AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SEWING SAILS, TENTS, TARPAULINS, AWNINGS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SEWING SAILS, TENTS,
TARPAULINS, AWNINGS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."-A communication from
abroad by Kate C. Barton, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United
States of America.
Sealed the 8th August 1873, and dated the 13th February 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of, Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th February 1873.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SEWING
SAILS, TENTS, TARPAULINS, AWNINGS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," a communica-
tion, to be as follows:-

page_text: Secondly. In a guiding device for effecting the creasing or folding of
the edges into each other to form a seam embracing four thicknesses of
cloth.
Third. In an arrangement of two or more needles, with the proper
adjuvant mechanisms for stitching, in combination with the creasing 5
device, by which lines of stitches are made through the four folds of the
cloth, expeditiously producing thereby a seam of great strength.
And Fourthly. In an arrangement of the said machine upon a railway
or guideways on which it moves progressively during the stitching opera-
tion, thus saving the operator the labor and inconvenience of handling a
large bulk of cloth during the sewing process.
With the aforesaid devices an operator of moderate skill is enabled
with but slight labor to produce seams of great strength and creditable
finish with more certainty and celerity than has heretofore been possible
by the best skill with previously known Inventions for the same 1
purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
.Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, 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 me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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

page_text: "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SEWING SAILS, TENTS, TARPAULINGS, AWNINGS, AND
SIMILAR ARTICLES," a communication to me from abroad by Kate C. Barton,
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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
5 Drawing, forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention relates to a machine which has an arrangement of two
or more needles and other necessary sewing parts, with a device for
folding or interlocking the edges of two pieces of fabric to be stitched in
parallel lines, the whole operating to produce seams of great strength.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan of this machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation, and
Figure 3 a front elevation of the same.
Figure 4 shews a creasing device herein-after described; Figure 5 is a
section of the seam produced. Figures 4 and 5 are drawn to an enlarged
5 scale.
Similar letters refer to the same parts in the several Figures.
A is the bed or cloth supporting table of the machine, on which is
fastened a guide or creaser B, formed of two hooks B', B³, made large at
the front end to facilitate the entrance of the pieces of cloth C and C¹.
The cloth over which the creaser B passes is bent into folds C² and C³,
which, interlocking, resemble in cross section the joint known by plate
metal workers as a locked joint or double seam. D, D', are needles
which simultaneously make two rows of stitches through the folded
cloth as it passes out at the back of the creaser B.
The stitching may be accomplished by any of the contrivances now in
use for producing either a chain stitch by means of a looper under the

page_text: table, or shuttles containing bobbins, such as are used in lock-stitch
sewing machines, may be employed. The particular arrangement of this
part of the mechanism does not form an essential component of the said
Invention.
W is a windlass for straining or stretching the edges of the two pieces
of cloth C, C, forming the seam attached to the ends thereof; the other
ends are secured to a post ✗, or other fixed object. The purpose of
stretching the cloth in this operation is threefold, first, to relieve the
operator and machine from the weight of the cloth; second, to avoid the
puckering of either piece of cloth from undue strain on the tighter piece
when the sail is in use; and, third, to prevent the sewing of stitches
tighter than the cloth, and the consequent breaking thereof when the
seam is subjected to longitudinal strain in use.
The machine is supported on wheels O, resting on rails R, on which it
has a progressive movement in the intervals of time between the making 1
of the stitches imparted to it by a feed motion consisting, as shewn, of a
ratchet wheel S and pawl T, or by any of the feed motions in commom use
in sewing machines. A cord or tape U¹ is attached to the windlass, and
passing over a roller V, through the creaser from back to front, has each
end secured by pinning or basting to one of the front corners of the 2
seam to be united. The rear corners are then secured to the post X by
tapes Z, and the windlass W is tightened up to stretch both the pieces C, C¹,
of the cloth evenly at the edges forming the seam.
The needles D, D¹, and shuttles M and M' are supplied with thread,
and the machine being put in motion passes the creaser B from the end 2
towards the windlass W, towards the post X, over the edges of the
cloth C, C¹, and folds them, as shewn in the section Figure 5, in
which shape they are firmly stitched by the needles D, D', forming a
substantial seam.
.
The form of this machine may be varied without changing its essential a
character, as for instance more needles may be used, and more than two
lines of stitching produced. The cloth may be strained to a frame
bearing the windlass, and the frame and cloth moved instead of the
machine, but I deem it preferable to move the machine, especially in
sewing large sails.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the

page_text: same, I wish it understood that I do not claim separately any of the
instrumentalities I have described, but I claim,-
First. The combination of the duplex or multiple arrangement of
needles and stitching devices, travelling on ways with the guides B and
B², as and for the purpose set forth.
Second. The windlass W, roller V, cord U¹, and post X, in combination
with a travelling sewing machine guided upon rails, and operating as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Ninth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JA. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)