Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 6th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 7th June, 1887.
We FRANK DOWLING, of Stevenage in the county of Hertfordshire, Engineer &
CHARLES JAMES CROFT of Merton in the county of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention consists of an attachment capable of being screwed or otherwise
fixed to the frames of pocket or any other form of sewing machines which are operated
by the pressure of the hand on a rod or bar connected with the needle, the attachment
being provided for the purpose of working the machine by a rotary motion instead of
pressure by the hand on the rod or needle bar.
The attachment is preferably a handle or wheel fixed on a shaft or spindle passing
through a bracket & fitted on the other end with a crank carrying a connecting rod
attached to the head of the needle bar or any convenient moving part of the machine,
the bracket being fixed on any part of the frame.
If desired the crank pin may be fixed on a pinion gearing in a spur wheel to which
the driving handle is fitted.
Or in place of the crank motion one or more cams may be substituted rotated by a
handle or wheel and coming in contact with projections or rollers fixed to or connected
with the needle bar or other suitable working part of the machine.
The hand wheel may have a groove so as to allow of it being driven by a treadle.
Dated this 7th day of August 1886.

page_text: Attachments to Sewing Machines.
We FRANK DOWLING of Stevenage in the county of Hertford, Engineer and
CHARLES JAMES CROFT of Merton in the county of Surrey, Engineer, 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 :-
Our invention for attachments to sewing machines relates to that class of machines
in which a reciprocating rod or bar connected with the needle is operated by the direct
pressure of the hand; the object of our invention being to provide means whereby
the aforesaid direct pressure of the hand on the rod or bar may be replaced by rotary
driving gear acting through suitable connecting mechanism.
In an attachment constructed according to our invention a cranked handle or wheel
is fixed on one end of a shaft or spindle passing through a bracket, the other end
having secured to it a crank to the pin of which is jointed one end of a connecting
rod, the other end of the said connecting rod being jointed by a pin to the head of the
vertical needle bar or any other convenient part of the machine. The supporting
bracket may be fixed on any convenient part of the frame.
If desired the crank pin may be fixed on a pinion gearing with a spur wheel to
which the driving handle is fitted.
Or, in place of the crank motion above described one or more cams may be
substituted and rotated by a handle or wheel and caused to come in contact with
projections or rollers fixed to or connected with the needle bar or other suitable
working part of the machine.
To allow of the machine being driven by a treadle the hand wheel may be grooved
to receive the driving belt or cord.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation and Fig. 2 a front
elevation of one form of our attachment.
A cranked handle a is fixed on one end of a shaft or spindle 6 passing through a
bracket c the other end having secured to it a crank plate d to the pin e of which is
jointed one end of the connecting rod f the other end being jointed by a ping to the
head of the vertical needle bar h.
Figs. 3 and 4 are a sectional and front elevation respectively of a modified arrange
ment of our invention in which a spur wheel i carrying the cranked handle; gears with
a pinion k, thus permitting the angular velocity ratio between i and k to be of any
desired magnitude.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is :
In attachments to sewing machines of that class in which a reciprocating rod or bar
connected with the needle is operated by the direct pressure of the hand:
1° Actuating the reciprocating needle bar by means of a rotating crank turned by

page_text: hand, motion being communicated from the one to the other by means of a connecting
rod substantially as described.
2° The employment of a spur wheel and pinion for transmitting the motion from
the driving handle to the connecting rod substantially as described.
3° Actuating the reciprocating needle bar by means of one or more cams rotated
by a handle or wheel and engaging with projections or rollers fixed to or connected
with the needle bar or other suitable working part of the machine.
4° Actuating the reciprocating needle bar by means of a driving wheel provided
with a groove for receiving a belt or cord to allow of the machine being driven by a
treadle substantially as described.
5° The arrangement and construction of attachments to sewing machines substan-
tially as described with reference to the drawings.
Dated this 6th day of May 1887
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
Agents.