IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Ebenezer West, of Limehouse, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MECHANISM
FOR OPERATING SEWING AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY."
Sealed the 23rd December 1875, and dated the 12th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Ebenezer West
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th July 1875.
I, MOSES EBENEZER WEST, of Limehouse, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MECHANISH FOR OPERATING SEWING AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY," to be as
follows:-
―
My Invention relates to improvements in mechanism for working
sewing and other light machines, whereby the operation of the machine
may be more readily controlled.

page_text: another on the shaft of the machine, also an intermediate friction pulley
or wheel made to gear with the other two by the depression of a treadle
or other means, and drawn back out of gear when said treadle is
released by the action of a spring, a brake being at same time applied in
order to instantly arrest the machine. To this end the intermediate
friction wheel is mounted in bearings movable in guides fixed to the
table or other part of the machine support. These bearings are attached
on the one side to a spring tending to move the wheel away out of gear
with the other wheels, and on the other side to connections operated by
treadle by which the wheel is thrown into gear.
The brake consists of a lever pivoted to the machine framing, and
operated by the same movement that shifts the intermediate friction
wheel out of gear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Moses Ebenezer West in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
EBENEZER WEST, of Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses Ebenezer West, Her
special licence that I, the said Moses Ebenezer West, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses Ebenezer
West, 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 for
"IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Moses Ebenezer
West, my executors, or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moses Ebenezer West, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
:-
'
My Invention relates to improvements in mechanism for working
sewing and other light machines, whereby the operation of the machine
may be readily controlled independently of any other machine driven'
by the same motor, my Invention being chiefly intended for use
where a number of machines are operated from the same engine or
motor.
The mechanism consists of an arrangement of friction gear com-
prising a friction pulley or wheel on the driving or motor shaft, and
another on the shaft of the machine, also a similar intermediate friction
pulley or wheel made to gear with the other two by means of a treadle
or otherwise, and drawn back out of gear when the said treadle is
released by the action of a spring, a brake combined with the said
friction gear being at same time applied by the action of the same
spring in order to instantly arrest the machine.
The intermediate friction wheel is mounted in a movable frame
beneath the table or other part of the machine support. To one end of
this frame is attached a spring tending to move the intermediate wheel
away from the other wheels, the frame being connected at the other end
to and operated by a treadle or handle by which the wheel may bo
O thrown into gear.
The brake consists of a lever pivoted to the machine framing and
connected to the movable frame above mentioned.

page_text: rotary motion from any suitable motor.
This wheel may be either
keyed on a shaft common to a number of machines, or motion may be
transmitted to it from a main shaft over head or beneath the floor; b is
the shaft of the sewing or other machine to which motion is to be trans-
mitted, and c is a friction wheel keyed thereon; dis the intermediate
friction wheel serving to transmit motion from a to c. The axle of
wheel dis mounted to turn freely in a frame e, and it is steadied by a
bracket f having slots g for the axle of sufficient size to admit of the
wheel d adjusting itself so as to bear with equal force against the
peripheries of wheels a and c; h is a spring attached at one end to
frame e, as shown, and at the other to a fixed point, so that the spring
will tend to move the wheel d away from wheels a, c. To the opposite
end of the frame there is a chain or other connection to a treadle k or to
a screw rod (shown in dotted lines), operated by a handle m having a
nut working on screw rod ; n is a brake lever pivoted at n¹ to the :
machine table and connected at o to the frame e, said lever having a
brake surface adapted to bear against the periphery of wheel c.
I prefer to make the wheels a, c, and d, with V grooves around their
peripheries, as shown in cross section in Figure 3 to increase the
frictional surface.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
application and use for driving sewing and other light machines from a
common motor shaft of friction gear, arranged and operated substantially a
as shown and described and combined with a brake lever applied and
operated as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Ebenezer West, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-siv