IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO A SEWING MACHINE FOR EMBROIDERING, RUFFLING, TUCKING, HEMMING, AND OTHER LIKH PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Josiah Griswold at the
Office of the Commissionors of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1878.
I, HENRY JOSIAH GRISWOLD, of the Hop and Malt Exchange, South-
; wark Street, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE ATTACHED TO A SEWING
MACHINE FOR EMBROIDERING, RUFFLING, TUCKING, HEMMING, AND OTHER LIKH
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to simple, cheap, and efficient apparatus
which when properly placed and secured on a sewing machine will
operate in combination with the stitching mechanism in the performance
of various kinds of work, such as embroidering, ruffling or plaiting,
tucking, hemming, and the like.
The said apparatus may be adapted to any ordinary sewing machine,
and is constructed to be readily applied to or removed from the same, so
that the efficiency of the said machine for performing plain sewing or
stitching will not be impaired.

page_text: The embroidering mechanism is designed to act in combination with
the stitching mechanism to embroider with several threads of the same
or different colour, and is attached to the presser bar preferably in place
of the presser foot when the samo is removable. For this purpose I
arrange two thread carriers to oscillate horizontally on separate pivots
fixed in a small frame; the latter also carries rods or spindles for the
thread spools or reels. In combination with the said carriers there is a
reciprocating sliding rod connected to a rocking shaft which has a lever
connected with the needle arm or bar of the sewing machine. The
aforesaid thread carriers are so constructed that they oscillate simul-
taneously but in opposite directions every alternate time that the needle
descends. Their oscillating movement is produced by the action of the
said sliding bar upon one of them, which has an inclined guide piece so
arranged that it causes the said bar to act alternately on opposite sides
of the fulcrum of the said carrier.
The ruffling or plaiting is effected by the following mechanism:-A
sliding plate is supported to move to and fro over the cloth plate of the
sowing machine. One end of this plate is arranged to intersect the path
of the needle, and is forked or slotted to allow the latter to descend
through it; this end of the said plate is also notched or toothed on its
edge. The said plate is fitted to slide in a small bracket which is
secured to the presser foot bar. or other convenient. portion of the
machine; the said bracket has a foot which takes the place of the
ordinary presser foot. The toothed edge of the sliding plate works to
and fro below this foot, and thereby forms the plaits or ruffles, which are
at the same time secured by stitching; the said sliding plate has on its
upper side a guide or hemmer through which the work is passed. By
the above described contrivances the ruffiling or plaiting may be formed
separately, or in the case of a skirt or other similar article it may be
sewn upon- the said article while being ruffled. It is however also some-
times desirable to put a facing on a skirt or similar article, and in order
to do this at the same time I form a hemmer on the aforesaid presser
foot through which the said facing may be passed. The sliding plate is
moved to and fro by a lever which is connected to the needle arm or bar
of the machine. The said lever vibrates on a fulcrum pin fixed to the
aforesaid small bracket; it has two short arms which project between
jaws or flanges on the sliding plate. By means of a screw or other
suitable adjusting device the said arms may be set to any required

page_text: distance from each other to vary the extent of motion of the said sliding
plate and thus regulate the fulness of the gathers..
In addition to the above I provide the sewing machine with a combined
tuck folder and adjustablo hemming apparatus, constructed as follows:-
I attach to the cloth plate of the said machine a flat plate which has a
long slot to permit its adjustment in relation to the needle. This bar
has a long rod or arm which extends to the opposite side of the needlo
bar and at its outer extremity carries a bearing for an adjustable bar. The
latter is formed at its inner end with a small T piece, so arranged that it
can be set in close contact with the edge of the aforesaid slotted plate.
The bearing of the said adjustable bar is provided with a scrow or other
means for pinching the said bar and securing it when adjusted. Upon
the flat plato above mentioned a reversablo slotted bar is secured so as to
slide upon two thumb screws, the office of one of which is to hold the
said slotted bar in the proper position, and by means of the other scrow
the said bar may be pressed more or less tightly down upon the fabrio;
one end of this bar is turned in the form of a hemmer and the other as a
guido. The office of this bar is to regulate respectively the width of the
hem or the distance between the tucks, and for this purpose it is pre-
ferably graduated to some convenient scale. By placing the tucking
guido obliquely with regard to the edge of the slotted plato it will servo
as a substitute for the ordinary self sewers used in sewing machines.