IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Mid llesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by the Grover and
Baker Sewing Machine Company, of Broadway, New York, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 24th October 1861, and dated the 27th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1861.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," a communication from abroad by the
Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Company, of Broadway, New York, in the
United States of America, to be as follows:-
The improvements herein described are three in number; the first of them is
applicable to machines which make a double-looped stitch by the use of two
threads, the thread appearing on one side of the cluth, like the thread of a
[Price Sil.]

page_text: shuttle sewing machine, and there being on the other side a chain or inter-
looping of both threads; the second improvement is chiefly applicable to
machines of this same class, but will be useful in machines making other
kinds of stitch; and the third improvement may be used in the same kind of
machines, but is chiefly useful in machines employing a shuttle, in connection
with an eye-pointed needle, to make a stitch.
The first improvement is twofold, or, in other words, it consists, first, in
certain peculiar motions of a lower needle in combination with an eye-pointed
reciprocating, perforating needle and a table; and second, it consists in certain
simple mechanism, by the aid of which such peculiar motions are imparted
to the lower needle. In this provisional description or specification the term
lower needle is used to designate an eye-pointed instrument, acting beneath a
table, and controlling a thread passed through its eye, passing such thread
through loops of upper thread, held below the cloth by an upper needle
holding such loops at proper times, and casting them off at proper times
and this needle also holds loops of its own or lower thread, so that the upper
needle may in its descent pass through them. By tension apparatus any
apparatus is meant which resists the drawing of a thread from a spool or
bobbin, whether such apparatus be applied to the bobbin or to the thread
itself. By check spring is meant a spring which is controlled by thread in
such manner that the spring is compressed when there is a comparatively
heavy strain on the thread, and expands when the strain on the thread is
relaxed, thus preventing the formation of slack thread. By nippers is meant
any apparatus consisting of two jaws or their equivalents, which recede from
and come in contact with each other during the operation of the machine,
which, when in contact, nip fast thread that passes between them. The
machine described has a flat table to support the cloth; and by table is meant
any horizontal surface that holds or supports the goods to be sewed,
supporting them above the lower needle, and in such manner that they can be
acted upon by the feeding apparatus. The machines have also any proper
feed apparatus, which will take hold of the cloth or other material to be sewed,
and advance it when no needle is in the cloth, and also a reciprocating eye-
pointed needle, which carries an upper thread, and descends and perforates
the cloth.
The first improvement consists in combining with an eye-pointed perforating
upper needle and a table a lower needle, which has a compound vibrating and
oscillating motion in six directions, namely, to advance through and recede out
of loops of upper needle thread, or forwards and backwards, to pass from one

page_text: eye
side of an upper needle to the other, and return again, or oscillating, and to
nove upwards towards the lower side of the table and downwards from
away
the same.
This lower needle is provided with a bar or stock, to which it is
secured, or the two inay be made in one piece. The needle and the stock
are in shape somewhat like the bill and neck of a swan, the of the needle
being near the end of the bill. The needle lies under the cloth, the stock
projects downwards below it. In the neck is a curved slot, into which passes
a stationary pin, a line through the axis thereof being parallel or nearly so to
the line in which the cloth advances, and at the lower part of the neck is a
hole, into which passes a crank pin, projecting from a revolving shaft, which
shaft lies under the table and cloth, and has its axis parallel to the line of
progression of the cloth. If this crank pin were fitted as crank pinus usually
are, it would, when aided by the control of the stationary pin in the slot, give
to the point of the needle an upwards and downwards motion, and also a
backwards and a forwards motion, and, as fitted, it gives to the needle these
motions, the crank pin however is not parallel to its shaft, but, on the contrary
is inclined thereto, so that a line passing through the centre of the pin or
its axial line would, if prolonged, intersect the axis of the shaft which
carries the crank pin. The pin therefore describes a cone instead of
a cylinder, as usual, and it follows that the needle, in addition to its back-
wards and forwards motions, and its up-and-down motion, receives also a
sideways or oscillatory motion, the extent thereof being determined by the
angle of the crank pin and the distance of the needle from the crank. The
lower needle stock cannot slide on the crank pin, but the pin can revolve
in the hole in the stock; the slot in the stock slides on the stationary pin.
When the machine is put in motion, the upper needle descends through
the goods, rises a little, and forins a loop of its thread; the lower needle being
then near its lowest position advances point first and enters this loop ou
the side of the lower needle, from which the cloth recedes; when it is fed
it passes on to its full length through this loop, descending as it advances,
but in the meantime the upper needle has ascended to its highest point.
As the upper needle descends again, the lower needle retracts, and rises and
moves over sidewise, owing to the angular position of the crank pin, so that
the upper needle descending further enters a loop of lower needle thread;
when that lower needle is on that side of the upper one towards which the
cloth moves, the lower needle continues to back out and rise, finally casting
off the loop of upper thread that it holds when near the under surface of
the cloth. When this loop is cast off, the lower needle descends further, rises

