IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Griffith Brewer, of 89, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by Charles James
Appleton, of Hamilton, Canada.
Scaled the 23rd June 1874, and dated the 24th December 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Griffith Brewer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th December 1873.
I, EDWARD GRIFFITH BREWER, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," (a communication to me from
abroad by Charles James Appleton, of Hamilton, Canada), to be as
follows:-
The chief and essential object of this Invention is to dispense with
complicated arrangements for adjusting sewing machines, and at the
same to simplify these machines in such manner as to be able to adjust

page_text: or time the machine from one point instead of from several, as here-
tofore.
The first part of the Invention consists in connecting the needle bar
for driving the needle, and the sliding bar for driving the shuttle and
feed by means of direct motions, consisting of a heart motion for giving
motion to the needle and crank motion from the driving bar, which
latter operates a connecting rod or lover connected by sleeve joints to
the sliding bar. Motion is communicated to the driving bar in the
ordinary way by a handle or pulley, which motion is thus directly
transmitted to the needle bar and sliding bar, as before described.
The Invention further consists in the employment of a horizontal
sliding plate for operating a four-motion feed attached to the sliding
shuttle bar. This sliding plate is made of such form as to give a rising
and falling as well as a backward and forward motion to the feed. The
rising and falling motion is obtained through a plate resting on the top
of the sliding plate, and the backward and forward motion is obtained
by a jointed wheel sliding on the side of the sliding plate, and following
in its motion the shape of such plate, and consequently causing a back-
ward and forward motion. The jointed wheel is so arranged as only to
give motion to the feed when the feed is at its highest point.
The Invention also consists in carrying the thread from bobbin to a
tension plate, and thence over or round hooks or wires instead of passing
it through oyes, as heretofore, and finally the thread is carried through a
controlling plate or plates consisting of felt or other suitable elastic
material placed between steel or other plates, pressure thereon being
adjusted by a screw in such manner that the thread is controlled from
the lower part of the head of the machine to the needle, while at the
same time a slight or just sufficient strain is kept on the thread to
enable the eye of the needle to slide up and down on the thread, thus
preventing the machine making crooked or knotted stitches.
Similar motions to those before described are applicable to cylinder
machines; for this purpose the cylinder carries a ring, which has a to-
and-fro motion or an oscillating motion round the cylinder imparted to
it by the sliding wheel on the sliding plate. There is a spring for
bringing the ring back to its original position. The ring has teeth on
its circumference, and when the needle is at its highest point the ring
feeds the work by means of the sliding cam and wheel joint aforesaid,

page_text: When the feeding is complete or finished the needle on descending
enters the material through a slot in the centre of the ring, which the
pressure foot raises by means of a pin inserted in the outer side of the
heart motion collar on the cam in connection with the pressure post.
As soon as the pressure from the post is taken off the ring and work the
ring returns to its original position by means of a spiral spring placed
immediately below it, thus allowing the operator while the needle is in
or through the material and the pressure post foot raised to swing the
work on the needle in any desired direction for fancy stitching or for
other purposes.
Vibrating pressure posts have been used prior to this Invention, but
they have been used with the feed cut underneath the pressure foot,
commonly called upper feed, with a motion for feeding the cloth by
means of the pressure foot, whereas by this Invention a vibrating pressure
foot and an oscillating wheel feed are provided.
Wheel feeds have also been sometimes employed, but oscillating wheel
feeds, as herein-before described, have not been employed; the object of
this oscillating wheel feed being to allow the needle to descend in the
centre of the wheel, thus equalizing the feed on both sides of the needle,
so that in fancy or ornamental stitching regularity of stitch is obtained
or retained on any curve.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Griffith Brewer in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GRIFFITH BREWER, of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Griffith Brewer;
Her special licence that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward

page_text: Griffith Brewer, 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 SEWING MACHINES" (a communication to
me from abroad by Charles James Appleton, of Hamilton, Canada), upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Griffith Brewer,
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, tho said Edward Griffith Brewer, do hereby 1
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to bo particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thercon, that is to
say:―
The chief and essential object of this Invention is to dispense with
complicated arrangements for adjusting sewing machines, and at the
same time to simplify these machines in such manner as to be able to
adjust or time the machine from one point instead of from several, as
heretofore.
The first part of the Invention consists in connecting the needle bar
for driving the needlo, and the sliding bar for driving the shuttle and
feed by means of direct motions, consisting of a heart motion for giving
motion to the needle and crank motion from the driving bar, which latter
operates a connecting rod or lever connected with sleeve joints to the ;
sliding bar. Motion is communicated to the driving bar in the ordinary
way by a handle or pulley, which motion is thus directly transmitted to
the needle bar and sliding bar, as before described.
The Invention further consists in the employment of a horizontal
sliding plate for operating a four-motion feed attached to the sliding a
shuttle bar. This sliding plate is made of such form as to give a rising
and falling as well as a backward and forward motion to the feed. The
rising and falling motion is obtained through a plate resting on the top

