IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THATCH AND IN MACHINES OR MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, WHICH MACHINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE POR BINDING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Onley Gooday, of Great Leighs, Chelmsford,
in the County of Essex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THATCH AND IN MACHINES OR MACHINERY FOR
PRODUCING THE SAME, WHICH MACHINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE POR BINDING,
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Onley Gooday at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st September 1866.
I, GEORGE ONLEY GOODAY, of Great Leighs, Chelmsford, in the County of
Essex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THATCH AND IN MACHINES OR MACHINERY
FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, WHICH MACHINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR BINDING,
SEWING, AND STITCHING PURPOSES GENERALLY," to be as follows:-
The object of the first part of my Invention is to produce thatch of straw
or other suitable stuff of any required width or length, the thickness being
varied as required for covering ricks, buildings, and other purposes, bound,
sewn, or stitched at the side or sides and centre as may be found necessary,
so as to form a kind of matting capable of being rolled up for portability. I
take straw or other suitable material and lay it evenly upon a table, at each
side of which travelling spiked bands are fitted, and between which spikes
the ends of the straw or other stuff are pressed, and as the material is moved
forward by the travelling bands it passes under a suitable sewing and is
bound, sewn or stitched together, the edges being afterwards cut to give it a
uniform width if required.

page_text: The stitching may be done by sewing machines of the ordinary construction,
but in order to obviate the necessity for passing the thatch or matting over
the table more than once I propose to employ a sewing machine constructed
as follows:-In suitable standards at each side of the table I mount a trans-
verse shaft, which I denominate the needle shaft, upon this shaft I fit two or
more cams or eccentrics which can be adjusted and fixed in any required
position thereon, and to the rings or collars of these cams or eccentrics I fit
suitably formed needles for carrying the sewing material; the needle shaft may
be turned by a crank or pulley at the end where it is fitted with a ratchet
wheel and pawl for moving rollers, round which the spiked bands before
mentioned travel. The upper needles work through a transverse slot in the
table and are fitted with guides adjustable upon a transverse carrier, and the
lower needles and their respective hooks are also adjustable. These needles
are fitted upon a transverse bar for that purpose, their number and position
being regulated thereon by that of the upper needles as required; the motion
of the lower needle bar may be given by any suitable mechanism. The double
and adjusting needle machine thus formed may also be used for other purposes,
such for instance as sewing together at one operation the two opposite edges
of any materials for the formation of bands, sacks, and the like, or for such
other purposes as it may be found available.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said George Onley Gooday in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ONLEY GOODAY, of Great Leighs, Chelmsford, in the County of Essex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS 1er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Onley Gooday, Her special licence that I, the said George
Onley Gooday, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said George Onley Gooday, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THATCH AND IN MACHINES OR MACHINERY
FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, WHICH MACHINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR BINDING,
SEWING, AND STITCHING PURPOSES GENERALLY," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Onley Gooday, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Onley Gooday, 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 :---
The object of the first part of my Invention is to produce thatch of straw
or other suitable stuff of an required width in lengths, the thickness being
varied as required for covering ricks, buildings, and other purposes, bound,
sewn, or stitched at the sides or sides and centre as may be found necessary, so
as to form a kind of matting capable of being rolled up for portability. I
take straw or other suitable material and lay it evenly upon a table or feed
board in a horizontal or inclined position fitted with feed rollers in front of,
upon, or above, or above and below the same, between which rollers or spikes
the straw or other stuff is pressed and the material moved downward or
forward till it passes under, in front of, or behind a suitable sewing machine,
and is bound, sewn, or stitched together; the edges being afterwards cut to
give it a uniform width if required.
The stitching may be done by needles or hooks or by sewing machines of
the ordinary construction, but in order to obviate the necessity for passing the
thatch or matting or other material over the table more than once I propose
to employ a sewing machine constructed as follows:-In suitable standards at
each side of the table I mount a transverse shaft, which I denominate the
needle shaft. Upon this shaft I fit two or more cams or eccentrics which can
be adjusted or fixed in any required position thereon, and to the rings or:
collars of these cams or eccentrics (which can also be adjusted and fixed
thereon) I fit suitably formed needles for carrying the sewing material; the.
needle shaft may be turned by a crank or pully at the end where it is fitted.
with a ratchet wheel and pawl for moving the feed rollers or rollers round:
which the spiked bands before mentioned travel; the upper needles work
through a transverse slot in the table and are fitted with guides adjustable
upon a transverse carrier, and the lower needles with their respective hooks