page_text: a little to form a new loop, and the lower needle descends, advances, and
moves sidewise again to seize this new loop. The advancing motion of the
lower needle is, as before stated, to enter a loop of upper thread, the back-
wards motion is to cast off that loop. The motion of the lower needle in the
direction in which the cloth progresses is to seize or enter the loop properly;
the motion in a direction contrary to the progress of the cloth is to hold a
loop of lower thread in the proper place for the upper needle to enter it.
These motions have heretofore been given to a lower needle.
The upwards motion of the lower needle is to slacken the loop of upper
thread as it slips off of it, to avoid friction and breaking of thread, to leave a
very small loop when it is cast off, and to leave that loop out of the way of its
own point when it next advances. The descending motion is to enter fresh
loops of upper thread at a level different from that of the cast-off loop, so that
there shall be no danger of catching two loops at the same time, to pull out a
large loop of upper thread which may be diminished in size as it slips off, and
in pulling out that large loop to draw up cast-off loops, so as to aid in
tightening the stitch; and this up-and-down motion of the-lower needle, in
connection with the other motions, is new. These motions may be given to the
lower needle by various mechanism, but the simple means described is pre-
ferred. The upper thread of this machine is furnished, as usual, from a
bobbin or spool, which has a friction drag on it, or else the thread as it leaves
the bobbin passes through a tension apparatus. Two discs, concaved on their
adjacent sides, and mounted on a pin passing through their centres and
pressed towards each other by a spring, are preferred for the purpose, and the
thread is to be led between the discs, around the pin, and outwards again
between the discs. The upper thread next passes through a slot in a pin or
rod. This rod is surrounded by a light spiral spring, called a check spring,
which tends always to force the thread towards one end of the rod. From
this slot the thread passes through two eyes in two small lugs projecting
downwards from a small surface of metal attached to the upper needle bar or
arm, and thence the thread goes through the eye of the upper needle. The
thread in going from the eye in one lug to the eye in the other passes close to
the surface, which is one jaw of a nipper; the other jaw is another surface
below the first one, and attached to some stationary part of the machine, and
mounted upon a spring, and so arranged that the small surface between the
lugs shall strike it before the needle reaches its lowest point of descent, and
after the needle eye has passed through the cloth. When the upper surface
strikes the lower one, the thread that extends between the lugs is nipped fast

page_text: between the surfaces, which are the uippers, and as the needle continues to
descend the thread remains nipped, because the lower jaw is mounted on a
spring which presses it upwards, but at the same time permits it to descend
when forced down by the upper surface. The thread continues nipped when
the needle rises, and until the lower jaw is forced to its limits of motion
upwards by its spring, then the lower jaw ceases to rise, and the needle arm
carrying the upper surface further upwards releases the thread. In the
operation of the machine the needle, by the time it reaches its limit of upward
motion, has pulled thread off the spool through the tension apparatus,and has
compressed the check spring, the nippers having relaxed before it began to
pull the thread off the spool. As the needle descends the check spring
expands and takes up the slack that would otherwise form between the needle
and the cloth. After the needle eye passes through the cloth, the thread
again compresses the check spring, and when the lower needle casts off its
loop of upper thread, then the nippers grasp the thread and clamp it, so that
it can descend no faster than the needle descends. The needle in its further
descent, then of necessity takes thread from the cast-off loop, pulling it up to
tighten or partially tighten the stitch. When the upper needle begins to rise
again the nippers still grasp thread, and continue to grasp it until a loop
is formed and seized below the cloth; by this action they prevent the check
spring from stealing the loop. The feed takes place when the upper needle
is out of the cloth, and the thread used at each stitch is measured partly
by the length of the stitch, and partly by the thickness of the goods. This
length of thread is taken by the needle against the resistance of the check
spring as the needle descends through the goods, and as a long coiled spring
is practically of uniform tension, inequality of thickness of goods or length of
stitch does not practically affect the uniformity of the tension or strain on the
thread.
The combination of a bobbin, a tension apparatus, a check spring and
hippers, with an eye-pointed, reciprocating, and piercing needle, so that they
ct substantially as thus described, constitutes my second improvement, and
by its use thread is held and used under a practicallyuniform tension, whether
he stitches be long or short, or the cloth thick or thin; abrasion of the thread
n the needle eye is avoided, and loops are formed uniformlybythe upper needle
n its ascent. These results are useful, especially when sewing various thick-
esses of cloth in the same seam,or when manycross seamsareto be sewnover.
This combination, as before stated, as part of its mode of operation, prevents
lack threads from forming below the points of the upper needle when it

