IMPROVEMENTS IN TUCK MARKERS FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Fuller and Isaac Williams
Barnum, of the City of New York, United States of America, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUCK MARKERS FOR SEWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 20th April 1869, and dated the 1st December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Fuller
and Isaac Williams Barnum at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st December 1868.
We, HENRY WILLIAM FULLER and ISAAC WILLIAMS BARNUM, of the
City of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUCK MARKERS FOR
SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our improved tuck marker is intended as an attachment for sewing
machines to mark a line for one tuck or fold, while a tuck previously
marked or folded is being sewed. The cloth or fabric to be creased
is supported on a suitable bed plate, upon which is fastened another
termed a thrust plate, from its receiving the thrust or force of one or

page_text: more of the creasing devices. The creasing device or devices consist
chiefly of a notch and point (or of a pair of nipping points or jaws)
carried by a suitable vibrating lever which is actuated by the sewing
machine. And when applicable we use a spring compensating arm to
receive the force of the sewing machine and apply it to the said lever.
When the notch and point are used the cloth is creased by being clasped
between them intermittently. When the nipping points or jaws are used
the cloth is creased by being pinched up between such jaws and then
released, and in either case it is advanced after cach nipping action the
length of a stitch. The thrust plate is slightly inclined to enhance the
nipping action, and forms a tongue or ledge to cover the edge of a
previous tuck. The cloth is held smoothly and directed against the
-gange-of-the-tucker or sewing machine by means of a flexible plate
termed a smoother, and while being acted on by the creasing device the
fabric is grasped for the moment by a clamp, and then released to be
advanced for the next nip or thrust. The gauge, the creasing devices,
and the bed and thrust plates are attached to a base plate which receives
a thumbscrew that fastens the tucker to the sewing machine, and the
said parts may be adjusted and secured together by the said screw, or
individually adjusted and separately secured.
In one modification of the latter plan the base plate extends forward
beyond the fastening screw and rests on the gauge, or is otherwise
clevated at the front end to keep the tuck which is being sewed froin
curling up against the gauge; it is also elevated at the back end by a
suitable foot to permit the adjustment of the tucker for tucks of
different widths. In this case the operative parts are usually connected
together and to a vertical post, carrying a clamping nut or the like to
fix the said parts in position after being set for the required width of
tuck, and when so adjusted the tucker may be taken from the sewing
machine and replaced without losing the "set."
In cach modification we have a scale of distances marked on the base
plate, or smoother, or both, to facilitate the measurement of the tuck.
We apply a sliding loop to the compensating spring arm to tie the
needle thereto, and cause the arm to move in a vertical plane.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry William Fuller and Isaac Williams Barnum
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, HENRY
WILLIAM FULLER and ISAAC WILLIAMS BARNUM, of the City of New
York, United States of America, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry William Fuller and Isaac
Williams Barnum, Her special licence that wc, the said Henry
William Fuller and Isaac Williams Barnum, our exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry William Fuller
and Isaac Williams Barnuun, 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TUCK MARKERS FOR SEWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry
William Fuller and Isaac Williams Barnum, our cxccutors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Henry William Fuller and Isaac
Williams Barnum, 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 accompanying Drawing forming a part of this.
Specification :-
Our Invention relates to instruments or attachments for sewing
machines, and to be operated thereby to mark or crease a line for a

