AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH OR OTHER MA- TERIAL.
Year: 1854

page_text: ETTERS PATENT, to Elmer Townsend, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH OR OTHER MA-
TERIAL. A communication from Alfred Swingle, of the aforesaid
State of Massachusetts.
-
ealed the 30th May 1854, and.dated the 30th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elmer Townsend
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th March 1854.
I, ELMER TOWNSEND; of the State of Massachusetts, of the United
States of America, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY. FOR SEWING CLOTH OR OTHER
MATERIAL," as communicated to me by Alfred Swingle, of the aforesaid
State of Massachusetts, is described as follows:--
My machinery in performing the operation of sewing employs two
threads, and it uses a needle made with an eye or recess near its point,
one of the threads being carried through said eye or recess, and when
forced through the cloth the thread is carried through it in the form

page_text: of a loop, the needle operating essentially the same as it does in
machines which perform the operation of sewing by means of a needle
and shuttle, each carrying a thread.
In connection with the needle of my machine I employ, in order to
pass the other thread through the loop formed by said needle, a device
or contrivance, or a combination of devices or contrivances, essentially
different in its operations from that of a shuttle, for the thread which
I employ as a binding thread to the thread carried by the needle is
used by me in a short piece, as the thread is employed in the sewing
machine invented and patented in England and the United States by
Frederic R. Robinson; whereas the shuttle of the shuttle sewing
machines carries a bobbin having a much longer thread wound upon it.
The needle which I employ in my machine may be arranged vertically,
and made to play up through the bench or table of the machine, and by
means of suitable machinery it may have imparted to it an intermittent
reciprocating rectilinear motion, such as will cause it to pass up through
the cloth, and remain at rest during the operation of passing a thread
through its loop, and it is next to descend so as to pass out of the cloth.
The needle, after it has passed entirely upwards through the cloth, should
be caused to move downwards a little, so as to bow out its thread, as is
clone in most, if not all, of the shuttle machines; the object of this is to
allow a hook carried upon the lower end of a vibrating arm to pass
through the loop, or between the bowed part of the thread and the
needle. In connection with the said hook I employ a rotary forked
thread carrier, which has its axis disposed vertically and directly over
the needle, or in line with it, and such thread carrier is supported and
made to rotate horizontally. Its lower end is formed forked, or with
one side of the carrier,
During the operation of
two tines, each of which is provided with a spring, which extends down
on one side of the tine, one spring being on
while the other is on the opposite side of it.
the machine the rotary thread is to have an intermittent rotary move-
ment, that is to say, while the hook is moved away from and made to
approach, the carrier is to be rotated one hundred and eighty degrees
of a circle, and it is to remain at rest during the time that the hook
passes forwards into it and backwards out of it.

page_text: When the machine is in operation, the thread which is worked by
the hook extends from the cloth, and passes between the rearmost tine
of the carrier and the spring of said tine, and lays over or in the path
of the hook, so that while the hook is passing into the thread carrier it
shall move under, and lift that part of the thread which extends from
the carrier down to the cloth, and this in order that when the hook is
drawn back it may seize the thread, and draw it back with it through
the loop of the needle, and through the space between the front tine
and the spring thereof of the thread carrier, such hook having previously
entered said space during its passage into the thread carrier. When
the thread is drawn through the carrier it is left supported by the said
tine and its spring, and while thus supported, and during a portion of
the descent of the needle, a semi-rotative movement of the thread
carrier takes place so as to again present the thread in a proper position
to be seized by the hook when said hook is next drawn backwards, the
hook during its previous forward movement having been made to
through the loop of the needle.
pass
During the performance of sewing by the machine the forked
thread carrier winds the upper thread around the lower thread.
Having thus described my Invention, I would have it understood that
what I claim is, the combination of the rotary fork thread carrier and
the hook as made to operate in connection with the needle, and perform
sewing, substantially as herein-before specified.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Elmer Townsend in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ELMER TOWNSEND, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, A. D. 1854,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said Elmer Townsend, Her
special license that I, the said Elmer Townsend, my executors, ad-
.ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Elmer Townsend;
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 of
AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH OR OTHER MATERIAL,"
[the same being communicated.to me-by Alfred Swingle, of the afore-
said State of Massachusetts,] upon the condition [amongst others] that
I, the said Elmer Townsend, by an instrument of writing under my
hand and seal, 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; or
Office of Her Majesty's Commissioners of: Patents, within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said .Letters
Patent..
L
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said: Elmer Townsend, do hereby de
clare 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 Specification, and the accompanying Drawings, letters,
figures, and references thereof..
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 denotes a front end elevation of the
said machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation of it; and Figure 3 is a
vertical central and longitudinal section of it.
"
The machine, in performing the operation of sewing, employs two
threads, and it uses a needle made with an eye near its point, one of
the threads being carried through said eye, and when forced through
the cloth the thread is carried through it in the form of a loop, the
needle operating essentially the same as it does in machines which
perform the operations of sewing by means of a needle and shuttle, each
carrying a thread. In connection with the needle of the machine I
employ, in order to pass the other thread through the loops formed by
said needle, a device or contrivance, or a combination of devices or