page_text: descends, and also prevents stealing of the loop of upper thread, or, in other
words, permits the upper needle to form a loopwith certainty when it ascends.
This partial result, arising from the use of the combination, is well known,
being produced in various sewing machines by diverse apparatus; and the
third improvement consists in a different and new nechanism for producing
this last-named result; this new mechanism being chiefly applicable to
shuttle machines.
This new mechanism consists essentially of two eyes, through which thread
passes on its way from the spool, of a thin stationary piece of metal or a wire,
which shall present a straight edge and a curved continuation thereto, and of
a forked moving piece of metal which moves as the needle moves, and during
certain parts of its stroke embraces the edge before named. It has been
devised in connection with a machine in which the upper and piercing needle
reciprocates in straight lines, being attached to a stock which slides in proper
stationary guides. The stock projects above the guides even when the needle
is down, and has an eye or roller on its upper end. The guides are open, and
the stock has a slot in it; into this slot projects the end of an arm, which
reciprocates above the table on pivots at the rear end of the machine; as the
end of the arm reciprocates in curved lines, the stock moves up and down in a
straight line. The thread passes from a spool supported on the rear cad of
the machine through a tension apparatus, and thence forwards and through
two eyes, thence upwards over the roller or through the eye in the top of the
stock, and then downwards to the needle eye. The two eyes attached to the
guides or ways of the stock are both on the same level, and project rearwards
from the guides; the thread in passing from one eye to the other goes cross-
wise of the machine, and in rear of the straight edge, which is vertical, and
reaches some distance below the eyes, and then bends off upon a curve towards
the
ways or guides. Attached to the reciprocating arm is a forked-shaped
piece of metal, so shaped and fitted as to embrace the straight edge, and so
that the forks in some parts of their motion pass between the straight edge
and the eyes.
When the machine, which has a shuttle, shuttle driver, and
the usual accessories of a shuttle machine, is operated, and the needle com
mences to descend, the fork descends with it, touches the thread between the
eyes,
, and forces it down, thus taking up the slack as fast as it is made by the
descent of the needle; and when the needle eye reaches the cloth, the bight
of thread carried down by the fork has reached the rounding or curved part o
the edge, so that it is no longer held rearward to be acted upon by the fork.
As both prougs of the fork are rounded off on their lower edges, the bight no

page_text: longer being held rearward,slips forward off of their points and is released, thus
giving up the thread to the needle, which, after its eye has passed through the
cloth, takes below the cloth twice as much thread as is due to its own length
of motion. After the bight has slipped off of the fork the latter continues to
descend, doing nothing, and then ascends again with the needle, and is ready
to take up slack thread again on the next descent thereof. The forks should,
while acting, move as fast as the needle does, so as to compensate exactly for
the thread slackened on the descent of the needle; and as there is no check
spring on the machine, there is no device tending to prevent the formation of
a loop below the cloth when the needle rises.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
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," a communication from abroad by
the Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Company, of Broadway, New York,
in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Henry Johnson,myexecutors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of thein,
should particularly 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

page_text: 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to certain improvements in sewing machines, the
first of which improvements is applicable to machines which make a double-
looped stitch by the use of two threads, the thread appearing on one side of the
cloth like the thread of a shuttle sewing machine and there being on the other
side a chain or interlooping of both threads; the second improvements are
chiefly applicable to machines of the class above referred to, but will be
useful in machines making other kinds of stitches; and the third improvement
may also be used in the same kind of machines, but is chiefly applicable to
machines employing a shuttle in connection with an eye-pointed needle for
making a stitch.
"
The first improvement is twofold, or, in other words, it consists, firstly,in
certain peculiar motions of a lower needle in combination with an eye-pointed
reciprocating perforating needle and a table; and secondly, in certain simple
mechanism, by the aid of which such peculiar motions are imparted to the
lower needle. In this description or specification the term "lower needle
is used to designate an eye-pointed instrument acting beneath a table and
controlling a thread passed through its eye, passing such thread through
loops of the upper thread held below the cloth by an upper needle, which holds
such loops and casts them off at proper times, and this needle also holds loops
of its own or lower thread, so that the upper needle may in its descent pass
through them. By "tension apparatus," any apparatus is meant which resists
the drawing of a thread from a spool or bobbin, whether such apparatus be
applied to the bobbin or to the thread itself. By "check spring" is meant a
spring which is controlled by the thread in such manner that the spring is
compressed when there is a comparatively heavy strain on the thread and
expandswhen the strain on the thread is relaxed, thus preventing the formation
of slack thread. By "nippers" is meant any apparatus consisting oftwo jaws o
their equivalents, which recede from and come in contact with each other
during the operation of the machine, which, when in contact nip fast the thread
that passes between them. The machine described has a flat table to suppor
the cloth, and by" table" is meant any horizontal surface that holds or support
the goods to be sewed, supporting them above the lower needle, and in such

