IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. Michael Henry at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th May
1866. A communication from abroad by Joseph Reimann, of 33,
Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES," communicated to me from abroad by Joseph Reimann,
of 38, Boulevart Saint Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, first, to an improved mode of mounting the presser
or foot and the parts which drive it, and which according to this improvement
are mounted on a large shaft held in its bearings by a screw or nut so as to
be readily put into and taken out of place; secondly, to an improved feed
action; thirdly, to an improved hook or second needle so acting on the thread
as to form a strong stitch; and, fourthly, to an appliance for raising the thread
after each stitch.
Connected with the disc which is on the driving shaft, and which carries
the arm which works the needle bar, are two cams, one works a roller
and arm and thus drives a rod which traverses the machine, and thus
gives to the foot the back motion, the other cam acts on a roller and a bent
piece which raises and disengages a spring from the foot. The foot works
in a bar or frame mounted at its upper end on a shaft held in a bearing by a
nut which is unscrewed in order to facilitate the taking of the parts to pieces.

page_text: The lever which works the foot and the piece which lifts the spring are also
mounted on a shaft held by a nut for a like purpose. On the frame is a socket
which receives a rod carrying a roller which bears on a cam on the driving shaft;
it also carries a head or lug through which passes a rod for raising the thread.
The travel of the rod is adjustable by a screw so as to regulate the supply of thread.
The roller may be kept.in contact with the cam by a spring or by working it
in a cam path on the driving shaft. The shuttle or hook needle is worked by
a crank arm connected with the driving pulley and with a toothed sector
which works a pinion, and a shaft which ends in a hook having two branches
turning in opposite directions, and which twists the back part of the loop
forward and the fore part backward and thus gives the needle thread a
twist around the shuttle thread, which strengthens the stitch because the
shuttle thread slants at each stitch on the reverse of the fabric, whereas the
seam on the right side is straight; the hook turns on a piece which receives
the box in which the lower bobbin is held by a plate and spring. When the
driving shaft revolves the needle bar is depressed and passes the needle
through the fabric and then below. When the needle bar rises it takes the
needle with it, and the hook being worked by the sector and toothed wheel
passes through the loop, and owing to its peculiar shape and its twisting
action it holds the thread open and brings the front part of the loop back
and the back part forward, as above stated; the thread is thus brought round
the box of the lower bobbin, whereupon the piece which lifts the upper
thread acts and brings the lower thread against the fabric; meanwhile the
feed action lever works the foot and moves the fabric the length of a stitch,
which is regulated by a screw, the bent piece being actuated by the cam
raises the foot spring and allows another spring to restore the foot to position.