Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 1888
Specification Accepted, 9th Mar.. 1883
I ARTHUR STANLEY RICHARDSON, of Reading in the State of Massachusetts one
of the United States of America, Machinist 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 :-
This invention relates to that class of machine in which the shoc to be stitched is
supported on the top of a post.
In this class of machine it is a great desideratum to reduce the diameter of the
post to the minimum throughout its length, so that the shoe may be easily tipped on
the post when the stitching is being done about the toc, the top of the post having
a narrow support for the material between the edge of the sole and the point where
the needle penetrates the sole in order that the needle may penetrate the upper close
to the edge of the sole.
To reduce the post to its minimum diameter I have applied my improved standard
to a machine wherein the feeding of the shoe is done by an awl located above the
post, rather than by a needle within the post, and to enable the cast-off to take up
the least possible space in the standard and yet operate unerringly with the needle,
I have provided tlic needle-bar with a longitudinal groove in which runs or moves
the cast-off slide, it being composed of a flattened strip of steel the point of which is
off-set to come in contact with the shank af the needle at a point immediately above
the needle-bar, the cast-off' slide being held closely in the groove in the needle-bar by
means of the inner wall of the standard, the needle-bar and cast-off within it fitting
the standard, the latter guiding each along its entire stroke.
To enable the top of the standard to constitute a narrow work support, the said
standard is made open entirely to its top, such construction being necessary to enable
both the cast-off and the needle to be retracted entirely within the standard when the
awl is moving along the top of the support for a new stitch, the point of the awl at
such time being extended through the usual outer-sole, upper, and inner-sole, close to
the edge of the inner-sole and separated from the said edge by only the thickness of
one wall of the upper end of the standard.
.
The standard, at a point below its upper end, is slotted for the passage of the screw

page_text: which holds the needle in the needle-bar, and to permit the operator to have access
to the said screw to change a needle without removing the needle-bar.
My invention consists essentially in a wax-thread sewing machine, a slender
tubular standard open at its upper end, needle and cast-off bars fitting closely
within the said standard, the cast-off entering a groove in the needle-bar, the back
of the said cast-off being in contact with the inner wall of the standard to
retain the cast-off in the groove of the needle-bar, both the needle and cast-off being
adapted to be retracted entirely within the standard, combined with a presser-foot, an
awl, and awl-carrying bar, and with means to move the awl-carrying bar to effect
the movement of the shoe over the top of the standard, substantially as will be
described.
Figure 1 in front elevation represents a sufficient portion of a wax-thread sewing
machine to enable my improvements to be understood.
Figure 2 is a detail shewing in vertical section the standard, part of the frame-work,
the needle-bar, and the cast-off, the needle being in elevation, the needle-bar being
supposed to be descending.
Figure 3 is a section of Figure 2 in the line a
Figure is a top or plan view of the standard, Figure 2, and
Figure 5 is a section of Figure 1 in the line a¹.
The bed-plate or base A, the standard A' supporting the usual over-hanging arm in
which is located the rotating shaft for operating the awl-bar, the awl-bar B, the awl b,
the vibrating awl-carrying frame B pivoted at B upon a stud at the forward part
of the over-langing arm, the arm B forming part of a rock-shaft and connected to
the said frame B2 by a link 2, the presser-foot (), the presser-bar C, the thread
carrier-bar C, and the thread-carrier 3, are and may be all as usual in wax thread
sewing machines wherein the material is fed by an awl.
The forward part of the frame-work of the machine has secured to it by bolts d,
a plate or foot, from which rises a slender standard d, the upper end of which
meets the lower side of the presser-foot.
This standard, as herein shown, is made tubular from its upper and downwards to a
point which will be at or below what will constitute the top of the shoe, so as to offer
the least possible obstruction to the free movement of the upper outside of the
standard while the stitching is taking place about the toe of the shoe, the standar.l
ut such time extending into the vamp, substantially to its junction with the inner sole.
Referring to Figure 4, it will be seen that the top of the standard, especially that
part of it between the vamp and the needle, is very narrow or thin, such construction
permitting the hooked needle to penetrate the inner-sole, upper, and outer-sole very
close to the edge of the inner-sole, such construction being essential in the inanu-
facture of childrens or infants shoes in order that the upper may be always caught
Ly the needle.
The needle-bar D, at its lower end, has connected to it by a screw, a block D' having
a projecting finger d which at the proper time strikes the blocks d', d, secured to
the cast-off bare to raise or lower it in order that the cast-off may co-operate in usual
manner with the hook of tho hooked-needle n to form a stitch.
This block has a pin or stud which receives the lower end of a link D³, shown
by dotted lines Figure 1, the upper end of which link is connected to a pin or stud
of an arm of a rock-shaft D3 which derives its movement from the rotating shaft in
the overhanging arm referred to, through a link, shown by dotted lines connected to
an arm D, shown by dotted lines Figure 1, of the rock-shaft D³, the said devices for
moving the needle and cast-off bars being substantially the same as now employed in
other wax-thread sewing machines.
The needle-bar 1 is fitted snugly into and is guided by the standard, as berein
shown, to a point above the highest position attained by the needle-bar, the said
standard being slotted as represented at f Figure 2, the said slot permitting the
needle holding screw to slide up and down the slide, and also enabling the operator
to gain access to the said screw when it is desired for any purpose to change or
adjust the needle, the slot obviating the removal of the needle-bar.

page_text: The needle-bar throughout the length of the standard is provided with a groove,
as shown best in Figures 2 and 3, which receives in it the cast-off g, herein shown as
a thin plate of steel the upper end of which is off-set, see Figure 2, or bent toward
and so as to come in contact with the needle n, the inturned portion of the cast-off in
contact with the needle being grooved to partially embrace the needle.
The cast-off from the point 8 to its upper end substantially fills the groove in the
needle-bar, the outer edge of the cast-off coming in contact with the inner wall of the
standard, so that the cast-off in its reciprocations is held firmly in place in the groove
in the needle-bar.
Referring to Figure 2 it will be noticed that the standard is open entirely to its
top, the hole at the top being of such size as to permit both the cast-off and the
needle to be entirely retracted within and below the upper end of the standard, so
that the inner sole of a shoe resting upon the top of the standard may be readily
moved thereon by the awl, the point of which at such time enters the open upper end
of the standard.
The standard is herein shown as tubular, as thereby greatest strength and stiffness
is attained with a given quantity of metal, the upper end of the standard however
presenting an oval rather than circular shape leaving a comparatively narrow slot
in the top of the standard in which the awl may move laterally.
I do not broadly claim a base or standard to enter a shoe and support it while being
stitched.
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:
In a wax-thread sewing machine :-
1. The slender tubular standard open at its upper end, the needle and cast-off
bars fitting closely within the said standard, the cast-off entering a groove in the
needle-bar the back of the said cast-off being in contact with the inner wall of the
standard to retain the cast-off in the groove of the said bar, both the needle and
cast-off being adapted to be retracted entirely within the standard, combined with a
presser-foot, an awl, an awl-carrying bar, and means to move the awl-carrying bar
to effect the movement of the shoe over the top of the standard, substantially as
described.
2. The slender work-supporting standard slotted at one side, as at f, a longi-
tudinally grooved needle carrying bar, a cast-off entering the said groove, the assembled
needle and cast-off bars fitting the interior of the standard snugly, combined with
a needle-holding scrow f¹ arranged to move in the slot of the standard, substantially
as described.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.