IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING.
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Francis Johnson, of the State of Massachusetts,
of the United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SEWING.'
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Albert Francis Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 15th January 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN that I, ALBERT FRANCIS JOHNSON, of the State of Massachusetts, of
the United States of America, have made a new and useful Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING," and do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and the manner of its performance, to be herein-after
particularly set forth and described, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings.
The present Invention relates almost entirely to mechanism for producing a
wax-thread seam for the uniting of heavy fabrics like leather, such as are
used for boots or shoes, harnesses, carriages, etc., although it will apply
essentially to the sewing of other materials as well when other threads are to
be used. Previous to entering into a detailed description of my Invention it.
may be well to show what, in the course of many experiments and investiga-
tions, I have found to be the difficulties to be overcome and the essential.

page_text: requisites to be embodied in a sewing machine for producing sewing in the
first-mentioned class of goods, as it will tend to point out more clearly the
salient points of my Invention, and wherein they differ from what has before
been done.
A peculiar wax-thread sewing machinery heretofore used that has approxi-
mated to the accomplishment of practical results has been that by which a
single-thread or tambour stitch has been produced, it being supposed impossible
before its possibility being demonstrated by me to form a seam by a double-
thread or lock stitch in such heavy goods with a waxed or tarred thread,
although it is evident that this latter stitch is the only one which is sufficiently
strong and durable to withstand the hard usage to which such fabrics are
often exposed. But the lock stitch could not well be made with a wax-thread
in leather and other hard fabrics by an eye-pointed needle and a shuttle for
the following reasons, viz., first, an eye-pointed needle cannot be used on
account of the chafing of the thread in its eye, which takes place both while
passing through a hard material like leather and giving the loop to the
shuttle, and again while drawing through the eye of the needle to tighten up
the slack loop through which the shuttle has just passed. This chafing of the
wax-thread also would fill the eye of the needle with gum and lint, and render
it inoperative.
Again, as an eye-pointed needle is necessarily grooved longitudinally in
order to permit the thread and needle to pass together through the goods, à
waxed or tarred thread would stick in this groove and prevent the formation
of a loop for the passage of the shuttle. ⚫
Furthermore an eye-pointed needle to pass through very thick goods, such,
for instance, as a thorough brace used in the construction of carriages, would
have to be so long as to be inoperative because it necessary in using.&.wax-
thread to have the loop sufficiently large to pass around the shuttle and allow
it a free passage, such being on account of the great friction that would
otherwise be produced by the thread upon the shuttle, as well as the difficulty
usually experienced in drawing the loop down through the goods.
As an eye-
pointed needle also in passing through the fabric carries down with it a doubled
thread or loop, the loop and needle are liable to be wedged in the fabric,
especially when sewing leather goods with a waxed thread. :
To obviate the difficulties experienced in the use of an eye-pointed needle,
an attempt has been made by employing an awl (for puncturing the leather)
in combination with a booked needle, which pulled the thread down through
the material, but this has produced only a single-thread stitch; moreover the
tightening of the stitch was necessarily performed by the hooked needle itself,

page_text: and during the most of this operation the thread was unavoidably under full
tension. Now to draw a double wax thread under great tension through
such hard and heavy materials by means of the hooked needle will occasion
such great friction as to prevent satisfactory results from being attained in
sewing unyielding materials such as leather.
In many machines in which an awl and hooked neelle are used tho
tightening of the stitch is necessarily performed while the needle is in the
goods, and the hooked needle has to draw the waxed thread doubled or
in a loop form through the material. This causes so much friction as to
render it nearly or quite impossible to use a shuttle under such circumstances,
as the shuttle could hardly pass through a loop under such great strain while
pulling the thread down through the goods, especially if they were non-elastic,
After many practical tests then it became desirable that the machinery for
producing a double or lock stitch in leather or other similar fabrics to be
united with a waxed thread should be subject to the following conditions:
First, such a substitute or substitutes for an eye-pointed needle as would be
free from its defects as herein-above enumerated in the matter of puncturing
the hole through the fabric and carrying the thread through the same; second,
a shuttle or other device for interlocking one thread with another, so combined
and made to operate with the aforesaid substitute for the eye-pointed needle,
or with the same and other devices as to be made to pass through the loop of
the, needle thread without injurious strain or friction thereon; third, the
tightening of the stitch should be performed at a period when the needle with
the waxed thread is not in the material, and furthermore while the thread is
being passed down through the fabric such should not be subject to any
injurious tension.
My present sewing machine successfully accomplishes the above-named
desiderata. In lieu of an eye-pointed needle I employ a puncturing awl and
a hooked or crotchet needle, and with these there is employed a shuttle for
causing the formation of a lock stitch. To obviate the necessity of allowing
the needle to remain in the fabric while the stitch is being tightened, which as
herein-before shown is injurious to practical sewing with a waxed thread, a
combination of devices or "take up" is employed, which operates entirely
independent of the movement of the needle, and in such a manner that while
the thread is in the act of being conveyed through the fabric it shall be slack
and subject to no unnecessary tension.
In the accompanying Drawings my improved sewing machine is represented.
Figure 1 is a side view of it; Figure 2 is a transverse and vertical section of
it, such section being taken in the plane of the line A, B, Figure 7; Figure 3

