IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Smith, of Hackney, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 27th July, 1866, and dated the 30th January 1866...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
January 1866.
I, ALFRED SMITH, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, .do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:--
My present Invention relates chiefly to a former Invention for which Letters
Patent were granted to me on the 2nd day of August 1864, No. 1923.
My present improvements consist in arrangements for working the feeding
surfaces of the machine in different ways for different purposes or stitches, or
for the same purpose or stitch; also in an improved time and cam stitch cam ;
also in moving the shuttle box or part thereof in conjunction with the needle ;
also in a method of lifting the pressing foot to allow the work to be turned
freely, all as hereafter described. I fit the feeding, surface to work in guides;
for plain work I prefer to effect the feeding as follows:-I roughen the end
of the feed lever, or I fasten a serrated plate to the end of this lever, and I
raise this end a little above the other parts of the lever in order that it may
at the proper time come above the cloth plate when such is used. The feed

page_text: lever works on a joint in a line with the shuttle box, and is fastened to the
frame of the machine by a ball or universal joint. To the left of the joint
the feed lever terminates in one end which performs the feed as before men-
tioned, while to the right of the joint the lever terminates in two arms or ends,
to each of which a stitch screw is attached; I employ two cams to act upon
these two arms or ends. These cams are made so that a portion is capable of
being attached to and detached from either of them as required, or so that a
part of them can be removed at pleasure. According to which of these cams
is made to act upon the lever arm corresponding thereto so is the stitch pro-
duced of one kind or another, that is to say, that one cam will cause one
description and the other cam another description of stitch to be produced.
The shuttle box or part thereof is jointed to one end of a rod, the other end of
which is jointed to a lever connected to the frame by a stud upon which it
works. The other end of the lever carries a roller working in the double-grooved
cam, which moves the needle carrier frame, as described in the Specification
of the Letters Patent before mentioned. The shuttle box or the part thereof
connected to the rod thus moves simultaneously with the needle carrier frame.
My method of lifting the pressing foot is as follows:-The bar to which
the foot is attached carries at the top a lever which overhangs the front of the
machine. The needle slide or the lever which works it, or a projection on either
of them, strikes in the up or down stroke the overbanging portion of the lever,
and raises or depresses it, whereby the pressing foot is lifted from the work.
When the overhanging lever is freed the pressing foot is returned to its position
by its spring.
O
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, ALFRED
SMITH, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: with, and no others, from time to time 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Smith,.
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My present Invention relates chiefly to a former Invention for which Letters
Patent were granted to me on the Second day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four, No. 1923.
My present improvements consist in arrangements for working the feeding
surfaces of the machine in different ways for different purposes or stitches, or
for the same purpose
or stitch; also in an improved time and stitch cam; also
in moving the shuttle box or part thereof in conjunction with the needle ;
also in a method or methods of lifting the pressing foot to allow the work to
be turned freely, all as hereafter described. I fit the feeding surface to work
in guides; for plain work I prefer to effect the feeding as follows:-I roughen
the end of the feed lever, or I fasten a serrated plate to the end of this
lever, and I raise this end a little above the other parts of the lever in
order that it may at the proper time come above the cloth plate when such is
used. The feed lever works on a joint in a line with the shuttle box, and is
fastened to the frame of the machine by a ball or universal joint. To the
left of the joint the feed lever terminates in one end which performs the feed
as before mentioned, while to the right of the joint the lever terminates in
two arms or ends, to each of which a stitch screw is attached; I employ two
cams to act upon these two arms or ends. These cams are made so that a
portion is capable of being attached to and detached from either of them as
required, or so that a part of either can be removed at pleasure. According
to which of these cams is made to act upon the lever arm corresponding
thereto so is the stitch produced of one kind or another, that is to say, that

