IMPROVEMENTS IN STITCHING OR SEWING APPARATUS, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, CHARLES FREDERIC GARDNER, of Worship Street, Finsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STITCHING OR SEWING APPARATUS, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BOOTS AND SHOES" and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to apparatus for stitching or sewing leather or other heavy
materials by hand.
The said apparatus is chiefly designed for use in the manufacture of boots and
shoes, and will be found advantageous in lasting turned or welted boots and shoes;
also for basting or bracing together the upper, welt and inner-sole of welted boots
and shoes; also for sewing the upper to the sole in turned boots and shoes, and
for sewing the welt and the upper to the inner-sole in welted boots and shoes. It
may, however, be used for stitching or sewing leather or similar materials for
various other purposes. It can be used, as hereinafter described, to produce either
chain-stitches or lock-stitches.
The chief feature of the said invention is a combined needle and awl, whereby a
hole can be bored in the leather or other material, and the thread passed through
the same at one operation.
The said invention, moreover, comprises means for holding the thread and
regulating its tension, as hereinafter set forth.
In the accompanying drawing, I have shewn how my apparatus may be con-
veniently and advantageously constructed.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section.
Figure 2 a plan, and
Figure 3 a side elevation of the said apparatus.
Figure is an elevation of one form of needle which I employ with my
apparatus.
a is a box or case forming the handle of the apparatus and serving to hold a
bobbin b on which the thread bis wound. This box or case is provided with

page_text: a screw-cap or cover a¹. c is the combined needle and awl, which is secured by
means of a set-screw d in the piece e. This piece is screwed upon a projection on
the top of the cap or cover a¹, and is made with a stem e' through which are bored
holes e for the purpose hereinafter specified.
The thread b is passed through a hole in the cover a¹ and then through two or
more of the holes e to regulate its tension. The needle c is made with a transverse
notch or recess c¹ to receive the thread, and has a longitudinal groove or channel c*
on each side, in which grooves the thread will lie when the needle and thread are
passed through the material.
In using the apparatus to make chain-stitches, the thread is laid in the notch c¹
of the needle, and is passed therewith through the material; the loop of the thread
is then held by a hook or other suitable device, and the needle is withdrawn from
the material. Another portion of the thread is then laid in the said notch and
passed through the material, thus forming a second loop, over which the first loop
is placed by means of the hook or other device. The second loop is then held by
the hook until a third loop is formed, over which the said second loop is placed,
and so on.
In using the apparatus to make lock-stitches, the thread is passed successively
through the material, and a second thread is passed through each loop formed by
the first thread, which is then tightened.
To facilitate the tightening of the thread, and, at the same time, prevent the
unwinding of the same from the bobbin, an arm fis pivotted to the side of the
box or case a, the free end of which arm is so arranged that 'it can, if desired, be
pressed against the stem e¹ to clamp or hold the thread between it and the said
stem, as will be readily understood by referring to Figure 1.
When the apparatus is required for making lock-stitches, the combined needle
and awl is sometimes made with an eye, as shewn at c³ in Figure 4, instead of with
a transverse notch as above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The improved stitching or sewing apparatus provided with the combined needle
and awl, and means for holding the thread and regulating its tension, substantially
as, and for the purposes, set forth.