IMPROVEMENTS IN THREADERS FOR THREADING THE NEEDLES OF SEWING MACHINES AND OTHER NEEDLES, AND FOR THREADING THE SHUTTLES AND OTHER PARTS OF SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Winter Kay, of Harborne, in the County
of Stafford, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THREADERS FOR THREADING THE NEEDLES OF SEWING MACHINES AND OTHER
NEEDLES, AND FOR THREADING THE SHUTTLES AND OTHER PARTS OF SEWING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 2nd June 1876, and dated the 7th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Winter Kay
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th December 1875.
I, JOSEPH WINTER KAY, of Harborne, in the County of Stafford,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THREADERS FOR THREADING THE NEEDLES OF SEWING MACHINES
AND OTHER NEEDLES, AND FOR THREADING THE SHUTTLES AND OTHER PARTS OF
SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to threaders used for facilitating the threading
of sewing machine and other needles, the shuttles of sewing machines,
and the other parts of sewing machines through which the thread is
required to pass.

page_text: Needle threaders made according to my Invention are also fitted for
other uses, as herein-after explained.
In making a needle threader according to my Invention I take a fine
steel wire, or wire of other hard metal or alloy, the said wire being by
preference flat; two-thirds of tho said flat wire is broader than the other
one-third. The end of the broad part is doubled or bent upon itself so
as to form a hook, and the end of the narrow part is tapered, or rounded,
or pointed. The thread being placed in the hook the instrument is
passed through the flat eye of the sewing machine needle, carrying the
thread with it. The pointed, tapered, or rounded end of the instrument
is divided by a fine longitudinal slit, and in the fork formed by the slit
the thread may be inserted and passed through the eye of the sewing
machine needle when the eye is too small to permit of the passage of the
hook at the other end of the threader.
To facilitate the introduction of the thread into the forked end the
said end may be inclined or bevilled, the slit terminating in the bevil;
one branch of the fork is in consequence longer than the other, and the
slight opening of the fork and introduction of the thread are more
readily effected than when both branches of the fork are of the same
length.
An ordinary needle eye with the usual groove may be made in the
base of the narrow part, that is, at a short distance from its junction
with the broader part, and a notch or depression may be made in each
edge of the flat wire at the line of junction with the broader part.
Where it is preferred that the larger and smaller acting parts of the
threader shall be separate the instrument may be divided into two parts
by bending it backwards and forwards at the notched line of junction of
the two parts.
The separated part containing the eye and slit end may be used not
only as a threader, but also as a fine darning needle.
The threader may be of the same breadth throughout its whole
length, and is by preference slightly curved.
The needle eye described may carry a loop of silk, or catgut, or other
Hexible material, through which the thread may be passed instead of
through the eye in the needle itself.

page_text: The threader may be used for passing the thread through all the fine
openings or passages in a sewing machine through which the thread
may require to pass, as well as for threading needles other than sewing
machine needles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Winter Kay in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WINTER KAY, of Harborne, in the County of Stafford, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Winter Kay, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Winter Kay, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Winter
Kay, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THREADERS FOR THREADING THE NEEDLES OF SEWING
MACHINES AND OTHER NEEDLES, AND FOR THREADING THE SHUTTLES AND OTHER
PARTS OF SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Joseph Winter Kay, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Winter Kay, do hereby

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
-
My Invention relates to threaders used for facilitating the threading
of sewing machine and other needles, the shuttles of sewing machines,
and the other parts of sewing machines through which the thread is
required to pass.
In making a needle threader according to my Invention I take a fine
steel wire, or wire of other hard metal or alloy, the said wire being by
preference flat. One end of the wire is doubled or folded upon itself so
as to form a hook, and the other end is tapered, or rounded, or pointed.
The thread being placed in the hook the instrument is passed through
the eye of the sewing machine needle, carrying the thread with it. The
pointed, tapered, or rounded end of the instrument is divided by a fine
longitudinal slit, and in the fork formed by the slit the thread may be
inscrted and passed partly through the eye of the sewing machine needle
when the eye is too small to permit of the passage of the hook at the
other end of the threader.
To facilitate the introduction of the thread into the forked end the
said end may be inclined or bevilled, the slit terminating in the bevil;
one branch of the fork is in consequence longer than the other, and the
slight opening of the fork and the introduction of the thread are more
readily effected than when both branches of the fork are of the same
Jength.
Instead of a hook or fork at the end of the wire an eye, or an eye with
a cross slit or opening may be used.
I will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying
Drawing, the manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan, and Figure 2 in edge view drawn to a
large scale a threader for threading sewing machine and other needles,
shuttles, and other parts of sewing machines constructed according to
my Invention, and Figure 3 represents the blank from which the
threader is made. The blank, Figure 3, is cut from flat sheet steel or
other hard sheet metal by means of dies worked in a press, or otherwise
cut; or the blank may be made from wire. The part a of the blank is
bent or doubled upon the part at the dotted line c so as to form a
fork d, as represented in Figures 1 and 2. The hooked or doubled