page_text: is a transverse and vertical section taken in the plane of the line 'C, D
Figure 7; Figures 4, 5, and 9 are detailed views which will be herein-afte
more particularly referred to; Figure 6 is a central longitudinal end vertica
section, and Figure 7 is a plan or top view of the machine; Figures 8 and
are detailed views of the shuttle thereof.
In the said Drawings a represents the framework of the machine; b, the
driving wheel supported by and so as to be capable of being revolved upon a
horizontal shaft c projecting from the framework a.
Attached to the driving
wheel is a gear wheel d, which engages with a similar gear e, carried by a
horizontal shaft f, having bearings at 9, 9, in the framework a and in an
arm h projecting down therefrom. Near one end of the shaft f, and forming
a part of the same, is a bell crank I, attached to which is a vertical connecting
rod, the upper end of which is secured to the wrist of a crank K projecting
from one end of a horizontal shaft 1. The said 'shaft turns in bearings m, m,
of the hollow standard n. At one end of the horizontal shaft is a cranked
disk o, to the crank of which the upper end of a short connecting rod p is
secured, the other end of the same being fastened to the vertical awl bar q
moving in suitable bearings of the vertical arm r, the awl s being arranged in
a vertical position at the lower end of the said bar q in a manner which will
be herein-after described. The above-described devices are for operating the
awl for puncturing the fabric to be sewed.
'
The operations of other parts of the machine connected with them will be
herein-after explained. t is the shuttle moving in a horizontal groove or
way u of the platform w, and below its upper surface. Near the two ends of
the shuttle t and abutting against it are two arms v, v, projecting from a
horizontal plate x that is guided by a slot y in the platform w. To the under
side of the plate the upper end of the curved arm is secured, the other
end of the said arm, by means of a connecting rod a', being applied to the
outer end 6' of a crank or arm c' projecting from the main shaft f before
referred to. The arms v, v, the plate x, the arm 2, connecting rod-a', and the
crank c¹ thus arranged and connected with the frame and the driving shaft
serve to impart to the shuttle at the proper times the desired reciprocating
movements. Placed longitudinally within the shuttle t is a spool d¹ to revolve
an bearings el. This spool carries one of the threads used in'niaking-the lock
stitch, the said thread passes from the said shuttle and through the opening f¹
in the case thereof, see Figure 7, and next is laid along the groove g₁ of the
said case. is a crank attached to and projecting from the wrist of crank c¹
before referred to, and to a connecting rod i', whose lower end is jointed to
the lower portion of the vertical needle shaft . This lower portion of the

