IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Benjamin Hitchman, of Old Kent Road, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, and John Charles Felton, of City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUTTON-HOLE ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Benjamin Hitchman
and John Charles Felton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
21st June 1878.
•
THOMAS BENJAMIN HITCHMAN, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and JOHN CHARLES FELTON, of City Road, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING
MACHINES."
"
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved button-hole attach-
ment applicable to any ordinary sewing machine, the object of the improvements
being simplicity of construction and operation and automatic action, the "barring"
of the buttou-hole being effected in a better mauner than hitherto, and without it
being necessary to shift the material or any part of the machine.
Another advantage of our improved attachment is, that it can be easily and
quickly removed from or applied to a sewing machine, thus enabling the machine
to be employed either for ordinary sewing purposes or for button-hole work.
In carrying out our Invention we employ a metal frame provided with suitable
brackets and screws for allowing it to be attached to the bed of a sewing machine.
In the back part of this frame works a driving shaft driven by bevil gearing from

page_text: the main shaft of the sewing machine. The free end of the driving shaft is
provided with or formed into a double throw cam, which gives motion to a lever
operating a pawl-disc motion communicating an intermittent motion to a barrel
cam shaft, the cam of which gives a to-and-fro motion to a lever which communi-
cates a longitudinal motion to a sliding plate carrying the clamping plate; the
said barrel cam shaft also carries a lifting cam for raising a lever, which lever in
its turn lifts a spring bolt working in a stalk slide driven by a cam on the driving
shaft. The said spring bolt moves in a slot in the clamping plate and is
shouldered on both sides, so as to give a to-and-fro notion to the clamping plate
to form the stitches on each edge of the button-hole, the bar of the button-hole
being formed by the bolt rising or falling, as the case may be, so as to cause the
clamping plate to travel through a greater distance than is required for the single
stitch for the edges of the button-hole.
The herein-before described can is provided with a "dwell" at each end,
allowing the sliding plate to rest while the bar is being formed, and prior to the
return motion to form the opposite edge of the button-holc.
The length of the button-hole is regulated by means of an adjusting screw or
other suitable arrangement, which increases or diminishes the stroke of the lever
operating the sliding plate. A fine or coarse stitch is produced by means of a
suitable stitch regulator.
The cloth or material to be operated upon is held on the clamping plate by any
suitable known arrangement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Benjamin Hitchman and John Charles Felton in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st December 1878.
THOMAS BENJAMIN HITCHMAN, of Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, and JOHN CHARLES FELTON, of City Road, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING
MACHINES."
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved button-hole attachment
applicable to any ordinary sewing machine; the object of the improvements being
simplicity of construction and operation, and automatic action, the "barring" of the
button-hole being effected in a better manner than hitherto, and without it being
necessary to shift the material or any part of the machine.
Another advantage of our improved attachment is, that it can be casily and
quickly removed from or applied to a sewing machine, thus enabling the machine
to be employed either for ordinary sewing purposes or for button-hole work.
In carrying out our Invention we employ a metal frame provided with suit-
able brackets or lugs and screws for allowing it to be attached to the bed of a
sewing machine. In the back part of this frame works a driving shaft driven by
bevil gearing from the main shaft of the sewing machine. The free end of the
driving shaft is provided with or formed into a doublo throw cam or tappot which
gives motion to a curved grooved lever operating a nipping pawl-disc motion,
communicating an intermittent motion to a barrel cam shaft, the barrel cam of
which gives a rocking motion to a lever which communicates a longitudinal motion
to a sliding plate carrying the clamping plate; the said barrel cam shaft also
carries a lifting can for raising a lever, which lever in its turn lifts a spring bolt
working in a stalk slide driven by a cam on the driving shaft. The said spring
bolt moves in a slot in the clamping plate and is recessed on both sides so as to
give a to-and-fro motion to the clamping plate to form the stitches on each edge of
the button-hole, the bar of the button-hole being formed by the bolt rising or
falling, as the case may be, so as to cause the clamping plate to travel through a
greater distance than is required for the single stitch for the edges of the button-
hole.
The herein-before described cam is provided with a "dwell" at each end,
allowing the sliding plate to rest while the "bar" is being formed and prior to the
return motion to form the opposite edge of the button-hole.
The length of the button-hole is regulated by means of an adjusting screw or
other suitable arrangement which increases or diminishes the stroke of the lever
operating the sliding plate. A fine or coarse stitch is produced by means of a suit-
able stitch regulator.
-
The cloth or material to be operated upon is held on the clamping plate by
any suitable known arrangement or clamp.
But to make our Invention better understood we will proceed to describe the
samme by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which,
-
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 a plan of a sewing machine provided
with our improved button-hole attachment.
Figure 3 is a plan of the attachment; Figure 4, plan of the under side of same;
Figures 5 and 6, side elevations of Figure 3; Figures 7 and 8, front and back
views respectively of Figure 3.
Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, details of some of the parts detached.
Figures 1 and 2 are drawn to a scale half full size, and the remainder of the
Figures are drawn full size.
Similar letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
a, a, is the metal frame provided with suitable brackets or lugs b and thumb-
screws c, c, for fixing the attachment to the bed d of the sewing machine; e, e, is

