IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING-MACHINES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolphus Guillaume and Augustus Lambert, of Fosses,
in the kingdom of Belgium, Watchmakers, for an invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING-MACHINES,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolphus Guillaume and
Augustos Lambert at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
12th April 1882.
ADOLPHUS GUILLAUME and AUGUSTUS LAMBERT of Fosses in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Watch-makers "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
"
"
"J
In sewing machines as at present constructed use is made of an appliance termed
"cop ог 'spindle" on which is wound the lower thread by means of an
arrangement fitted to the machine. These cops or spindles as used in all existing
sewing machines are comparatively very sinall and the thread requires to be
wound on them a great many times in a machine which is constantly at work for
a whole day for instance, thus causing great loss of time and is a very troublesomo
operation.
The object of one part of this Invention is to avoid this loss of time and obviate
these disadvantages and with this view we have constructed a sewing machine in
which these cops or spindles (which generally contain a very small amount of
cotton) are replaced by a bobbin which may contain 455 metres or 500 yards of
cotton in the smallest machines, the result being that whilst in an ordinary
machine there is contained only sufficient cotton to work continuously for a half
hour at the most when the lower thread is used up, our machine may work without
interruption for three days.
In ordinary machines the stitch is formed in the following manner :-When the
needle has arrived at the limit or lowest part of its descending movement it has a
short upward movement given to it by which a small loop is formed by the upper
thread into which the point of the shuttle takes and passes completely through it,
opening out the loop by its conical form the shuttle carrying with it the lower
thread which thus forms the stitch. At this moment the needle re-ascends and the
Pin G21

page_text: stitch is drawn tight by a suitable arrangement; the shuttle returns and the
movement recommences. This mode of forming the stitch necessitates the
employment of shuttles of very small diameter capable of carrying a “ cop ” or
spindle" wound with only a small quantity of cotton.
The second part of the Invention relates to a hollow ring shaped looper whose
periphery carries a toothed rin so that it can be operated by a reciprocating rack
worked from the main shaft.
Our Invention consists essentially of
1st Replacing the "cops" or "spindles "and the small shuttles which contain
only a small quantity of lower or under cotton by large cops, spindles, or bobbins
and shuttles which may contain an enormous quantity of cotton or other thread
compared with the others.
2ndly A combination in a sewing machine of a shuttle, a guide, a frame, a ring
Alaped looper, with a toothed rim and their accessory parts.
3rdly An arrangement of mechanism for forming the stitch consisting chiefly of
the combination of a book which places a part of the cotton or thread onto the
middle of the looper, and the other part looped in front of the opening in such a
nanner as to form a large space for the entry of the shuttle, and of a rounded
projecting part for pushing or throwing off the thread from the ring shaped looper
at the required moment.
4thly The combination of a tension lever with the needle carrier and the upper
thrend.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Adolphus Guillaume & Augustus Lambert in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th October 1882.
ADOLPHUS GUILLAUME and AugustUS LAMBERT of Fosses in the Kingdom of
Belgium IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
"
In sewing machines as at present constructed, uso is made of an appliance termed
a "cop or " spindle" on which is wound the lower thread by means of an
arrangement fitted to the machine. These cops or spindles as used in all existing
sewing machines are comparatively very small and the thread requires to be
wound on them a great many times in a machine which is constantly at work for
a whole day for instanco thus causing great loss of time and is a very troublesoine
operation.
The object of one part of this Invention is to avoid this loss of time and obviato
these disadvantages and with this view we have constructed a sewing machine in
which these cops or spindles (which generally contain a very small amount of
cotton) are replaced by a bobbin which may contain 445 metres or 500 yards of
cotton in the smallest machines, the result being that whilst in an ordinary
machine there is contained only suflicient cotton to work continuously for a half
hour at the most when the lower thread is used up, our machine may work without
interruption for three days. In ordinary machines the stitch is formed in the
following manner. When the necelle has arrived at the limit or lowest pari of its
descending movement it has a short upward movement given to it by which a
small loop is formed by the upper thread into which the point of the shuttle takes
and passes completely through it opening out the loop by its conical form the
shuttle carrying with it the lower thread which thus forms the stitch. At this
noment the needle reascends and the stitch is drawn tight by suitable arrangement;
the shuttle returns and the movement recommences. This mode of forming the
stitch necessitates the employment of shuttles of very small diameter capable of
carrying a "cop" or "spindle" wound with only a small quantity of cotton.
The second part of the Invention relates to a hollow ring shaped looper whose
periphery carries a toothed rim so that it can be operated by a reciprocating rack
worked from the main shaft.
