IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Haseltine, of the "International Patent
Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Doctor of Laws, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by William Gould Beckwith, of Newark, New
Jersey, United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Haseltine at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 5th February 1874, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton Build-
ings, London, Doctor of Laws, send greeting.

page_text: me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has
been communicated to me from abroad by William Gould Beckwith,
of Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Haseltine, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed; in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings forming
a part of this Specification :-
This Invention relates to sewing machines in which a needle and hook
co-operate to form the stitch, and in which the material sewn is fed
along by means of the needle, and it consists in a novel construction,
combination, and arrangement of parts which have for their object to
produce an improved, simple, effective, and cheap sewing machine, as
will be fully herein-after set forth.
Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a front elevation; Figure 3, a
view underneath the machine; and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 are parts in
detail (full size) illustrating the manner of and means for feeding the
material sewn through the machine and regulating the length of stitch.
Similar letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawings.
A represents the bed of the machine, which is of the shape shown in
Figure 3; B is the table or cloth plate for supporting the work, secured
directly to the bed of the machine%;B C is a clamp for securing the
machine to a table or other support; D is the needle arm pivoted by the
screw a to lugs b, cast on the bed plate. The joint formed by the jaws
of the needle arm and the lugs 6 is wide and fitted accurately to obviate
any sidewise movement in the arm which might throw it out of proper
relation with the other parts of the machine. A¹ is an equalizing spring
situated near the joint of the needle arm and bed plate, the object of
which is to support the weight of the needle arm and equalize the
motion of the revolving parts. The needle arm D receives the necessary
reciprocating motion from the connecting rod E, which is pivoted or

page_text: jointed to a lug c on the under side of the needle arm, and is formed at
its lower extremity into an eccentric hoop d which encircles the
eccentric F. This eccentric revolves on the pivot e, which is screw-
threaded at one end and screwed into a hanger G, cast or otherwise
secured to the under side of the bed plate A, and it receives a rotary
motion from the driving gear wheel H, turning on the shaft f, which
gears with a pinion I, either cast solid with the excentric F or secured
thereto by other means. On the reciprocating extremity of the needle
arm is cast a plate J which carries the mechanism for holding the needle
and regulating the length of the stitch.
The manner in which the needle performs the feeding and the
mechanism for regulating the length of the stitch or distance the cloth
is fed at each passage of the needle through it, and the manner in which
this regulating mechanism operates are clearly shown on Sheet 2 of the
Drawings by all the Figures thereon, a description of which is as follows:
-On the outer face of the plate J is cast a flange g, the upper extremity
of which carries the thread tension discs h, h. Toward the centre of
the plate J is cut a slot K, shown by dotted lines, Figure 5, and through
which a pin i rigidly connected with a block L passes. The said pin is
secured to the lever plate M, pivoted to the rear side of the plate J by
means of the screw j. The said pin is retained in the plate lever M by
means of the thumb screw N, so that it can oscillate freely in the lever
M. The upper part of the lever plate M has a slot cut therein, through
which passes a screw, the object of which is to hold the lever M in
position by its friction upon it. The needle O is rigidly secured to the
oscillating block L in the manner shown in Figure 7, where the needle
is seen passing through a flange k on the lower edge of this block and
through a hole drilled transversely through the pin i, in which hole it is
clamped by means of the milled screw 7.
From near the upper
extremity of the block L a pin m projects toward the flange on the
plate J, the function of which is to retain in place the spring n, which
tends to keep the block L against the screw P. This screw when
operated turns the block L, and throws the point of the needle either in
or out over the cloth. The said screw is kept from accidentally turning
by the friction spring o. Q is a presser foot, roughened or notched on
its under side, and which is secured to the lower end of the perpendicular
rod R working in the sleeve p on the end of the arm S. q is a cam

page_text: Jever pivoted to the side of the rod R, which operates against the sleeve p
to elevate or lower the presser foot.
The cloth is fed through the machine as follows:-The needle O is
tangential to the arc described by its point in reciprocating, and thus as
it descends through the cloth it feeds it along the difference between the
radius of the arc described by the point of the needle and that of the
arc described by the point on the needle at which it ceases to descend
into the cloth, or to be tangential to the arc described by its point. This
will be readily understood by reference to the Figures on Sheet 2.
In machines that fed the material along by means of the needle prior
to this Invention the needle was rigidly secured to the needle arm, and
as it necessarily followed the same path in ascending as in descending it
had a tendency to return the cloth from where it withdrew it, but this
was counteracted by niching or barbing the under surface of the presser
foot which permitted the cloth to be moved only in one direction, and 1
the needle in ascending caused the cloth to pucker in front of it.
According to the present Invention the needle is not rigidly fixed to
the needle arm but is pivoted by the pin i to the lever M so as to be
capable of receiving an oscillating motion, and in its ascent the thread
tightens, and exerting a pull on the needle slightly turns it, the spring n 2
readily yielding, and thus the needle is withdrawn from the cloth
without puckering it or having any tendency to push it backward; and
as the needle commences to descend the thread slackens and the spring n
throws the block out, thus moving the point of the needle some distance
over the cloth preparatory to its descent for another stitch. It is evident 2
that the angle which the needle makes with the table must influence
the length of the stitch, and to vary this angle I employ the lever M, to
which the needle block is pivoted, and the screw P.
In former machines of this description which were provided with
oscillating needle blocks these blocks were pivoted immediately to the 3
plate J of the needle arm, and the stitch was regulated by the screw P,
which acted on the lower end of the block to throw the point of the
needle in or out over the cloth, and thus shorten or lengthen the stitch.
This manner of regulating the stitch was imperfect as the needle entered
at a different point in the cloth plate each time the stitch was altered, .3

page_text: as it commences to ascend, and holds this loop properly distended until
the needle again descends and passes through it, when the hook recedes,
throwing off its loop of thread preparatory to entering and distending
the new loop, and so on, thus interlacing the stitches and forming what
is known as a loop or chain stitch. The hook end of the looper bar
reciprocates in the guard W, which prevents any derangement and
protects the beak of the looper and the needle from injury during the
operation of securing the machine to a table or bench.

page_text: Seventh. In combination with a sewing machine, constructed as
described, the shield for protecting the clothes as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Haseltine, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
GEORGE HASELTINE. (L.S.)