IMPROVED MECHANISH FOR DRIVING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1872

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LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MECHANISH FOR DRIVING
SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by
Robert Whitehill, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America.
Sealed the 4th March 1873, and dated the 17th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th September 1872.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM
FOR DRIVING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved arrangement of mechanism for
transmitting motion from shafting to sewing and other machines which
require to be disconnected from the shafting in a gradual and easy
though expeditious manner.

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The series of machines to be driven may be conveniently arranged on
a bench or table above the driving shaft, and they can then be severally
driven from clutch pulleys mounted thereon. These clutch pulleys are
loose upon their shaft, and adjacent to each is a face friction wheel which
is keyed to the shaft. By means of a slight endway motion the clutch
pulley is brought into contact with the friction wheel and caused to take
rotary motion therefrom, which motion it transmits through a driving
belt to the machine above. In the elongated boss of this pulley an
annular recess is formed to receive antifriction rollers carried by a lever
which straddles the driving shaft and is hinged to the floor of the work-
shop. This lever at its upper end is connected to a fixed point by a
coiled spring, the tendency of which is to pull over the lever and draw
the clutch pulley out of contact with the friction wheel. As a counter-
action to this spring a cord is provided which leads off from the lever
to a guide pulley and thence down to a treadle placed below the
driving shaft; the depression of which treadle will draw down the
cord and pull over the lever, and retain the clutch pulley in contact
with the friction wheel. Connected also with the treadle is a brake
strap which is laid around an extension of the clutch pulley and
connected to a rod pendent from a fixed point. On the depression of
the treadle to put the clutch pulley in action this brake strap will be
slackened, but when the treadle is raised to throw out the clutch pulley
the brake strap will be tightened upon the pulley, and will speedily
but gradually stop the action of the pulley and consequently of the
driving belt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th March 1873..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the 30
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and soventy-two, in the

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thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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
“IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR DRIVING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES," being a
communication to me from abroad by Robert Whitehill, of the City
and State of New York, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
.
This Invention relates to mechanism for driving sewing machines and
other light machinery by steam or other power than that applied by
hand or foot. It has always been a great desideratum when so driving
the machines to provide for disengaging their connection with the
driving shaft in a gradual and easy though expeditious manner. To
accomplish this end is the object of this Invention, which consists in the
novel combination of a friction clutch or other suitable driving device
on the driving shaft, a lever for throwing said clutch in and out of gear,
a brake wheel upon the said shaft, a treadle, a brake strap attached to
said treadle and operating upon said brake wheel, a connection between
the said treadle and the clutch operating lever, and a spring or weight
attached to said lever, the whole so arranged and organized that by the
movement of the treadle the clutch may be thrown into gear at the same

page_text: time that the pressure of the brake strap upon the brake wheel is
released or removed, and the pressure of the brake strap may be applied
or increased at the same time that the clutch is thrown out of gear.
It will be sufficient to describe the Invention simply in its application
to sewing machines.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a front view of the improved
driving mechanism applied to a sewing machine; Fig. 2 is a side view
of the same; Fig. 8 is a top view or plan of the mechanism alone; and ·|
Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a clutch constituting part of the driving
mechanism. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
the several Figures.
A is a table or bench along either or both sides of which may bo
arranged a series of sewing machines operated by a single driving
shaft B supported in suitable bearings on the floor of the room in which
said table is situated. From this shaft the main shaft of the sewing
machine O is driven by means of a belt D passing over a pulley on said
machine shaft, and over a clutch pulley E arranged on the shaft B. This
clutch pulley is of shell like construction, and its periphery is divided by
a small rib into two portions, one considerably smaller than the other.
One end of the pulley is furnished with a leather washer a, and at the
opposite end its hub is provided with two ribs or flanges b, b. The
pulley is capable of sliding longitudinally on its shaft B to be shifted
into or out of contact with a friction wheel G which is rigidly secured on
the same shaft B. A lever H formed so as to embrace or straddle the
shaft B is hinged to the floor under the shaft and connected with the
clutch pulley E by means of pins, having attached rollers i, i, fitting
between the ribs or flanges b, b. This lever H extends up nearly to the
table, and has attached to its end on one side a strap or cord I, and on
the other a spiral spring J, which latter is made fast to the under side
of the bench or table A. The cord I passes over the pulley c, carried by
a support pendent from the table A, and is led down and secured to a
rod or bar on the forward end of the treadle K, which is arranged in
front of the shaft B a little to one side of the clutch pulley E. There is
secured to the same rod fa flexible brake strap L made of leather or
similar material. This strap passes round the wider peripherical portion
of the clutch pulley E, and is secured at the back end to a rod N..
suspended from the bench or tablo A.

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The operation of the mechanism just described is as follows:-
shaft B is constantly driven at a fixed speed. To start any of the
machines arranged above it, the forward end of the treadle K is simply
depressed when the lever H will be pulled by the cord I over toward the
pulley c, and consequently the clutch pulley E will be thrown into
contact with the friction wheel G, the brake strap L being at the same
time loosened. Thus the machine is thrown into connection with the
driving shaft B in a very gradual and easy and at the same time
expeditious manner. To stop the machine all that has to be done is to
depress the rear end of the treadle; this of course raises its forward
end and loosens the cord I so that the spring J can pull it back and also
tighten the brake strap L on the clutch pulley E, and stops it and its
machine.
Sometimes it is desirable to reduce the speed of a machine relatively
to the speed of the driving shaft. This may be effected by pressing the
rear end of the treadle but slightly, just sufficiently to sever the contact
of the clutch pulley and friction wheel without putting on the brake. A
number of machines may be thus arranged along either or both sides of
the bench or table A, and be driven from the same shaft, each having its
own driving mechanism.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved
Mechanism for Driving Sewing and other Machines," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the connection
of the brake strap and friction clutch or starting device with the treadle
or its equivalent, so that both may be operated by one movement of the
latter, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
"
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the 17th day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
A. V. NEWTON (7.0)