CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEWING ALL KINDS OF CLOTH OR OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD
BOSTWICK, of Fen Court, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Leonard Bostwick, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Leonard Bostwick, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Leonard Bostwick, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands
of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEWING ALL KINDS OF CLOTH OR OTHER MATERIALS,'
being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Leonard Bostwick,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Leonard Bostwick, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention for which I have obtained Her Majesty's Letters Patent as
aforesaid, consists of a machine of a peculiar construction, whereby cloth or
other materials may be sewn or fastened together by means of a needle and
thread. Various views of the machine are shewn in the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the machine, with
one of the side plates removed, in order to expose the internal arrangement
to view. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a transverse
section of the same taken in the line 1. . . . 2. The machine is composed
of a box or case a, a, containing a large toothed wheel b, b, which is, through
the intervention of the pinion c, driven by applying manual labour to the
winch handle d. A small toothed wheel e is also mounted in the upper part
of the framework, and gears into the large wheel b, b, as seen in Fig. 1. The
cloth or material to be operated upon is passed into the machine between the
toothed wheel e and large wheel b, and by that means is formed into doubles
or crimps, as shewn by the waving or undulating red line in Fig. 1. The
needle is held stationary by the additional pinions 9 & h and wheel i, and is
shewn detached at Fig. 4. It is made in the peculiar form shewn in the Figure
in order that it may be passed over the small pinion h, and thereby always
kept up to its work, and prevented from running out of the machine. The
pinion is actuated by causing the spur wheel k, on the axle of the wheel e,
to gear into and drive the pinion, mounted on the axle of the pinion h, outside
the box or case, as seen in the sectional plan view, Fig. 2. Upon referring
to Fig. 2 it will be seen that a groove is made in the peripheries of the large
wheel b, and small wheels and pinions e, g, h, and i, for the purpose of holding
the needle steady and in its proper position. It will be understood that the
needle is always stationary, and has an eye formed at one end at f*, as in
ordinary needles, for the purpose of holding the thread, which may either be
loose or run off from a ball or bobbin as the operation of sewing proceeds.
Thus, as the large wheel b, b, rotates, the doubles or undulations in the cloth
are formed, and are taken up by the needle, and when the work has passed
through the machine, it will be found that a running stitch has been produced.

page_text: The length of the stitch is regulated by the fineness or coarseness of the
gearing of the wheels b and e.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me as
aforesaid, and shewn the manner in which the same is or may be carried into
effect, I would observe that it will be evident to any intelligent mechanic that
the arrangement of some of the parts may be varied without departing from
the nature of the Invention. I wish it therefore to be understood that I do
not intend to confine myself precisely to the peculiar arrangement herein
shewn and described, although it has been found to work satisfactorily, and
answer the purpose exceedingly well; but having described the best means
with which I am acquainted of carrying the Invention into effect, I claim, as
the Invention secured to me under the herein-before recited Letters Patent,
the arrangement of parts herein shewn and described, or any modification
thereof, when applied for sewing cloth or other materials, particularly the
employment of a bent or curved needle as shewn, and also the method of
forming or crimping up the cloth or other materials into doubles or indenta-
tions, by means of the teeth of wheels and pinions, and thereby passing the
said cloth or other materials so doubled on to the needle, and from thence to
the thread.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Bostwick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eicht hundred and forty-four