page_text: part d of the threader is parallel with or slightly inclined to the other
part, as seen in Figure 2, for the purpose of facilitating the placing of
the thread e in the hook. I do not limit myself to the length of the
hooked part d of the threader. The corners at the bend of the hook d
may be taken off on each side to give more room for the thread e.
The
opposite end of the wire or blank, Figure 3, to that at which the hook d
is made may either be pointed, tapered, or rounded; or the said end may
be slit or divided by a fine longitudinal slit so as to form a fork, as
represented at f. One of the branches of the fork is slightly longer than
the other, and the longer one is inclined or curved. By this construction
a slight opening is left in the fork, the prolonged branch serving to
guide the thread into the fork, whereby the introduction of the thread is
facilitated.
In using the threader, Figures 1 and 2, for threading the eye of an
ordinary sewing machine needle the thread e is placed in the hook d,
and the threader, the forked end ƒ foremost, is passed through the cyc
of the needle. By the passage of the threader through the cye the
thread e is carried with it, and into the said eye of the needle. After
the needle has been threaded the threader is unhooked from the thread
and removed.
When the sewing machine needle or other part to be threaded has a
small eye the pointed forked end of the instrument is used instead of
the hooked end at d. In this case the thread is placed in the fork ƒ,
passed through or partly through the eye of the
needle, and the thread in the said fork is carried partly through the eye,
forming a loop, and the thread is unhooked from the fork f, and the
threader withdrawn.
and the forked end is
Instead of combining the hook d and fork ƒ in the same instrument,
as represented in Figures 1 and 2, the forked threader may be used
separately, as illustrated in side and edge views in Figures 4 and 5. It
may be made from flat wire, or cut from sheet steel, or made from
cylindrical wire. When made from cylindrical wire, as in Figures 4
and 5, the part near the fork fmay be flattened, as seen in. Figure 5.
After the thread has been placed in the fork of the threader the said
threader is pushed through or partly through the eye of the needle with
the forked end ƒ foremost.

page_text: Invention, in which an eye is used instead of a fork or hook. These
instruments may be made from flat, cylindrical, or other wire; or the
wire may be partly flat and partly cylindrical, and the eye may be flat,
elliptical, or round. The thread is introduced into the eye of these
threaders by a fine cross slit or opening.
In Figure 6 the cross slit & in the eye through which the thread is
introduced into the threader is made at the middle of the eye i. In
Figure 7 the cross slit / is made at the end of the eye nearest the stem
or body, and in Figure 8 the cross slit 7 is made at the opposite end of
the eye. When the cross slit is made as in Figure 6 the threader may
either be pushed or pulled through the eye or part to be threaded.
When the cross slit is made as in Figure 7 the threader is pulled
through the eye of the needle, point forward, in the direction of the
arrow, and when the cross slit is made as in Figure 8 the threader is
pushed through the eye of the needle in the direction of the arrow, the
eye part entering the eye of the needle first.
The flat, elliptical, or round eye of this threader may be made without
the cross slit or opening for introducing the thread into the eye, and
when an eye without a cross slit is used I make the threader of flat
wire.
The threaders may be furnished with handles.
The threaders may be used for passing the thread through all the fine
openings or passages in a sewing machine through which the thread may
require to pass, as well as for threading needles other than sewing
machine needles.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention, the improve-
ments in threaders for threading the needles of sewing machines and
other needles, and for threading the shuttles and other parts of sewing
machines hercin-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, making the threader by taking a strip of steel
or other hard metal, or alloy of any required sectional figure, and
bending a portion upon itself so as to form a hook in which the thread

page_text: is placed, as described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3; or com-
bining in the same thrcader a hook and fork, as described and illustrated
in Figures 1, 2, and 3; or making the threader of a body or wire of any
required sectional figure, having a fork at one end, and a point or
rounded part at the other end, as hercin described and illustrated in
Figures 4 and 5; or making the threader with an eye, or an eye provided
with a fine cross slit or opening, as described and illustrated in Figures 6,
7 and S
is placed, as described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3; or com-
bining in the same threader a hook and fork, as described and illustrated
in Figures 1, 2, and 3; or making the threader of a body or wire of any
required sectional figure, having a fork at one end, and a point or
rounded part at the other end, as hercin described and illustrated in
Figures 4 and 5; or making the threader with an cye, or an eye provided
with a fine cross slit or opening, as described and illustrated in Figures 6,
7 and 8
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Winter Kay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH WINTER KAY. (L.S.)