A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING, ORNAMENTING, AND SHAPING OR CUTTING OUT LEATHER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Searle and Robert Cook, of Silver Street,
Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex, Sewing Machine Agents,
for the Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPLIANCES
FOR STAMPING, ORNAMENTING, AND SHAPING OR CUTTING OUT LEATHER,
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Searle and
Robert Cook at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th August 1875.
We, WILLIAM SEARLE and ROBERT COOK, of Silver Street, Regent
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Sewing Machine Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE
OF AND APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING, ORNAMENTING, AND SHAPING OR CUTTING OUT
LEATHER, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
-
This Invention has for its object the ornamentation and shaping or
cutting out of leather, textile fabrics, and other like materials by cutting,

page_text: perforating, and stamping, and consists in the employment for that
purpose of specially constructed steel cutters, punches, or stamps of
any desired pattern, such for example as circles, ovals, V shaped and
gouge-shaped tools which are to be combined with and worked by the
needle bar or slide of any sewing machine arranged to work with a
straight needle, whether provided with a top feed, a four-motion, or
drop feed, or a wheel feed. The said cutters, punches, or stamps are
specially formed with short stems which are inserted into the needle bar
or slide, and when properly adjusted therein the ornamentation of the
leather or other material is accurately and rapidly accomplished by the
combined action of the needle bar and tool, and the feeding device of
the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Searle and Robert Cook in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
SEARLE and ROBERT COOK, of Silver Street, Regent Street, in the County 2
of Middlesex, Sewing Machine Agents, send greeting.
" WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, 2
give and grant unto us, the said William Searle and Robert Cook, Her
special license that we, the said William Searle and Robert Cook,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said William Searle and Robert Cook, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time 3
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 "A NEW AND IMPROVED MODE OF

page_text: AND APPLIANCES FOR STAMPING, ORNAMENTING, AND SHAPING OR CUTTING OUT
LEATHER, TEXTILE FABRICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Searle and Robert Cook,
our exccutors or administrators, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Searle and Robert Cook,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:-
Our said Invention relates to the ornamentation and shaping or
cutting out of leather, textile frabrics, and other like materials by
cutting, punching, perforating, or stamping the same in an ordinary
straight needle sewing machine by the aid of certain peculiar sewing
machine attachments (herein-after more particularly described and
referred to), which are intended to be substituted for or to take the
place of the needle for the time being. By the use of these attachments
the same machine that accomplishes the stitching of the leather or other
material is also rendered capable of performing the operations of cutting,
punching, perforating, and stamping the same.
These sewing machine attachments consist of certain peculiarly con-
structed steel punches, stamps, or cutters of any desired pattern, such
for example as circles, ovals, V shaped and gouge shaped tools or clusters
or combinations of the same which are formed with slender stems or
shanks capable of being readily fitted and secured into the ordinary
needle socket or holder in the needle bar or slide of any ordinary sewing
machine of sufficient power arranged to work with a straight needle.
"
The class of sewing machine to which these peculiar attachments are
best adapted is that known as the "Howe" sewing machine, but they
may also be used with a "Thomas," a "Singer," or other like sewing
machine. The length of the said ornamenting attachments from the
shoulder downwards should be somewhat less than the distance between

page_text: the bottom of the needle slide and the surface of the cloth plate when
the said slide is in its lowest position. Moreover the attachment should
be so adjusted in the needle slide that its cutting or ornamenting edge
or end shall not quite reach to the cloth plate; but in order to prevent
any risk of injury to the cutting edges of the said attachments and to
the surface of the cloth plate by accidental contact with each other, and
to afford a suitable surface for cutting upon, a piece of cardboard or
other like substance should be placed underneath the material to be cut
A nunched
the bottom of the needle slide and the surface of the cloth plate when
the said slide is in its lowest position. Moreover the attachment should
be so adjusted in the needle slide that its cutting or ornamenting edge
or end shall not quite reach to the cloth plate; but in order to prevent
any risk of injury to the cutting edges of the said attachments and to
the surface of the cloth plate by accidental contact with each other, and
to afford a suitable surface for cutting upon, a piece of cardboard or
other like substance should be placed underneath the material to be cut
Lor punched.
When it is desired merely to stamp or emboss leather or other
materials the attachments should be provided with an embossing in licu
of a cutting surface.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, which Figures represent in full sized elevation and plan a set
of our sewing machine attachments.
In all these Figures a is the body of the steel punch or cutter; b is a
slender shank or stem formed thercon or fitted thereto for insertion into
the usual needle socket or holder in the needle slide of the sewing
machine; c is the cutting edge, the form of which is varied to suit
different styles of ornamentation.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a side and front clevation (with
corresponding plan of the cutting edge) of an attachment for punching
round holes; and Figures 2 and 3 represent similar views of smaller
sized attachments of the same pattern. In these attachments, which
punch a hole by removing a portion of the material, we make special
provision for the automatic discharge of the pieces so cut out by forming
a recess d on one side of the tool just above the tubular portion e, the
said recess being of sufficient depth to allow the cut pieces to clear
themselves readily from the upper mouth of the tubular part of the
cutter; we also curve or incline outwards and upwards the upper portion|
of the said recess, as shown at f, in order that the cut pieces shall not
accumulate in the recess, but shall be forced or discharged outwards in
a lateral direction, thus permitting of the continuous working of the
attachment without risk of choking the same. The interior diameter of

page_text: the said hollow or tubular part e of these punches should of course
increase slightly towards the discharging mouth, as is well understood.
in tools of this class, in order to facilitate the self-clearing of the
nunch

page_text: stamping, shaping, punching, or cutting out leather or other materials in
a sewing machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Searle, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Robert Cook, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our 5
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six