IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Borthwick Smith and James Starley,
both of St. Agnes Works, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 8th April 1873, and dated the 13th January 1873.
Smith and James Starley at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th January 1873.
We, WILLIAM BORTHWICK SMITH and JAMES STARLEY, both of St.
Agnes Works, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates chiefly to improvements in that class of sewing
machines in which the spool for the under thread is carried within a rotary
hook or loop opener. In machines of this class it is usual to use a brush
for detaining the loop and preventing it from slipping off prematurely
from the perimeter of the hook. In practice disadvantages have been
found to result from the use of the brush, or its equivalent elastic
loop check. To perform the like office we now propose to employ as

page_text: a substitute for the brush a metal detent, which consists of a finger
standing up from the framework of the machine and so shaped as to
enter a recess in the rotary hook concentric with the axis thereof. This
recess may be formed in the perimeter of the hook or on its face, and
the effect will be that the finger entering between the lips of the recess
without touching the rotating hook will hold back the thread of the
opened loops and prevent it from slipping off until a chamfered portion
of the hook comes round opposite the finger. The lip or lips of the
recess being removed by the chamfer the detent finger will as the
chamfer comes round cease to act as a loop check, and the thread
will consequently slip off the hook and be drawn to tension by the
ascending needle, thereby completing the stitch. It will be obvious
that this arrangement of check puts no friction upon the rotary hook,
and when once properly adjusted it will have no tendency to got out
of order.
Another improvement on this class of machines is to use a divided
cloth plate, making the division at or near the line of the feed dog, and
to make one portion of this plate detachable or moveable so that it can
be slipped out of position or thrown back when it is required to gain
access to the spool or shuttle carrying the locking thread, or to thread
up the machine for work. The fixed and moveable portions of the
cloth plate may be connected together in any suitable manner; by
preference we give the moveable portion a support on the end of the
frame of the machine, to which it would be attached by clip springs,
and we fit it with tapered tongues to slide alongside other tongues
attached to the under side of the fixed portion of the plate.
Our Invention relates lastly to a new form of embroidery applianco
for sewing machines. The improvement consists in affixing a pattern
or stud barrel to the head of the machine for operating levers which
are intended to lay a thread or braid across the line of stitches. This
barrel may be made to rotate by means of a ratchet fixed thereto and
a pawle which may be worked by a short lever attached to the needle
lever. This barrel may be made to work any number of pendent
levers pivotted to the bracket arm or framing of the machine, and thus
enable the levers to lay any coloured thread that may be required under
the presser foot.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Borthwick Smith and James Starley,
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BORTHWICK SMITH and JAMES STARLEY, both of St. Agnes Works,
Coventry, in the County of Warwick, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Borthwick Smith and James
Starley, Her special licence, that we, the said William Borthwick
Smith and James Starley, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Borthwick Smith and James
Starley, our 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 MACHINERY," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, tho said William Borthwick
Smith and James Starley, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 we, the said William Borthwick Smith and
James Starley, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
Our Invention relates firstly to improvements in that class of sewing
machines in which the spool for the under thread is carried within a
rotary hook or loop opener. In machines of this class it is usual to uso

page_text: a brush for detaining the loop and preventing it from slipping off
prematurely from the perimeter of the hook. In practice disadvantages
have been found to result from the use of the brush or its equivalent
elastic loop check. To perform the like office we now propose to
employ as a substitute for the brush a rigid metal detent, which stands
up from the framework of the machine and is so shaped as to enter
a recess in the rotary hook concentric with the axis thereof. This
recess may be formed in the perimeter of the hook or on its face.
Another improvement on this class of machines relates to the use of
a divided cloth plate, the division being at or near the line of the feed 1
dog. One portion of this plate is so fitted to its support that it can be
slipped out of position when it is required to gain access to the spool or
shuttle carrying the locking thread, or to thread up the machine for
work.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shows in side
elevation, partly in section, a sewing machine with our improvements
applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical elevation taken in
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 shews the rotary hook or loop opener in edge view, and the
detent in connection therewith; and Fig. 4 is a face view of the hook.
Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of the divided cloth plate detached
from the machine, and Fig. 6 shews the cloth plate in cross section
attached to its supporting pillar, the section being taken in the line 3, 4,
of Fig. 5.
In Figures 1 and 2, A. is the driving pulley mounted in an adjustable
bracket piece A¹. This pulley communicates motion through a band
to the pulley B on the shaft C, and the tension of the band is maintained
by the adjusting screw of the bracket piece A'. The shaft C carries
at its forward extremity the rotary hook or loop opener C', in the hollow
of which the spool carrying the locking thread is inserted as usual, it
being held in position by the elastic stop D.
In the face of the loop opener is formed the recess c, concentric with
its axis and of varying depth, the bottom of the recess however being
in a vertical plane at right angles to the base of the machine. This
recess commences near the point of the loop opener and is continued
rearwards for about a quarter of a circle. At its commencement the
recess is shallow by reason of the metal being chamfered off to form
the point or nose of the hook or loop opener, and it is terminated

