Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
We, WILLIAM CUNLIFFE, Manager, CHARLES SHAW, Foreman and BEN THOMAS,
Mechanic, all of Wellington Works, Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Our invention relates to rotary shuttle sewing machines, and will be most readily
described and understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the front side of the machine, namely, that side to which
the operator faces when working the machine.
Fig. 2 is an elevation of the opposite side of the machine to that shown by
fig. 1, with the cover plate which gives access to the cranks and connecting rods
removed.
Fig. 3 is an elevation at the needle end of the machine.
Fig. 4 is an elevation of the same end as fig. 3, but with the front cover plate
removed, and also with the rotary shuttle and other parts removed to show the other
parts more clearly.
Fig. 5 is a plan section looking downwards from the upper side of the machine,
below the cloth plate which is supposed to be cut away so that the parts may be
Been.
Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation to show parts at the driving end of the machine.
Fig. 7 is a front, and fig. 8 an edge view of the rotary shuttle driver.
Fig. 9 is a front, and fig. 10 an edge view of the shuttle detached.
Fig. 11 is an edge view of the thread spool detached.
Fig. 12 is an edge, and fig. 13 a front view of the thread spool case and its tension
arrangement.
a, is the base plate of the frame of the machines; a¹, the stand rising from it,
and a², the arm from the stand carrying the upper rotary shaft and other parts.
b, is the upper shaft having its bearings in the arm a²; b, is the fly wheel and
pulley for the driving band; 62, are two cranks in the shaft b, hereinafter referred
to.
At the needle end of the arm a², a drum cam c, is secured which has a cam
groove in it to act upon a bowl on a stud secured in a lever c¹, having its fulcrum c²,
on a screw, screwed into a hole in the frame a². There is an eye c³, in this lever
for the needle thread to pass through and the cam c, causes this arm c¹, to give out
slack in the needle thread and take it up for each stitch.
The front face of the cam c, (seen best in fig. 4) has a crank pin d, in it, to
which one end of a connecting rod d', is jointed, the other being jointed to a pin on
a collar d², secured on the needle slide bar d³, which slides through screw bearings,
arranged in a well known manner.
At the lower end of the needle slide bar d³, there is a clamp d', of an ordinary
construction for securing the needle d³, to the slide bar, and there is an ordinary bent
wire d', at the lower end of the needle slide bar, as a guide for the thread passing to
the eye of the needle d³.
The presser foot e, and slide bar e¹, for the same is arranged in an ordinary manner
as will be best understood by reference to fig. 4.
There is a collar or part secured to it which has a projection e³, shown in figs. 1
and 2 which is acted upon by a hand cam lever e³, baving its fulcrum at e', for lifting
and lowering the presser foot e..
From the projection e², there is an horizontal projection or arm eo, (seen best in
fig. 4) with a vertical arme, having a notch in its upper edge, which notch comes
under and lifts a thread tension spring f, when the presser foot e, is lifted, hy the
thickness of the cloth or by the cam lever e³.

page_text: This thread tension spring f, is secured at one end in a cavity in the head of the
framing round a stud g, secured therein, the spring f, being a spiral spring coiled
round the stud g,,and having a hook or curl f., at its free, end for the needle thread to
pass through.
The stud 9, is for an ordinary pair of adjustable discs g³, to give the required friction
upon the needle thread:
There is another stud-92, secured in the upper part of the head, for a pair of discs g³,
to give a slight constant friction upon the thread.
The needle thread passes from a spool having its axis upon a vertical spindle or
stud h, secured in the upper side of the arm a², in any desired position.
The thread passes from the spool between the discs 3, down to the adjustable
tension discs, then through the curl or hook in the end of the spiral spring f, then
to the eye c³, in the lever arm c', then through a guide wire ', on the cover plate,.
then to the guide wire do, and lastly to the eye of the needle.
There are double cranks 62, in the upper shaft as before stated to which the upper
ends of two connecting rods i, are jointed.
One half of each clip for the cranks at the upper end is solid with the connecting:
rod, and the other half, is jointed to each rod at 2, and the two halves of the clips are
each drawn and held to the necks of the cranks, by a screw passing through a hole in
the hinged half of the clip ¹, and screwing into that half of the clip solid with the
connecting rod i.
The lower ends of the connecting rods i, have one half the clip solid with
them, the other half of each clip being secured to the solid part of the rod by two
screws.
The cranks 3, at the lower ends of the connecting rods are at the same angle apart
and the same throw as the cranks in the upper shaft b, and these lower cranks, are in
a short shaft, having bearings in the lower part of the stand a¹.
