An Improved Machine for Sewing Together the Sheets or Signatures of Books.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 10th June, 1891
Complete Specification Left. 4th Dec., 1891-Accepted. 30th Jan., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Sewing Together the Sheets or Signatures
of Books.
1, ISIDOR NASCH, of 251 Whitechapel Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
:-
By this invention I produce a machine for sewing together the sheets or
signatures of books, which is exceedingly simple in its construction, of very great
rapidity in its action, and of small cost of manufacture. It is easy of operation
and adjustment, durable, and highly efficient in service.
The work effected by it is solid, strong, and regular; and the machine is adapted
for binding books of any size and thickness.
According to this invention I may use any convenient number of needles, and 1
mount each upon a separate bar working independently upon a sleeve or arm fitted
loosely upon a carrying shaft. The needles have imparted to them a horizontal
backward and forward motion by means of eccentrics or cams carried upon driving
shafts and acting against the sleeves or armis aforesaid, and operated by-hand,
treadle, or power.
Each needle, in accordance with this invention, is of a peculiar construction, as
in addition to its eye I form it with a hook at its point.
In front of the needle plate I have two loopers which have a lateral traverse
(from right to left and rice versa) and which take the thread from one needle to
another.
After the thread is taken from the eye of one needle by the looper it is received
upon the hook of the next needle and held by same till another thread is brought
to it when the two loops are interlocked and the stitch is formed.
The stitching bed or board is lowered automatically by means of a worm and
ratchet so that as each sheet or signature is laid upon the board it may be at the
requisite level for stitching. And I have further an automatically working feed
table upon which are placed the sheets or signatures as required and which at each
revolution of the machine carries one of such sheets and presses same against the
needle plate and holds it in position till sewn.
Dated this 9th day of June 1891.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Sewing Together the Sheets or Signatures
of Books.
I, ISIDOR NAScu, of 251 Whitechapel Road in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, 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:-
By this invention I produce a machine for sewing together the sheets or signatures
of books, which is exceedingly simple in its construction, of very great rapidity in
its action, and of small cost of manufacture. It is easy of operation and adjust-
ment, durable, and highly efficient in service. The work effected by it is solid,
strong, and regular, and the machine is adapted for binding books of any size and
thickness.
According to this invention I make use of any convenient number of needles
mounted each upon a separate neelle bar working independently upon an arm or

page_text: lever fitted loosely upon a carrying shaft. The needles have imparted to them a
backward and forward motion by means of eccentrics or cams acting against the
arms or levers aforesaid, and operated by hand, treadle, or power.
Further, in accordance with this invention, each needle is, of a peculiar
construction as in addition to its eye I form it with a hook at its point.
In front of the needle plate I have two loopers which have a lateral traverse,
from right to left and vice versa, and which each take a thread from the eye of one
needle to the hook of another. After the thread is taken from the eye of one
needle by the looper to the hook of another needle it is held by the latter till
another thread is brought to it, when the two loops are interlocked and the stitch
is formed.
The bed or stitching board is lowered automatically by means of a worm and
ratchet so that as each sheet or signature is laid upon the board it may be at the
requisite level for stitching. The feeding table upon which are placed the sheets
for stitching is also automatic in its action and at each revolution of the machine
carries one of such sheets to the needle plate and presses it against same and holds
it in position till sewn.
And in order that this invention may be fully understood & readily carried into
éffect I will proceed to describe same with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Similar letters of reference refer to like parts in all the figures.
Fig. 1 shews in plan my improved machine for sewing together the sheets or
signatures of books, and which is here illustrated as employing three threads,
though any number desired may be employed with a necessary alteration in the
number of the needles in accordance therewith.
Fig. 2 is an end elevation; Fig. 3 is a back clevation, and Fig. 4 is an inverted
plan of the machine.
Figs. 5. 6. and 7. are diagrams shewing the various positions of the needles and
loopers at different stages of the stitch and
:
Figs. 8 and 9 are two views, to an enlarged scale, of my combined needle, and
hook, particularly adapted for use in machines of this description.
a are the needles, the needle bars, c the arms or levers attached at one end to
the needle bars b, and having the other end working loosely upon a carrying
shaft d; e are cams carried upon driving shaft
aims c, and impart a forward motion thereto;
shewn, be fitted for causing the return motion, or
this purpose
if desired.
which act against the levers or
springs g may conveniently, as
other cams may be arranged for
The driving shaft may be operated in any convenient manner, in the drawings
herewith it is shewn as receiving its rotary motion from the driving wheel'h through
intermediate shafts ik and bevel gears I m.