Figure 1 of the annexed drawings is a longitudinal section of the frame of the
machine shewing the mechanism in elevation in the position at which the needle is
at the highest part of its movement.
Figure 2 is a plain view in which the mechanism is at tho lowest part of the
needles movement.
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 represent detached parts ou a larger scale of the
nochianisin for forming the stitch.
Figures 9, 10, and 11 show the bobbin carrier or shuttle.
The principle parts of our improvements are shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
and 8 and in this part the stitch is formed so as to allow of employing large
shuttles containing a large quantity of cotton or thread.
A rectangular frame B composed of two longitudinal bars b inclined at a suitable
angle and of two transverse bars of suitable form by which they are connected, is
fixed at a suitable distance below the base plate A of the machine. At the middle
of these longitudinal bars where they are interrupted are two other rectangular
frames projecting laterally in the direction of the inclination of the bars and facing
one another. These latter frames are made of one piece, with longitudinal bars in
which a ring C of particular form is fixed vertically. (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
and 81

page_text: One of the faces of this ring C is straight or smooth, whilst the opposite face is
unequal, that is to say; about half of the ring on one side is thicker in such a
manner that the ends of this part e c' form projections. The inner circular face of
the ring is conical, so that its diameter is smaller or larger on one side than the
other. In this ring and on its inner face is adjusted freely in it, a part which may
be called the middle of a toothed rim D Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 fitted with
exactness but so that it can turn freely in the ring and whose outer periphery lias
the same conical shape as the inner circular face of the ring C in such manner that
the middle after having been fixed to the toothed rim on the side where the
latter is affixed against the smooth face of the ring C forms but one piece with the
toothed rim and cannot leave the ring. The face of the middle piece which is
opposite to that soldered or otherwise fixed to the rim D is also of unequal surface
and is notched in the following manner; at two points diametrically opposito
terminate two helical notches, one of which forms on the face of the said middle
pieco a hook d and the other forms a rounded or inclined projection d' the object
of which will be presently described.
On one of the sides of the frame B is a guide E which receives the shuttle
carrier which has a reciprocatory or to and fro motion imparted to it from a
mechanism connected with the main shaft which causes the guide E with the
shuttle to pass alternately through the ring shaped looper C and the rim D
adjusted to it in such a manner that the shuttle is at one tiune on one side of the
looper and then passed through to the other. The main shaft is adjusted in
bearings at a suitable distance from the plate A.
The shuttle (Figures 9, 10, and 11) which replaces the shuttle of ordinary
machines is of hollow cylindrical form in which the bobbin is placed; at one end
it is closed by a cover screwed or otherwise fixed to it, and the other end is
provided with a cone whose point or apox is not in a line with the centre of the
cylinder as shewn. The cotton or thread is first passed through a rectangular
opening of sufficient size which is formed in the thickness of the shuttle for greater
facility, and then through a small hole very close to this opening.
The bobbin (Figure 9) is composed simply of a thin metal rod t with a thin
disc p p at each end and on which in the smallest sized machines 4-45 metres or
500 yards of cotton may be wound which is an enormous contrast to the shuttles in
use in ordinary machines. The bobbin revolves on two pivots in the interior of
the shuttle one of which is fixed to a screw passing through the cover with a sunk
head. This pivot is encircled with a spiral spring which presses against the bobbin
and the screw a, the tension of the spring pressing the bobbin up against the
opposite end of the shuttle where the other pivot is fixed for the purpose of
tightening the cotton when it unwinds too freely. This spring may be strengthened
or loosened by means of the screw a.
When the bobbin has been properly adjusted in the shuttle the latter is placed
on the front part of the rod E the end a of which is bent at right angles against
which the cover of the shuttle touches (Figures 1 and 11).
In the front of the shuttle is a notch or indent to receive a projection on the
rod E. The opposite side of the shuttle rests against the longitudinal bar & of the
frame B. The back portion 3 of the rod E is guided in its sliding motion
between the transverse bar b' of the frame B and a transverse bar 62 placed on it;
and at e³ to which is attached the connecting rod g which transmits the alternate
movement, the rod El is fixed to a slide which is guided in a slotted bar fi
(Figures 1 and 2).
