Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1898-Accepted, 9th Apr.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
I, SAMUEL HICKOX WHEELER, of Bridgeport, County of Fairfield, State of
Connecticut, United States of America, President of the Wheeler & Wilson Manu-
facturing Company, 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:-
In many modern sewing machines using two threads, the takeup is operated by
a cam hub attached to the needle-bar actuating shaft, but the use of such a cam
hub impedes the speed at which the machine may be run.
The invention to be herein described has been devised to enable said cam hub to
be dispensed with.
In accordance with this invention instead of employing a cam hub as the operat-
ing device for the take-up, said take-up has been applied to the usual link con-
necting the crank-pin of the needle bar actuating shaft with the stud on the
needle-bar, the eye of the take-up being located above the needle bar actuating
shaft so that as said needle-bar is operated said link in its movements raises and
lowers the take-up and also vibrates it across the center of rotation of the needle-
bar actuating shaft, the eye of the take-up acting on the needle-thread between
two guides.
The take-up herein described has a great range of motion and the motions are
easy and substantially without shock.
To impart to the take-up a vibrating movement as it is raised and lowered the
crank-pin of the needle-bar actuating shaft has been provided with a stud exten-
ded from it at one side of its center, and said eccentrically located stud enters a
slot in the take-up lever, said eccentric stud in the movements of the crank-pin
in a circle with the said shaft imparting a variable motion to said take-up so that
at portions of its cycle of motion it is moved faster than at other portions of said
cycle, it moving at its fastest speed as the needle-bar is descending, it acting at
such time to give up its thread to the usual under thread carrier.
One part of this invention relates to the use with a needle bar, its actuating
shaft having a crank pin, and link for connecting said crank pin and needle-bar, of
a take-up carried by and partaking of all the movements of said crank-pin, said
take-up being located and movable in a vertical plane substantially at right angles
to and across the axial center of said shaft behind the needle-bar.
Also in the use with a needle-bar; its actuating shaft having a crank-pin
and a link connecting said crank pin to said needle-bar to thereby move it, of a
take-up having an eye at its upper end and carried by said link in its movements
by said crank-pin, said take-up taking up the loop of needle thread while the
needle bar is moving in the latter part of its ascent and the first part of its descent,
the take-up at such time crossing the vertical plane in which the needle bar works.
Also in the use with a needle-bar actuating shaft provided with a crank-pin, a
needle-bar, and a link connecting said bar and crank-pin, of a take-up lever
carried by and movable with said link as the same is actuated by said crank-pin,

page_text: and with means to impart to said take-up lever, in addition to its regular move-
ment with said link, a variable movement of acceleration and retardation.
Also in the use with a needle-bar actuating shaft provided with a crank-pin
having an eccentrically placed stud extended from one end thereof, a needle-bar,
and a link connecting said bar and crank-pin, of a take-up lever pivoted at or
near one end of said link and engaged between its ends by said eccentric stud, it
serving to swing said lever on its fulcrum.
Also in the use with a needle-bar, a needle-bar actuating shaft provided with
a crank-pin and a link to connect it with the needle-bar, of a take-up pivotally
mounted on said link and having its eyed end extended above said crank-pin,
said take-up partaking of all of the movements of the said link, and means between
said crank-pin and said take-up lever to impart to the take-up lever during its
movements with said link a variable movement of acceleration and retardation.
In the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1, in front elevation, shows a sufficient portion of a sewing machine with
our improvements added to enable our invention to be understood; the take-up
being in position to just commence the taking up of the loop of needle-thread.
Fig. 2 shows the take-up and needle-bar in their position when the take-up
has fully taken up the said loop, the dotted lines showing the said take-up
in the position it occupies when the point of the usual loop-taker is about to
enter the loop of thread carried by the needle.
Fig. 3 shows the disk and crank-pin, with the screw stud b¹ in section, and its
block.
Fig. 4, a partial detail showing the thread guides with the end of the take-up
between them; and
Fig. 5, a top view of one of the thread guides.
The bed-plate A, the overhanging arm or head A', the disk B at the front end
of the needle-bar actuating shaft B¹, the needle-bar C in suitable bearings, its
attached needle c, and the link for actuating said needle-bar, its lower end
surrounding a stud on a collar fixed to the needle bar, are and may be all as
usual in the well-known Wheeler & Wilson system of sewing machine.
The disk B has a crank pin b, which, as usual, enters an eye in the upper end
of the link C, but herein the crank-pin has been provided, see Fig. 3, with a
stud 61, which projects forwardly therefrom at one side of or eccentric to the
center of said crank-pin.
The take-up d is herein shown as an arm or lever having at its upper end an
eye d¹ for the needle-thread, and the stud b', referred to, passes through said
lever, the latter having, as shown in this embodiment of this invention, a slot d
in which enters an anti-friction block or roll 2 loose on said stud.
The end of the take-up lever opposite the said eye dis mounted to turn for a
limited distance on or about a fulcrum 4, herein shown as a stud screw entering
said link.
In operation, the crank-pin 6 carried by the disk causes said link to impart to
the needle-bar its usual reciprocations, the stud b¹ extended from said crank-
pin at one side of its center acting in the slot de causing the take-up to have
imparted to it in addition to its movements in unison with the said link as it is
carried about the crank an extra additional movement, which movement would
not be imparted to said take-up if fixed rigidly on or with relation to said link, the
said take-up having its movement retarded as it is acting to draw up the loop of
needle thread, and having its movement accelerated after having taken up the
loop, and while it is acting to deliver to the needle slack thread to be used in the
formation of the next loop.
The needle-thread f, taken from a suitable spool, or cop not shown, is led about
a thread check f, thence about a tension device composed, as herein shown, of two
disks g, g¹, one of which is acted upon by a suitable spring g³, the force of which
is regulated by a suitable nut g³ on a screw stud g*.
The thread from the tension device is led between the two plates h, h¹, of a

