MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Gustave Mascart at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd January
1865.
I, GUSTAVE MASCART, Copper Founder, of No. 82, Boulevard Sebastopol,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and of No. 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in sewing machines relate more particularly to the
simplicity of the mechanical means I employ for forming the chain stitch.
My improved sewing machine, which is intended to serve as a plaything
for children, is made entirely of metal, and consists of a small figure lying on
its back, the legs being hollow and thrown over the head admit of a small
shaft running through them, one end of which is fixed to the centre of a small
hand wheel, and the other, which communicates motion to the needle, turns
in a metal box fixed to the feet of the figure; to this end of the shaft is
attached a piece of metal of unequal proportions, the object of which will be
mentioned hereafter. At the bottom or bed of the apparatus which is hollow,.
and may be made of any form and dimensions is another shaft, supported and
turning in bearings fixed in any convenient position in the bed of the machine
for that purpose; round this shaft is passed a spiral spring. One end of the
shaft is bent for about the length of an inch in a perpendicular manner, the
remainder being curved, the extreme end being furnished with a roller run-
ning on slides fixed on the hand wheel, and curved in such a manner as to
communicate to the shaft a backwards and forwards movement, which is

page_text: facilitated by the spiral spring. At the opposite end of the above-mentioned
shaft a small hook is fixed, and placed directly under the needle, so as to
catch the thread and form a loop as soon as the needle has penetrated the
material. The reel of thread or cotton turns on a pin placed in any convenient
position on the figure, and is prevented from jumping or rising while revolving
by means of a small spiral spring placed over the pin above the reel and
pressing gently on the reel by means of a screw head fitting on the pin.
The foregoing description and the mode of working the machine will more
readily be understood by aid of the accompanying Drawings; the same letters
indicate like parts shown in the different Figures.
Fig. 1 is a side view of my sewing machine. A is the hand wheel; (b, b,)
are the metal slides on which the small roller (c), fixed at the end of the
lower shaft (d, d,) turns; (e) is the hook (fixed at the end of the shaft),
which catches in the loop formed by the needle in drawing the thread
through the material, which operation is repeated twice in every turn of
the wheel, thus forming a succession of loops one in the other and so forming
the chain stitch; (f) is the reel containing the cotton or thread; (g) is the
rod or pin on which the reel turns, and round which and above the reel
a short spiral spring is placed; (h) is the screw head pressing the spring on
the reel; B, Figs. 1, and 2, is the metal box fixed to the feet of the figure
and in which the shaft (i, i,) turns, the other end being fixed in the centre of
the hand wheel A; (j) is the metal piece of unequal proportions fixed to
the end of the shaft which in turning raises the metal piece (k) bearing the
needle by means of a screw fixed on it, and working in an opening made in
it for that purpose; for instance, in turning the hand wheel the metal piece
(j) revolves, at the same time drawing up with it the metal piece (k) bear-
ing the needle, and is pressed down again with the aid of an arm or projecting
piece (1) fixed to another piece (m) pressing on the piece (5), by means of
a spring (n) fixed on an arm (o) attached to it for that purpose, the other
end of the spring being fixed to a peg (p) attached to the frame of the metal
box B; (7) is a small screw shaft furnished with a nut; the end of this shaft
presses on the piece (m), pressing it back, and thus the length of the stitch
may be regulated; r, r, r, r, are pieces of wire fixed in convenient positions
for conducting the cotton or thread to the needle.