IMPROVE- MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sidney Mason Tyler, of Brooklyn, in the State of
New York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 6th September 1867, and dated the 20th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sidney Mason Tyler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th March 1867.
I, SIDNEY MASON TYLER, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
I employ a bed and projecting arm as in sewing machines generally. In
the projecting arm is a shaft that is revolved by competent power; at the end
of this shaft is a disc with a cam groove taking a roller upon the bar that
slides in ways at the end of the arm and carries the eye-pointed needle. The
cam groove in this disc is of such a shape that the needle is carried quickly
out of the cloth being sewed, and then again quickly into the cloth, but there

page_text: is a slight pause in the movement of the needle while in the cloth to allow
time for the shuttle to pass through the loop of needle thread, the cam groove
of the aforesaid disc being shaped on mathematical principles so as to give
these movements. The shuttle travels in a raceway in the bed as usual, but it
has given to it a motion that is slow, and gradually stops at the time the needle
thread is drawn up. This motion is obtained by a crank on the shaft that
revolves in the arm, acting through a connecting rod and lever to give a rocking
motion to a shaft under the bed; this rock shaft has an arm upon it that is
connected by a link to the shuttle driver. The parts are placed so that the
link and arm come on a straight line when the shuttle is at its extreme
motion when the needle is out of the cloth, and at this time the arcs of circles
described by the arm and link respectively cause the shuttle driver to stop
gradually, although the rock shaft is more suddenly moved.
By my Invention, which is the combination of the before-described move-
ment of the needle with the said movement of the shuttle, the sewing is much
more perfect than heretofore, because the gradual movement of the shuttle in
finishing the stitch gives time for the needle to properly draw up the
interlaced threads into the cloth or material being sewed, and the slow move-
ment of the needle while in the cloth gives time for the shuttle to pass through
the loop of needle thread.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sidney Mason Tyler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIDNEY
MASON TYLER, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Sidney Mason Tyler, Her special license that I, the said Sidney Mason
Tyler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Sidney Mason Tyler, 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,

page_text: use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Sidney Mason Tyler, by an instrument in 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 within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said Sidney Mason Tyler, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Fig. 1 is a side view of the head carrying the needle bar and elevation of
the feed wheel and mechanism, the bed of the machine being in section, and
only a portion thereof and of the arm being shown; Fig. 2 is a front view of
the head and needle bar, the bed of the machine being in section and the feed
wheels shown by dotted lines, the needle being up; Fig. 3 is a similar view,
the needle being at its extreme downward movement, and the cap over the
needle bar being removed to show the actuating cam. Similar marks of
reference denote the same parts.
The object of my present Invention is to give to the shuttle a slow move-
ment and gradual stop at the time the needle is out of the cloth and the stitch
is tightened, and a rapid movement at the other end of its motion, the one
preventing inequality in the drawing up of the stitch and the breaking of
either threads, and the other or rapid movement passing the shuttle quickly
through the loop of needle thread, so that there may be no detention to the
drawing up of the needle. I effect these objects by a crank upon a rock
shaft and a link to the shuttle driver, so that the straightening of the crank an I
link gradually stops the shuttle at the same time that the needle receives
differential movements from a revolving cam, the form of which is such as to
give a rapid movement to the needle while rising and again descending, but a
slow movement to the needle or a complete pause while the shuttle is passing
through the loop of needle thread. By these movements I am enabled to effect
sewing of a superior quality with very little wear upon the thread, and the
movements are almost noiseless, and the parts do not wear loose as rapidly as
in machines in which heavier parts are required than mine.
In the Drawing, a is the bed of the machine from which the usual arm

