AN IMPROVED COMBINED TUCK CREASER AND SELF-GUIDE OR BASTER, CHIEFLY APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1867.-A communication from abroad by Henry
William Fuller and Isaac Williams Barnum, both. of New York City,
United States of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County.
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED COMBINED TUCK CREASER AND SELF-GUIDE OR BASTER, CHIEFLY
APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to creasing or marking apparatus composed
primarily of nipping fingers or points, and that creases or marks the fabric
by producing a succession of nips or pinches thereof while it is moved along
in any suitable manner.
The first part of this Invention consists in the mode of conveying motion
to the marking device; the second in combining with the lever carrying the
marking device a fulcrum or axis of motion having a fixed position; the
third in having the set screw for the longitudinal adjustment of said lever.
placed at the centre of said fulcrum; the fourth in the combination with

page_text: such lever having a fixed fulcrum of a spring which may be adjusted in
elasticity or power relatively with the said fulcrum; the fifth in the arrange-
ment of the spring with respect to the lever and its fulcrum so that the act
of adjusting the lever longer or shorter will also adjust the power of the
spring; the sixth in so shaping the points at their pinching ends that the
fabric will be compressed at the point of folding; the seventh in so attaching
the points to the lever which carries them that they may be readily detached
and others substituted by a person unskilled; the eighth. in guarding and
protecting the points by a movable rest; the ninth in the combination with
such rest of a removable key to regulate the speed of the points; the tenth
in combining with the device a "self sewer" or its equivalent guage to
prevent the cloth from doubling or crimping, and to ensure straight and
-even seams, tucks, or hems. The marking or creasing device is attached to
a lever capable of a vibrating motion, usually imparted in one direction, either
up or down, by a spring, and in the other by the needle arm or 'bar or some
other moving part of a sewing machine in connection with which it is
generally employed. To or near the outer end of the lever above mentioned
are attached nipping points arranged diagonally to the surface of the fabric
and the bed or plate which supports it. The one point is set at a greater
angle than the other (by bending the, lever or otherwise), the object being to
crease the material from which the crease. or ridge is formed to be drawn
more from this end of the marker than the other. The axis of vibration of
the lever is mounted on a rock shaft, the lever passing through the shaft and
projecting beyond, said rock shaft being mounted in bearings in a suitable
frame. Between the rear portion of the lever and the base of the frame
is a strong semi-elliptic spring which exerts its force on the lever to throw
the outward end with the marker towards the fabric, while it is supported
on a plate or on the bed of the sewing machine. The centre of the rock
shaft and fulcrum of the lever is elevated considerably above the horizontal line
of the bed plate, the effect of which is to give the lever a downward pitch
when at its lowest position, in order that when drawn outward from the
rock shaft such pitch will be altered and the spring compressed and stiffened,
and when pushed inward towards the fulcrum the spring will be expanded
and flexible, thus making a self-compensating arrangement by which, as the
marker is moved further from the fulcrum where increased power is wanted,
the power of the spring is increased, and decreased when moved towards the
fulcrum where less strength is required. The spring is also movable towards.
and from the fulcrum to increase or decrease its strength and provide for