page_text: of the sliding plate, and the backward and forward motion is obtained
by a jointed wheel sliding on the side of the sliding plate, and following
in its motion the shape of such plate, and consequently causing a back-
ward and forward motion. The jointed wheel is so arranged as only to
give motion to the feed when the feed is at its highest point.
The Invention also consists in carrying the thread from bobbin to a
tension plate, and thence over or round hooks or wires instead of passing
it through eyes, as heretofore, and finally the thread is carried through a
controlling plates or plates consisting of felt or other suitable elastic
material placed between steel or other plates, pressure thereon being
adjusted by a screw in such manner that the thread is controlled from
the lower part of the head of the machine to the needle, while at the
samo timo a slight or just sufficient strain is kept on the tread to
enable the eye of the needle to slide up and down on the tread, thus
preventing the machine making crooked or knotted stitches.
There is a spring for
The ring has teeth on
highest point the ring
Similar motions to those before described are applicable to cylinder
machines; for this purpose the cylinder carries a ring, ich has a to-
and-fro motion or an oscillating motion round the cylinder imparted to
it by the sliding wheel on the sliding plate.
bringing the ring back to its original position.
its circumference, and when the needle is at its
feeds the work by means of the sliding cam and wheel joint aforesaid.
When the feeding is complete or finished the needle on descending enters
the material through a slot in the centre of the ring, which the pressure
foot raises by means of a pin inserted in the outer side of the heart
motion collar on the cam in connection with the pressuro post. As soon
as the pressure from the post is taken off the ring and work the ring
returns to its original position by means of a spiral spring placed imme-
diately below it, thus allowing the operator while the needle is in or
through the material and the pressure post foot raised to swing the work
on the needle in any desired direction for fancy stitching or for other
purposes.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the accompanying Drawings
illustrate the manner in which the Invention is carried into effect,
Similar letters of reference refer to like parts in all the Figures.
a, arm of machine; b, heart motion collar; c, heart motion; d, needlo
bar; e, pressure post: f driving shaft; 7, heart or slotted motion:

page_text: 9', 9³, connecting collar; f, end of shaft; h, connecting pin connecting
the two collars g¹ and g"; h¹, perpendicular bar for giving motion to the
shuttle bar i'; j, shuttle carrier; j, shuttle race; 1, feed roller; m, block
for giving the upward and downward motion of the feed; m³, feed;
m", feed strap; it has a slot n, which allows it to feed; ¹¹ is the feed
regulator; ™ is a spring for bringing the feed roller 7 to its proper
position; o is the pressure foot; o¹³ is a tension plate on the top of tho
head p of machine; q, tension plate, with felt or other elastic
material between them; 8, screw for regulating the tension plate o¹;
t, the shuttle; i, i", connecting sleeve joint; ¹, shuttle driving bar ;
, stitch regulating bar; and u', plate and pin for operating tho
pressure post e; v, plate for holding shuttle in place; w, screw against
thread regulating bar for regulating the length of the stitch; x, x,
pins to keep bar in its place; y, slot at the end of said bar to slido
by the pin at the end of bar; 3, circular feed; y¹, screw for regulating
bar ¹¹¹
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the Invention is not
to be limited to the precise arrangements described, provided the essential
featuros of the Invention are retained; for example, it is known that :
vibrating pressure posts have been used prior to this Invention, but they
have been used with the feed cut underneath the pressure foot, com-
monly called upper feed, with a motion for feeding the cloth by means
of the pressure foot, whereas by this Invention a vibrating pressure foot
and an oscillating wheel feed are provided. Wheel feeds have also been {
sometimes employed, but oscillating wheel feeds, as herein-before
described, have not been employed, the object of this oscillating wheel
feed being to allow the needle to descend in the centre of the wheel,
thus equalizing the feed on both sides of the needle, so that in fancy or
ornamental stitching regularity of stitch is obtained or retained on any {
curve; but I claim,―
First. A sewing machine constructed by heart motion 9 and c, sleeve
joint levers i, ¹, and sliding shuttlo bar ³, horizontal cam bark on
sliding shuttle bar operating a four-motion feed, substantially as
described.
Second. A circular tube 2, arranged as described, with a feed 3 on
cither side of the needle and feed, and jointed wheel for operating the
feed at the proper time, substantially as described.
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