IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOCK STITCH SEWING MACHINES AND IN THE SHUTTLES AND THREAD BOBBINS OR COPS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Louis Silverman at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 14th September 1882.
LOUIS SILVERMAN of Westminster in the County of Middlesex, " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOCK STITCH SEWING MACHINES AND IN THE SHUTTLES AND THREAD
BOBBINS OR COPS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
This invention relates more especially to an improved thread bobbin or cop to be
employed for the production of what is known as the under or lower thread, also to
the shuttles for carrying such improved bobbins or cops through the loops formed
by the upper thread, and to certain modifications in sewing machines to adapt
them to the employment of the said thread bobbins or cops and shuttles.
The object of the improvement in the thread bobbin or cop is to enable a much
larger quantity of thread to be carried in the shuttle thau has heretofore been
possible by the ordinary shuttle or bobbin. The improvement consists in forming
a thread bobbin or cop which can be placed in the shuttle without any supporting
spindle or reel such thread bobbin or cop being formed by winding thread so as to
form a hollow cylindrical coil or cop which can be unwound from the inside after
the manner of an ordinary ball of twine.
If preferred the thread bobbin or cop may be wound in conical layers similarly
to the cops used in the shuttles of weaving looms the thread in that case unwinding
either internally or externally, but I prefer the arrangement in which the thread is
wound in cylindrical layers and is unwound from the inside as the external coils of
thread in such bobbins or cops form a kind of tube maintaining the shape of the
bobbin or cop whilst the inner coils are being unwound.
The improvement in shuttles to adapt them to receive the aforesaid hollow
thread bobbin or cop consists in forming them of a circular segmental form some-
what in the shape of the letter C and adapted to receive the aforesaid hollow
cylindrical thread bobbin or cop when the same is bent to a corresponding
segmental shape. A hole is formed in the said shuttle for the passage of the thread
from the interior of the thread bobbin or cop to the work, and any ordinary and
suitable device is provided for imparting the necessary tension to the said thread
as it is drawn out of the shuttle.
The modifications of the sewing machine to enable the aforesaid shuttle and
Price 1

page_text: thread bobbin or cop to be employed consist in arranging a shuttle carrier adapted
to receive and drive the said shuttle either by a rotary reciprocating motion or by an
intermittent rotary movement in such manner that after the said segmental shuttle
is passed through the loop formed by the upper needle thread, the said shuttle shall
remain stationary (while the upper needle rises and returns through the cloth), its
point being presented ready to enter the next loop of thread formed by the upper
needle. The shuttle carrier may be arranged to slide back on its spindle to admit
of the insertion of the shuttle into it, and may be pressed up to the face against
which the shuttle works by means of a spring or otherwise, the necessary
reciprocating rotary or intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the shuttle carrier
by any suitable means such as cams, slides, spiral grooves, segmental racks and
pinions or otherwise as may be found convenient according to the character and
structure of the sewing machine to which these improvements are to be applied.
By these arrangements a very much larger quantity of thread can be placed in
the shuttle at one time than in the shuttles or bobbins of the machines heretofore
in use, whereby considerable time is saved and the trouble of winding bobbins is
avoided as the bobbins or cops forming the first part of this present, invention
could be manufactured by machinery and sold ready to place direct in the shuttles
adapted to receive them without any previous preparation by the person using
the sewing machine. But if preferred such bobbins or cops could be wound as
required by the person using the machine, by means of a special apparatus for that
purpose.