page_text: variations in the character of fabrics. It is desirable that the range of
motion of the marker should remain nearly the same under all circumstances,,
I therefore prefer to give the fulcrum of the lever a fixed position when
attached to a sewing machine, in order that the place of imparting motion
to the lever (as by the needle screw) may remain at the same distance from
said fulcrum, and thus avoid any great variation in the range of motion as
aforesaid. The lever is held firmly in the rock shaft, by a set screw; this
screw if located on the periphery of the rock shaft, or in any other place
where there is much motion, would be liable to be loosened by the vibrations
of the lever and marker; to prevent such loosening it is placed in the centre
of the rock shaft, whereby its motion is greatly reduced and rendered harmless;
a turn lever is also fixed on the rock shaft serving to equalize the bearing of
the spring.
The mode of conveying motion to the lever and marking device is very
important. I use a spring of considerable strength or power, and thereby
secure a greater reliability of action of the marker under all circumstances;
in order to retain and utilize this power and also prevent the marker when
attached to a sewing machine from offering any unusual impediment to the
operation of such machine, I employ a mode of causing the power exerted
in overcoming the resistance of the spring, or operating the marker to be
exerted throughout a considerable extent of the motion of that part of the
sewing machine which moves it, and reduces the amount of movement at least
one-half in conveying motion to the marker. To accomplish this I combine
with the apparatus an actuating lever which is pivotted near one end, and
hence is very short in the rear of the fulcrum as compared with its length in
front thereof. When its outer end is raised by the screw in the needle bar
(or otherwise) and the rear end presses on the rear end of the lever throwing
up the outer end of the said lever and the marker, such marker will, have.
much less movement than the actuating lever, and this decrease of motion
results in a gain of power. The gain of power enables me to overcome
easily the resistance of a spring and also furnishes the best mode of forcing the
marker down to crease the fabric with or without a spring to raise it; the
points of the marker as before mentioned are arranged in a diagonal position
as to the fabric they pinch and, crease, and in order to have the fold or ridge
formed on the fabric as sharp and well defined as possible the points are
shaped so as to nip and pinch-the fabric and compress the ridge at the very
point of folding. Without this compression of the edge of the fold the crease
soon vanishes, but with it the crease will remain as long as required. For...

page_text: family use the points will seldom or never need renewal, but in manufactories
where tucked work is extensively made the apparatus often receives rough
usage, I therefore provide for attaching them in such a manner that they
may be taken off and renewed when it is required without the aid of a machinist
and by almost any ordinary operation. To the lever carrying the creaser
is attached a piece of sheet metal bent up at each end provided with slots
sufficiently large to receive the end of the lever and the upper end of 'one
of the points and still leave sufficient space for the insertion and removal of
the key which is slipped in to hold the parts in place. As a further security
the lever is nicked at its outer end, and the point bent to fit in said nick to
prevent any endwise motion of said point. Another way of attachment is to
have the point to slip in a socket, the particular way of attaching the points
however is not important, the feature is their detachability, no matter what the
On some
particular contrivance by which they are fastened to the lever.
fabrics the points will require to be spread
apart more than for others, while
hold them from being bent out
at the same time they need something to
of line laterally by accident or otherwise. For such protection I use a guard
which receives the points in slots at each side, the lower ends of which slots
furnish small rests, for each one preventing them from spreading more than a
given distance apart, and when additional spread is required the key is
removed. In connection with the tuck creaser, I use a self-sewer or guage
held in position by a screw, this consists in making and combining with a
self-sewing guage on the outside of the guaging line an upper automatic
clamping or self-adapting surface of thin sheet or light elastic metal, and
extending the same out from the guaging line over and under a supporting
or resisting surface beyond the line of seam formed by the needle, and thereby
producing an automatic spring guage for sewing seams, tucks, or hems, by
which a gentle self-adapting pressure is applied to the upper side of the
material as it passes over the under supporting surface in approaching the
needle to be sewed, whereby the material is made smooth and held without
basting outside of and around the needle as well as between it and the guage
which guides the edge of the cloth preventing the same from doubling
crimping, or rising up over the guage, and thus ensuring straight and even
seams, tucks, or hems. I may also make the lever for carrying the markers
in one piece with the spring arm made fast to the base which is adjustable or
the bed plate by a screw in a slot in the base, the points and the construction o
the marker would otherwise be substantially the same as that before described
In the above Invention I do not confine myself to special construction whe

page_text: that
may be varied without altering the essential attributes of the Invention,
any device acting upon the marker to move it, and moving through a longer
space than it in the same interval of time, to gain power would be equivalent
to that described. And any device permitting, the ready detachment and
attachment of the points for their renewal in case of derangement or breakage
would be substantially the same as that described in any combination thereof
with a lever or its equivalent for a creasing apparatus.