page_text: manner that they can be acted upon by the feeding apparatus. These machines
are also provided with any suitable feed apparatus, which will take hold of the
cloth or other material to be sewed, and advance it when no needle is in the
cloth, and also with a reciprocating eye-pointed needle, which carries an
upper thread, and descends and perforates the cloth.
The first improvement consists in combiningwith an eye-pointed perforating
upper needle and a table a lower needle, which has a compound vibrating
and oscillating motion in six directions, namely, first to advance through
and recede out of the loops of the upper needle thread, or forwards and
backwards; second, a lateral motion, so as to pass from one side of an upper
needle to the other, and return again; aud third, a vertical motion, so as to
move upwards towards the lower side of the table, and downwards away from
the same.
This lower needle is provided with a bar or stock, to which it is
secured, or the two may be made in one piece. The needle and the stock are in
shape somewhat like the bill and neck of a swan, the eye of the needle being
near the end of the bill. The needle lies under the cloth, the stock projects
downwards below it. In the ucck is a curved slot, into which passes a
stationary pin, a line through the axis thereof being parallel or nearly so to
the line in which the cloth advances, and at the lower part of the neck is a
hole, into which passes a crank pin projecting from a revolving shaft, which
shaft lies under the table and cloth, and has its axis parallel to the line of
progression of the cloth. If this crank pin were fitted as crank pins usually
are, it would, when aided by the control of the stationary pin in the slot, give
to the point of the needle an upward and downward motion, and also a
backward and a forward motion, and as fitted it gives to the needle these
motions; but this crank pin, however, is not parallel to its shaft, but, on the
contrary, is inclined thereto, so that a line passing through the axis of the
pin or its axeal line would, if prolonged, intersect the axis of the shaft which
carries the crank pin. The pin, therefore, describes a cone instead of acylinder,
as usual, and it follows that the needle,in addition to its backward and forward
motions, and its up and-down motion, receives also a lateral oscillating motion,
the extent thereof being determined by the angle of the crank pin and the
distance of the needle from the crank. The lower needle stock cannot slide
on the crank pin, but the pin revolves in the hole in the stock, the slot in
the stock sliding on the stationary pin. When the machine is put in motion
the upper needle descends through the goods, rises a little, and forms a loop
of its thread. The lower necdle being then near its lowest position, advances
poiut first and enters this loop on the side of the lower needle, from which the
cloth recedes; when it is fed it passes on to its full length through this loop,

page_text: descending as it advances, but in the meantimethe upper needle has ascended
to its highest point. As the upper needle descends again the lower needle
recedes, and rises and moves over sideways, owing to the angular position of the
crank pin,so that the upper needle descending further enters a loop of the
lower needle thread; when that lower needle is on that side of the upper one
towards which the cloth moves, the lower needle continues to recede and to
rise, finally casting off the loop of the upper thread which is round it when
near the under surface of the cloth. When this loop is cast off, the upper
needle descends again and then rises a little so as to form and open a new
loop, and the lower needle descends, advances, and moves sidewise again to
seize this new loop. "The object of this advancing motion of the lower -needle
is, as before stated, to enter a loop of the upper thread, whilst the backward
motion is to cast off that loop. The object of the motion of the lower needle
in the direction in which the cloth progresses is to seize or enter the loop
properly, whilst the motion in a direction contrary to the progress of the cloth
is for the purpose of holding a loop of the lower thread in the proper position
for the upper needle to enter it. These motions have heretofore been given
to a lower needle.
The upward motion of the lower needle is for the purpose of slackening
the loop of the upper thread as it slips from off it, to avoid friction and
breaking of thread, to leave a very small loop when it is cast off, and to leave
that loop out of the way of the point of the lower needle when it next
advances. The descending motion is for the purpose of entering fresh loops
of the upper thread at a level different from that of the cast-off loop, so that
there shall be no danger of catching two loops at the same time to pull out or
extend a large loop of the upper thread, which may be diminished in size as it
slips off, and in pulling out that large loop to draw up the cast-off loop, so as
to aid in tightening the stitch, aud this up-and-down motion of the lower
needle in connection with the other motions is new. These motions may be
given to the lower needle by various mechanical contrivances, but the simple
means described is preferred. The upper thread of this machine is furnished,
as usual, from a bobbin or spool, which has a friction drag on it, or the thread
asit leaves the bobbin may pass through a tension apparatus. Two discs, inade
concave on their adjacent sides,mounted on a pin passing through their centres,
and pressed towards each other by a spring, are preferred for the purpose, and
the thread is to be led between the discs around the pin, and outwards again
between the discs. The upper thread next passes through a slot in a pin or
rod. This rod is surrounded by a light spiral spring, called a check spring,
which tends always to force the thread towards one end of the rod.
From

