Improvements in Sewing Machine Attachments.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machine Attachments.
I, NATHANIEL WHEELER, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States of America,
Manufacturer, 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 has for its object to improve and simplify the construction of that
class of sewing machine attachment employed to fell and also to hem material.
By the use of my invention the width of the fell and of the hem may be varied
and the material be kept under controll all the time, so as to positively ensure
uniform felling and hemming.
Another part of this invention consists in such a construction of the parts of the
device that when they are to be adjusted for the production of wider fells or hems,
the devices instrumental in rolling over or preparing the edge or main part of the
material for the hem or fell, are also necessarily moved diagonally to the length of
the scam as they are moved away from the needle hole, thus enabling the parts to
turn the hem or fell gradually and uniformly for all widths, or the wider the hem
or fell, the greater the distance from the needle hole towards the operator that the
turning in of the hem or fell is started.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a combined feller and hemmer embodying my
invention, the dotted lines showing the parts adapted for the widest fell or hem the
particular adjustment is capable of making.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the attachment shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an under side view of the attachment.
Figure 4 shows the main part of the foot with its curling finger attached.
Figure 5 shows the adjustable gauge and separator detached from the foot.
Figure 5 shows the gauge detached.
Figure 6 shows two pieces of cloth laid one upon the other for making the first
seam of the fell.
Figure 7 a section of the cloth shown in Figure 6 when one ply is laid out away
from the other, and
Figure 8 shows a completed fell.
Referring to the drawing A represents the main or foot part of my improved
attachment, it having a shank a adapted to be secured in any usual manner to any
usual presser-bar, as by a screw.
This foot piece has a needle hole band two prongs 6' 63, the prong b¹ having
attached to it a yielding or spring like curling finger 6, the end of which nearest
the needle hole is hooked, as represented at 2 in Figure 4.
The prong has a curling point c which is located slightly to one side of the
needle hole, the edge to be turned in passing over the point and into the curl in
usual manner.
I have provided the prong 6 with a threaded hole 3 to receive a suitable thumb-
screw c which is first passed through a gauge-block c, thence through a slot 4 in
the separator d forming part of the adjustable guide D, to be described.
The guide D, see Figures 1 and 3 and Figure where the same is represented
as detached, consists essentially of the separator-bar, and a spring arm d', herein
represented as having a downwardly-curved lip or guiding surface d' which in
practice is substantially parallel with the line of feed of the cloth through the
attachment..
The outer end of this spring arm is provided with a projecting gauge-finger e

page_text: attached to or made as a part of the spring arm, the front end of the said gauge-
finger being preferably slightly upturned to facilitate the passage of the material
under it.
The inner end of the separator is shown as provided with a projection 5 which is
extended toward the needle hole, the face of the projection lying near the inner
face of the lip, the said projection and the lip receiving between them the material
in process of folding, the extreme edge of the material carried over the separator-
bar and against the gauge thereof, passing between the curling lip 2 and the
point c, the upturned edge of the gauge limiting the amount of the material turned
in or under by the action of the curling device, comprehending the finger and the
point.
In this embodiment of my invention the separator is made of thin sheet metal
subjected to the action of a die so as to leave the guiding edge 6 to contact with the
edge 7 of the prong 6, and for the narrowest fell or hem, when the gauge of which
the separator forms a part, is adjusted fully to the left viewing Figure 1, the
projection 5 referred to fits the curved surface 7× of the prong, and also rests
against the point c.
In Figure 1, the dotted lines, show the gauge adjusted for the widest fell or hem
which the present attachment is adapted to make, and in that figure it will be
noticed that, as the gauge is adjusted to increase the width of the fell or hem, the
gauge finger e is carried not only to the right, but toward the operator or away
from the needle in the line of the feed, for it will be noticed that with a wide fell
or hem where a much greater amount of material is to be rolled over and turned in,
the attachment must prepare to turn in or over the material, forming say the outer
edge of the hem, further away from the needle than when the hem narrow.
This adjustment enables a longer curl to be made as the hem increases in width.
In operation let it be supposed that a fell is to be formed.
The operator, for this purpose, will take the two plies of material m, m', and
superimpose them one upon the other with the edge of one back from the edge of
the other, as represented in Figure 6, more or less according to the width desired
for the fell.
The operator, to facilitate this operation, will set the gauge finger e so that it
will be at a distance from the stitching point or needle hole equal to the distance
desired for the width of the fell, and will run the material under the attachment,
stitching the same in the line 10, using the gauge finger e to establish the position
for the outermost edge of the underlying ply. It is not necessary to have a guide
for the edge of the upper piece m' as the operator can regulate this himself with
his eye.
The material having been united together with one edge beyond the other, will
then be opened out, as represented in Figure 7 where the material is shown in
section, and without any further manipulation of the heinmer or attachment as it is
commonly called, more than merely lifting the bar to which it is secured, the
up between
operator will start the projecting edge 12 of what was the undermost ply ply in
the edge of the separator d and the gauge lip d', entering the edge of
between the two members of the curling device.
When the presser-foot is lowered, the separator will rest upon the ply m³, and the
guide finger e attached to the gauge will rest upon the ply m at the right hand side
of the seam 10 previously stitched, and in the further operation of the machine the
usual feeding device, not shown, will carry the cloth through the attachment
without any further attention on the part of the operator.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that for the two operations of
felling, the devices once adjusted aid the operator in ensuring the proper overlap
and thereafter exactly turns that amount of overlap smoothly and uniformly into a
fell, as in Figure 8.
To use the device as a hemmer, the gauge having been adjusted for a hem of the
desired width, the operator will pass the material from the left, under the presser-

page_text: foot and separator up between the end of the separator and the concave surface of
the gauge, over the top of the separator, and place the extreme edge of the piece to
be hemmed against the vertical edge of the guide-block c, the extreme edge at a point
beyond the guide-block entering between the two members of the curling device.
The device shown is very simple in construction, is easily manipulated, is self-
adapting to material of varying thickness, and by it uniform felling and hemming
may be done.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. A sewing machine attachment containing the following instrumentalities,
viz. a foot; its attached-diagonally-placed curling finger and point c; and the
diagonally-adjustable separator, an arm d' having a lip d³, to operate, substantially
as described.
Second. The foot having the point c, and the attached finger 63 having a lip 2,
combined with the separator d made movable toward and from the point c, and the
arm d having the lip d², and gauge finger e, to operate substantially as described.
Third. The foot having the point c, and the attached yielding arm & having a
lip 2, and the guide D consisting of a separator d, and a spring arm d¹ having a
gauge finger, combined with an independent gauge c³, substantially as described.
Fourth. The foot having the two prongs , 62, the spring-like curling finger b³
attached to the arm &, the curling point attached to the arm 6, and the separator
and its attached arın d', having a lip 2, and the flange 6 at one edge of the
separator the said separator and arm being made adjustable diagonally on the
prong, combined with means to hold the separator in adjusted position substantially
as described.
Dated this 20th of October 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.