IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Starley, of the City of Coventry, Machinist,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Starley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1865.
I, JAMES STARLEY, of the City of Coventry, Machinist, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines, and
réfers particularly to machines in which the work is supported on a cylindrical
arm, in which the shuttle or lower thread bobbin is contained. In these
machines the work is caused to travel forward as the sewing progresses by
means of a feed ring roughened on the periphery; the roughened surface of
the ring coming flush or nearly flush with the surface of the cylindrical arm,
and the work being pressed down on to the feed ring by a presser wheel or
flat foot above. In such machines however the feed ring has been made as
a piece by itself, and separate from the parts of the cylindrical arm on each
side of it, which is an inconvenient arrangement, and involves more or less
complication in driving the feed ring. Now according to my Invention I form
the feed ring on the casing of the outer end of the cylindrical arm, and drive

page_text: both it and the casing by means of an axis passing through the arm centrally
from end to end; at the extremity of this axis is a feather or stop, and this
engages with the disc which closes the end of the casing, so that the feed ring
and the casing rotate together, and the shuttle or lower bobbin traverses to
and fro within it. The casing and feed ring are readily slidden off the arm to
allow free access to the shuttle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Starley in the Great Saal Patent Office on the 24th
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STARLEY, of the City of Coventry, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, 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 Janes Starley, Her special licence that I, the said James Starley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Starley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Starley,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Starley, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines, and
refers particularly to machines in which the work is supported on a cylindrical
arm, in which the shuttle or lower thread bobbin is contained. In these

page_text: machines the work is caused to travel forward as the sewing progresses by
means of a feed ring roughened on the periphery; the roughened surface of
the ring coming flush or nearly flush with the surface of the cylindrical arm,
and the work being pressed down on to the feed ring by a presser wheel or
5. flat foot above. In such machines, however, the feed ring has been made as a
piece by itself, and separate from the parts of the cylindrical arm on each side
of it, which is an inconvenient arrangement and involves more or less com-
plication in driving the feed ring. Now according to my Invention I form
the feed ring on the casing of the outer end of the cylindrical arm, and drive
both it and the casing by means of an axis passing through the arm centrally
from end to end; at the extremity of this axis is a feather or stop, and this
engages with the disc which closes the end of the casing, so that the feed ring
and the casing rotate together, and the shuttle or lower bobbin traverses to
and fro within it. The casing and feed ring are readily slidden off the arm to
allow free access to the shuttle.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I have in the Drawings hereunto annexed shewn the manner in
which I prefer to carry out my Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 of the Drawings shows a vertical section of the outer end of the
cylindrical arm of a sewing machine, and also shews a pressing wheel for
holding the work against this cylindrical arm; Figure 2 is a side view of the
same; and Figure 3 an end view of the cylindrical arm.
a is the arm projecting from the framing of the machine; this arm is
surrounded by a cylindrical casing, and has a passage b formed along it, in
which a reciprocating shuttle works as is usual; a' is the cylindrical casing
surrounding the inner end of the arm; a² is a ring of steel, in which is formed
the hole through which the needle descends; a³ is the cylindrical casing which
covers the outer end of the arm, and which has the feed ring c attached to it.
The portion as of the cylindrical casing is supported by the outer end of the
arm, and is capable of rotating around it; the disc which closes the end of
this portion of the casing has an opening through its centre, into which the
end of an axis d which passes centrally from end to end of the arm enters,
and the end of the axis is provided with a feather, which enters a recess in
the disc, so that the casing a must revolve with the axis; this casing can,.
however, at any time readily be slidden off the end of the arm, and so give
free access to the shuttle.
Motion is by preference given to the axis by the opposite end of the axis to

page_text: that shewn in the Drawing having a disc formed upon it, to which disc a step
by step rotary motion is imparted by means of a friction clutch which receives
motion from the main axis of the machine, as is usual in this class of machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Starley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JAMES STARLEY. (L.S.)