The loopers are carried by rods or bars o sliding in bearings p. The outer
ends of these rods or bars o are connected by cross levers q to shafts r which have
a lateral motion communicated to them by means of levers and rods operated
from the intermediate driving shaft k by cams 3 as hereinafter described.
Attached to the rod or bar o is a collars having a tail piece s' which is depressed
at each revolution of the driving shaft by means of the lever which is pivotted
at and is acted upon by a cam u fitted upon the driving shaft f. This causes
the looper n to be depressed slightly as it is placing the thread upon the hook of
needle so as to carry said thread well within the jaws of the hook. A spring s²
shewn particularly in Fig. 3 acting upon the aforesaid tail pieces of the collar s
causes the looper to resume its original position. To more easily disengage itself
of the loop or stitch the hook needle is caused to partly revolve.
•
This is accomplished by forming notches or teeth at the end of the needle bar
which take into a rack v which has a reciprocating motion given to it through the
lever spring v² and cam 3. See Figs. 3 and 4. The cam revolving abuts
against the stud on léver ', and carries same forward, this latter being attached
at its upper end to the rack e causes same to advance. The spring draws it back
upon the cam being free of the stud.

page_text: To take up the slack of the thread 1 provide thread controllers consisting of the
arms w pivotted at w'. These are raised at each revolution by levers w² acted upon
by the cams te fixed on driving shaft
a is the bed or stitchboard lowered automatically at each revolution preferably
by means of a worm and ratchet actuated from the driving or intermediate shaft.
A convenient manner of performing this is to provide a screwed column see
Figs. 2 and 4 around which a correspondingly screwed collar attached to the
stitch board works & which is caused to revolve by the action of a pawl taking
into a toothed wheel a attached to the column x¹. This may be operated as
follows: provide a lever (see Fig. 4. in inverted plan), pivotted at one end to
the standard or bearing a & furnished with a stud acted upon by the cam a on
shaft. To the other end of this lever I attach one end of the rod the other
end being attached to the arm which is pivotted on the screwed column ..
This arm carries the pawl & as it is vibrated causes it to act against a tooth
of the toothed wheel at Guide columns. fitted with sleeves or bushes attached
to the stitch board e may conveniently be provided. y is the feeding table sliding
between guides y upon which the sheet or signature is placed and which carries
same to the needle plate 7'. This may also be made automatic in its action and be
actuated from the driving gear by cam and lever or in any convenient manner;
for instance in a cam slot or groove y' on driving wheel may travel the roller of a
lever y the latter being connected to the lever y³ fixed to the feeding table see
Fig 2.
are spools from whence the thread is taken through the tensions :' and
through the apertures in guard or faceplate 3 (this latter is also provided with
slots through which the thread controlling arms are free to work) then through
the eye thence it is taken to the thread controlling arm and then downward
passing through the eye and on through the eye of the needle.
Referring particularly to the diagrams (Figs. 5, 6, & 7) the relative positions of
the needles and loopers at different stages of the stitch will be observed.
At the commencement the needles 1. 2. 3. 4.5 and loopers 6. 7. are in the position
shewn in the first diagram (Fig. 5). The needles 1 and 3 pierce the signature and
the looper 6 advances to position shewn in second diagram (Fig. 6). Both loopers
then travel in one direction and take the threads from needles 1 and 3 and carry
them to the hooks of needles 2 and 4 which have now pierced the signature and
the needles and 3 have retired as shewn in third diagram (Fig. 7). The
loopers 6. 7. then assume the position shewn in dotted lines and release the threads
leaving them upon the needle hooks 2 and 4. These latter then retire holding the
threads and the loopers resume the position shewn in first diagram.
and so on.
