Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sewing Machinery.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 16th Lec., 1589-Accepted, 18th Jan., 1890.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by SOCRATES KEATS, of Töss, near Winterthur,
Switzerland, Mechanical Engineer.]
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sewing Machinery.
I JOHN KEATS of Bagnal, near Stoke-upon-Trent, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The main object of this invention is to simplify the construction of the looper
mechanism of that class of Boot and Shoe sewing machines which are provided with a
horn or post for supporting the work.
The horn, which is made hollow, and of cast metal, is usually designed to swivel
or turn on its base, its axis of motion being in line with the axis of the needle.
I now propose to set up in this hollow horn or support, an arm of somewhat
similar form in profile, to the upper extremity of which the looper is attached. This
looper arm is intended to receive the requisite motion for laying the thread into the
barb of the hooked needle, and for this purpose it receives a vibrating motion and a
to and fro motion.
To provide for the vibrating movement, the arm is formed at its opposite sides with
stops, which fit against the interior of the horn, and serve as a rolling fulcrum for the
arm to vibrate on. This arrangement permits also of the vibrating arm advancing
and receding sufficiently to give the looper which it carries, the requisite movement
for laying the thread into the beard of the needle.
The looper arm, near its base, is formed with a cylindrical vertical socket for the
reception of an excentric, keyed to a vertical hollow spindle in line with the vertical
needle, and concentric with the journal on which the horn is designed to turn. It is
by the rotation of this spindle and its excentric, that the requisite movements are
imparted directly to the looper, thus avoiding the necessity for the complex mechanism
hitherto used for driving the looper, and securing an economy in the construction and
the maintenance of the looper mechanism.
Instead of constructing the swivel horn as heretofore, I make the foot of the horn
vertical for any given distance, then bend it out rearwards, or from the looper, and
terminate the horn with an inclined portion extending upwards till it cuts the plane
of the needle's vertical motion. This arrangement provides a support which is equally
applicable for short boots or long legged boots, and it incidentally affords a great
advantage to the manufacturer of Horn Sewing Machines, inasmuch as the height of
the horn may be varied to suit various builds of machine, by simply lengthening or
shortening the pillar portion of the pattern used in moulding the horn for casting.
D: 11, dow of M 1980
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boot and Shoe Sewing Machinery.
I, JOHN KEATS of Bagnall near Stoke upon Trent in the county of Stafford,
Engineer, 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:-
This invention relates to that class of Boot and Shoe sewing machines, in which the
work is carried by a horn fitted, near its tip, with a throat plate, through which passes
the vertical hooked needle, to receive the loop of needle thread, and carry it up
through the work.

page_text: The looper mechanism hitherto employed for laying the thread in the hook of the
needle if of a complex character, and liable to rapid deterioration from wear, the form
of the horn presenting difficulties for the introduction into it of a simple arrangement
of looper mechanism. Moreover, the horn did not adapt itself well to the sewing of
cavalry boots and other boots with long legs, as the shape of the horn necessitated the
straining and distortion of the leg, in bringing the toe part of the boot sole under the
action of the reciprocating needle.
Now the object of the present invention is to avoid these defects in the construction
of new machines, and to remove them from machines already constructed.
In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated my improvements in combination,
in various views.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the middle of the horn, and the looper
apparatus contained therein. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, looking towards the
interior of the horn.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the looper apparatus with the inclosing horn, indicated by
dotted lines; and Figs. 4 and 5 are similar views of the looper apparatus, but in
different positions from that of Fig. 3, and from each other, as respects the inclosing
horn.
A is the horn, provided, as usual, with a hollow journal, which is mounted in a
bracket bearing of the machine, and is capable of swivelling therein, to shift the
position of the work carried by the horn under the reciprocating needle, irrespective
of the feed movement. This horn, it will be seen, stands up vertically for a given
distance, its vertical height being determined by the kind of work which it is designed
to support. The horn takes, then, a backward bend, as at A*, and again a forward
bend, and an inclination upward, as at A**, to present the throat plate a to the point
of the hooked needle. The horn is made hollow, as usual, and open at the front. In
cross section it is U shaped, its back being closed.