page_text: rises, the end of which is seen at 6; c is the main shaft rotated by competent
power, and mounted within the arm in any convenient manner; d is a link or
connecting rod from a crank e on the shaft c to an arm f on the rock shaft g,
which crank rod and arm give to said shaft g the rocking movement required
at the proper time; h is the feed wheel actuated from the shaft 9 by suitable
means, which not forming part of the present Invention need not be further
described. Upon the rock shaft g is a crank arm k with a link to the
shuttle driver m that slides in ways in the bed a, and propels the shuttle i
The needle bar n and needle o are fitted to slide at the end of the arm b in a
head provided for that purpose, and upon the back of the needle bar is a
roller p taking a cam groove in the disk g; the shape of this cam groove in q
is shown in Figs. 2 & 3, and is such that the needle moves rapidly out of
the cloth by the action of the part 1 of such groove, and then again moves
rapidly into the fabric the action of the part 2 of the said, groove. The pro-
jection at 3 causes the needle to rise sufficiently to form a loop in its thread
below the cloth, and then the needle remains stationary, or nearly so, while
the shuttle passes into and partially through the loop of needle thread, the
part 4 of such groove allowing this pause in the needle's movement.
The result of these combined movements of the needle and shuttle is, that
the stitches are pulled up with great uniformity, because the shuttle is moving
slowly as the crank and link straighten so as to give time for the needle thread
to be drawn up, and the gradual stoppage of the shuttle prevents its momentum
injuriously affecting the thread or stitch; whereas, if the shuttle driver was
suddenly stopped, the momentum of the shuttle, in consequence of the play or
end motion necessarily allowed between the shuttle and driver, would be
arrested only by the tension of the thread, and is in many instances a fruitful
source of uneven sewing and breaking of thread. The needle thread passes
from a spool through any desired tension apparatus to the eye 6 on the head b
thence through the pipe 7 on the upper end of the needle bar, and descends
behind a wire loop or guide 8, 8, to an eye guide at the needle shank, thence
through the eye of the needle o. Between the ends of the loop or guide 8, 8,
A
a spring take-up r is applied, over the hook of which the thread passes.
pin 9 projects from the needle bar n through a slot in its cap, and takes
against a bend in the spring arm of the take-up at the time that the needle
is in the cloth so as to prevent the spring take-up drawing the loop of needle
thread while the shuttle is passing through the same, but as soon as the
needle and its bar ǹ are raised, this pin 9, passing above the spring take-up r
allows that to operate in keeping the needle thread under proper tension and

page_text: clear of the needle point. The pressure foot is formed by a rollers on an
arm t that can be raised vertically by the lever u, and afterwards swung aside
to facilitate the threading of the needle and the placing of the fabric. The
slot in which the connection between the bar and the lever u swings is more
clearly shown in Fig. 4; the bar vis round and extends up through the head
at the end of the arm b, and above said bar is an adjusting screw and set nut w;
is a spring with its ends turned up to enter cavities in the upper end of the
bar v and lower end of the screw w, so as to give pressure on the article to be
sewed. This construction allows the pressure foot or pressure roller at the
lower end of the round bar v to be raised up and turned around as required,
and also allows the pressure of the foot to be adjusted with facility by the
screw w.
Cams have been employed for giving motion to the needle bar, and a
shuttle driver has been connected to the crank arm by a link, but these two
devices have not been employed in the same machine, and the arrangement of
the shuttle driver, link, and crank has been such that the shuttle, when its
point was going forward and the stitch being drawn up was actuated by the
link and crank in a position nearly at right angles to each other; hence
variations are apt to arise in the exact point to which the shuttle is moved,
and the extent to which the stitch is tightened according to the momentum of
the parts, and if the cam or connections moving the rock shaft wear loose the
stitch cannot be drawn up with uniformity.
By my arrangement of the crank link and driver the shuttle must be moved
to a definite position and stopped by a gradual movement, because the crank
arm and the link to the driver move until the centers come on a straight line;
hence the shuttle is moved to a certain point and stopped at that point; every
stitch, whether the rock shaft and crank, through wear or lack of adjustment
should move beyond the straight line with the link or not, and the shuttle
being stopped gradually by the crank and link describing arcs of circles
(touching but not intersecting each other) greatly aids in producing uniformity
of sewing, and lessens the liability of the threads to break. These movements
given to the shuttle being combined with the movements given to the needle
by the cam are easily timed, so that the needle reaches its extreme upward
movement simultaneous with the shuttle's extreme horizontal motion, thus
ensuring the correct tightening of the stitch.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the rocking
shaft g, crank k, link 1, and shuttle driver m, arranged and acting on the
shuttle in the manner specified in combination with the needle barn and

page_text: cam q, for giving the specified motions to the needle, as and for the purposes
set forth.
In witness whereof I, the said Sidney Mason Tyler, have hereunto set
'my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, A.D. One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witnesses,
GEO. D. WALKER,
121, Nassau St.,
New York.
L. GRISWOLD,
614, Water St.,
New York.
S. M. TYLER. (L.B.)