page_text: needle shaft moves in a bearing k¹, and has within it another shaft l', in the
upper end of which (see Figure 6) the needle m² is inserted. In the periphery
of the shaft is a slot n', which is vertical and straight to the point o³, but
next is curved spirally for about one-third of the periphery of the shaft (see
Figure 9). A stud p¹ projecting from the bearing enters the said groove.
By the above-described mechanism as the driving shaft revolves an up-and-
down movement will be imparted to the needle and its shaft, which will also
be caused to partially rotate for purposes and in a manner to be herein-.
after set forth. q' is a spool around which is wound the looping thread r¹;
this spool turns on a spindle s¹ fastened to and projecting upward from the
standard ; this thread is passed from the said spool to and partially around
the guiding pulley u¹ of the standard t¹; thence the thread passes through
the openings v, vl, of a swivel box vi (applied to and so as to be capable of
being freely revolved on a shaft a¹), and partially around a pulley w³ arranged
within, the said box v₁; the shaft being a prolongation of the vibrating
army secured rigidly to the crank disc o herein-before referred to. In the
formation of a stitch the said arın, by its reciprocating motion in connection.
with the box vand pulley w³, slackens and tightens the threads in a peculiar
aud novel manner. Thence from the pulley w¹ the thread is passed to and
through the opening or eye ¹ of the curved thread carrier a" supported in
bearings at . This eye ¹ is placed a little below the horizontal plane of
the hook c¹ of the needle m when such needle is at its highest position (see
Figure 1), and is caused to partially revolve in a horizontal plane around the
needle.
The mechanism for effecting the necessary movements of the thread
carrier a may be thus explained:-A pinion a fixed on the head of the
carrier engages with a rack bar & duly supported in the parts n and r so as
to be capable of moving longitudinally; this rack bar is jointed to the upper
end of a lever c', whose foot or lower end enters the cam groove * of a
cylinder e fixed on the driving shaft.
Having thus in detail specified various of the parts comprising the machine
and their connection with the driving wheel, I will now proceed to explain the
general manner in which the same operate to form the stitch in the fabric to
be sewed.
The fabric to be sewed having been placed in its proper position on the
platform, and the two threads having been arranged in the manner specified,
and the driving wheel having been put in revolution, the aw! s, by means of
devices herein-before described, will be caused to descend and puncture the
fabric. By an arrangement of devices; to be presently explained, the awl

page_text: will also feed the fabric or material to be sewed along until the aperture thus
made is in a proper position for the needle to pass through it during the
upward movement of the needle. While the awl is in the act of descending
the needle, by means of devices as herein-before described, will be caused to
descend and to pass down through the aperture previously made by the awl in
the fabric; and will carry with it the thread ¹, which by means of the thread
carrier a arranged and operating as specified, had been previously placed
around and within its hook c. The needle will continue its descent until it'
may have passed entirely through the fabric, when by means of the groove n¹
and the stud p will be caused to revolve about a third of a revolution for the
purpose of bringing into the path of the shuttle the loop formed by its hook-
and carried through the fabric.
During the downward movements of both the awl and the needle the
shuttle t travels in its guiding way across the machine from the position indi-
cated by black lines to the position indicated by red lines in Figure 7. As
the needle and awl commence to ascend the shuttle moves forward and passes
through the loop of the thread left in its path by the hooked needle; this
movement of the shuttle continues until the awl and needle have both reached
their uppermost positions; the needle having passed upwards through the
aperture punctured by the awl; next needle and awl again descend, and the
movements. above described, take place as before.
The shuttle while moving to pass through the loop goes in a direction
contrary to that in which the material is fed along on the platform. In con-
sequence of such a movement of the shuttle relatively to the direction of feed
of the material a better and straighter stitch is formed, and any twisting of
the threads incident to the contrary movement of the shuttle in order to pass
through the loop is avoided. But in order to tighten the loop carried through
the fabric by the hooked needle, and interlock it with the shuttle thread, I
have provided the herein-before specified arrangement of devices consisting of
the vibrating arm y¹, swivel box V₁, and pulley W¹. The operation of these
in connection with the movements of the needle and awl is as follows:-As
they are descending the vibrating arm moves from its upper position indicated
in black lines in Figure 2 to the position indicated by red lines in the said
Figure, and draws the thread from the spool and feeds it along in a slack con-
dition to the needle, but as the needle and awl ascend the arm y¹ travels back
to its original position. By this forward and backward movement of the arm
it will be observed that during the whole time occupied by the needle in its
descent the arm is drawing the thread from the spool and feeding it to the
needle, thereby keeping slack that part of the thread which is above the