page_text: subsequent tuck, while a tuck previously folded is being sewed, and
commonly called "tuckers."
The object of the said Invention is to improve the operation of tuckers,
particularly such as crease the goods by nipping or pinching up a ridge
thereon; but features of our Invention are also applicable to those tuckers
which crease the goods by devices known as the "notch and point."
In the Drawing annexed, Figure 1 is a said clevation of the preferable
form of our instrument; Figure 2 shews the same as seen from the top;
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent various modifications for corresponding
parts of the other Figures.
The most desirable form of our tucker is shown in Figure 1. In that
Figure A represents a base plate or block to be attached to the bed
plate of a sewing machine in a permanent location thereon-with respect
to the needle; it is usually so attached by the gauge screw of the machine.
Arranged by the side of the base plate is a long plate B, which we term
the bed plate, as shewn in Figure 1; this is firmly fastened at the back
end--to a short transverse plate C termed a binder. In the binder is
fixed a post D, which passes up through a slot-in. tlie base plate A, and
carries a binding nut 1. In the top of the post and inade fast thereto
is a spring lever L carrying one or more of the creasing devices. 'The
devices preferred consist of jaws, which pinch or nip the fabric between
them, and form a crease on the under side of the fabric by creating a
ridge on the top thereof. The modifications thereof consist of a notch
and a point or edge arranged on opposite sides of the fabric and crease
it by driving a portion thereof into the notch.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the use of nipping devices or jaws to nip
the fabric; one of these jaws E, termed a nipping point or finger, is
carried by the lever L, and said lever also carries a pressure finger F.
Immediately under the nipping point E, and made fast to the end of the
bed plate B there is a small plate G, termed the thrust plate; the creasing
device plays down on this plate, the fabric to be creased lying on and
passing over said plate and the same receives and resists the force or thrust
of the creasing device or devices carried by the lever L. The edge of the
thrust plate G is slightly elevated to allow the edge of a tuck previously
sewed to run under it; and in Figure 1 presents an edge 2 to the under
surface of a shoe H. This shoe forms the mate to the nipping point or
finger E and co-operates therewith; for this purpose the border of the
shoe is turned up at 3 to form a uipping face. The said shoe is made

page_text: fast to or forms a part of a flexible plate I, which is firmly fastened
at the back end to the binder C. The said plate I is termed a
"smoother," and its object is to produce a light friction on the fabric as.
it is moved along to the sewing machine, smooth out the wrinkles, and
cause the work to follow the line of the gauge. When used for tucks
of different widths the adjustment of the instrument in different rela-
tions to the needle of the sewing machine will naturally vary the force
with which the instrument acts on the fabric. To mollify and equalize
this, as far as possible, I introduce a suitable spring usually consisting
of a spring arm K, which receives the force of the needle bar M and
transmits the same to the lever L, yielding to surplus motion of the
needle bar, when such motion shall chance to be of greater range than
requisite to actuate the lever L. The said spring arm, as shown in
Figures 1 and 2, is passed through an opening in the top of the post D,
and is secured thereto by a set screw 4; when thus fastened together the
bed plate B, smoother I, lever L, and spring arm K are capable as a
fixture of being moved up to and away from the needle together, the
post sliding back and forth in the slot in the base plate, and all the said
parts made fast at any point on the base plate by the single binding nut.
One form of the base plate is seen at A' in Figure 6, there it reaches
over and embraces the smoother and bed plate, and is used for clamping
the latter as well as the gauge N¹ (as dotted) fast to the bed plate of the
sewing machine by a thumbscrew in the opening P. And again, the
base plate also carries thumbscrews Q, R, to fasten the parts I, B, and N
separately if desired. And again by making a slot in the base plate A'
it may itself serve as a gauge. In Figures 1 and 2 the base plate is
extended out forward of the fastening screw P, and clevated from the
bed of the sewing machine by resting on the gauge N, or otherwise
allowing the tuck being sewed to run under it and holding down the
edge thereof as it runs along the face of the gauge. Such gauge in this
instance consists of a cross bar N attached to the base plate A by a
screw 5 passing through a slot 6 therein to admit of adjustment toward
and away from the needle M. The gauge or cross bar N is shaped so as
to rest at each end on the sewing machine, and in connection with a
foot 7 on the under side of the base plate forms a sort of tripod assisting
in holding the tucker firmly to the sewing machine, while the foot 7
also elevates the rear of the base plate serving to clear the binder from
the bed of the machine and leaves said binder free to be moved back
and forth in adjustment while the base plate remains fixed as aforesaid.

