c of the wheel b passes away
from before the pin E, the pin will again strike the bottom of the set screw F,
the bowle D* will then be free to fall to its lowest position, and enable the
cam B to act. It will now be understood that the short stitch is made by the
pin E being arrested by the cam c, and the longer stitch is made by the set
screw coming into action. The length of either stitch can be changed at
pleasure by loosening the nut on the stud axle of the pinion 6, allowing of the
shifting of the cam c to regulate the short stitch, and the turning of the set
screw F serving to regulate the long stitch.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
Single-thread Sewing Machines," as communicated to me from my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
means above described for limiting the traverse motion of the feeder; but
what I claim, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, is, giving the
feeder an irregular traverse motion, for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)