Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 16th May, 1888
Complete Accepted, 22nd June, 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
I, FREDERIC OLDERSHAW JERRAM of 14, Lower Breck Road, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Foreman Tailor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention.
to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to provide a sewing machine in which two rows
of stitches may be sewn parallel to each other, and at any required reasonable distance
apart.
In carrying out my invention, I provide two shuttles made to reciprocate in carriers
in the ordinary manner, but made right and left handed so as to reciprocate face to
face. The plate against which they slide as generally provided in sewing machines, is
provided with grooves or slots for the needles. This plate is made in two pieces, so
that the distance of the slots from each other is adjustable. In machines for sewing
double rows of stitches with which I am acquainted, one of the needles is in advance
of the other one. In my machine, however, the shuttles being placed face to face,.
the needles can be attached almost in the same line, one of them being only very
slightly in advance of the other. The two needles are attached to the needle rod, in
such manner as to be adjustable as regards their distance apart. The cloth or needle-
plate or table is made in two parts, one part being conveniently fixed, the other part
adjustable in the same direction as the shuttles oscillate. The presser foot is likewise
made adjustable in the same direction. The material to be sewn is fed into the
machine at right angles to the direction of the oscillation of the shuttles. The needles
are set at the required distance apart, and the cloth or needle plate presser foot, and
shuttle plate are adjusted thereto. The shuttles are conveniently carried in cradles or
what are sometimes known as "pitmans," or their equivalent, so arranged that one or
both of them are made to slide when required on the shuttle carrier. When the
distance between the rows of stitches is altered, the position of one of the cradles with.
its shuttle is altered on its carrier so as without altering the length of stroke it may
remain in the same position relatively as the movable needle. The needles are in or
nearly in the same line, each row of stitches is commenced and finished almost at the
same moment. It is evident that if desired, one of the needles may be removed, and
the machine used for single rows of stitches. The invention is applicable for other
machines besides those known as lock stitch machines.
In the model machine, which I have constructed in accordance with the invention,
one of the needles is attached in the ordinary manner to the needle rod or bar. At or

page_text: near the lower extremity of the rod,
provide a bracket or holder pivoted to the
needle bar. This bracket is provided with a sliding block to which the movable
needle may be clamped so as to be easily removable, and can be shifted by means of a
screw from or towards the fixed needle on the needle rod. The screw may be easily
turned by the operator, and can havo for this purpose a head, nipple or its equivalent;
or may have a square end for turning with a key. The bracket is so pivoted or
attached to the needle bar that the needles are nearly in the same line, and in the
required position in relation to the shuttles. When it is desired to alter the distance
of the stitches apart, the movable needle can be shifted in its bracket by means of
the screw until it is the required distance from the fixed needle. When the machine
is required for sewing single rows of stitches instead of double rows the needle need
not be removed, but the bracket is turned on its pivot, and the needle is therefore no
longer vertical and cannot enter the material which is being sewn. The bracket is
provided with a spring catch or its equivalent for holding the needle in or out of
engagement with the material, or the pivot may be tightened and the bracket
thus clamped. In place of the bracket I can provide an arm or foot near the
lower extremity of the rod provided with a number of grooves or notches close
together, in one of which the second needle may be clamped at the required
distance from the fixed needle. When it is desired to alter the distance of the
stitches apart, the movable needle is unclamped and moved into another groove
the required distance from the fixed needle. The needle may be removed altogether
when single rows of stitches are required to be sewn. The needle plate or table
on which the material to be sewn is placed is made in two parts, one part fixed
with its needle hole under the fixed needle. The other part is made to slide on the
shuttle or dividing plate, or in other convenient manner, so that when the movable
needle is shifted the plate may also be moved a corresponding distance. A portion
of the plate may extend underneath the feeding plate so that no open space is left
when the plate is adjusted to the widest row of stitches. The feed plate is made
to feed at the front, back and sides, for this purpose it is made open and the needle
plates which rest on the shuttle plate placed within it. The throw or movement of
the shuttle is in the same direction as the movement of the sliding cloth plate and
may be equal to the greatest distance between the rows of stitches which are
required to be sewn; but I prefer to make one of the shuttles so as to be
adjustable by means of its cradle on the carrier and thus fix it in the required
position as before described. When therefore two rows of stitches are sewn very
closely together the shuttles will be nearly abreast, but when the distance between
the rows is increased, then one of the shuttles is moved the required distance on
its carrier, the throw or stroke of the same remaining of course unaltered. The
shuttle or dividing plate against which the right and left handed shuttles slide is
made as thin as possible. One part is preferably fixed, the other part is made to
slide with the needle or cloth plate, or if desired may be moved separately and
provided with graduations corresponding with similar graduations on the needle
plate so that it may be readily moved an equal distance. If desired, I may make the
dividing plate fixed with a number of needle grooves at convenient distances apart. .I
provide one or preferably two cloth pressers, attached in any convenient manner to
the presser bar of the machine. If two are provided, one is preferably attached to
an arm or foot provided at the lower extremity of the presser bar.