page_text: Here it will meet
somewhat abruptly by the chamfering off of the metal in commencing
the line 1, 2, of Fig. 4; E is the metal detent shewn detached at
Figures 4*. This detent consists of a slotted piece of steel with a projecting
shoulder or tail piece e, which stands in the path of the segmental
recess c. This detent is made fast by screws to a block E¹ cast on the
bed of the machine. Supposing now that a loop is presented by the
descent of the vertical needle F to the rotating hook or loop opener C¹
the hook will enter the loop and open it out and carry it over the
spool until it attains the position shewn at Fig. 4.
the shoulder e of the detent, which projecting into the recess of the
rotating hook will hold back the thread of the opened loop until the point
of the hook has entered the next succeeding loop presented to it by the
needle. At the moment that this second loop is secured the chamfered
portion of the hook will have come round opposite the shoulder of the
detent. As however the recess terminates at the chamfer the detent
will now cease to act as a loop check, and the thread will consequently
slip off the hook and be drawn to tension by the combined action of
the ascending needle F and the expansion of the new loop, thus
completing the stitch.
From the foregoing description it will be obvious that this arrange-
ment of loop check puts no friction upon the rotary hook, and when
once properly adjusted will have no tendency to get out of order.
Our improvement in the cloth plate will be readily understood by
reference to Figures 5 and 6. This cloth plate consists of a fixed piece G,
and a removable piece G¹. The part G is made fast, as usual, to the
framing of the machine, but the part G' is furnished on its under side
with clips g, which embrace the rebated head of a short standard H,
forming a portion of the main framing.
To give steadiness to the removable piece G¹ two pairs of fingers g¹are
provided, which are rivetted to the under side of their respective plates,
and project across the line of junction of those plates. The effect of
these fingers will be to prevent the plate G¹ when in place from tipping
either in an upward or downward direction.
As a further facility for starting the machine we have provided at I,
Figures 1 and 2, a spring thread holder for holding the end of the needle
thread while commencing a seam. This thread holder consists of a
small steel disc attached to the head of the machine by means of a
screwed pin, around the stem of which is a coiled pressure spring lying

page_text: between the disc and the head of the screwed pin. When the end of the
thread is laid under the disc it will be firmly held by the pressure of the
spring against the disc. Thus the necessity for holding the thread end
in the left hand while starting the machine will be dispensed with, and
that hand will therefore be disengaged and available for placing and
manipulating the fabric. This improvement is especially advantageous
when working the machine by hand.
The last part of our Invention relates to a new form of embroidery
appliance for sewing machines. This improvement is shewn in Sheet II.
of the Drawings, as applied to a machine similar to that just described,
but it will be obvious that it is equally applicable without modification
to other machines in which the vertical needle is worked by a rocking
arm.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of so much of the machine with our improve-
ment applied thereto as will serve to explain the construction and mode
of working of the embroidery mechanism, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation
of the same; Fig. 3 is a sectional plan taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1,
and chiefly intended to shew the nature of the embroidery work
produced; K is a bracket frame made fast to the main framing of the
machine. This frame carries a stud axle L, on which is loosely mounted
a pair of pattern wheels M, M¹; affixed to these pattern wheels is a
ratchet wheel N, shewn detached at Fig. 4. The stud axle L also serves
as a fulcrum for a rock lever O, which is slotted to receive a pin P,
carried by the rocking arm to which the needle bar is attached; the
motion of this rocking arm serves to rock the lever O on its fulcrum,
and work the embroidery mechanism. Pivotted to this lever O is a
pawle Q, which is held by a spring in contact with the teeth of the
ratchet wheel N, and by its means the rock lever when worked by the
rocking arm of the needle bar is caused to impart an intermittent axial
motion to the pattern wheels M, M¹; R, R', are bell-crank levers pivotted
to the bracket frame K, and intended to lay the embroidery silk across
the path of the needle. These levers are curved at their lower ends, as
shewn at Fig. 2, and they stand a little above the presser foot; they are
pierced with holes to allow of the embroidery silk being threaded through
them. The silk is brought down to the levers from spools S, S, carried
by a swivel bar S', supported on the bracket frame K of these spools;
there may be one or two for each lever, and the threads from all the
embroidery spools in use are led through a guide S down to their

page_text: respective levers R, R¹. The short arms of these levers are held up to
their respective divisions of the pattern wheels M, M³, by means of tension
springs T, which will yield as the pattern wheel is rotated, and leave the
levers free to rock under the action of the pattern wheel. These lovers
are made to rock past each other by a simultaneous movement in
opposite directions, and thus to cross the embroidery threads in the path
of the needle. Their outward motion is produced by the pattern wheel,
and their return motion by the contraction of the springs T. The laying
of the embroidery threads is so timed with respect to the action of the
needle that the crossing of these threads will occur after the descent of
the needle, and while it remains in the work. The levers will then
remain quiescent until the needle has again pierced the work, and has
laid a thread over the crossing of the embroidery threads. When this
sewing thread has been secured, and not until then, will the movement
of the levers be repeated.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improvements
in Sewing Machinery," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim,―
First. The fixed detent in combination with a grooved or recessed
rotary hook or loop opener for the purpose of detaining the opened loop,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose above described.
Secondly. Constructing the cloth plate as described, whereby access
to the spool or shuttle carrying the locking thread for threading up the
machine is facilitated without detracting from the firmness of the cloth
plate.
Thirdly. The application to sewing machines of the arrangement of
embroidery mechanism, as above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Borthwick Smith and
James Starley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, tho
Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand cight
hundred and seventy-three.