IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Lobstein, of No. 36, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Mechanical Draughtman, &c., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 16th May 1856, and dated the 24th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Lobstein at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
· November 1855.
I, JEAN LOBSTEIN, of Paris, 36, Rue de l'Echiquier, Mechanical Draught-
man, do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES, to be as follows:-
The improvements of my sewing machine consists in the new combination
of certain organs, by means of which the following results are obtained:
1. All kinds of objects can be sewed with it, whether they be flat or
tubular, and whether they be closed or not at one end, provided they can be
placed upon the sewing box of the machine. The object to be sewn can
be stitched in any direction, whatever its shape may be, without the necessity
of turning it round the needle or of shifting it on the box.
2°. A particular disposition which permits the employment of shuttles of
several lengths in the same machine by shifting the axis of the lever which
actuates the shuttle driver.

page_text: 3°. A special contrivance for slacking the thread between the bobbin and
the needle during the passage of the shuttle, so as to prevent the thread being
broken during that passage.
4°. Lastly, to be able to vary the length of the stitch in the same machine.
The annexed Drawing is a side elevation of my sewing machine, in which
only a portion of the frame is represented, with the chief working pieces.
A, A, cast-iron frame of the machine; B, B, brass case or seat on which
the article to be sewed is placed; the shuttle 6 plays within and in the fore
part of the said box. c, c, screw bolts on which the box B is placed and
united with the frane; D, D, main shaft, which actuates the shuttle b, the
needle I, I, the squeezer R, R, and the thread supplied by the bobbin T.
The shuttle is driven by the shuttle driver F, F, which is itself actuated by
a crank and shaft e, E, e', impelled by a friction roller e sliding in the groove
d, d, of a cam D'. The crank and shaft may be adjusted so that its travelling
motion may be varied for actuating shuttles of several lengths. The sewing
needle I, I, is held in a slider G, which is split, and allows the said needle to
be easily removed; the slider G is actuated by the handle or crank h, h.
H, conical friction wheel; J, J, rod connecting the handle to the slider G,
which moves in a guide K, K. The course of the needle is regulated by
the position of the bolt from the centre of the wheel H. R, stuff holder
or squeezer, actuated by the shaft N, N', which shaft has a handle on rollers
9, which carries along the frame r, r, in its motion. This frame is formed by
the upper part of the stuff squeezer, which may freely revolve round the
moveable shaft ; its course may be regulated by the shifting of the ring r¹¹
on the piece K; this course gives the length of the stitch. The support P, P,
of the shaft N, placed on the vertical shaft L of the friction wheel M, allows
any direction to be given to the shaft N round L; a helical spring bearing on
tlic support P brings the friction wheel O in contact with M. This spring
may be slacked at pleasure for stopping the motion. The thread from the
bobbin M passes round a guiding pin u before entering the eye of the needle I;
it may be wound round the guide, in order to increase its stretch and tighten
the stitch as much as required. When the thread leaves u it is wound on
the crank pin h' of the crank h, ', which pin compels it to unwind itself of a
length equal to that of the circumference travelled over by h¹, so that the
thread unwound from the bobbin T is on the stretch only when the needle
reaches the top of its course for tightening the stitch, and during the passage
of the shuttle in the loop formed by it underneath, this thread is unstretched,
and is not exposed to be broken by the passage of the shuttle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Lobstein in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
LOBSTEIN, of No. 36, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Mechanical Draughtsman, &c.,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givo and grant unto
me, the said Jean Lobstein, Her special licence that I, the said Jean
Lobstein, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Jean Lobstein, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Jean Lobstein, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Lobstein, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
With this new system of sewing machine it is possible to perform sewing
operations that could not be done with those hitherto in use; for instance,
tubular pieces, either open at both ends or at one end only. The sewing can
be made either in a straight, zig-zag, or curvilinear shape, and even when the
curve is very sharp the sewing can be done without moving the article round
the needle, as is the case with the other sewing machines. In my machine,
instead of turning the article to be sewn round the machine when a curvilinear
sewing is required, it is the cloth holder which is moved round the needle, so
as to drive it in the direction of the required curve. This portion of my
machine constitutes one of my chief improvements, and it is thereby distin-