If desired, four or more shuttles, needles etcetera may be used so as to produce
four or more rows of stitches.
Dated thin 90 day of Ocalan 1007
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
⚫ Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, FREDERIC OLDERSHAW JERRAM, of 14, Lower Breck Road, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Foreman Tailor, 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in sewing machines, the object of the
improvements being to provide a sewing machine in which two or more parallel rows
of stitches may be sewn at the same time, and at any required reasonable distance
apart.
The manner in which I attain this object may be best illustrated by reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which,
Figure 1, is a front elevation, partly in section of a sewing machine constructed in
accordance with my invention.
Figure 2, is a plan of a portion of the bed of the said machine, with the cover
plate sand feed plate removed.
Figure 3, is a transverse section along the line x, x, Figure 2.
In the preceding figures only so much of the mechanism is shown as is necessary
to illustrate my invention, the manner of working the needle-bar, shuttle-carrier, and
feed plate being the same as in any ordinary sewing machine.
Figure 4, is a side elevation of the lower end of the needle bar, with the adjustable
needle holder removed.
Figure 5, is a similar view with the needles and needle holders in position for
sewing a double row of stitchics.
Figure 6, is a similar view showing the position of the needles and holders, when
the machine is being used to sew a single row of stitches only.
Figures 7, & S, are plan and transverse section (on an enlarged scale) of the adjust-
able presser foot.
Figure 9, is a plan of a portion of the machine bed showing the form and arrange-
ment of my improved feed plate and cloth plate.
.
Figure 10, shows (in plan) the two parts of the combined needle plate and dividing
plate taken asunder.
Figure 11, is an enlarged section (along line y, y, Figure 1,) of the needle holders
and needle bar.
Figures 12, and 13, details of same to the same scale.
Figure 14, shows a simple form of holder for the second needle.
Figure 15, a modification of a needle-bar and holder.
In these A is the bed of the machine.
B the arm of same.
C the face
plate, and D the needle bar, provided with the usual slack thread pin d. C, and C²
are two take-up levers of ordinary construction, one for each needle, which work
through slots in the face plate C. C³ and C³ are two tension studs, one for each
needle.

page_text: The two needles E and F are attached to the needle bar D in such a manner as to
be adjustable as regards their distance apart, the material to be sewn being fed below
the needles in the direction of the arrow on Figure 2.
In machines for sewing double rows of stitches with which I am acquainted, one
of the needles is considerably in advance of the other one. In my machine however,
by a particular arrangement of shuttles hereinafter described, the needles E, F, can
be attached almost in the same line, one of them being only very slightly in advance
of the other as seen in Figure 5. As a consequence of this, both rows of stitches are
commenced and finished almost at the same moment.
In the drawings one of the needles E (hereinafter called the fixed needle) is attached
in the ordinary manner to the needle bar D, being laid in a groove e therein and
clamped by a plate e¹ and screw e² (see Figure 11.) The other one F (hereinafter
called the movable needle) is similarly located in and clamped to a sliding block
carrier or holder F', which is adjustable horizontally in the bracket F in a direction
at right angles to the rows of stitches. The position of the holder F¹ in the
bracket F, that is the position of the moveable needle F relative to the fixed needle E
may be adjusted to a nicety by means of the screw spindle f, and thumb wheel f¹.
The needle F depends from a projecting flange f2 of the holder f1 (Figure 11).
