IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Morton, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Sewing Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES."
aled the 8th June 1877, and dated the 14th December 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Morton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th December 1876.
JOHN MORTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Sewing
Machine Maker. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES."
This Invention relates to shuttles for sewing machines, the improvements having
for their object to render the shuttles suitable and advantageously applicable for
containing the thread in the cop form, and so that as large a quantity as possible
can be got into each shuttle.
The improved shuttle is fitted with a lid to retain the cop, such lid being hinged
to the shuttle near its point, and being held shut by a spring catch which can be
moved by the thumb nail for opening the lid. On the inside of the lid, near the
heel end, there is fixed at right angles to it a plate which is slotted for the thread,
and outside of this slotted plate there is fixed an inclined piece, down on which a
smooth strip of metal is fixed by a screw pin. The thread is led from the cop
through the slot in the right-angle plate, then between the metal strip and inclined
surface and round the screw pin, which last can be adjusted to vary the tension by
making the metal strip grip the thread more or less; from this tension appliance
the thread passes to a notch in the side edge of the shuttle shell, and finally under
the usual external curved spring.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Morton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th June
1877.
JOHN MORTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Sewing
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES."
Machine Maker.
My said Invention relates to shuttles for sewing machines, the improvements
having for their object to render the shuttles suitable and advantageously applicable
for containing the thread in the cop form, and so that as large a quantity as possible
can be got into each shuttle.
An important feature of my improved shuttle is a delicately adjustable clip
tension appliance, which not only regulates the tension but also prevents snarls or
coils from passing out of the shuttle.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings, to
be herein-after referred to, and representing a sewing machine shuttle as made with
my improvements. In these Drawings the saine reference numerals are used to mark
the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a plan of the shuttle with its cover or lid 4 open, and Figure 2 is a
face view, also showing the lid 4 open.
Figure 3 is a view of the inner side of the lid 4, and beneath it is an edge view
of a spring latch 5 by which the lid is held shut.
The shuttle body or main shell 6 is formed for the most part in a usual manner,
but with a conical recess near its front end, and indicated by dotted lines at 7 in
Figure 1, to receive the pointed end of the cop 8, which last is shown in its place in
Figure 2. When the shuttle is in operation the flat face or side which is open
in the older kinds of sewing-machine shuttles is in this one closed by a lid 4,
consisting of a flat plate hinged to the body near its front pointed end, and this lid
which retains the cop 8 in its place also conveniently serves for the attachment of
the tension details on its inner side. When closed the lid 4 is held by a spring latch 5
which is fixed to the lid near the hinge, and has a bevilled latch tongue formed to
project laterally at its other end, and arranged to spring into a catch notch in the
side of the shuttle body 6, whilst there is also formed on the spring latch 5 a bit 9,
which projects into a slot in the lid 4, and has its lateral edge grooved for the
thumb nail to catch in when opening the lid. On the inside of the lid 4, near the
heel of the shuttle when the lid is closed, there is fixed at right angles to it a
plate 10 which is slotted for the thread to pass through it, and outside of this
slotted plate 10 there is fixed an inclined piece 11, on which a smooth strip 12 of
metal is held by a pin 13 entered through a hole in the strip or clip 12, and screwed
into the inclined piece 11. The clip 12 is pressed by a spiral spring which is on
the screw pin 13 and retained by its head, and the tension of the thread is adjusted
by screwing the pin 13 in or out, the thread being led from the heel end of the
cop 8 so as to unwind from the inside first through the slot in the right-angle
plate 10 and then between the clip 12 and round its pin 13. From this clip tension
appliance the thread is led to a hole 14 (or it might be a notch) in the side of the
sluttle shell 6, and finally under the usual external curved spring 15.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original and
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
1. The combination and arrangement of parts (10, 11, 12, 13, 4,) forming the clip
tension, substantially as herein-before described and as shown in the accompanying

page_text: 2. The spring latch (5, 9,) for holding the shuttle lid in a closed position, as
herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Morton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN MORTON. (L.S.)