page_text: this slot the thread passes through two eyes in two small lugs projecting down-
wards from a small surface of metal attached to the upper needle bar or arm,
and thence the thread proceeds through the eye of the upper needle. The
thread, in going from the eye in one lug to the eye in the other, passes close to
a surface which forms one jaw of a nipper, the other jaw being another
surface below the first one; it is attached to some stationary part of the
machine, and is mounted upon a spring, and so arranged that the small surface
between the lugs shall strike it before the needle reaches its lowest point of
descent, and after the needle eye has passed through the cloth. When the
upper surface strikes the lower one, the thread that extends between the lugs.
is nipped fast between the surfaces which constitute the nippers; and as the
needle continues to descend, the thread remains nipped, because the lower jaw
is mounted on a spring which presses it upwards, but at the same time permits
it to descend when forced down by the upper surface. The thread continues
nipped when the needle riscs, and until the lower jaw is forced to its limit of
motion upwards by its spring, then the lower jaw ceases to rise, and the needle
arm carrying the upper surface further upwards releases the thread. In the
operation of the machine, the needle, by the time it reaches its limit of upward
motion, has drawn the thread off the spool through the tension apparatus, and
has compressed the check spring, the nippers having relaxed before it began
to draw the thread off the spool; as the needle descends the check spring
expands,and takes up the slack that would otherwise form between the needle
and the cloth. After the needle eye passes through the cloth, the thread
again compresses the check spring; and when the lower needle casts off its
loop of upper thread, then the nippers grasp the thread and clamp it, so that
it can desceud no faster than the needle descends; the needle in its further
descent then of necessity takes thread from the cast-off loop,pulling it up to
tighten or partially tighten the stitch. When the upper needle begins to rise
again, the nippers still grasp the thread, and continue to graspit until a loop
s formed and seized below the cloth; by this action they prevent the check
spring from stealing or prematurely closing the loop. The feed takes place
when the upper needle is out of the cloth, and the thread used at each stitch
s measured partly by the length of the stitch, and partly by the thickness of
he goods. This length of thread is taken by the needle against the resistance
f the check spring as the needle descends through the goods, and as a long
oiled springis practically of uniform tension, inequality of thickness of goods
r length of stitch does not practically affect the uniformity of the tension or
train on the thread.
The combination above referred to of a bobbin, a tension apparatus, a check

page_text: *
"
spring, and a nippers with an eye-pointed, reciprocating and piercing needle,so
that they act substantially as thus described, constitutes the second improve-
ment, and by its use the thread is held and used undera practically uniform
tension, whether the stitches be long or short, or the cloth thick or thin,
abrasion of the thread in the needle eye is avoided, and loops are formed
These results are useful,
uniformly by the upper needle on its ascent.
especially when sewing various thicknesses of cloth in the same seam, or when
many cross seams are to be sewn over. This combination, as before stated,
also prevents slack threads from forming below the point of the upper needle
when it descends,and also prevents stealing of the loop of upper thread, or,in
other words, permits the upper needle to form a loop with certainty when it
ascends; this partial result, arising from the use of this combination, is well
know, being produced in various sewing machines by different apparatus.
And the third improvement consists in a different and new mechanism or
take-up apparatus for producing this last-named result, and is chiefly
applicable to shuttle machines. This new "take-up" mechanism consists
essentially of two eyes, through which thread passes on its way from the spool,
of a thin stationary piece of metal, or a wire, which shall present a straight
edge and a curved continuation thereto, and of a forked moving piece of
metal, which moves as the needle moves, and during certain parts of its stroke
embraces the edge before named. It has been devised in connection with a
machine in which the upper and piercing needle reciprocates in straight lines
being attached to a stock which slides in proper stationary guides. The stock
projects above the guides, even when the needle is down, and has an eye or
roller on its upper end. The guides are open, and the stock has a slot in it;
into this slot projects the end of an arm, which reciprocates above the table
on pivots at the rear end of the machine; as the end of the arm reciprocates
in curved lines the stock moves up and down in a straight line. The thread
passes from a spool supported on the rear end of the machine through a
tension apparatus, and thence forward and through two eyes, thence upwards
over the roller, or through the eye in the top of the stock, and then down-
wards to the needle eye. The two eyes are attached to the guides or ways of
the stock, are both on the same level, and project rearwards from the guides;
the thread,in passing from one eye to the other goes crosswise of the machine,
and in the rear of the straightedge, which is vertical, and reaches some distance
below the eyes, and then bends off upon a curve towards the ways or guides.
Attached to the reciprocating arm is a forked-shaped piece of metal, so shaped
and fitted as to embrace the straight edge,and so that the forks in some partsof
their motion pass between the straightedge and the eyes. When the machine,