page_text: To facilitate the determination of distances in adjusting the tucker for
different widths of tucks we have a scale of divisions marked on the
instrument, as seen in Figures 2 and 6, and for very nice gradations in
making fine tucks we have shewn in Figure 6 the thrust plate G as
fastened to the bed plate by a rivet J or otherwise, so attached as to be
capable of adjustment toward or away from the gauge N, and by these
mcans, viz., the graduated scale and adjustment of the thrust plate, any
measurement or division may be arrived at to the smallest fraction. In
Figure 1 the scale is marked on the fixed base plate; to this the creasing
devices are adjusted by a point on the smoother or bed plate reckoning
from the back end of the scale to determine the distance of the crease
from the needle and the gauge or cross bar N is adjusted from the front
end-of-the-said-scale to determine the width of the tuck being sewed. The
tucker as thus made when once set for certain-work-may be taken off
the sewing machine and replaced without displacing the relation of the
points as thus set.
Figures 3 and 4 represent modes of substituting the "notch and
point" for the--nipping. devices; in Figure 3 the nipping finger E is
removed and a similar finger takes its place, living a hammer.S.at the
end with a notch formed in its face; the point or edge T is formed on
the top of the thrust plate G, which, as in the other Figures, is elevated
to allow the tuck to run under. In this case the crease is made by
driving the hammer down over the point or edge T, the cloth lying
between. The lever L may also be adjustable independently; in such
case the set screw 4 in the post D gives place to a thumbscrew (dotted
in Figure 1), the post or its equivalent remaining fixed, and the thrust
plate carrying the point or points is also made adjustable on the bed
plate, as illustrated in Figure 4, where the trust plate is attached to a
slide U that may be fastened at any location on the bed plate by a
screw V. In applying our tucker to a sewing machine we have a small
loop O, termed a tic piece, fastened over the arm K or lever L, so that
it will stay by its own friction at any point thereon, where it may be
placed according to the width of the tuck. The said tie piece forms a
slot for the needle to pass through, by which the needle is made to
steady the arm or lever, preventing side motion thereof and otherwisc
ensuring certainty of action.
The operation of the instrument, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, is as
follows: The work being sewed and ercased is shewn in red lines. The

page_text: tuck previously made naturally runs under the edge of the thrust
plate G, while the part being sewed by the sewing machine runs along
the side of the cross bar or gauge N, the part being creased passes over
the thrust plate and is held down across the edge thereof between it and
the shoe H. When the needle bar is caused to descend it pushes down
the arm K, which acts on the lever L carrying down the fingers E and F.
The finger F first presses on the shoe H and clamps the cloth against the
odge of the thrust plate holding it firmly against any incidental motion;
immediately afterwards the finger E takes hold of and gathers up the
fabric lying on the thrust plate, and forcing it against the upturned edge
of the shoe H pinches it up, as shewn dotted in red in Figure 1, and
thus the said edge 3 serves as one of the pinching devices. On the
upward motion of the needle bar M the lever L and spring K lift up
by their own elasticity, raising the upper creasing device or devices,
releiving the fabric of pressure when it is advanced about the length of
the stitch by the sewing machine or otherwise, and the same movements
are then repeated. A modified form of the clamping mechanism is
shewn in Figure 5.
We do not confine ourselves to any special construction of the
relieving spring K or that of the clamping mechanism, nor to any
special mode of elevating the thrust or base plates, nor to any other
special construction, the variation of which would leave the Invention
substantially unchanged.
Having thus fully described our said Invention, and shewn how the
same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, we
claim,―
The combination with the creasing device or devices of an elevated
thrust plate for the purpose specified.
The combination with the creasing device or devices of a clamping
mechanism to clamp and hold the cloth, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
The combination with the clamping mechanism of the pressure finger
or its equivalent to produce an intermittent pressure on the fabric for
the purpose and substantially as specified.
The combination of the pressure and nipping fingers with the shoe F
for the purposes specified.

page_text: HENRY WILLIAM FULLER. (L.S.)
ISAAC WILLIAMS BARNUM. (L.S.)