One of the connecting rods i, is extended downwards, and has a pin, on one side
solid with the rod or rivetted or otherwise secured in it. This pin i, fits a hole in a
dovetail slide j, which fits a dovetail slot in an arm j¹, on the end of a shaft 3, in
bearings, in parts projecting from under the base plate a.
The dovetail slide j, can thus move in the lengthway of the arm j¹, and this allows
for any want of exactness in the throw of the cranks or position of the shafts, and as
the pin, describes a circle, it rotates the shaft 2.
Upon the inner end of the shaft, (see fig. 5) there is a disc³ having a crank pin
in it to which one end of a link j, is jointed the other end being jointed to a crank
pin upon an arm k³, upon the end of another shaft k, in bearings, in a projection from
the under side of the plate a. The outer end of the shaft k, has the rotary shuttle
driver, formed or secured upon it.
The axes of the two shafts, and k, though parallel are not in the same line, and
this arrangement produces a quick and slow rotary motion in the shuttle driver as
is well understood.
The shuttle driver k³, is secured or formed upon the outer end of the shaft k, and
is of the form best shown by figs. 7 and 8.
The shuttle 1, is best shown by the figs. 9 and 10.
1, and 12, are slots, and 13, is a hole through the metal forming the shuttle to reduce
its weight. The centre circular part of the shuttle is in its interior of cylindrical
form with one side closed and from that side there is a tubular axis 1, in the centre.
15, is the point or hook end of the shuttle, and 18, is what we may term the heel part of
the rotary shuttle l.
The shuttle driver is concave in its face to receive the convex side l', of the shuttle.
The driver has a stud k³, projecting from its face to which one end of a light flat
curved spring k*, is secured, the other end of this spring being bent round another
projection, from the driver.
The stud³, occupies the space shown by the dotted circle k³, fig. 9 and the other
or driving projection is shown by the dotted figure 6, fig. 9.
When the shuttle is rotated the hook catches the loop of the needle thread, and

page_text: it passes over that part of the shuttle marked 13, fig. 9, between the shuttle, and the
flat curved spring k*, and slips off the heel part 16, between it and the driving
projection ko.
The shuttle thread spool is shown by fig. 11, and its case by figs. 12 and 13.
The case m, is in the form of a cylinder with one end closed, and from the closed
side in the centre, there is a tubular stud m¹, the interior of which fits the exterior
of the tube 1, in the axis of the shuttle l.
:
This case m, has a projection or arm m², from its closed side through which
there is a hole m³, (see fig. 13) and a slot from this hole to one side of the
arm m².
To the end of the case m, a flat spring m*, of somewhat triangular form is secured
by a screw m³, and the pressure of this spring m, against the arm m², may be
adjusted by the screw.
In the face of the arm m², there is a slight groove, wide enough to allow the small
end of the spring m¹, to enter.
There is also a channel on that side of the arm m², facing the shuttle and a hole in
the side of the shell of the case to allow the needle free space to pass between the arm
and the face of the shuttle, the needle coming close to the face and front of the shuttle
without touching it.
'
There is a hole in the spool case at me, fig. 12 and a slot is made from this hole to
the edge of the case on its open side.
There is a slot m7, in the end of the case as shown in fig. 13, which gives space for
the thumb or finger nail, or a pointed instrument to enter to draw the spool case from
the shuttle and to push the spool from the case when required.
When the spool m³, is in the case m, the thread is drawn through the slot and
into the hole me, and then it is drawn into the slot and hole m³, in the arm m², and
between the flat spring m*, and the arm, which spring thus puts the required tension
upon the thread.
The shuttle 1, is held in the cavity in the driver k², by a ring ko, (see fig. 3) formed
upon a plate k, (see figs. 1 and 2) which plate is secured by a set screw k³, to a
projection from the underside of the base plate a. This ring, leaves space for the
thread loop on the shuttle to pass freely. There is an opening or notch cut out of
the upper part of this ring , (see fig. 3) to allow the pointed end of the arm m², of the
thread spool case to come between, and thus prevent the thread case m, from rotating
with the shuttle 1. In ordinary working the shuttle 1, is not removed, the thread
case m, only being taken out when the thread is to be renewed or replaced, and the
thread case is kept in position by a door, or plate n, hinged to the lower part of the
plate k', at n', n², is a handle for opening and closing the hinged plate n, which is
kept closed with sufficient pressure by a flat spring n³, secured to the underside of the
plate 4, by a screw, the free end of which spring n³, rests against the flat part at the
joint, when closed as shown in figs. 1, 2 and 3.
The feeding of the fabric being sewn is effected by a cam p, on the shaft j³, (shown
best in fig. 5) at the back of the crank disc j³.