page_text: which has a shuttle, shuttle driver, and the usual accessories of a shuttle
machine, is operated, and the needle commences to descend, the fork descends
with it, comes in contact with the thread between the eyes, and forces it down,
thns taking up the slack as fast as it is made by the descent of the needle; and
when the needle eye reaches the cloth, the bight of thread carried down by the
fork has reached the rounding or curved part of the edge, so that it is no
longer held rearward to be acted upon by the fork. As both prongs of the
fork are rounded off on their lower edges, the bight, no longer being held
rearward, slips forward from off their points, and is released, thus giving up
the thread to the needle, which, after its eye has passed through the cloth, takes
below the cloth twice as much thread as is due to its own length of motion.
After the bight has slipped off the fork, the latter continues to descend, and then
ascends again with the needle, and is ready to take up slack thread again on
the next descent thereof. The forks should, while acting, move as fast as the
needle does, so as to compensate exactly for the thread slackened on the
descent of the needle; and as there is no check spring on the machine, there
is no device tending to prevent the formation of a loop below the cloth when
the needle rises.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
In the Drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a side elevation of one of the
improved machines, part of the bed plate being represented in section ;
Figure 2 is a front elevation, with the front part of the bed plate removed;
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the main shaft, with the feed cams and the
crank pin, which drives the lower needle, and also an end view of the plate or
surface against which the lower needle arm bears; Figure 4 is a section
through the spring and piston of the clamping apparatus or nippers; Figure 5
is a plan of the lower needle; and Figures 6, 7, and 8 are details shewing
various positions that the needles, their arms, and the clamping apparatus
take during the operation of the machine. The machine makes what is
commonly termed the Grover and Baker or double-thread looped stitch.
The Invention is shewn as embodied in a long-armed four-motioned feed
machine, but it may be applied to other machines having various kinds of feed
apparatus.
The working parts are all supported on a strong frame or table a, on the

page_text: i
upper surface of which the go ds to be sewn are laid; from this table depend
two hangers b, b, which, by means of proper journals, support the main shafte.
This shaft has upon it a driving pulley 6, through which motion is comini-
nicated to the machine. The upper needle arm is, by means of centre pins,
pivoted at the rear end of the machine, these pins entering a rocking shaft
cast in one piece with the arm, and from this rocking shaft the arm is pro-
longed below the table, and has a slot near the extreme end, into which enters
a crank pin projecting from a hub or boss attached to the left side of the
main shaft. When the shaft revolves, this needle arm and the needle e made
fast therein will reciprocate. The machine has a standard or arm.f, as usual,
which supports an ordinary spring presser foot, with a contrivance for lifting
the same; it has also a four-motion roughened surface feed bar, which receives
its upward and horizontal movements from two cams x, y, best shown in
Figures 2 and 3, and this bar is forced downwards and moved sidewise in a
direction contrary to that of the progression of the cloth by a wire spring
attached beneath the platform, and plainly shown in Figure 1, at g. The
lower needle and needle arm may be made in one or more pieces so long as
they are attached and move with each other. The arm is drilled through
at its lower end, and the hole is filled by a crank pin projecting from a
surface or boss affixed to that end of the shaft nearest to the feed cams.
This pin is of considerable length, and has a small screw cut on it, which
enters a hole in a boss at the right side of the main shaft (see Figure 3).
This crank pin is not parallel to the shaft, but is set at an angle thereto, and
the boss into which it is screwed has a face, which is a plane perpendicular
to a line passing through the centre of the crank pin, and not perpendicular
to a line passing through the centre of the shaft; a head or flange upon the
crank pin confines the lower needle arm closely to the surface of the boss.
The arm is slotted, and into this slot projects a pin j, which is supported
from one of the hangers. I prefer to surround this pin with a collar, and the
pin must be long enough to keep within the slot during the lateral or sidewise
motions of the arm. The lower needle k is eye-pointed, may be grooved on
one side, and is provided with a take-up spring land a leading eye m.
the main shaft is revolved, the lower needle, owing to the peculiararrangement
of the crank pin upon its shaft, and the fact that it is provided with a slot
and pin, will bave motion in six directions, namely, forwards and backwards.
or into and out of the loops of thread furnished by the upper needle; upwards
and downwards, or towards and away from the goods to be sewn, and the
table on which they are supported; and, lastly, to the right and left, so that
When

page_text: it advances or moves forwards on one side of the upper needle, and recedes
on the other side thereof. The forward and backward and up-and-down
motions of the lower needle are derived from the crank pin, and its extent of
inotion depends upon the throw of the crank, the shape and direction of the
slot in the arm, and the position of the pin that enters the slot; the sidewise
movement of the needle depends upon the angular position of the crank pin,
and the extent of this motion, which need be but little greater than the width.
of the lower needle added to the diameter of the upper one, may be varied
by setting the crank pin at a greater or less angle to the main or other shaft
which drives it. The lower thread may be furnished from a spool provided
with any suitable tension apparatus, and is to be passed through the take-up
spring, through the leading eye m, and thence through the eye in the point
of the needle (see blue thread in the various Figures). The upper thread
passes from a bobbin, as at o (see Figure 1, it not being represented in the
other Figures), thence around a tension apparatus, as at p, and thence over
atake-up spring, as at q, and through two small holes in one part of a nippers,
as.at r, and, finally, through the eye of the upper needle (see red lines in the
Drawings.)
The tension apparatus shown in the Drawings is composed of two discs
slipped on to a pin, and forced together by a spiral spring, and the thread
passes between them around the pin and out again between them, the adjacent
sides of the two discs being concaved, but any other tension apparatus maybe
employed,or a drag or tension may be placed on the spool itself. The take-up
spring 9 is spiral (see Figure 1), and surrounds a slotted pin secured to the
needle arin, the thread passing through the slot; but auy other take-up spring
or tension apparatus may be employed, so long as they act upon the thread
substantially in the same manner as those described. Upon the standard fis
supported a plunger forced upwards by a spring (see Figure 4), and in certain
position of the upper needle arm the piecer strikes the plunger, nipping the
upper thread against it; any nippers which will at the proper time nip the
thread fast to the needle arm may be substituted for this nipping or clamping
apparatus. The cloth is to be placed on the table under the presser foot,
the latter dropped so as to bear thereon, and the machine, threaded as
described, will be ready for use, the progress or feed of the cloth being in the
direction of the arrow in Figure 2. When the main shaft is rotated, the
upper needle descends, passes through the cloth, and rises a little; the lower
needle then advancing seizes the loop of the upper thread, and the parts
assume the position shown in Figure 8, and in so seizing a loop, the lower

