AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hayes, of Bow Lane, in the City of London,..
Machinist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING
MACHINE."
Sealed the 12th September 1865, and dated the 12th June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hayes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th-
June 1865.
I, JAMES HAYES, of Bow Lane, in the City of London, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CON-
STRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to work needle and shuttle machines by
means of excentrics, and thus to produce a smooth and rapid action of the
moving parts. A driving shaft mounted in bearings below the ordinary table
carries three excentrics, which respectively drive the needle, shuttle, and feed
plate. One excentric receives a strap connected with a rod pendent from the
short arm of a rock lever, which carries the needle bar, and thereby gives.
motion to the needle, as described in the Specification of my Patent, dated
Oct. 15th, 1864, No. 2547, the pendent rod and rock lever being con- ;
nected by a ball-and-socket joint... By the side of this excentric is a second,.
[Price 8d.]

page_text: which, through a strap connected by a ball-and-socket joint to a horizontal
rock lever gives motion to the shuttle driver, the rock lever and shuttle driver
being connected together by a link. On the opposite end of the driving
shaft to that which carries the driving pulley is keyed the excentric for
working the four-motion feed, which may be regulated in any well-known or
approved manner to determine the length of stitch to be made. In order to
provide for the opening out of the loop of the needle thread for the shuttle to
enter and pass through (which opening out is usually produced by the
"dwell" of the needle in the course of its ascent, but which dwell cannot be
obtained by the use of an excentric), I open the loop of the needle thread by
acting upon the elastic or spring thread guide which is mounted on the
bracket arm, that is to say, I hold down the guide while the needle is rising
to leave the cloth. This I effect by connecting the thread guide by means of
an india-rubber or other spring with the rocking lever that operates the needle,
which spring acting against the ordinary spring that lifts the thread guide will
hold down the guide until the tension of the india-rubber spring is slackened
by the rise of the rocking lever. The thread guide will then rise with the
needle bar and draw the stitch last formed to tension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Hayes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HAYES, of Bow Lane, in the City of London, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Hayes, Her special licence that I, the said James Hayes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; the said
James Hayes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Hayes, my executors. or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Hayes, do hereby declare the
nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
:-
The object of this Invention is to work needle and shuttle machines by
means of excentrics, and thus so to control the movements of the working
parts as to obtain a smooth and rapid action in such machines which have
hitberto been objected to for family uso, on account of the noise they make
when driven rapidly.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in longitudinal sectional
elevation as much of a reciprocating shuttle machine as will serve to explain
the application of my Invention thereto; Fig. 2 is a plan of the under side
thereof; and Fig. 3 is an end elevation. A is the driving shaft, mounted in
bearings below the ordinary cast-iron table, and set in motion by a belt passed
around its driving pulley A¹. The shaft A carries three excentrics B, C, D,
which respectively drive the needle, the shuttle, and the feed plate. The
excentric B receives a strap connected with a rod B', pendent from the short
arm of a rock lever B2, which carries the needle bar B³, and thereby gives
motion to the needle b, as described in the Specification of my Patent dated
October Fifteenth One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, No. 2547, the
pendent rod and rock lever being connected by a ball-and-socket joint. By
the side of this excentric B is keyed an excentric C, from which the motion
of the shuttle is derived. The excentric is embraced by a strap C¹ connected
by a ball-and-socket joint to a horizontal rock lever C, having its fulcrum on
a pin screwed to the under side of the cast-iron table, and this rock lever
gives motion through a link piece C³ to the ordinary shuttle driver C. The
driving shaft A at the opposite end to that which carries the driving pulley A¹,
carries an excentric D, for working the four-motion roughened feed plate d,
the length of motion of which may be regulated in any well-known or
approved manner to determine the length of stitch to be made. The excentric
D'is simply an excentric pin projecting from the end of the shaft A, and
fitted into an elongated hole bored in a sliding piece D', to which the feed
plate d is secured. This sliding piece D' has a transverse groove at its rear

page_text: 1
end, which enables it to fit on to and slide and rock upon a pin projecting
from an adjacent guide plate screwed to the cast-iron bed or table of the
machine. This pin therefore while supporting the rear end of the sliding
piece D' leaves it free to move under the action of the excentric D, and thus
raise and depress and traverse the feed plate, the forward motion being
produced by a spring, which gives the sliding piece D' a tendency to move
forward and bear against the excentric adjustable stop E, or its equivalent,
for arresting the forward motion of the feed plate. In order to provide for
the opening out of the loop of the needle thread for the shuttle to enter and
pass through (which opening out is usually produced by the "dwell" of the
needle in the course of its ascent, but which dwell cannot be obtained by the
use of an excentric), I open the loop of the needle thread by acting upon
the elastic or spring thread guide which is mounted on the bracket arm. This
arrangement is shewn at Fig. 1, where Fis the spring thread guide. This
guide I hold down while the needle is rising to leave the cloth, by connecting
it by means of an india-rubber or other spring F' with the rock lever B² that
operates the needle. This spring F' acting against the ordinary spring that
lifts the thread guide will hold down the guide until the tension of the india-
rubber spring is slackened by the rise of the rock lever. The thread guide
will then rise with the needle bar and draw the stitch last formed to tension;
or instead of operating the spring thread guide as described for getting the
slack at the required moment, I may use the arrangement shewn at Fig. 4,
where G is a thread guide hung loosely on the bracket arm of the machine,
and G'a hooked wire attached to the rock lever B2, and so arranged as to
strike as it rises with the needle bar the under side of the guide. The thread
led off from the bobbin H passes through the regulating guide 1, then to a
fixed guide 2 at the extremity of the bracket arm, thence to a fixed guide 3
below, from which it is led through the eye of the guide G, and thence to the
needle. The guide G is drawn down to its lowest position by the tension
put on the thread by the descent of the needle, and as its tendency to rise
is derived from the ascent of the hooked wire G', it will be seen that it will
remain quiescent until the needle has formed the loop below the work, and
the shuttle has had time to enter it. The continued rise of the needle will
bring the hooked wire into contact with the guide G, whereby the guide will
be lifted into the dotted position of Fig. 4, and the stitch tightened.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Con-
struction of Sewing Machines," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, the arrangement above described for working

page_text: the needle, shuttle, and feed plate of sewing machines which have a re-
ciprocating traverse shuttle motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hayes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JAMES HAYES. (L.B.)