Within the horn stands up a hollow arm B, its cross section corresponding
somewhat with that.of the horn. This arm, which I call the looper arm, is formed
with a split socket B*, for embracing an excentric C keyed to a hollow vertical
shaft C¹.
The excentric C serves to perform a double duty, that is, it actuates, and also
constitutes the sole support of, the looper arm. For this purpose, the excentric and
the split socket B* are lengthened sufficiently to ensure stability to the arm while
performing its required movements.
The shaft C¹ passes up through the hollow journal of the swivel horn, and is steadied
at its upper end by entering a bracket bearing bolted to the inner side of the horn.
Keyed to the shaft (, below the journal of the horn, is a horizontal arm C², which is
intended to receive a reciprocating motion from a cam on the cam shaft of the sewing
machine.
The looper arm B has fitted to its upper end a looper b, which consists of a short
steel finger pierced with an eye for the reception of the looper thread. The looper
arm B is provided, at its rear, with two lateral projections or studs ', see Fig. 3,
which touch the inner face of the horn, and yet allow of the arm rocking to and fro,
and sliding towards and from the needle, to give the looper eye the requisite movement
for laying the thread in the hook of the needle. This compound movement of the
looper is derived from the reciprocating action of the arm (2, which gives a partial
rotation, alternately in opposite directions, to the excentric C, and thus causes the
eye of the looper to follow the course shown by dots in Fig. 3. In this figure, the
looper is in its central back position; at Fig. 4 it is shown as rocked to the right,
and advanced to be even with the needle; while at figure 5, the looper is in the
reverse position to that of Fig. 4.
From this explanation it will be understood how simple is the construction of the
looper mechanism, there being no joints or pivots or gear wheels to wear loose. The
studs ', which are bearing surfaces, may be round headed steel screws, which will
admit of being set up when their heads are worn by rubbing against the inner face of
the horn as the looper arm is actuated by the reciprocating excentric C. The looper

page_text: thread, drawn from a bobbin (not shewn in the drawings) below the horn bearing
of the machine, is led up (see Fig. 1) through the hollow shaft C, thence over a
thread guide or pulley 2 mounted on the arm B, around a second thread guide
pulley 3, also carried by the arm B, to the eye of the looper b. From the looper
the thread passes, as usual, through the throat plate a to the work mounted on the
horn.
The peculiar form of the horn, it will be seen, adapts itself readily to the reception
of the cavalry boot, and provides for the bringing of the toe under the action of the
booked needle. This is illustrated by dots in Fig. 1, which shews that the bend A*
of the horn fits the heel portion of the boot, when the toe is brought under the
needle, and that therefore no straining of the leg is needed to place the boot toe in
the proper position for sewing around the toe portion of the sole.
It will be obvious from the foregoing explanation, that the horn may be cast of
any desired length, to adapt it to the work for which it is required, or to a machine
already constructed to receive it, the vertical portion of the pattern used in preparing
the sand mould, being lengthened or shortened to meet the special circumstances of
each case.
1 may remark, that instead of reciprocating the excentric C by means of
the arm C2, as explained above, the excentric may be rotated through a crank and
crank arm, with the like result as respects the operation of the looper.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad, I declare that what I claim is :-
✓ In
1. In a swivel horn sewing machine, the combination with a hollow swivel horn,
vertical for a given distance from its base, cranked or bent rearwards, and then
continued forvard and upward to the plane of motion of the vertical needle, of a
looper arm fited with thread guides carrying at its forward extremity an eye or
looper, and prmed rearwards to fit loosely between the sides of the horn,
such looper m taking somewhat the form of the swivel horn, and terminating in
socket with fits an excentric carried by a hollow vertical reciprocating driving
3. the wile arranged as and for the purpose above set forth.
3
2. A el horn consisting of a hollow casting made vertical for a given distance
from its base or shoulder bearing, then cranked or bent rearwards to fit the heel
of a boot, & continued forwards and upwards to present its throat plate to the
hooked needle, as and for the purpose above set forth.
3. A looper arin taking somewhat the form of the horn to which it is to be
applied, and having, at its extremity, an eye or looper, such arm being mounted
and supported in the line of axis of rotation of the horn, & driven by an excentric,
or its equivalent, carried by a vertical shaft mounted concentrically with the swivel
horn socket.
Dated this 16th day of December 1830
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.