page_text: thread guide, and partially about a roller on a stud h³, and emerging from between
said plates it crosses a spring h', which acts as a slack thread controller to control
the slack in the thread due to any variations in thickness of work, as for instance
when crossing seams, and thence through the eye of the take-up, and then through
5 a second thread guide m and to and through the eye of the needle in usual manner.
In operation, assuming that the disk travels in the direction of the arrow Fig. 1,
and with the take-up eye in the position shown in Fig. 1, it having through it
the needle thread stretched between the thread guides h and h¹ and m, said take-
up, the needle-bar and needle then rising, starts to the left, Fig. 1, with its
retarded movement, and completes its retarded movement as it reaches the position
shown by full lines Fig. 2, the loop of needle thread at such time having been fully
taken up, and the needle-bar having completed its rising movement and having
started somewhat on its downward movement.
While moving from the position shown in full lines Fig. 2, into the position
shown by dotted lines same fig., the take-up travels at its fastest or accelerated
speed, and during such time the needle continues to descend, and the loop-taker
enters the loop, and the needle is just about ready to, or has just started, to rise,
and as the take-up moves from the dotted line position Fig. 2 into the full line
position Fig. 1 the eye on the take-up lever travels in the dotted line e, the
needle-bar during this operation rising, the needle-bar completing its rising move-
ment as the said eye in the movement of the said take-up passes the needle-bar in
moving from the position Figs. 1 to 2.
It is thought that the take-up herein shown is the first to have imparted to it a
variable transverse movement across the axial center of the needle bar actuating
shaft.
Any usual or suitable tension device may be used instead of the particular form
shown, and the thread guides may be of any usual shape.
The under thread carrying device below the bed plate to co-operate with the
needle may be of the form shown in the Wheeler patents employing a hook at
the upper end of a vertical shaft and rotating in a horizontal plane.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;-
(1) In a sewing machine the use with a needle bar, its actuating shaft having
a crank pin, and link for connecting said crank pin and needle-bar, of a take-up
carried by and partaking of all the movements of said crank-pin, said take-up
being located and movable in a vertical plane substantially at right angles to
and across the axial centre of said shaft behind the needle-bar.
(2) In a sewing machine the use with a needle-bar; its actuating shaft having
a crank pin and a link connecting said crank pin to said needle-bar to thereby
move it, of a take-up having an eye at its upper end and carried by said link in
its movements by said crank-pin, said take-up taking up the loop of needle thread
while the needle-bar is moving in the latter part of its ascent and the first part
of its descent, the take-up at such time crossing the vertical plane in which the
needle bar works.
(3) In a sewing machine the use with a needle-bar actuating shaft provided
with a crank-pin, a needle bar, and a link connecting said bar and crank-pin, of
a take-up lever carried by and movable with said link as the same is actuated by
said crank-pin, and with means to impart to said take-up lever, in addition to its
regular movement with said link, a variable movement of acceleration and retarda-
tion.
(4) In a sewing machine the use with a needle-bar actuating shaft provided
with a crank-pin having an eccentrically placed stud extended from one end
thereof, a needle-bar, and a link connecting said bar and crank-pin, of a take-up
lever pivoted at or near one end of said link and engaged between its ends by said
eccentric stud, it serving to swing said lever on its fulcrum.

page_text: (5) In a sewing machine the use with a needle-bar, a needle-bar actuating shaft
provided with a crank-pin and a link to connect it with the needle-bar, of a take-
up pivotally mounted on said link and having its eyed end extended above said
crank-pin, said take-up partaking of all of the movements of the said link, and
means between said crank-pin and said take-up lever to impart to the take lever
during its movements with said link a variable movement of acceleration and
retardation.
up
1
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.