The connecting rod y attached at one und at c is connected at the other end to
an oscillating lover K attached to a base plate A; this lever is provided with a
segmental wheel kengaging into the teeth of a ratchet 1 which is on the lower
end of the elbow H' of the main lover H. by which the needle is oporated. Upon
the lower end of the lever H but on the opposite side of the ratchet I is a roller
fitting in a return spiral groove forming a cam in a collar L fixed to the main
shaft so that when the latter turns with tho collar L the cam causes the roller to

page_text: move alternately from right to left and from left to right and thus oscillates the
lever H H and the lever K for the purposes above described. The ratchot F
which works the hook & by gearing into the toothed rim D is shaped like the arc
of a circle with a centre at the point i where the beut lever F F is pivotted to a
support suitably fixed to the base plate A or otherwise; the lever FF" being
composed of two parts as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The arm F¹ is fixed to the
middle of the ratchet F and the arm F has a roller on its ond engaging in a
return spiral groove on a collar L' similar to that on the collar L. The collar L'
also revolves with the main shaft and is fixed on it in such manner that the groove
transmits the oscillating motion of the lever and the alternate movements of the
ratchet F and roller l', to the hook d at the required moment. The arm F is
guided in a slide G suitably fixed to the base plato A or otherwise.
The following is a description of the formation of the stitch.
When the needle has reached the ond of its descent the mechanism is in the
position shown in Figure 2. The ratchet F has placed the hook d of the toothed
rim D just beneath the projection c of the ring shaped looper C as in Figure 3.
The shuttle is in the front part of the frame B on the same side as the hook &
Figure 2. The needle which is at the side of the hook d in front of the ring
shaped looper C has a sudden ascending movement at this moment (transmitted
to it by the action of a part of the cam or groove on the collar L) and the upper
thread forms a loop as in ordinary machines. The ratchet F then causes the
hook d to turn or advance taking up the loop of thread and carries a part of it
onto the middle of the rim D which depasses the narrow part of the ring looper C
(Figure 4) placing the other part of the loop in front of the rim in such manner
that the loop now forms an arc of a circle growing larger as the hook advances as
shown in the figures 5 and 8.
Just before the hook arrives in the position shown at Figure 8 the shuttle with
the lower thread has commenced to penetrate into the opening of the upper thrond,
and the rounded projection d' has passed below the thread and pushes the circular
part of the upper thread off the looper, (and consequently out of the path of the
hook) by means of its inclined portion. The throad being now free slips into
between the part ee of the rod E, and the shuttle where there is sufficient space
for the purpose; the shuttle then advances setting free the upper thread and takes
up a position on the other side of the ring looper as shown in Figure 2 in dotted
lines. The stitch is then formed. The needle rises or has commenced to rise and
tightens the stitch by means of a tension lever M acting in the following manner.
Just abovo the point where the lever HL is attached to the needle carrier the latter
has a rectangular longitudinal opening as likowise the front part of the slide in
which the needle carrier is guided. Through these two openings which coincide
when the whole has ascended, the tension lever M passes being pivotted in the back
part of the slido (Figure 1) in such manner that when the needle carrier ascends
or descends it slides on the lever M. At the required moment the lower end of
the opening in the needle carrier touches the lever M in rising and raises the latter
carrying the thread with it, thus tightening the stitch. The shuttle returns, the
neodle descends and the movement is repeated.
In the same figure which shows the mechanism in the opposite position to that
of Figure 2, will be seen how the upper thread is placed and threaded; from the
bobbin it passes to any desired tension arrangement, from where it passes through
a hole or loop n to the upper end of the needle carrier, loop n', the tension lever,
loop n and thence to the needle. It will thus be seen that it is not the shuttle
which opens the loop formed by the upper thread that it may pass through it, but
that it is the book & which prepares the openings for the passage of the shuttle
so that shuttles of any size may bo employed.
Any kind of suitable mechanism may be worked by the main shaft or otherwise
for advancing the work on the machine. The fabric presser and other accessories
may also be made and worked as in ordinary machines.

page_text: Having now described the nature of our said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed we declaro that we claim.
"
First. Replacing the "cops" or spindles and the small shuttles which contain
only a small quantity of lower or under cotton by large cops, spindles or bobbins
and bobbin carriers which may contain an enormous quantity of cotton or other
thread compared with the others. ns described
Secondly. The combination in a sowing machine of the shuttle and the guide E,
with the frame B, the ring shaped looper C, the toothed rim D, with their accessory
parts, as described and as shown in the drawings
Thirdly. The arrangement of mechanism for forming the stitch consisting chiefly
of the combination of the hook d which places a part of the cotton or thread onto
the middle of the rim D) and the other part looped in front of the opening in such
a manner as to form a large space for the entry of the shuttle, and of the rounded
projecting part for pushing or throwing off the thread from the ring shaped
looper at the required moment, with the toothed rim D, the ring C and the rack F.
as set forth.
Fourthly. The combination of the tension lever M with the needle carrier and
the upper thread.
In witness whereof we the said Adolphus Guillaume and Augustus Lambert
have hereunto set our hands and seals this Twenty sixth day of September
in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
BAL DE CITY ATTACKS