IMPROVE- MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Elliott, of Ingram Terrace,
Sleaford, in the County of Lincoln, for the Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 19th December 1871, and dated the 21st October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Elliott
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st October 1871.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM ELLIOTT, of Ingram Terrace, Sleaford, in the
County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has mainly for its object to provide a simple means of
passing a shuttle or locking thread through the loop of thread carried
down by the needle through the fabric or work, and so of forming what
is commonly known as the lock stitch.

page_text: For this purpose I employ a circular spool case containing a spool;
the spool case is placed into a cup-shaped holder at the end of a
horizontal driving axis below the table or surface on which the fabric or
work is to be supported and is retained in such cup by a spring, the
spool case being concentric with the axis. The spool case is composed
of two parallel and circular sides joined together at one point of their
circumference and there formed into a hook; the sides of the spool case
hold between them the reel or spool of thread so as to allow of its
revolving freely. The spool is sprung into or out of the case, the sides
of such case being capable of yielding to allow of this. The thread is
led out through holes in the spool case, and can be threaded through
one or more of these holes to regulate the tension. The spool is held
concentrically within the case, and each side of the case has a concave
recess formed in it at the centre for the ends of the reel or spool to fit
into, or the spool may be made with a centre point at each end to enter
a small recess at the centre of the sides of the case, or the points might
be on these sides and the recesses in the ends of the spool or reel. The
hook on the spool case forms a shoulder, whereby it is made to revolve
with the cup before mentioned. When the needle passes down through
the cloth or work and again rises it throws out a loop in the ordinary
manner, and the hook of the spool case catches this loop, and in revolving
carries the loop round the case and spool, thereby making a lock stitch.
The cup is arranged to screw on to the end of its axis so that it may be
readily removed therefrom, and a circular looper such as is commonly
employed in chain stitch sewing machines substituted for it. The
machine will then make a chain stitch.
By this arrangement the machine can quickly be adapted either for
making a chain stitch or lock stitch as desired. The horizontal axis
which carries the cup or the looper is arranged at its opposite end to
give motion by a cam, crank, or eccentric to a lever which transmits motion
to a vertical slide carrying the needle. A cam just in rear of the cup is
also arranged to give the requisite to-and-fro motions to the serrated
feeding plate which moves forward the cloth or work, or other arrange-
ments might be adopted for giving motion to the needle and serrated
feed plate.

page_text: capable of rocking on a fixed pin, and having a slot in its opposite arm
in which is received a crank pin on the end of the driving axis, and
which gives to the lever the requisite to-and-fro motion for carrying the
spool case through the loop of the needle thread. When this arrange-
3ment is adopted, the spool case, in place of being circular, may be
somewhat of a pear shape.