page_text: the driving shaft working in bearings f, f, on the back part of the frame a, the
said shaft e being driven by the bevil gearing g from the main shaft h of the sewing
machine; is the double throw cam or tappot on the free end of the shaft e, the
said cam or tappet i giving an intermittent motion to the curved groove lever j,
having a nipping pawl j', which at each motion slightly rotates the disc k; is a
spring for bringing back the nipping pawl leverj after each motion, and m is a brake
bar for preventing the backward motion of the disc k; k is a lever or fulcrum to
allow of adjusting the lever j (by means of the screw 1) to the disc k. The disc k
by its motion communicates an intermittent motion to the barrel cam shaft n, the
barrel cam o of which by means of a pin gives a rocking motion to the slotted lever
2, which lever gives a longitudinal to-and--fro motion to the sliding plater (carrying
the clamping plate s), by means of the pin g working in the slot t of the sliding plater;
the said pin q is provided with a thumb nut q¹ by which the position of the pin may
be varied, so as to increase or diminish the extent of play of the sliding plate, ac-
cording to the length of the button-hole to be made; u is the lifting cam on the shaft
n, which raises a lever v, such lever in its turn lifting the spring bolt w by means of
its pin w¹; the spring bolt w works in the stalk slide x, to which a backward and
forward motion is communicated by the cam y on the shaft e; the said spring bolt
moves in the slot z in the clamping plate 8, and is recessed on both sides at a¹ and
a² as seen in Figure 11. for the purpose herein-after described, and gives a to-and-
fro motion to the clamping plate to form the stitches on each edge of the button-
hole; A is a handle on the end of the shaft n for allowing of setting the attach-
ment in any desired position, which is of great importance in the event of the cotton
breaking. This shaft can only turn in one direction, viz., in that shewn by the
arrow in Figure 6.
The operation of the attachment in making a button-hole is as follows:-
The parts being in the position shewn in the Drawing, and the work being placed
ou the clamping plate and held by the clamp b' as usual, the machine is started
and the bevil gearing g will rotate the shaft e, and the cam y will as herein-before
described give a backward and forward motion to the clamping plate at each stroke
of the needle, the recess a¹ of the spring bolt w being in the slots of the clamping
plate, so that this backward and forward motion is limited to the proper width of
stitch. The clamping plate has at the same time a longitudinal motion communi-
cated to it by the tappet i, nipping pawl j, disc k, barrel cam o, lever p, and pin q,
as herein-before described, so that the clamping plate is moved forward the
required distance after each stitch. When the end of the button-hole is reached
the bolt w falls so as to bring its full diameter into the slot z, and thus cause the
clamping plates to move through a greater distance than when either of the
recesses is moving in the slot in the clamping plate for formning the stitches for the
edge of the button-hole, the barrel cain o being provided with a "dwell" at each
end so as to allow the sliding plater to rest in its longitudinal motion, and thus
allow of the "bar" of the button-hole being formed prior to the return motion to
forin the opposite edge of the button-hole. When the bar is formed the spring
bolt falls so as to bring its recess a² in the slot and the return motion takes place,
and when the other end of the button-hole is reached the "bar" is formed in a
similar manner to that herein-before described by the rising of the said bolt w; c¹
is the stitch regulator which we prefer employing.
2
Having thus described our said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise
details herein laid down and shewn in the Drawing, as the same may be varied
without departing from the peculiar character of our Invention, but what we claim
is,―
Firstly. The general arrangement and construction of the improved button-hole.
attachment for sewing machines, substantially as herein-before described, and
represented in the accompanying Drawing.
*Secondly. The combination of the stalk slide x, cai y, lifting can u, lever u, and

page_text: spring bolt w, for operating the clamping plate so as to form the stitch and auto-
matically "bar" the button-hole, as herein-before described, and represented in the
accompanying Drawing.
Thirdly. The combination of the tappet i, nipping pawl lever arrangement j, k,
L, m, barrel cam o, slotted lever p, pin q, and the sliding plate r, for giving the
longitudinal to-and-fro feed motion as herein-before described, and shewn in the
Drawing.
Fourthly. The method of regulating the length of the button-hole to be formed
by means of the moveable pin q, and slot t, and slotted lever p, as herein-before
described.
Fifthly. The method of operating the attachment by means of gearing from the
main shaft of the sewing machine, as herein-before described.
Sixthly. The method of setting the sliding and clamping plates to any required
position to the needle by the turning of the intermittent shaft n by its handle A,
as herein-before described.
Seventhly. The peculiar construction of the spring bolt w and stalk slide *.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Benjamin Hitchman and John
Charles Felton, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Twentieth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
cight
Witness,
G. F. REDFERN,
Patont Agent,
THOMAS BENJAMIN HITCHMAN.
(L.S.)
JOHN CHARLES FELTON.
(L.S.)
4, South Street, Finsbury..