IMPROVED APPA- RATUS FOR GAUGING AND MARKING THE WIDTH OF TUCKS AND PLEATS ON FABRICS UNDER OPERATION IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Baldwin Woodruff, of Cheapside, in the City
of London, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR GAUGING AND MARKING THE WIDTH OF TUCKS AND PLEATS ON
FABRICS UNDER OPERATION IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 12th December 1865, and dated the 8th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Baldwin Woodruff
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th July 1865.
I, GEORGE BALDWIN WOODRUFF, of Cheapside, in the City of London,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR GAUGING AND MARKING THE WIDTH OF TUCKS AND
PLEATS ON FABRICS UNDER OPERATION IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to form a crease or line of dots in the work
under operation in the sewing machine at any required distance from the
line of stitching that is being produced and at the time that the sewing is
proceeding, by which means I am enabled greatly to facilitate the forming of
tucks or pleats, and to ensure their being made of uniform width and at equal
distances apart.
In carrying out this Invention I apply to the shuttle race slide of the sewing
machine or to the cloth plate (by means of a clip, screw, or otherwise) a
marker formed of a thin strip of steel with a raised edge or edges standing in
a line, parallel to the line of stitching. This steel strip or marker is made

page_text: capable of adjustment on the shuttle-race plate or on the cloth plate at right
angles to the line of sewing, for the purpose of setting the raised edge nearer
to or further from the needle. The marker is caused to act upon the cloth
by the pressure of a peculiarly shaped presser, which receives a slight up-and-
down motion upon the edge of the marker, thus forming a crease or series of
dots upon the cloth. The presser is a curved finger slotted to admit the
raised edge of the marker, and carried by and made capable of sliding on a
horizontal arm projecting from the ordinary presser bar. This slotted presser
is shifted on its arm until its slot overlies the edge of the marker, and the
up-and-down motion given to the presser bar by the feed plato from below
the cloth plate will give the slotted presser an intermittent action, thereby
causing it to crease or dot the cloth as it is fed over the raised edge of the
marker. Instead of mounting the slotted presser on an arm affixed to the
presser bar, it may be carried by a fulcrum pin projecting from the bracket
arm of the machine, and it may receive an intermittent motion from the
needle bar, feed bar, or presser bar, and thus press the cloth down upon the
marker. In some cases, I propose to use a grooved wheel mounted on the
horizontal arm of the presser bar for pressing the cloth onto the adjustable
marker.
An obvious modification of the above will be giving a reciprocating motion
to the marker, and using a fixed bracket to act as the slotted presser. In
this instance I mount the marker on a rocking bar either above or below the
table, and give motion to the bar by means of a rotary cam, or I may takė
the motion from the shuttle driver, or from the feed motion, or other moving
parts of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent; filed
by the said George Baldwin Woodruff in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BALDWIN WOODRUFF, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Mechanical Engi-
neer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant'-unto-me; the said
George Baldwin Woodruff, Her special licence that I, the said George Baldwin
'Woodruff, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the

page_text: said George Baldwin Woodruff, 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 APPARATUS FOR GAUGING AND MARKING THE WIDTH OF TUCKS
AND PLEATS ON FABRICS UNDER OPERATION IN SEWING MACHINES," upon the.
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Baldwin Woodruff, 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 George Baldwin Woodruff, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
This Invention relates to the forming of a crease or line of dots in the work.
under operation in the sewing machine at any required distance from the line of
stitching that is being produced and at the time that the sewing is proceeding,
by which means I am enabled greatly to facilitate the forming of tucks or
pleats, and to ensure their being made of uniform width and at equal
distances apart.
In carrying out the Invention I use the arrangement of parts shewn in
Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, where Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and:
Fig. 2 an end view, and Fig. 3 a plan view of so much of a sewing machine.
as will serve to explain the nature and operation of the Invention. To the
shuttle race slide a of the sewing machine or to the cloth plate. I apply, by:
means of a clip 6 or a screw or equivalent contrivance,) a marker A.;
formed of a thin strip of steel, with raised edges 1, 2, standing up parallel to:
the line of stitching. The attachment of the steel strip or marker' to the,
shuttle race slide is shewn best at Figures 4; which represent the same in
plan and edge view. It is made capable of adjustment on the shuttle race
slide at right angles to the line of sewing for the purpose of setting the raised
edge nearer, to or further from the needle. To prevent the marker from
shifting laterally it is provided with a lip 3, which catches against the edge of
the table of the machine, and holds it firmly in place. The marker is caused:

page_text: to act upon the cloth by the pressure of a peculiarly shaped presser, which
receives a slight up-and-down motion upon the edge of the marker, thus
forming a crease or series of dots upon the cloth. The presser is a curved
finger B, having a slot 4 to receive either of the raised edges of the marker,
and it is carried by and made capable of sliding on a horizontal arm C pro-
jecting from the ordinary presser bar c, as shewn at Fig. 1. The mode of
attaching this arm to the presser bar is shewn in the detached views,
Figures 5, which represent it in plan, side, and end views. The slotted presser B
is shifted on its arm C until its slot overlies the edge of the marker, and the
up-and-down motion given to the presser bar by the feed plate d (Fig. 3)
from below the cloth plate will give the slotted presser an intermittent action,
thereby causing it to crease or dot the cloth as it is fed over the raised edge
of the marker, as indicated in the Diagram, Fig. 1*, which shews a crease
made parallel to the line of stitching. Instead of mounting the slotted presser
on an arm affixed to the presser bar it may be carried by a fulcrum pin or
shaft, and it may receive an intermittent motion from the needle. bar, and thus
press the cloth down upon the marker.
An arrangement of this kind is shewn in Sheet II., where the needle bar
is used for giving the motion to the marker. Fig. 6 is a partial side view of a
sewing machine with this modified arrangement of tuck marker applied
thereto, and Fig. 7 is an end view of the same; Figures 8 and 9 shew
detached views of the modified arrangement. A is the marker as before;
B is the slotted finger carried by a rock shaft C, on which it is fed to slide as
on the arm C in the former example. This shaft is carried by a bracket D,
secured by a clamping screw to the presser bar c. Affixed to the bracket D
is a curved spring E, which presses against a finger C² attached to the rock
shaft C. This finger C¹ is sufficiently long to reach under the needle bar d;
and thus at each descent of the needle the shaft C is rocked, and its finger B
is caused to press upon the cloth beneath it, and crease it upon the adjustable
marker A. After every feed movement this marking action is repeated, and
thus lines are marked on the work as the sewing proceeds. The bracket D
may be shaped as shewn at Figs. 10, so as to clip the presser bar if thought
desirable.
An obvious modification of the above will be an arrangement in which a
reciprocating motion is given to the marker, a fixed bracket being used to
act as the slotted presser. This plan I have illustrated at Figures 11 and 12.
In this instance I mount the marker A, which is also a propeller of the work,
on a rocking bar E below the table, and I take the motion from the feed
motion of the machine, d being the ordinary feed plate.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Gauging and Marking the Width of Tucks and Pleats on Fabrics under
Operation in Sewing 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 means above described for effecting the
marking of work contemporaneously with the act of sewing for the purpose of
regulating the folding of the work for the next succeeding tuck or pleat.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Baldwin Woodruff, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
GEORGE BALDWIN WOODRUFF. (L.s.)
66, Chancery Lano.