IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND BUTTON-HOLE, EDGEING, AND OVER- SEAMING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Page Hubbard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th October 1875.
I, JOHN PAGE HUBBARD, of 45, High Street, Croydon, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND BUTTON-HOLE, EDGEING, AND OVER-
SEAMING MACHINES," to be as follows :—
The first part of this Invention has for its object improvements in
sewing machines, also button-hole, edgeing, and overseaming machines;
and the improvements relate, firstly, to the manner of forming an over-
seam or edgeing on fabrics. For this purpose I employ a rocking or
revolving looper or eye-pointed needle (by preference fixed in a holder);

page_text: such needle, looper, or holder is pivotted on that part (or attachment) of
the machine that receives a reciprocating motion on the opposite side to
that on which the ordinary needle of the machine is fixed. When the
needle of the machine passes down through the fabric the said rocking
and reciprocating needle (carrying a second thread) is made to advance
close beside and to enter into the loop of thread thrown out by the
machine needle. This loop of thread thus passed around the rocking
needle acts with an upward and backward pressure, which increases as
the rocking needle continues to advance, and causes the said rocking
needle to revolve on its pivot, pass over the edge, and to lay over on to
the face of the fabric under the machine needle (or the said rocking
needle may be aided to revolve by suitable teeth or studs, so placed on
the hub of the said rocking needle as to engage in projections on the
machine as it reciprocates). The machine needle, which has now with-
drawn from the fabric, descends and enters the loop of thread belonging
to the rocking needle, which is now withdrawn by the backward motion
of the reciprocating action, leaving a portion of its thread on the surface
of the fabric, forming a series of threads alternately looped through and
over the edge of the fabric.
In using a rocking looper in place of the rocking eye-pointed needle
I do not require a second thread, and I make the point of the looper of
a forked form, and instead of passing through the loop thrown out by
the machine needle, this fork I so make as to take hold of and engage
with the said loop of thread, and by the same action as shewn before,
lays this thread on the other side of the fabric. The machine needle
then descends and enters the loop of thread, forming a series of tambour
or chain stitches around the edge of the fabric with the one thread.
Another improvement relates to those machines known as Wheeler
and Wilson's machines, and has for its object the so arranging the cover
on what is known as the "Combined Davenport and Sewing Machine"
that the machine can be worked from the same side as the desk is used,
and that the light shall not be impeded by the lid. For this purpose I
make the board of the desk that forms the machine cover to slide back
under the back portion of the cover that the hinges are usually
attached to.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Page Hubbard in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PAGE HUBBARD, of 45, High Street, Croydon, in the County of Surrey,
send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Page Hubbard,
Her special licence, that I, the said John Page Hubbard, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Page Hubbard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree 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 AND BUTTON-HOLE, EDGING,
AND OVERSEAMING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Page Hubbard, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Page Hubbard, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
My Invention relates to mechanism for producing the button-hole or
overseam stitch. This mechanism is of simple construction, and may
be applied to certain kinds of existing sewing machines, or it may be

page_text: used in machines specially constructed for button-hole, sewing, or over-
seaming. The mechanism produces a stitch, which is deeper, and of
more general application than heretofore.
My Invention consists in an under needle or looper reciprocating
across the line of stitching, and whose point as it advances is made to
rise or swing upwards over and on to the upper surface of the fabric,
the said receptacle and swinging needle or looper operating in com-
bination with the vertically moving needle to form a stitch either with
one or two threads, as hereafter described.
In order that the operation of the said needle or looper, and the
formation of the stitch may be more readily understood I will proceed
to describe the same with reference to the Drawings annexed, in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the Invention applied in what is
known as a 66
Singer" sewing machine.
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate the successive movements of the under
needle, and the formation of the stitch with two threads; and Figures 2ª,
3, 4, and 5 are similar views illustrating the operation of a looper and
single thread.
Figure 1 shows a portion of the bed plate of the machine and shuttle
race A. The shuttle and shuttle holder however are removed, and in 1
licu thereof I employ a carrier B, to which reciprocating motion is com-
municated in a direction across the line of stitching by being affixed by
set screws B¹ to the shuttle driver. To this carrier B the bent under
needle (or looper) C is pivoted on a stud D. When two threads are
employed the needle C has an eye E near the point, and a groove F
along one side for the thread to lay in, as shown, the thread being led to
the needle through an eye G fixed on carrier B, thence through an eye H
in the needle near the bend along the groove F to the eye E at the point,
as shown.
The needle C has also a notch I for the purpose hereafter
mentioned.
The operation of forming the stitch is as follows:-L is the piece of
fabric being sewn, and M the needle hole plate. When the vertical or
sewing needle K has passed down through the fabric. The needle O
carrying the under thread, as shown in Figures 3 to 5, is by the for-
ward motion of carrier B made to advance close beside the needle K, and
enter the loop of thread thrown out by said needle (as shown in Figures 1
and 2) until the notch I catches said loop, whereupon the needle C is

