IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Jackson King, of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, Warehouseman, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 14th August 1868, and dated the 19th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Jackson King
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th February 1868.
I, JOSEPH JACKSON KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Warehouseman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the adaptation to sewing machines of a
simple and effective contrivance for producing sewing over or round the
edge of or through the material, and of a feed guide to be used in
sewing button holes and for producing ornamental devices.
The Invention consists, in the first place, in combining the action of
a corkscrew needle worked from below with that of a straight vertically
Price 8d 1

page_text: reciprocating needle working from above. Each needle has a thread
drawn off a bobbin, and passed through an eye near the point. The
upper needle having formed a loop below the cloth in the ordinary way,
the corkscrew needle passes through this loop, and continuing its motion
helically upwards and circularly carries its point round the edge of the
material to the upper side thereof, where it lays its thread so as to be
interlooped by the vertical needle on this needle's next descent.
In another modification the corkscrew needle is without a thread, and
is formed with a notch or spur, which catches the loop of the upper
needle below the material and carries it round the edge to the upper
side where the upper needle enters it when next descending. The cork-
screw needle is arranged by preference with its axis vertical, and is
mounted in a screw-shaped socket. It is made to turn forwards and
backwards by means of a pinion on its spindle, and acted on by a
reciprocating rack, and when turning it rises or falls with a helical or
screwing motion. A groove is formed round its outer edge, along
which its thread is led from the bobbin to the eye at its point. The
improved button-hole or ornamental feed guide is arranged in connection
with the presser foot, which instead of being of the ordinary form is
made like a flat circular button with a hole for the passage of the needle
down through it. On this presser foot there is fitted a kind of slipper,
the sole or under side of which is roughened, and which may if required
have points projecting down into the material to insure the moving
together of the slipper and material. The slipper is capable of moving
on the foot and is guided by the action on the stem of the foot of a
suitably shaped slot in its upper side. The guide is to be used along
with the ordinary four-motion or other suitable feed applied below the
fabric, but in a line a little outside of the centre of the presser foot.
When the parts are in action on a button hole the feed motion causes
the guide slipper with the material to move first in a straight line, next
to turn through a semicircle, and then to.move in a straight line again,
which are the movements required in sewing the button hole., For
ornamental devices the guide slot is shaped to correspond to the forms
required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Jackson King in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
JACKSON KING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Warehouseman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Jackson. King, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Jackson King, my executors, adminis-
_trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Jackson
King, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Jackson King, 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 Joseph Jackson King, 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 in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the adaptation to sewing machines of a
simple and effective contrivance for producing sewing over or round the
edge of or through the material, and of a feed guide to be used in sewing
button holes, and which may be modified for producing ornamental
devices.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, may be properly understood I have hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to and representing
modifications of my improved appliances.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a sewing machine of the
well-known kind manufactured by Messieurs R. E. Simpson & Co., of
Glasgow and London, and which it will not be necessary to describe
further than as may be required in explaining my improvements;
Figure 2 is a fragment of a section similar to Figure 1, but showing the
needles in different positions; Figure 3 is a plan, and Figure 4 is a
sectional elevation (as at right angles to Figure 1) showing the button-
hole feed guide.
My Invention consists, in the first place, in combining the action of
a corkscrew needle 1 worked from below with that of a straight ver-
tically reciprocating needle 2 working from above. Each needle has
a thread drawn off a bobbin, and passed through an eye near the point,
the upper thread is shown by blue lines, and the lower one by red lines.
The actions of the upper needle and thread are the same as usual in
the kind of machine shown, the parts for actuating the lever which
works the needle bar 3 not being shown to avoid confusing the other
parts. The upper needle 2 having formed a loop below the cloth in the
ordinary way the corkscrew needle 1 passes through this loop, and
continuing its motion helically upwards and circularly carries its point
round the edge of the material 4 to the upper side thereof, where it lays
its thread so as to be interlooped by the vertical needle 2 on this needle's
next descent.
In Figure 1 the corkscrew needle 1 is shown in its highest position
with the vertical needle 2 just entering the material 4, whilst in Figure 2
the corkscrew needle 1 is shown in its lowest position with the vertical
needle 2 rising from its lowest position and forming its loop, into which
the point of the corkscrew needle is about to enter. The action of the
corkscrew needle 1 is obtained very simply. It is fixed on a vertical
spindle 5, and held in a socket 6 formed in a bracket fixed to the under
side of the horizontal plate of the machine. The spindle 5 passes
through a pinion 7, to which it is geared by a key and groove, allowing
it to rise or fall as it turns. The pinion 7 is actuated by a rack 8, fixed
to a bar 9, which is moved by a grooved-faced cam 10 fast on the main

page_text: shaft, or on a shaft rotating simultaneously with the main shaft of the
machine. The part of the needle 1 fixed to the spindle 5 forms a screw
thread thereon, and the socket 6 may be formed with an internal screw
groove throughout to fit this thread; the socket is however represented as
bored out to the diameter of the outside of the screw thread, and a separato
piece 11 which affords facility for adjusting is fitted in a slot made for it,
this piece having its top and bottom ends shaped to the screw contour so
as to enter in between two adjacent convolutions of the thread, and act
as a guide to it, compelling the needle to move up or down helically
whenever it is turned by the pinion 7. A groove is formed round the
outer edge of the corkscrew needle 1, and its thread entering by an
eye near the lower end of the groove passes along to the eye near the
point, which latter eye is by preference directed or inclined upwards,
whilst the point of the needle is by preference inclined slightly inwards
and downwards to facilitate its entering the loop of the vertical needle.
The opening in the throat plate 12 for the corkscrew needle 1 to pass
through is of course in communication with the opening for the vertical
needle. A suitable form for it is shown at 13, in Figure 3.
In another modification the corkscrew needle 1 is without a thread,
and is formed, as shown in plan view in Figure 5, with a notch or
spur a, which catches the loop formed below the material by the upper
needle 2, and carries it round the edge to the upper side where the
upper needle enters it when next descending. My improved button-
hole feed guide is arranged in connection with the presser foot, which
instead of being of the ordinary form is made like a flat circular
button 14, with a hole 13 for the passage of the needle or needles
through it. On this presser foot 14 there is fitted a kind of slipper 15,
the sole or under side of which is roughened, and which may if required
have points projecting down into the material 4 to insure the moving
together of the slipper and material. The slipper 15 is capable of
moving on the foot 14, and is guided by the action on the stem or ankle
16 of the foot of a suitably shaped slot in its upper side. This guide
is to be used along with the ordinary four-motion or other suitable feed
applied in the ordinary way below the material 4, and in a line a little
outside of the centre of the presser foot. When these parts are in action
on a button hole the feed motion causes the guide slipper 15 with the
material 4 to move first in a straight line, next to turn through a
semicircle, and then to move in a straight line again, which are the

page_text: movements required in sewing the button hole. The button-hole feed
guide is shown as in combination with my corkscrew needle, but it may
obviously be used with other stitching mechanism. For ornamental
devices the guide slot in the top plate of the slipper 15 is to be shaped
to correspond in each case to the form required.
Having thus particularly described my. said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1. The applying to sewing machines of a screw-shaped needle
working helically to lay thread round or over the edge of the material,
substantially as herein-before described.
2. The applying of a guide, substantially such as is herein-before
described, for shaping button holes and ornamental devices on sewing
machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Jackson King, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOSEPH J. KING. (L.S.)