Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Nov., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 21st Dec., 1889-Accepted, 18th Jan., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
JOSEPH BUCHANAN ROBERTSON, Sewing Machine Mechanic, 184 Grosvenor Street,
Belfast, County of Antrim, Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to make sewing machines of moro practical utility,
and in order to fully comprehend the meaning and advantages to be obtained it is
necessary to state that sewing machines have hitherto been made for different
classes of work, that is to say, a machine for plain sewing or general household
purposes makes a seam of plain sewing and nothing more, whilst machines made for
fancy or ornamental sewing are in like manner only suitable for the special purposes
for which they have been constructed.
By a simple and effective combination of gears, cams and levers I add and combine
the advantages of different kinds of ornamental sewing with the plain sewing of the
ordinary household sewing machines, and for this purpose I prefer the machines of
modern and improved construction which have a bedplate, an arm carrying a presser
foot, and in which the needle-bar moves, a main shaft or spindle carrying a thread
take up cam, having a crank or cranks for operating the shuttle or looper for the
underthread, having the shuttle or looper under the bedplate, whether oscillating or
rotary operating in the line of seam, such as the Singer improved oscillator, the
Wheeler & Wilson rotary hook or shuttle, the American Standard rotary shuttle,
and other machines of similar form and construction, and to effect this purpose I
place a pinion on the main driving shaft or spindle of the machine which produces
one plain stitch at each revolution and I set in gear with this pinion a wheel as
many times larger than the pinion as the number of plain stitches required to produco
the ornamental pattern or effect desired.
As for instance three plain stitches properly placed in the fabric forms an open
stitch, known by the name of French vein or hemstitch, for improvements in the
production of which Her most gracious Majesty has at various dates granted me Her
Royal Letters Patent, and as this stitch will fully illustrate my invention, I will
confine myself to a description of it, but leaving it to be clearly understood that by
this my arrangement of parts many other fancy stitches may be produced by merely
adding or diminishing in the gears so as to vary the position of the plain stitches
in the fabric.
For the hemstitch aforesaid I use a wheel containing three times the number of
teeth that is in the pinion and in connection with this wheel and revolving at the
same speed once for every three plain stitches I make a cam to act on the feeding
arrangement so as to make two forward stitches in the line of progression and one
stitch backwards, this with a slight movement of the needle laterally at a right angle
to the line of seam produces the above named open stitch.
The necessary movement of the needle at right angle to the line of seam I effect
in the following manner :-Instead of mounting the needle bar into the end of the arm
of the machine in the usual way I mount it into a guide frame which I hang from the
end of the arm by steel centres made of a conical form so as to enable tear and wear
to be remedied. To this guide frame I fasten one end of a light lever which I
carry along the arm to where the cams are placed and by allowing the other end of
the lever to engage with its own cam, the necessary lateral movement of the needle is
effected.
To the shuttle race or guide I attach another light lever which being properly
curved attach by screws through slotted holes for adiustment to the needle-bar

page_text: guide lever. By these means whatever lateral motion is imparted to the needle
guide is also given to the shuttle guide and consequently the needle and shuttle or
looper are kept in proper working relation to each other for making as perfect serving
as if no lateral movement of the parts had taken place.
By means of a small lever and lock screw I can arrest and regulate the amount
of lateral motion to suit for plain sewing or the various ornamental stitches such as
heathering, reveering, hemstitching, etc. that can be produced by a machine
constructed in accordance with these my improvements.
In order to use the machine for plain sewing I by 'the small lever and screw afore-
said arrest the lateral motion, the two forward and one backward feed motions and
use a cam to give a continuous progressive motion at every stitch.
Dated this 20th dor of Ontabar 1889.
:
JOSEPH B. ROBERTSON.
.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
I, JOSEPH RUCHANAN ROBERTSON, Sewing Machine Mechanic, residing at 184
Grosvenor Street, Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, 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 :—
-
The object of this invention is to make sewing machines of more practical utility,
and in order to fully comprehend the meaning and advantages to be obtained it is
necessary to state that sewing machines have hitherto been made for different classes
of work, that is to say, a machine for plain sewing or general household purposes
makes a seam of plain sewing and nothing more, whilst machines made for fancy
or ornamental sewing are in like manner only suitable for the special purposes for
which they have been constructed.
By a simple and effective combination of gears, cams and levers, I add and combine
the advantages of different kinds of ornamental sewing with the plain sewing of the
ordinary household sewing machines, and for this purpose I prefer the machines
of modern and improved construction which have a bedplate, an arm carrying a
presser foot, and in which the needlebar moves, a main shaft or spindle carrying a thread
take up cam, having a crank or cranks for operating the shuttle or looper for the under-
thread, and having the shuttle or looper under the bedplate, whether oscillating or
rotary operating in the line of seam, (such as the Singer improved oscillator, the
Wheeler and Wilson rotary hook or shuttle, the American Standard rotary shuttle,
and other machines of similar form and construction) and to effect my purpose I place
a pinion on the main driving shaft or spindle of the machine which produces one
plain stitch at each revolution and I set in gear with this pinion a wheel as many
times larger than the pinion as the number of plain stitches required to produce the
ornamental pattern or effect desired.
As for instance three plain stitches properly placed in the fabric form an open stitch,
known by the name of French vein or hemstitch, for improvements in the production
of which Her most gracious Majesty has at various dates granted me fler Royal
Letters Patent, and as this stitch will fully illustrate my invention, I will confine
myself to a description of it, but leaving it to be clearly understood that by this my
arrangement of parts many other fancy stitches may be produced by merely adding
or diminishing in the gears and arranging the form of the cams so as to vary the
position of the plain stitches in the fabric.
For the hemstitch aforesaid I use a wheel containing three times the number of
teeth that is in the pinion and in connection with this wheel and revolving at the same
speed once for every three plain stitches I make a cam to act on the feeding arrange-
ment so as to make two forward stitches in the line of progression and one stitch
backwards, this with a slight movement of the needle laterally at a right angle to the
line of seam produces the above named open stitch.