When the holder is screwed close up against the needle bar this flange f extends into
the recess d therein, and thus renders possible to bring the needles very close
together and to sew two rows of stitches at a very short distance apart. The extreme
distance apart at which two rows of stitches may be sewn simultaneously depends of
course upon the length of travel of the holder in the bracket F2: The bracket F
is mounted on the lower end of the needle bar D and is adapted to swivel
therein in the direction of the rows of stitches and away from the operator, so
that when it is required to sew a single row of stitches ouly the movable needle
may be instantly turned up out of the way as shewn in Figure 6. A'stud F3 on
the bracket F2 passes through the lower end of the needle bar and serves as a pivot
on which the said bracket may swivel. As seen by Figures 12 and 13 the stud F³ is
formed in two pieces, the outer piece F being provided with an enlarged screw
head, by which it is screwed over the reduced screwed end of the inner piece, the two
together forming one cylindrical pivot. The outer piece F is made of such a
length, that when it is screwed tight against the shoulder F' of the inner piece,
its screw head will bear on the side of the needle bar D, thus preventing any longi-
tudinal play of the bracket on the needle bar, while leaving the former free to
turn on its pivot. When the movable needle is in use the shoulder f³, of the
bracket F2 (Figure 12) rests in the recess d² (Figure 4) in the needle bar, and the
flange bears against the side of the said bar and takes up a portion of the thrust
due to the needle penetrating the cloth. When in position for working and also
when turned up out the way (as shown in Figure 6) the bracket, F2, is securely
locked by the bolt 3 which passes through a hole d (Figure 4) in the needle bar,
and enters corresponding holes in the bracket. The bolt is attached to the end of a
flat spring and is actuated by a small finger catch d. In place of the bracket F,
I can provide (as shown in Figure 14) an arm or foot Fe near the lower extremity of
the needle bar D provided with a number of grooves or notches F7 close together, in
one of which the second or movable needle F may be clamped by a similarly
notched plate and screws f, at the required distance from the fixed needle E. In
this case if it were desired to alter the distance of the stitches apart, the movable
needle would be unclamped and moved into another groove the required distance
from the fixed needle, and the former needle would be removed altogether when
single rows of stitches were required to be sewn.
In place of arranging the needle bar and needle holder in the manner above
described, I may make the needle bar in two pieces D, D', as set forth in Figure 15.
D, as before, carries the fixed needle E, D¹ the moveable needle F. Needle bar D'
slides loosely in the face plate C, and upon the face of needle bar D, except when
connected thereto by the insertion of a pin D2. If only one needle E be required,
pin D² is withdrawn, slide D¹ drawn up till it is in the position shown in dotted lines,

page_text: and pin D, inserted through a hole in the face plate into a hole D³ as shown in
dotted lines at D*.
G is the presser foot which is attached to, or formed in one with the ordinary
presser bar G', the latter being placed at such a distance from the needle bar as to
allow the needle F to be turned up clear of it (see dotted lines Figure 6). The presser
foot is much wider than in ordinary machines so that it may extend below both needles.
It is provided with two holes g, and gl, Figures 7 & 8, through which the needles E
to F pass. The hole g is permanently situated below the fixed needle E, while the
hole g¹ is formed in a sliding block G2, which may bo adjusted in a slot G³ within the
presser foot to suit the various positions of the needle F, being afterwards clamped by
the set-screw g².
Referring to figures 2 and 10:.
The cloth plate or needle plate is made in two parts H and I hereinafter termed the
fixed needle plate and the movable needle plate. The fixed needle plate H has in it
the usual needle hole h, through which the needle E passes, and is fixed permanently
below the said needle. The needle plato I is movable within the slot H' of the needle
plate H in the same direction as that in which the needle Fand presser foot block G³
are adjustable, and is provided with a needle hole through which the said needle may
pass. The way in which the movable needle plate I is adjusted will be hereinafter
described.
The shuttle plate or dividing plate against which the shuttle works, and which is
hereinafter called the shuttle plate is made in two pieces J and K. One piece J is
fixed below the bed of the machine being retained in position by ribs j, j, and cross
bars The other piece K is capable of being adjusted in the same direction as
the movable needle F, and lies in close contact with the fixed plate J. The outer end
of the plate K is held against the plate J by means of a large headed bolt, whose
head, rests against the outside of the plate J, its rectangular neck passing through
and working in slot (Figure 1) therein, and its cylindrical stem passing through the
plate K and being secured thereto, by a nut 12 (Figures 2 and 3) or its equivalent.