page_text: one cam will cause one description and the other cam another description of
stitch to be produced.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of as much of the back
of a sewing machine as is necessary to shew my arrangements for working
the feeding surfaces as herein-before explained.
a is the feed lever, which is fastened to the frame of the machine by a ball
or universal joint at 6, on which it works; this joint is in a line with the
shuttle box which is contained in the portion c of the frame. To the left of
the joint the feed lever a terminates in one end d, which performs the feed;
this end is, as before stated, roughened, or has a serrated plate fastened
thereto, and it is raised a little above the other parts of the lever, as shewn,
The
in order that it may at the proper time cone above the cloth plate e.
feeding surface is made, by preference, to work in guides, as described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Twenty-first July, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, No. 1904. To the right of the joint 6
the lever a terminates in two arins or ends f, g, to each of which a stitch
screw h is attached. I employ two time and stitch cams i, i, to act upon
these two arms. Fig. 2 is a face view, and Fig. 3 a section of one of these
cams; they are, as before stated, made so that a portion is capable of being
attached to and detached from either of them as required, or so that a part
of either can be removed at pleasure. j, Figs. 2 and 3, represents this move-
able part; it is formed with a hole to receive a screw k, by which it is attached
to the boss of the cam, which is formed with a corresponding female thread.
This portion is attached to whichever of the cams i, i, is required to act
the lever arm for ġ corresponding thereto, the other lever arm and
stitch screw being then out of work, and according to which lever arm is
acted upon, so is the stitch produced of one kind or another. I prefer to
employ only one moveable portion ; for the two cams i, i, as they will never
require to be in action at the same time; is the time portion of the cam,
which portion is of the ordinary form.
upon
The shuttle box or part thereof is jointed to one end of a rod, the other
end of which is jointed to a lever connected to the frame by a stud upon
which it works; the upper end of the lever carries a roller working in the
double-grooved cam, which moves the needle carrier frame, as described in
the Specification of the Letters Patent of Second August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four, before mentioned; the shuttle box, or the
part thereof connected to the rod, thus moves simultaneously with the needle
carrier frame. This part of my Invention is represented in Figure 4, which
is a view of a portion of the front side of a sewing machine. is the

page_text: shuttle box jointed to one end of a rod m, the other end of which is jointed
at n to a lever o connected to the frame of the machine by a stud p, upon
which this lever works. The upper end of this lever o carries a roller g
working in a double-grooved cam r, which moves the needle carrier frame;
the construction and action of this cam r are fully described in the Specifi-
cation of the Letters Patent of Second August, One thousand eight hundred'
and sixty-four, before mentioned. This cam moves the rod m, and conse-
quently the shuttle box l, simultaneously with the needle carrier frame; thus
as the needle is moved backwards and forwards to produce a button hole or
other stitch the shuttle box makes a corresponding movement. Instead of
the whole of the shuttle box being caused to move, as before explained, only
that portion of it which is slotted for the needle. may be caused to move.
.
My method of lifting the pressing foot is as follows:-The bar to which the
foot is attached carries at the top a lever which overhangs the front of the
machine; the needle slide or the lever which works it, or a projection on
either of them, strikes in the up or down stroke the overhanging portion of the
lever, and raises or depresses it, whereby the pressing foot is lifted from the
work. When the overhanging lever is freed the pressing foot is returned to
its position by. its spring. This part of my Invention is represented in Fig. 5.
s is the pressing foot and t the bar to which it is attached; this bar works in
guides u in the ordinary manner. vis a lever carried at the upper end of the
bar t, and overhanging the front of the machine, as shewn; w is a projection
on the needle slide x, which in the down stroke of the slide strikes the over-
hanging portion of the lever vand depresses it, thereby raising the opposite
end of this lever, which turns upon the edge u¹ of the upper guide u as a pivot;
the bar t is thus raised and the pressing foot s lifted from the work. When
the lever vis freed the foot s is returned to position by its spring y; instead
of the overhanging portion of the lever v being struck by a projection on the
needle slide x, a projection may be formed for the purpose on the lever
which works this slide, or the lever zor slide x may itself be caused to
strike the lever v, the projection w being dispensed with, and instead of the
lever being struck in the down stroke it may be struck in the up stroke of the
needle slide, the lever in this case turning upon the edge u³ of the upper
guide u as a pivot.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manuer the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in sewing machines,-
1st, the construction and employment of feed levers, the right end of
which terminates in two arms arranged and acted upon substantially in manner

page_text: and for the purpose herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
2nd, the construction and employment of time and stitch cams, a portion
of which is capable of being attached and detached according to requirement,
substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and represented in
the accompanying Drawings.
3rd, constructing machines in which the shuttle box or part thereof moves
in conjunction with the needle, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
4th, the arrangement or arrangements for lifting the pressing foot, sub-
stantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and represented in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Smith, have hereunto set my
hand, this Thirtieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.