Upon this cam p, the arm of a lever pl, comes, which lever is secured on a shaft p2,
carried in screw cone centres, screwing through projections from the underside of
the base plate a, as shown.
An arin p³, upon the outer end of this shaft p², comes under a bowl pt, on a stud
in the side of the arm or lever q, which has the ordinary toothed or serrated feeding
surface upon its upper
face at one end.
This feeding lever g, is jointed to an arm g¹, upon a shaft 92, also carried in cone
centres, same as the shaft p², and this shaft q², has another arm 9³, at its other
end which comes under one arm of a lever q, on a stud q³, in the framing (see
figs. 5 and 6) and the other arm of this lever, comes over and against a
cam 9, also on the shaft *, which cam produces the to and fro motion for
feeding.
:
Between the arms q³, and q, of the levers there is a stud or projection q', in an
arm q, which is jointed upon one end of a lever q, on a screw fulcrum at q*, (see

page_text: figs. 5 and 6) and the upper arm of this lever 9°, forms a handle which passes
through a slot in the base plate a, by moving which arm 9, one way, the stitch
or feeding movement is lengthened and by moving it the other way it is shortened.
The oscillation given to the lever 9*, by the cam 96, is constant, but the point at
which movement is taken from the lever 9, and is imparted to the lever q³, is
variable, the leverage bring shortened on one arm of the lever q', and lengthened on
the arm when the pin q', is moved one way, and vice versa when the pin q', is
moved in the opposite direction.
There is a spring 7", coiled round the shaft y*, (see fig. 5) the end of which is bent
to come over the lever q, and press the arm acted upon by the cam 9, against it,
the reaction of this spring also causing the arm y³, upon the shaft g², to he pressed
up against the pin 97, and the pin against the other arm of the lever g.
There is a spring pé, secured to the underside of the base plate a, the end of which
is bent to pass through a hole in the side of the lever q, having the feeding surface
upon its end. This spring 2³, acts to give the reverse movements produced by the
cams p, and 9, that is, to pull down the feeding end of the arm q, and pull it back
after each forward feeding movement.
It has been hereinbefore stated that the shuttle driver k², is concave in its face to
receive the convex side 1, of the shuttle, and it should be noted that this cavity
in the face of the shuttle driver 2, is concentric with the axis of its shaft k.
The circumferential part of the shuttle is also concentric with the axis of the shaft k,
and the exterior concave side of the shuttle is also turned to be concentric, with the
circumferential part of the shuttle, but by reference to fig. 9 it will be seen that the
cavity in the middle part of the shuttle for the shuttle case m, though cylindrical is
not annular with the circumferential part of the shuttle but is slightly excentric to
it, that is, the axis 14, for the shuttle case is on the line A. B fig. 9 further from the
hook, than from the opposite circumferential part of the shuttle. The result of this
is to cause the spool case m, and thus the arm m², to move once up and down for
each stitch or revolution of the driver, and consequently the thread from the thread
case m, is the tightest about the time the hook 1, upon the shinttle is taking the loop
of the needle thread and is the slackest when the shuttle has made half a revolution
from that position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is.
1. The combination and arrangement of a rotary shuttle with its circumferential
part concentric with the axis of the shuttle driver and with one side adapted to enter
a cavity in the said driver and having a nonrotating spool case placed excentric to
the axis of the circumferential part of the shuttle, and to the rotary axis of the shuttle
driver, substantially as and for the purpose herein before described and illustrated by
the drawings.
2. The combination and arrangement of a rotary shuttle with its circumferential
part, concentric with the axis of the shuttle driver and with one side adapted to enter
a cavity in the said driver and having a non-rotating spool case placed excentric to
the axis of the circumferential part of the shuttle, and to the rotary axis of the
shuttle driver with a retaining ring (k) and a door (n) for holding the spool case (m)
and the shuttle in position, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by
the drawings.
3. The spool case (m) in combination with the arm (m²) and tension spring (m³) with
a rotary shuttle when arranged excentric thereto substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described and illustrated by the drawings.
4. The combination of two cranks on the upper shaft (b) with two connecting
rods (i) and with a double cranked independent shaft (*) and with one connecting
rod (i) extended to drive by a pin and slide on an arm (j) on the lower shaft of
the machine substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
5. The combination of the arms e, and es, carried on the presser foot slide bar (e¹)

page_text: and the tension spring (f) substantially as and for the purpose bereinbefore described
and illustrated by the drawings.
6. The combination of the needle mechanism, and mechanism for manipulating the
needle thread, the presser foot, shuttle and feed mechanism, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated by the drawings.
PETER J. LIVSEY,
Agent.