Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 1st Apr.. 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 11th May, 1889
We, GEORGE EDWARDES FRITCHE, L.D.S., of No. 59, Berners Street, Oxford Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Dental Surgeon, and JAMES FERGUSON, of No. 52, Grea
Tower Street, in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of thi
invention to be as follows :-
Our invention relates to improvements in thimbles used as a protection to the finger
in sewing; and has more particular reference to a means by which the protection
afforded by the ordinary thimble to the finger on which it is worn, i.e., the second:
finger, can be extended to the neighbouring, i.e., the index and the third fingers.
It is a matter of common experience amongst seamstresses that, unless the surface
of the thimble is as good as new, the head of the needle will slip from its seat, i.e., one
of the indentations in the surface of the thimble, and wound either the index or the
third finger, according to the direction of the slip.
Our invention enables us to prevent the occurence of accidents such as we have
described, by adding a wing, shield, or guard, to the periphery of the thimble.
The said wing or shield. is. not high enough to inconvenience the index or other
fingers, and its ends are returned so as to prevent the needle-head slipping past the
ends or the surface of the shield.
We do not confine ourselves to the exact position of the wing or shield upon the
thimble, but may vary the same to suit the different habits of seamstresses, inasmuch
as some needlewomen drive the.needle from one portion of the thimble-surface, while.
others will (simply from habit) use another portion.
More than one wing or shield may be fitted to one thimble, and they may be
adjustable thereupon.
S

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Thimbles.
We, GEORGE EDWARDES FRITURE, L.D.S., of No. 59, Berners Street, Oxford
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Dental Surgeon, and JAMES FERGUSON, of No. 52,
Great Tower Street, in the City of London, Merchant, 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 :-
!
Our invention relates to improvements in thimbles used as a protection to the finger
in sewing; and has more particular reference to a means by which the protection
afforded by the ordinary thimble to the finger on which it is worn, i.e., the second
finger, can be extended to the neighbouring,-i.e., the index, and the third,-fingers
of the same hand, as well as to the fingers of the left hand also.
It is a matter of common experience among seamstresses, that unless the surface of
the thimble is as good as new, the head of the needle will slip from its seat, i.e., one
of the indentations in the surface of the thimble, and wound either the index or the
third finger of the right hand, or the index and second finger of the left hand,
according to the direction of the slip.
Our invention enables us to prevent the occurence of accidents, such as we have
described, by adding a wing, shield, or guard, to the periphery of the thimble.
The said wing or shield is worn on the top of the finger so that it will not
inconvenience the index or other fingers; and its ends are returned so as to prevent
the needle-head slipping past the ends, or the surface, of the shield.
We do not confine ourselves to the exact position of the wing or shield upon the
thimble, but may vary the same to suit the different habits of seamstresses, inasmuch
as, some needlewomen drive the needle from one portion of the thimble-surface, while :
others will, simply from habit, use another portion.
More than one wing or shield may be fitted to one thimble, and they may be
adjustable thereupon.
We will now describe the details of our invention, referring in so doing to the
accompanying drawing which is to be taken as part of this specification and read
therewith.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a thimble furnished with a fast wing or shield.
Fig. 2 is a plan thereof.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the use of our invention.
Fig. 4 is a plan of a thimble furnished with three wings or shields.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, illustrating a thimble made
according to our invention, with an adjustable shield.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, A is the ordinary thimble; and a is the wing or
shield soldered thereto. The general direction of this wing or shield is shewn as being
at an angle with the axis of the thimble; and the central part a' of the wing is not
radial to the thimble, but is set in a plane parallel with a diameter thereof. The
returned ends a², a², as well as their adaptability to prevent the needle slipping past
the wing, should it slip from its indentation, are clearly perceptible in Fig. 3.

page_text: The unadjustable wings illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 are fixed by soldering, or other
equivalent process adapted to leave no opening between the wing and the thimble.
Referring to Fig. 4, the three wings a are counterparts of each other, and are set on
the thimble at equal distances apart.
Referring to Fig. 5, the cap b of the thimble is not fixed to the body b', but these
are tenoned and grooved so as to embrace, the one the other, thereby effectually
connecting them to each other, but leaving either free to be rotated about the common
axis.
The wing a is soldered or otherwise fixed by one end a² to the cap b, while its
opposite end engages in a groove formed in the thimble-body. Any suitable device,
e.g., a small set screw c. may be adopted for the purpose of holding the shield in
position after adjustment.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A wing or guard upon a thimble as set forth.
2. The combination of thimble and wing or guard as set forth.
3. The combination of thimble and wings or guards as set forth.
4. The combination of thimble body and cap, adapted to be rotated about each other
by being engaged with each other. and a guard. as set forth.
Dated this 1st day of April 1889.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.