page_text: contrivances, essentially different in its operation from that of a shuttle;
for. the thread which I employ as a. binding thread to the thread carried
by: the needle. is used by me in a short piece, as the thread. is employed
in the sewing machine inventéd and patented in the United States
by Frederic R. Robinson [the Letters Patent for the same bearing
date the 10th of December, of the year 1850, and also patented in
England], whereas the shuttle of..the shuttle sewing machines carries
a bobbin having a long thread.
•
"
In the Drawings, A denotes the needle, which is: arranged vertically,
and made to play up through. the bench or table .B, and by means of
suitable machinery it is to have an intermittent reciprocating rectilinear
motion, such as will cause it to pass up through the cloth, and remain
at rest. during the operation of passing. a thread through its loop, and
is next to 'descend so as to pass out of the .cloth; such needle.in the
machine is affixed in the upper end of a vertical carrier or slide C;
which is supported so as to slide freely upwards and downwards, and
has a projection D,. extending into the groove a, a, or, a grooved cam
E, fixed, upon the main driving shaft F, of the machine. The cam
should be so formed as to cause the needle after it has passed entirely
upwards through the cloth to move downwards a little so as to bow out
the thread of it, as is, done in most, if not all, of the shuttle sewing
machines. The object of this is to. allow a hook G, carried upon the
lower end of à vibrating arm H, to pass through the loop or between the
thread and the needle. The said hook G, is exhibited in the Drawings
as attached to an arm H, extended at an obtuse angle to the outer end
of an arm I, which is projected from a horizontal rocker shaft K, that
is arranged and supported by standards L, L, as seen in the Drawings.
This rocker shaft has a reciprocating motion imparted to it by means
of an excentric M, [fixed upon the driving shaft F,] a connecting
rod N; and a crank O, said: crank being extended. from the rocker
shaft.
In connection with the hook G, I employ a rotary forked thread
carrier P. This thread 'carrier has its axis disposed vertically. and
directly over the needle, or in line with it, and such thread: carrier is
supported by and made to rotate horizontally in a goose neck! or arm

page_text: Q. Each tine of the fork P, is provided with a spring R, or S, which
is applied to it, as seen in Figures 4 and 5, which are respectively
side and edge views of the rotary forked thread carrier. During the
operation of the machine the rotary forked thread carrier is to have
an intermittent rotary movement, that is to say, while the hook G is
moved away from and made to approach the thread carrier, the latter
is revolved one hundred and eighty degrees of a circle, and it remains
at rest during the time that the hook passes forwards into it, and
backwards out of it. This intermittent rotary motion is produced in
part by means of two helix cams c, c, arranged on opposite sides of
the shank d of the carrier G, such cams being upon by projections
from the inner sides of a fork T, that is made to embrace the upper
part of the shank of the carrier, and is jointed to the arm I, as seen in
the Drawings. The lower part of this fork T is guided in its vertical
movement, and slid upon and between two vertical guides U, U. In
connection with the helix cams c, c, I employ two other and shorter
helix cams f, f, which are arranged on opposite sides of the shank d,
and above the terminations of the before-mentioned helix cams, cach
of said smaller helix cams being disposed in respect to one of the
larger, as seen in the Drawings. During the outward movement of
the hook G, the fork T is elevated, and when its projections are
respectively carried into contact with the under inclined surface of the
smaller helix cams, the pressure of such projections against such
surfaces creates a short rotary motion of the forked thread carrier
sufficient to bring the said projections directly over the larger helix
cams, in order that when the fork T next descends, its projections
shall be carried into contact with the larger helix cams, and thereby
or during such descent cause a semi-rotation of the fork thread carrier,
such forked thread carrier remaining at rest after the same, and until
the projections of the fork T are next brought in contact with the
lesser helix canis.
When the machine is in operation, the thread which is worked by the
hook G extends from the cloth, and passes between the rearmost tine
of the thread carrier and the spring of said tine, and it lays over the
path of the hook G, as seen at t, in Figure 1; that is to say, the thread

page_text: is so extended from the cloth, that while the hook G is passing into the
thread carrier, it shall move under and lift that part of the thread t,
which extends from the carrier down to the cloth or material under-
going, the operation of being sewed.. This is so, that in order when
the hook is drawn back it may seize the thread t, and draw it back
with it through the loop of the needle A, it also drawing it through
the space between the front tine and the spring thereof of the thread
carrier, such hook having previously entered said space during its
passage into the thread carrier.
In Figure 6, I have exhibited the relative positions of the needle A,
the hook G, the rotary fork thread carrier P, and the thread t, when
the hook has entered to the full extent of its motion into the thread
carrier.
When the thread t, is drawn through the carrier P, it is left supported
by the tine thereof, between which and the spring of said tine the hook
has drawn it, while thus supported, and during a portion of the descent
of the needle, a semi-rotative movement of the thread carrier takes place,
and again presents the thread t in a proper position to be scized by
the hook G, when again drawn backwards, the hook during its forward
movement being made to pass through the loop of the thread A. If
the length of the thread d is less than the distance from the cloth to
the extreme point of outward or backward motion of the barb of the
hook G, the machine will perform the operation of sewing, and con-
tinue to draw said hook through each loop as it is formed by the needle,
until the length of the thread t, extending beyond the cloth, is too short
to pass from the cloth into the needle carrier.
The thread for the supply of the needle A, is exhibited at u, and as
passing from a bobbin v. The feeding wheel of the machine is seen
at V, and the cloth presser at W, they being constructed and made to
operate as do similar devices in many other machines. During the
performance of sewing by the machine, the forked thread carrier winds
the upper thread around the lower thread, and in this respect my
machine performs sewing different from other machines.
Having thus described my Invention, I would have it understood,
that what I claim is, the combination of the rotary fork thread

page_text: carrier P, and the hook G, as made to operate in connection with the
needle A, and perform sewing therewith, substantially as herein-before
specified.
T