The position of the plate K is adjusted by means of the thumb wheel 3, and the
screwed spindle the latter being retained in a suitable bearing in the bed flange A',
and its screwed end passing through and working in a similarly screwed hole in the
bolt head . The inner end of the plate K is maintained in contact with the plate J
by means of the shallow bevelled edged groove J', within which it slides. The fixed
needle plate H is attached to or formed in one with, the fixed shuttle plate J, and the
movable needle plate I is formed in one with, or rigidly attached to, the movable
shuttle plate K, being adjusted by the movement of the same, though if preferred, it
might be made separate from the plate K, and have an independent adjusting device.
Below each needle hole h, i, and cut in the outer surfaces of the shuttle plates J, K,
are the usual needle grooves h¹,, Figure 1, the one, ³, being fixed, and the other,
being of course adjustable with the plates I and K. The shuttle plates J, K, are made
as thin as possible so that the distance between their shuttle faces is reduced to a
minimum and the needles can consequently be placed almost in a line.
The two shuttles L and M are carried in the usual manner in cradles L' and M'.
Both these cradles are mounted on the carrier N, which is caused to reciprocate in
guides N³ in a direction at right angles to the rows of stitches, and is actuated in the
usual manner by a pitman O working on a stud N¹. The shuttles are made right and
left handed so as to reciprocate face to face against the shuttle plates as shown in
Figure 2. The cradle L carrying the shuttle L is fixed rigidly to the carrier N
while the cradle M with the shuttle M is made adjustable thereon in the same
direction, as the needle F. The cradle M' is fixed to or forms part of a sole plate M²,
which slides in a shallow groove in the carrier N, and against its flange N², as seen in
Figure 3. This sole plate is provided with a longitudinal slot m through which a
pinching screw n passes, by which the plate is secured in position when adjusted. The
top edge of the cradle M or of the flange N2 is graduated, so that the position of
the shuttle M relative to the needle can be adjusted to a nicety. When the
distance between the rows of stitches is altered, the position of the cradle M' with

page_text: •
its shuttle M is altered on the carrier N so that without altering the length of
stroke of the latter, the shuttles may remain in the same position relatively as the
needles. The greatest amount of adjustment of which the shuttle M is capable is
equal to the greatest distance between the rows of stitches which are required to
be sewn.
When two rows of stitches are sewn very closely together the shuttles
will be nearly abreast, but when the distance between the rows is increased then
the shuttlo M is moved the required distance on its carrier N, the throw or stroke
of the latter remaining, of course, unaltered.
The feed plate P, as shown in Figures 1, 3 and 9 is made to feed at the front,
back and sides and for this purpose it is made open and the needle plates H
and I placed within it.
The mode of actuating the feed plate is the same as used in ordinary machines.
If desired four or more shuttles, needles, etcetera may be used so as to produce
four or more rows of stitches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1st. In a sewing machine for sewing two rows of stitches at the same time, a
needle fixed in the needle bar in one position, and a second needle so carried by
mechanism on the needle bar that the horizontal distance between the two needles can
be exactly adjusted to any desired distance within considerable limits, substantially as
described, also the mechanism for carrying and adjusting the movable needle,
substantially as described and illustrated.
2nd. The arrangements for throwing the second needle in and out of gear, substan-
tially as described and illustrated in Figure 15.
Brd. The feed plate surrounding the needles on all sides, substantially as described.
4th. In a two needle sewing machine, the combination of one shuttle plate sliding
on the other, back to back, substantially as described.
5th. In a two needle sewing machine, the arrangement of a shuttle cradle for the
movable needle, adjustable on the actuating mechanism to which the cradle for
the shuttle of the stationary needle is fixed.
6th. The two needle sewing machine having the shuttle plate, shuttle cradle and
other parts specially operative with the movable needle, adjustable transversely to the
line of stitches upon the corresponding parts operative with the fixed needle, or upon
the operating parts to which they are fixed substantially as described and illustrated
in the annexed drawings.
Dated this 15th day of May 1800.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.