page_text: needle advances on that side of the upper needle, from which the cloth recedes
as it is fed.
On reference to Figure 8,it will be perceived that the point of the lower
needle is at some distance below the cloth at the time the loop is seized. The
lower needle continues to advance and the upper needle to ascend until the
parts arrive at the position shown in Figure 1, and during this ascent of the
upper needle the roughened surface has moved and fed the goods along.
The upper needle now descends, the lower needle rises and retreats, and
moves sidewise in a direction contrary to that in which the cloth moves, and
the upper needle enters between the lower thread and the lower needle (see
Figures 5 and 6). The upper needle is now surrounded by a loop of the
lower thread, and as the two needles continue the one to descend and the
other to retreat, the lower needle backs out of the loop of the upper thread
that it previously held (see Figure 7, in which the lower needle is repre-
sented at the point where it stops, after having retreated and ascended to its
full extent).
-It will be noticed that the lower needle is close up under the table and
under the cloth, when it thus backs out of the loop of the upper needle
thread; and by again referring to Figure 8, it will be seen that its next
movement is forwards and downwards to seize a second loop of the upper
thread, and in order to do so it also moves sidewise, so as to enter on that side
of the upper needle, from which the cloth recedes. The motions of the lower
needle forwards and backwards are to make it enter and recede from the
loop of the upper thread; its motions sidewise, or vibrating from one side to
the other of the upper needle, are to cause it to enter the loops of upper
thread properly, and to hold the loops of its own or lower thread, so that they
may be properly entered by the upper needle, and its motions up and down,
or towards and away from the cloth, are useful for several reasons; first,
because, in rising as it backs out of a loop of the upper thread, it continually
slackens that loop, so that it is not jammed fast, nor does it slip with any great
friction over or along the lower needle. Secondly, because in rising it casts
off the loop of the upper thread close to the cloth out of the way of the points
of the lower needle, when it advances to seize the next loop of the upper
needle thread. Thirdly, because by its rising, it casts off a loop of the upper
thread of small size, which is consequently easily and quickly pulled up tight,
and the descent of the lower needle is useful, first, in seizing a loop below the
lever of the cast-off loop, so that there is no danger of entangling; secondly,
in pulling out a large loop of the upper thread, so that the cast-off loop is

page_text: tightened thereby, and so that the loop held on the lower needle may slip off
easily as that needle retreats and ascends.
In the operation of the machine arranged precisely as represented in the
Drawings the cast-off loop of the upper needle thread is partially pulled up by
the descent of the upper needle, and is finally tightened by the lower needle
seizing and drawing out the next loop of the upper thread, and by the ascent
of the upper needle. In the operation of the machine the upper needle draws
the thread off the bobbin that supplies it at the last portion of its upward
motion, and in so doing compresses the check or take-up spring 9 partially
(see Figure 1); as the upper needle descends this spring expands and takes
up the slack thread that would otherwise form below the needle point; when
the needle eye descends through the cloth, it, as is usual in sewing machines,
takes thread from above the cloth equal to twice the distance through which
it descends, and in so doing compresses the check spring again until the
piece r strikes the plunger (see Figure 7), but at this instant the loop of the
upper needle thread held by the lower needle is cast off, and as the check
spring is prevented by the nipping of the thread from contracting further, the
ultimate descent of the upper needle pulls up this cast-off loop. The feed
takes place while the upper needle is out of the cloth, and before it punctures
it again. If the feed be long or the cloth be thick, more thread will be
required for a stitch than when the cloth is thin or the feed short, and under
the operation described the length of the thread required, whether longer or
shorter, will be drawn off against the tension of the check spring, which is
practically uniform throughout its length of motion. The cast-off loop to the
upper thread is clamped by nipping it between the plunger and the piece r,
and is of practically uniform length, no matter what may be the thickness of
the cloth or the length of the stitch. The upper thread below the cloth and
ou each side of the upper needle is, in consequence of an arrangement of check
or take-up spring nippers or clamping apparatus and tension apparatus,
substantially such as described, practically under the same tension at all times,
whether the stitch be long or short, or whether the goods be thick or thiu.
From this even tension it results that there is no danger of the lower needle
missing the loop, which sometimes happens when the tension below the cloth
is too great, for in that case the upper thread, especially if of silk, stretches as
the needle descends, and contracts as it ascends, forming no open loop. This
same even tension also prevents, to a great extent, abrasion of the thread in the
eye of the upper needle, for thread which may suddenly be required for a long
stitch or a thick place in the goods, is taken off against the pressure of the