page_text: are also adjustable. The lower needles are also fitted upon a transverse bar
or slide for that purpose, their number and position being regulated thereon
by that of the upper needles as required; the motion of the lower needle bar
may be given by any suitable mechanism. The double or multiple and adjusting
needle machine thus formed may also be used for other purposes, such for
instance as sewing together at one operation the two opposite edges or edges
and ends of any material for the formation of bands, sacks, and the like, or for
such other purposes as it may be found available.
A machine constructed upon the multiple needle plan, which constitutes
one of my improvements, may have one or more of the needles to slide or
travel laterally by hand, or by a self-acting ratchet, headed screw, or other
mechanical equivalent for giving the slide motion while the material to be
sewn or stitched is passing through the machine, and thus regular or irregular
lines of a diagonal zig-zag, waved, or curved form or forms may be produced
without moving the material sewn otherwise than in a direct line.
The accompanying Drawing is intended to illustrate the said portable sewn,
stitched, or improved thatch and the machine for sewing or producing the
same, also applicable as above described.
Fig. 1 is a front view of a double needle machine with the needle adjust-
able; Fig. 2, a plan of the same; Fig. 3 shews the sliding needle machine
with a screw motion; Fig. 4 is a plan view thereof. The remaining Figs.
5 to 8, inclusive, shew the portable thatch and modes of sewing or stitching
the same or other materials. Fig. 9 shews the mode of laying the improved
thatch which I would recommend in practice. In Figs. 1 and 2 of the
accompanying Drawing the same letters refer to similar parts.
a is the frame or base of the machine carrying the standards 6, 6; c is the
driving shaft upon which are mounted two or more eccentrics d, d, adjustable
along the said shaft; e, e, connecting rods and slides; these slides work ver-
tically in grooves or channels in the slide box f, f; 9,9, are set screws passing
through the slide box and a slot in the back frame or bar g¹ of the machine
on which the needle guides slide for fixing the eccentrics and needle slides at
any required distance from each other; h is the needle box fixed to the
slide e, e, for holding the needles i, i. On the shaft c I fix a cam j, and attach
thereto a lever k in connection with a crank ; this crank is attached to the
shaft m, and causes the same to oscilate and give the required motion to the
under needles, and cause them to work in connection with the upper ones.
h is a set screw for fixing the under needle and plate; o is a slotted disc
plate attached to the axis c, and turned by means of the wheel and handle p, q,
cr may be driven by a power pulley and band. To this disc I attach a lever r,

page_text: and working pulleys in the ratchet wheel t, and by means of toothed gearing u
work the two rollers v, v, through which the straw or other material is fed
from the feeding board w; is a presser for keeping the straw or other
material to the desired thickness.
In Figs. 3 and 4 is shewn the travelling needle machine for sewing or
stitching bags, sacks, sail cloths, and other similar articles; in this case the
upper needle 1 is made to travel along the bar A, and the under needle 1° to
work therewith by means of a screw 2, which works through the moveable
block 3, to which are attached the two rods 4 and 5, and thereby the distance
between the needles can be increased or diminished at pleasure; 6 is a handle
for turning the screw 2 by hand in either direction. The motion of this screw
may also be given by fitting a ratchet wheel upon the end behind the handle 6
and a dubla pawl actuated from the main shaft, and thus the travelling
motion of the needle or needles (one being fixed and the other moveable or
two or more being moveable) may be rendered self-acting to sew or stitch
diagonal, zig-zag, waved, or other lines while the material is passed through,
the machine in a direct line.
I claim as my Invention,
:
1st, portable sewn or stitched thatch of straw or other material sewn or
stitched together at or near the edge or edges and centre in straight, curved,
or other lines so that it can be rolled up and readily fixed and be moved from
place to place as required.
2ndly, the multiple needle machines or machinery, herein described, or
similar thereto, for sewing or stitching and producing the said thatch, and for
other purposes where it is desirable to avoid passing the material to be stitched
more than once through the machine."
3rdly, the adjusting needle machines with one or more needles, as herein
described, or similar thereto.
4thly, the travelling or sliding needle machines, the travelling or sliding
motion being imparted by hand or being made self-acting, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Onley Gooday, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ת TSA
GEORGE ONLEY GOODAY. (L.S.)