IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Meshach Hopkins, of Camden Grove, North
Peckham, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 8th May 1874, and dated the 10th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Meshach Hopkins at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th November 1873.
I, MESHACH HOPKINS, of Camden. Grove North, Peckham, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain arrangements whereby the use of
cams, eccentrics, levers, curved slots, and cog wheels, which have
hitherto been employed in sewing machines for producing the action of
the needle, the shuttle, looper or hook, and of the feed, is entirely
avoided.

page_text: A cord or belt formed of any suitable material or materials is
attached to a connection at the main pulley or driving wheel of the
machine, and is thence carried by means of guide pulleys (which are
mounted in suitable bearings, as will be well understood) to the needle,
needle holder, or guide bar, to which latter the cord or belt is attached,
and thence along guide pulleys to the shuttle, looper, or hook, to which
it is also attached, and thence along guide pulleys back to the con-
nection at the main pulley or driving wheel, thus forming an endless
cord or belt, both ends of which are attached to the connection at the
main pulley or driving wheel, which latter is mounted on a suitable stud
or shaft and is actuated by any suitable motive power.
On one side of the main pulley or driving wheel is placed a stud or
pin, which acts as a crank or eccentric and gives motion to the endless
cord or belt by means of a connecting link, one end of which is con-
nected to the before-mentioned stud or pin, and the other end to the
connection of the endless cord or belt.
By means of these arrangements, by giving one revolution to the main
pulley or driving wheel with its stud or pin, the requiste to-and-fro
movement is obtained for the needle, shuttle, looper, or hook, and
feed.
The feed may be connected to any part of the endless cord or belt,
or may be connected direct to the man pulley or driving wheel by
a separate cord or belt, as may also the needle, shuttle, and looper,
or hook.
The requisite movements of all or any of the parts are sometimes
produced by means of a single cord or belt, which is connected direct
with the main pulley or driving wheel and its stud or pin, and thence
along guide pulleys to the needle, needle holder, or guide bar, shuttle,
looper, or hook, or feed, and then attached to a spring which acts in
opposition to the before-mentioned stud or pin, and the to-and-fro move-
ment is produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Meshach Hopkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MESHACH
HOPKINS, of Camden Grove North, Peckham, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, 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 successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Meshach Hopkins, Her special licence
that I, the said Meshach Hopkins, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Meshach Hopkins, 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Meshach Hopkins, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 per-
formed, 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.
h
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Meshach Hopkins, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say:
My said Invention relates to certain arrangements whereby the use
of cams, eccentrics, levers, curved slots, and cog wheels, which have
hitherto been employed in sewing machines for producing the action

page_text: of the needle, the shuttle, looper, or hook, and of the feed, is entirely
avoided.
A cord or belt formed of any suitable material or materials is
attached to a connection at the main pulley or driving wheel of the
'machine, and is thence carried by means of guide pulleys (which are
mounted in suitable bearings, as will be well understood) to the needle,
needle holder, or guide bar, to which latter the cord or belt is attached,
and thence along guide pulleys to the shuttle, looper, or hook, to which
it is also attached, and thence along guide pulleys back to the
_connection at the main pulley or driving wheel, thus forming an
endless cord or belt, both ends of which are attached to the connection
at the main pulley or driving wheel, which latter is mounted on a
suitable stud or shaft, and is actuated by any suitable motive power.
On one side of the main pulley or driving wheel is placed a stud or
pin which acts as a crank or eccentric, and gives motion to the endless
cord or belt by means of a connecting link, one end of which is con-
nected to the before-mentioned stud or pin, and the other end to the
connection of the endless cord or belt.
By means of these arrangements, by giving one revolution to the
main pulley or driving wheel with its stud or pin, the requisite to-and-
fro movement is obtained for the needle, shuttle, looper, or hook, and
feed.
The feed may be connected to any part of the endless cord or belt,
or may be connected direct to the main pulley or driving wheel by
a separate cord or belt, as may also the needle, shuttle, and looper,
or hook.
The requisite movements of all or any of the parts are sometimes
produced by means of a single cord or belt which is connected direct
with the main pulley or driving wheel and its stud or pin, and thence
along guide pulleys 'to the needle, needle holder, or guide bar, shuttle,
looper, or hook, or feed, and then attached to a spring which acts in
opposition to the before-mentioned stud or pin, and the to-and-fro motion
is produced.
I will now proceed to refer to the accompanying Drawings, from
which the nature of my said Invention will be more clearly

page_text: Figure 1 is a side view of a sewing machine frame; Figure 2 is a
sectional end view of the same from B to C, in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a
sectional end view from A to B, in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a plan view.
Some of the details are shewn in detached Figures which are not
numbered. The same letters and numbers of reference indicate similar
parts in the several Figures.
a, a, are pulleys which may be placed in any position, and in any
number, according to the construction of the machine, the same being
attached to the frame by means of studs or screws; b, b, is the belt
which is carried by the pulleys a, a, and which is connected to the
needle, needle bar, or slide, and likewise to the shuttle, hook, or looper,
and the feed, thus forming one continuous belt; or the said belt b, b,
may be passed direct from the needle, needle bar, or slide, along pulleys
to the prime mover C and connected thereto; and in like manner either
or all of the before-mentioned parts may be separately connected to the
prime mover C by a single belt and a spring being attached at the other
end thereof, to act in opposition to the prime mover C, thus giving the
necessary motion to the part which is to be actuated; C, is a crank,
eccentric, or prime mover; d, d, are the connecting link and guide
bar; e, e, are parts which connect the belt or belts with the parts to be
actuated, and which may be varied according to the construction of the
machine. The needle, needle holder, or slide, which is connected
to b, b, by e³, are shewn at f; 9 is the feed or grip for advancing the
work to be sewn, and which is acted upon by the pulley a, as shewn in
Figures 1, 3, and 4; his the shuttle, hook, or looper, which is attached
to the pulley a and connected to b, b, by e³, as shewn in Figures 1, 3,
and 4. The belt b, b, being carried along the pulleys a, a, as shewn in
the Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the ends being joined together, forms
one continuous band which is connected to the different parts to be
acted upon by e, e, and to the crank, eccentric, or prime mover C, by d
and e¹; and thus by giving the prime mover one revolution the to-and-
fro movement is obtained, or the same result may be produced by
means of single belts which are not continuous, as herein-before
mentioned.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as constituting the Invention secured to me by the

page_text: .
said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction of
"
parts and mechanism substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
set forth and described, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Meshach Hopkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.