page_text: material while the thread may be in the act of being pulled through the fabric.
As the needle ascends the arm, by travelling back to its starting point, draws
up and tightens the loop in the fabric. The importance of both these'
operations in the sewing of leather fabrics, like boots, shoes, harnesses, etc.,"
has been herein-before particularly set forth.
To obviate the liability of the thread becoming detached from the pulley of
the vibrating arm as it moves back and forth I have enclosed the said pulley.
within the box V', which swivels on its shaft, and thus prevents friction of the
thread in the apertures V", V".
The mechanism for feeding the material or operating the awl so as to feed
such material along in order that a seam or series of stitches may be produced:
may be thus explained:-The awl is fixed on the lower end of a pendulous.
bar g", which is placed in a recess in the awl bar, and suspended from a
pin h going through or into the said bar.. There is in the recess a spring 1.
to bear against the bar g" and move it in one direction. But in order to.
move the awl in the direction. to feed the cloth along there is, a movable
wedge bar f arranged in the recess of the awl bar and within the part.
such wedge being formed as represented in Figure 3. The said wedge bar
is placed between a projection g' and a shoulder h, the projection being
extended from the awl bar. The shoulder his formed on the pendulous
bar g", and is arranged relatively to the projection g' and the wedge bar in
manner as represented in Figure 3. There is also a cam &, or inclined part
of the part r, against which the wedge of the wedge bar is forced during its
descent, the same serving to press the bar laterally in order, to effect the
movement of the awl necessary for feeding the material the distance required
for the formation of a stitch. The length of the stitch is regulated by means
of a screw m', which screws into the part r and against the front edge of the.
wedge bar, and serves as a stop to determine the back movement of the said
bar occasioned by the spring. A set nut on the screw m¹ serves to fix the-
screw so as to prevent it from revolving at improper times. The swinging.
movement of the awl by which it feeds the material along takes place during
the descent of the awl, which after having been raised out of the material will.
be moved laterally in an opposite direction so as to again puncture the
material at the requisite point for the next entrance of the needle therein.
The wedge bar will be depressed by the action of the projection 9*, and will.
be raised by the action of the shoulder h, it remaining at rest while the latter
is being moved up to it, as well as while the former is being moved down.
to it.
The next part of the machine is the combination of mechanism for elevating

page_text: and depressing the presser foot, and for adjusting its height relatively to the
bed or platform in order to adapt it to any material to be sewed, whatever may
be its thickness. As different materials or articles differ in thickness it
becomes desirable to have a means of adjusting the presser foot to them, and
still allowing it to have determined positive motions off and on the materials.
At the end of the shaft is a cam 1, in the periphery of which the foot of a
leg m projecting from the shank n' of the presser foot of rests. The head
of the said leg is placed on or encompasses a screw q* formed on the said.
shank, and rests on a nut screwed on such screw; another set nut s* screws
on the screw and down upon the head p'. A helical spring t, enveloping the
shank of the presser foot, serves to depress such foot, the cam being for
raising it; it is by means of the nuts r, s, and the screw 9' that the distance
of the presser foot, from the bed or platform is determined and maintained.
The presser foot has to be raised preparatory to the material being fed along
for the formation of each stitch.
The next part of the machine is that for spreading the loop in order that
the shuttle may enter and pass through it; it consists of a wedge-formed
piece of metal u* fixed on the upper end of a lever v', which with its fulcrum w
is arranged as shown in the Drawings. The lower end of this lever extends
into a cam groove at formed in the needle carrier; such groove should be so
formed as by its action against the lever it will cause the wedge * to be
driven into the loop at the proper time so as to spread it in a manner to
ensure the passage of the nose of the shuttle into it, after which a spring y*,
by its reactive power, is caused to move the lever so as to force the spreader
out of the loop.
The advantages of the mechanism for operating the awl and moving it so as
to cause it to feed the cloth along for the formation of each stitch are simplicity
of construction, ease and correctness of operation, and a certainty of so
raising the awl out of the material as to prevent it from being scratched by
the awl.
The nature of my Invention, and what I claim as such, consists as follows,
that is to say,-
I claim the mechanism by which the awl is caused to feed the cloth along.
I also claim a sewing machine having a shuttle and a hooked needle, and
mechanism whereby the shuttle in order to enter the loop is made to pass
into and through the loop in a direction contrary to that in which the material
is fed along.
I also claim a combination composed not only of mechanism for elevating
and depressing the presser foot, but of mechanism for adjusting the height of

page_text: such presser foot to different altitudes above the bed or platform on which the
material to be sewed is supported.
I also claim a combination composed of a loop spreader, a shuttle, and a
hooked needle, and their operative mechanisms.
I also claim the peculiar loop-spreading mechanism as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 19th day
of December 1865.
ALBERT FRANCIS JOHNSON. (L.S.)