page_text: caused to swing or revolve upwards on its pivot, as shown in Figure 3. By
the continued forward motion of carrier B, and the tension of the thread
around it, the needle O is so far rotated as to pass over the edge, and lay
upon the upper surface of the fabric L with its point directed backwards,
as shown in Figure 4, the carrier being now in its extreme forward
position, and the needle K having risen again out of the fabric. The
latter needle now descends again and enters the loop of the thread
carried by needle C, which needle is now withdrawn by the backward
motion of carrier B, as shown in Figure 5, and the operation repeated,
the thread of needle C being left upon the top side or face of the
fabric in a series of loops interlocked alternately at the line of stitching,
and over the edge of the fabric with the thread of needle K, which
similarly passes around the under side of the fabric. At the time of
their formation the stitches on the under side enclose the portion of the
throat plate M, which is between the needle hole and the front edge of
said plate which supports the fabric while the stitch is being formed,
and serves to prevent the work puckering. The under stitches pass off
through an oblique slot N cut through from the under to the upper side
of the throat plate, as the work is fed along.
The upward rotating movement of the needle or looper may be
facilitated by having teeth or studs upon its hub, which as it advances
engage with a stationary tooth or stud fixed to the machine, as shown in
Figure 6.
In working with a single thread I substitute for the eye-pointed
needle C a looper C (as shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5*) having a
forked point, which instead of passing through the loop of thread thrown
out by needle K takes hold of the said thread and carries it up and
lays it on the top side of the fabric, whereupon the machine needle
descends and enters the said loop of thread, and the operation is repeated,
a series of chain or tambour stitches being thus formed with the one
thread around the edge of the fabric, as shown.
The upward swinging motion of the loop is produced, as before, by
the forward motion of carrier B, and the resistance or tension of the
thread, aided by a tooth on the hub of the looper striking a fixed stud on
the machine, as shown in Figure 6, in which D is the stud on which the
looper turns; c, c', teeth on the hub of said looper or needle, one of
which c during the forward motion of the looper or needle strikes
against the fixed stud e, whereby the looper or needle is thrown up; fis

page_text: a spring fixed on B, and pressing against the hub of the looper or needle
to retain it in which position it is placed.
Figures 7 and 8 illustrate my Invention applied to a "Wheeler and
Wilson" machine. A is the ordinary rotating hook, but it is not used
for its usual purpose, and does not contain a spool as for plain sewing;
B is the carrier, to which the swinging under needle or looper C is
pivoted. In this case the carrier is itself pivoted at B¹ to a fixed part O
behind the rotating hook A, and in the place of the ordinary brush
check segment which is removed. The carrier B is made to reciprocate
in one direction at the proper time by the rotation of hook A. by a part H
thereof engaging with a stud I fixed on the carrier B, whereby the latter,
together with the needle C, is brought to the position shown in Figure 8.
The carrier B and needle C are detained a sufficient time in this position
by the stud I abutting against the outside edge of the hook A, after
which the stud I is released by slipping off the edge of the hook A at the
part where it is cut away at the back, and the carrier is then drawn back
to the position shown in Figure 7 by a spring D.
The operation of the swinging needle or looper C is the same as before,
as will be readily understood.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
employment in a sewing machine for button-holing or overseaming
of an under needle or looper made to reciprocate across the line of
stitching, and also while advancing to rise or swing upwards on to the
upper surface of the fabric, the said reciprocating and swinging needle
or looper operating in combination with the vertically moving needle to
form a stitch either with one or two threads, substantially as herein
shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Page Hubbard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of
our Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
JOHN PAGE HUBBARD. (L.S.)