Improvements in Seam Ripping or Cutting Devices, chiefly Designed for Sewing Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Jan., 1898-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
"
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by FRANK ARTHUR REYNOLDS and STEPHEN HARTt
MANNING, both of Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine, and HERSCHEL
CLIFFORD PARKER, of Brooklyn, King's County, New York, all in the United
States of America.]
Improvements in Seam Ripping or Cutting Devices, chiefly Designed
for Sewing Machines.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 that class of devices which are used
for ripping seams or cutting material, and the object of the invention is to produce
a very simple, cheap and practical device; which can be used to advantage as an
attachment to an ordinary sewing machine, or which, if desired, can be used
independently, which will fit any sewing machine so as to be run conveniently
from the fly-wheel, which can be attached while the machine is in motion so as to
make it adaptable for shop purposes where the sewing machine is run by power,
which can be quickly and securely clamped to the machine or other support, and
which when in operation works very rapidly and with no danger of injuring the
operator or the material being operated on.
To these ends the invention consists of a ripping device, the construction and
arrangement of which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all
the views.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the device as applied to an ordinary sewing machine,
a portion of the driving band being broken away;
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device, showing the means for operating the
knife, and
Figure 3 is a side elevation taken from the opposite side to that illustrated in
Figure 2.
The device has a suitable frame or base 10, which is adapted to sit upright
on any convenient support, being particularly adapted for attachment to a sewing
machine table or bed, and this frame 10 can be of any approved shape or con-
struction, and, as illustrated, has a laterally extending slotted arm 11, which is
adapted to receive a clamping screw 12, and by the screw be fastened securely to
the table 13 of a sewing machine or to any other suitable support.
The front of the frame 10 merges in a shield or guard 14, which is preferably

page_text: concaved slightly from top to bottom so as to provide for the knife to be presently
referred to, and which is convex in cross section, as shown in Figure I, so that
the material can be readily applied to the knife and parted conveniently in order
that the knife may work to the best possible advantage.
The guard 14 has a vertical slot 15, through which projects the edge 16 of the
oscillating knife 17, and the slotted guard 14 thus serves as a guide for the knife
so that the latter moves regularly in a vertical plane and cannot be readily dis-
placed, while the knife by being arranged so as to project slightly through the
guard, as shown in the drawing, is enabled to cut the material to advantage, but
without danger of injuring either the material or the fingers of the operator.
The knife can be moved in several ways without affecting the principle of the
invention, but it is found that it cuts best with an oscillating motion, and to this
end the knife is pivoted on a screw 18 or equivalent fulcrum, which is fastened
to the frame 10, and the knife has a projecting rear end with a longitudinal slot 19
therein, which receives and is actuated by a crank 20 on the disc 21, this disc being
carried by the shaft 22, which is journaled on the frame 10 and driven by
pulley 23. Obviously, the crank 20 may form a part of the shaft 22, and it will
be understood that the knife may also be driven in any other well-known manner
without departing from the principle of the invention.
The pulley 23 is preferably a grooved, pulley having a friction band 24, prefer-
ably of rubber, thereon, and by bringing this band into frictional contact with a
fly-wheel 25 of a sewing machine the pulley 23 and crank shaft 22 are rapidly
driven, and the crank 20 acting on the knife 17 rapidly oscillates the latter on its
pivot 18 so that the edge 16 cuts rapidly into the material which is brought
against it. Instead of using the band 24 a belt 26 can be applied to the pulley 23,
as shown in Figure 3, and the operation is exactly as already described.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the device can be very
easily applied to any ordinary sewing machine, or that it can be used indepen-
dently if preferred, and that in either case the knife can be made to cut rapidly
and with little danger to either operator or material.
The construction of the frame or support 10 can be departed from, but the form
shown is particularly appropriate and very cheap and substantial. This frame is,
therefore, made the subject of a claim, but the invention is not limited to any
particular form of frame or support.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in- 3
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to. me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. A ripping device, comprising a frame having an upright web and a verti-
cally-slotted laterally-spreading guard at its forward edge, a knife pivoted to the
web so as to oscillate thereon, and having its cutting edge projecting through the 4
alot of the guard, and means for imparting motion to the knife, substantially as
described.
2. A device of the kind described, comprising a supporting frame, having a
vertical web provided with a curved or beveled forward edge, and a wing or exten-
sion on one side thereof forming a continuation of the beveled forward edge of the 4
web and extending in an opposite direction thereto so as to provide a guard to
spread the material to be cut and to protect the operator, said guard being verti-
cally slotted at the junction of the wing and web, a knife having its cutting edge
projecting through the slot in the guard, and means for operating the knife,
substantially as described.
3. A device of the kind described, comprising a frame or support having at
one edge a slotted guard, an oscillating knife fulcrumed on the support and having
its edge projecting through the guard, the knife having a slotted rear end, a
crank shaft journaled on the support and having its crank extending into the slot
of the knife, and means for rotating the crank shaft, substantially as described.
4. A device of the kind described, having its several parts, constructed and
1,
5
5

page_text: arranged substantially as shown in the accompanying drawings and described in
the foregoing specification.
Dated this 4th day of January 1908
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
46, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.