page_text: guished from all other sewing machines in which the shuttle makes a stitch
similar in both sides of the seam, but in which the piece corresponding to the
cloth bearer of my machine has only an invariable motion, so that such
machines cannot work under the same conditions as my machine, which, on.
tho contrary, can. perform the same. flat "work (for example) as the other
machines by. merely placing a sewing board on the work.box.
The annexed Drawing illustrates my sewing machine, the same pieces or
organs being represented by the same letters in all the Figures.
Figure 1, side elevation of my machine; Figure 2, plan; Figure 3, front
elevation; Figure 4, plan of a horizontal section of the work box;. Figure 5,
front elevation of tlie cloth squeezer. or holder; Figure. 6, plan of the same
picce; Figure 7, front view of the stand or support of the same; Figure 8,
plan of the said support; Figure 9,. plan of a horizontal section of the same;
Figure 10, front elevation of the sewing guide and its support; Figure 11,
plan of the same; Figure 12, vertical section through: the frame of the
machine before the..cam which actuates the thread stretcher; Figure: 13,
grooved eccentric, in which the roller of the needle holder slides; Figure 14,
course marked by the grooved cam which actuates the thread .'stretcher;
Figure (15,. course marked by the grooved cam which actuates the shuttle.
A, A, A, frame stand of the machine, the footing of which a, a,. is fastened
on a bench or working table; B, B, work box on which the stuff or piece to
be sewn is placed; b, shuttle; F, f, shuttle driver; e', e', its lever; I, needle;
K', needle holder; K, K, guide of the needle holder; R, stuff:squeezer or
holder; N, N', its shaft;. 1, its centre of motion; h¹, h¹, h¹, stretcher for
tightening the stitch; p', p", sewing guide; p, p, its bearing; D, main driving
shaft carrying the fly wheel V; the handle i is fastened on one of the arms
of that fly wheel, which is set in motion either by hand or by a treadle m.
d, d, eccentric groove of. a cain or wheel D¹, which actuates the shuttle 6 by
means of the lever e, e, oscillating on the centre E, and of the shuttle driver
F; U, grooved cam actuating the stretcher h', h¹, by means of the. lever
u, u, u O, M, H, bevel wheels for moving. the stuff holder; h,'h, grooved
eccentric for the motion of the needle; q, roller fixed on the wheel O,
revolving round the axle N, N, of the stuff holder; it runs within the recess
1, r, of the said stuff holder, giving to the latter a suitable motion, in order to
cause the stuff or work to be sewn to progress on the work box B. The
motion of the stuff holder is regulated by the adjusting screw p" (Figure 7),
against which the former is held by the spring (Figure 5). . The spiral
spring, r, forces the stuff holder down upon the. work; the small stopping
lever, is used for lifting up the stuff' holder when it is required,. either

page_text: for introducing a new piece to be sewn or for removing it. P, stand or
support of the stuff holder; this support carrying its axle and centre of motion
21, is made to revolve at its upper and lower parts around the axis of the
needle; it slides outwards over the disk or bearing, cast together with
the frame A, and can be fixed at any part of the said disk when it is required
to sew in a straight direction; for this purpose there is a mortice cut through
the disk, into which a bolt s is engaged, this bolt is carried by the support P;
a handle S is screwed on the bolt s; when it is screwed tight, the support
P of the stuff holder remains steady, then the stuff holder moving in an
invariable direction causes the stuff to move forward in a
the feeding bobbin of thread for the needle.
straight line. T is
The chief organs of the machine are the needle, shuttle, stuff squeezer or
holder, thread stretcher, and sewing guide. The motions of the needle,
shuttle, stuff holder, and thread stretcher are combined, so as to operate in the
following manner:-The needle moves downwards with a regular or uniform
motion, which is not the case with its upward motion; it moves at first a
little up, so that its thread may form a loop; the shuttle remains motionless
during this time, but as soon as the loop has been formed, the needle stops in
its upward motion, and the shuttle passes through the loop; as soon as the
shuttle has performed this passage it remains motionless, whilst the needle
keeps its upward motion; but before this latter has arrived at his highest
pitch the shuttle begins moving back to its former position; such are the
relative motions of the needle and shuttle. The motion of the stuff holder is
in relation with that of the needle; the stuff-holder always causes the stuff
to move forward when the needle is out and quite up. As to the thread
stretcher h', h', which brings the thread from the bobbin T to the needle I, its
motion is also corresponding with the motion of the shuttle, so that when the
shuttle is near passing through the loop of the thread of the needle this thread
is drawn from the bobbin of such a length as not to cause any hindrance to
the passage of the shuttle, and that as soon as the shuttle is through this
thread it is again tightened by the stretcher. It is during the last period of
the retrograde or back motion of the stretcher that the friction of a suitable
length of thread is operated for the purpose of forming a stitch; the small
pincer h fixed on the stretcher allows the stitch to be tightened at pleasure,
which is very advantageous for sewing machines. Another advantage is
derived from a new contrivance for guiding the piece to be sewn; with this
guiding piece p', p", the attendant of the machine, even though he may not be
very skilful, can make stitches perfectly parallel to one another or to the edge
of the cloth to be sewn. An adjusting screw allows the regulating of the

page_text: height of the sewing guiding piece so as to suit the thickness of the work,
and another similar screw v¹ allows the regulating of the stitching being in
parallell lines. This guiding piece is disposed so as to act or press in the same
direction as the stuff holder, since its bearing p, p, is fixed on the support P,
which carries the latter..
My Invention being now described, and all the organs thereof represented
in the annexed Drawing, I wish it to be well understood that I do not
restrain myself to the particular dispositions of the said organs such as they
are represented, and which can be modified if required in order that the
machine may realize all the working advantages alluded to.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Lobstein, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Signed and sealed in the presence of the witness,
L. D'AUBREVILLE,
Civil Engineer.
J. LOBSTEIN. (L.S.)