page_text: The necessary movement of the needle at a right angle to the line of seam I effect
in the following manner :-
Instead of mounting the needle bar in the end of the arm of the machine in the
usual way I mount it in a guide frame which I hang from the end of the arm by steel
centres made of conical form so as to enable tear and wear to be remedied. To this
guide frame I fasten one end of a light lever, which I carry along the arm to where
the cams are placed and by allowing the other end of the lever to engage with its
own cam, the necessary lateral movement of the needle is effected.
To the shuttle race or guide I attach another light lever which being properly
curved I attach by screws through slotted holes for adjustment to the needlebar guide
lever. By this means whatever lateral motion is imparted to the needle through the
needleguide is also given to the shuttle guide and consequently the needle and shuttle
or looper are kept in proper working relation to each other for making as perfect
sewing as if no lateral movement of the parts had taken place.
By means of a small lever and lockscrew I can regulate or arrest the lateral motion
for plain sewing or the various ornamental stitches such as heathering, reveering,
hemstitching etc. that can be produced by a machine constructed in accordance with
these my improvements.
In order to use the machine for plain sewing I by the small lever and screw afore-
said arrest the lateral motion of the needle and use a cam to give a continuous pro-
gressive motion at every stitch.
Of the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 shows an elevation of a machine with my
improvements added in working position.
Letters a a show the needlebar guide moveable on centres at a'.
bbb is a light lever fastened to the needlebar guide a, by screws a² and carried
along the arm of the machine to the end where the cams are placed in gear with a
pinion on the main shaft, when the end of this lever is allowed to bear on the outer
edge of cam e' Fig. 4 a lateral movement of the needlebar guide and connections is
effected.
cc is the shuttle race or guide, free to move and to which a lever c³ is screwed at
point c', this lever is carried along under the bed plate of the machine and being
properly curved is taken up through the arm and fastened at e to lever b, thereby
causing the shuttle race or guide for looper to move simultaneously with the needle-
bar guide. The holes in lever bare slotted for adjustment of needle in relation to
shuttle or looper.
d Fig. 2 is a small lever with lockscrew d which being raised or lowered acts on the
end of lever and regulates the amount of, or entirely arrests when desired the lateral
motion of needlebar guide, and shuttlerace or looper guide.
e Fig. 2 is the cam for plain sewing giving a continuous progressive motion of
the feed by acting on lever f and the link g connecting it with the crank B of the
feed rocking shaft.
The coarseness or fineness of stitch is regulated by moving link g nearer to or further
from fulcrum of lever f, which is effected by raising or lowering the upper arm of the
lever with its lockscrew h¹.
e Fig. 4 is the cam for producing French vein or hemstitch and to effect this it
is only necessary to withdraw lever from plain sewing can as seen in Fig. 5 and
allow lever to engage with cam e as seen in Fig. 6 which represents a portion
broken from Fig. 5 to show the different positions of levers and f1.
When the ornamental stitching is of some other sort say heathering, reveering or
any other fancy stitches it is only necessary to remove cam e¹ and replace it by such
other cam as will act on the feed motions, and lateral motions, so as to cause the
needle to penetrate the fabric operated on at the different points necessary to produce
the desired pattern or effect.
i is a latch for keeping levers for f' in action with either of the cams according
to the work desired.
Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are full size views of the cams and their connecting levers f
and f¹..

page_text: *Capital letters A and B represent the framework and feed rockshaft of a plain
sewing machine.
The italics represent my additions and improvements for the production of plain
or fancy sowing at pleasure. When fancy sewing only, is required plain stitch cam
may be dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and advantages of
my said invention and the manner in which the same is to or may be performed I
.wish it to be understood that I do not claim as of my invention any of the parts of
the aforesaid machines except when the same are used in and for the purposes of my
said improvements, which L.declare to be, and what I claim is:
First. The use of a combination as described of cams, gears and levers constructed
and arranged to operate the feeding apparatus and lateral motion of a sewing machine,
so as to produce ornamental or plain sewing at pleasure or as required.
Second. Connecting the needlebar guide with the guide of a rotary shuttle or
looper, or oscillating shuttle in the manner and for the purposes of ornamental or
plain sewing as required and substantially as described.
Dated this Nineteenth day of December in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty nine.
JOSEPH B. ROBERTSON