Another signature is now placed ready for stitching and the needles 3 and 5
pierce it, and the loopers carry the threads from them to the needle hooks 2 and 4
which latter still bear the threads of the first signature brought to them from
needles and 3. The needle hooks 2 and 4 then retire carrying with them both
threads and in their travel drop the first thread which interlocks with the second,
It will thus be seen that by this machine succeeding signatures are
sewn in different places see diagrams (Figs. 10, 11, and 12) and thus the thickness
of the back of the book is much reduced compared with those heretofore stitched
by other machines which sew them all in the same place. The book also opens
Hatter and with a much better spring than any sewn by machines heretofore in
use, and the sewing is much tighter, equalling in every respect the best hand
sewing whilst excelling it in strength. The signatures require no cutting at the
edge and should a stitch be cut or broken it will not loosen a sheet.
By the machine constructed as hereinbefore described I am enabled to stitch
the sheets or signatures alternately in different places, a result heretofore only
obtained by hand sewing. This I accomplish by reason of the needles each being
operated singly and separately, and not all mounted on a single frame as in machines
.hitherto, in use. This feature forms the essence of this invention, and I have
herein described and shewn in the accompanying drawings a convenient and suitable
arrangement and combination of parts for obtaining this result.

page_text: The mode of operation of the machine as described and shewn is as follows: I
place the sheet or signature to be stitched upon the feeding table y as shewn in
dotted lines Figure 2 this is then carried up to the stitch plate y¹.
The feeding table slides backwards and forwards in guides y & may be operated
in any convenient manner, either by hand or by levers actuated from the driving
mechanism. The driving wheel upon being set in motion (either by hand, treadle,
or power) causes the driving shaft to revolve, through the intervention of bevel
gears im and intermediate shafts ik, and this revolving carries round the cams e
which have their throws so set as to take against the arms or levers c at the proper
moment. These arms being pivotted at d have their upper ends thrown forward
upon the cams e coming into contact with them, & as their upper ends are attached
to the needle bars these latter with their needles a are forced forward & through
the signature placed against the stitch plate as already described.
C
The arms are provided with studs or projections against which springs
attached to the shaft d act, and cause the arms & needle bars to return to their
normal position.
The cams actuated by the driving mechanism from shaft k give motion to the
shafts or arms 22, which in turn move the levers or arms attached to shafts :
hese latter, connected by cross levers 7 to the bars o of the loopers n, give the
requisite motion to said loopers, and cause them to act as hereinbefore particularly
described with reference to the diagram Figures 5, 6, and 7.
That this motion
The cams
are
may be fully understood particular reference is had to Figs. 2 & 4.
on shaft in their revolving come in contact with the studs upon the levers.
These latter are pivotted at one end on the shaft carried in standard 17
attached at other cud to the shafts or arms 2 & communicate motion to these latter
upon the impact of the cams. The levers or arms are also & at same time
actuated as the shafts or arms are connected to them. The levers or arms
are pivotted at & have their other ends attached to the shafts & give motion
to these latter in their turn. Through them the looper carrying bars o are actuatel
(being connected to same by the cross levers 7). Springs are provided for the
return motion of the levers and looper carrying bars.
Upon one signature being stitched, the feeding table is drawn back and another
sheet placed upon it, the first one remains on the stitch board or table as seen
in dotted lines Fig. 2 and this latter is lowered to adapt itself to the thickness of
the sheets or signatures it bears, in any convenient manner.
The slack of the thread is taken up or controlled by the thread controllers .
Cams fitted upon the driving shaft are revolved by the latter and take
against the arms w², and cause them to rise, and lift the arms w at the proper
times.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what i
claim is
1. In machines for sewing together the sheets or signatures of books the arrange-
ment of needles, each mounted upon a separate needle bar working independently
upon a lever or arm pivotted upon a carrying shaft, and actuated by eccentrics,
cams, springs, or their equivalents; substantially as hereinbefore described, and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In machines for sewing together the sheets or signatures of books the loopers
constructed, arranged, and acting, substantially as herein described and illustrated.
3. In combination with the arrangement of needles and loopers and their
actuating mechanisms as hereinbefore described the thread controlling or "take
up" mechanism constructed and acting as herein set forth and illustrated.
4. In machines for sewing together the sheets or signatures of books the needles
constructed or formed, in addition to their eyes, with hooks at the points;
substantially as described and illustrated particularly in Figs. 8 and 9 of the
accompanying drawings.

page_text: 5. The general construction, arrangement, and combination, of parts constituting
the improved machine for sewing together the sheets or signatures of books;
substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 2nd dow of Doomben 1901
ISIDOR NASCH.