page_text: check spring, and not against or in spite of the resistance of the tension
apparatus. The nippers hold the thread while the needle rises, and until the
lower needle has entered the loop of the upper thread, the check spring is
thus prevented from stealing the loop. The result of this arrangement is that
the machine sews equally and well without breaking thread or missing stitches
over thick and thin goods, or making a long stitch if required, or making a stitch
of uniform tightness,and never when in adjustment missing a stitch, which is
a great desideratum in sewing machines. The gist of the arrangement is that
the take-up or check spring shall lie between the tension apparatus or thread
drag and the nippers, and that the parts shall be so.located that the needle
shall in drawing thread from the spool compress the check spring, while the
latter shall expand on the descent of the needle, and until the eye enters the
cloth, and shall then be compressed again, and that the nippers or clamping
apparatus shall nip the thread fast to the needle arm or needle, or part moving
with the needle, when the latter in its ascent commences to draw up or cast-
off the loop, and any species of check spring nippers and tension-apparatus
may be used in place of those shown, provided they are so located relatively
to each other, and so combined with each other as to operate in combination,
substantially as described.
Various different kinds of mechanism may be employed for imparting the
motions to the lower needle, but I prefer the simple means herein described.
Figure 1, Sheet 2 of the Drawings, is a side elevation of a machine with my
"take-up" apparatus applied thereto, the needle being at its highest position;
Figure 2 is a similar view, showing the needle down to its greatest extent;
Figure 3 is a side elevation in detail of this apparatus; Figure 4 is a rear
elevation of the eyes and edge of the "take-up" apparatus, and also a plan of
the same, together with the fork or wiper on a large scale; Figure 5 is a rear
elevation in detail of the "take-up" apparatus, needle, and shuttle; and
Figure 6 is a side elevation of the eyes, edge, and fork or wiper on a large
scale, and in different relative positions.
.
This "take-up" apparatus attains the same results as the more complicated
and expensive mechanisms for controlling the needle thread in many other
machines of the same class; it prevents slack thread from forming below the
point of the needle as it descends, and gives out thread when the eye of the
needle passes through the cloth, and has no teudency to steal the loop o
the needle thread, and in addition to these results it lays the stitch truly. Th
apparatus is shewn as applied to a machine with a needle z reciprocatingi
straight lines, and attached to a needle bar or stock y; this bar is actuated b

page_text: a needle arm D, which is driven by a cam F on a revolving shaft below the
table. The end of the arm projects through a slot in the rear of the piece B,
which forms part of the needle bar guide, and is suitably connected to the
needle bar,so that the arm and bar reciprocate together. The machine has a
presser foot,shuttle, horizontal cloth, supporting table, a feed apparatus, and a
shuttle driving apparatus, all of any usual or proper form or construction.
The upper thread,colored red in the Drawings, is furnished from a bobbin x,
and passes thence through a tension apparatus u; this tension apparatus is
composed of two discs concaved on their adjacent sides, and bored through
at the centre; they are slipped upon a pin, pressed together by a spiral
spring, and the thread is passed between the discs around the spindle, and
outwards again between the discs. From this tension apparatus the thread
passes through two eyes A pierced in two cheeks projecting rearwards from
the piece B,thence over a small roller t secured to the top of the needle stock.
and finally through the eye of the needle. In passing from one of the eyes A
to the other the thread leads across an edge E, which projects rearwards
between the cheeks. To the needle arm is secured a fork C, the prongs of
which are rounded off at their points; this fork is so secured and formed that
its prongs shall during certain parts of the motion of the needle arm embrace
the edge E, and pass between the cheek pieces (Figure 4). The edge E is at
its lower part inclined, curved, or bent away from the fork. The operation of
the apparatus is as follows:-Supposing that the needle has risen to its full
extent, has tightened a stitch, and has drawn the upper thread off at the spool
or bobbin, the position of the parts then being as in Figure 1, the needle
now commences to descend, being forced down by the needle arm, and as the
arın carries the fork C, the latter descends with the needle, and strikes the
thread, which extends from one eye A to the other, the edge holding this thread
rearwards, so that the prongs of the fork carry the thread down with them.
If there were no fork, the needle in its descent would form twice as much
slack as is due to its own extent of motion, the fork, however, by its action
draws down a bight or bend of thread, which measured from one eye A to the
other is equal to twice its extentof motion, or a littlegreater or less, depending
upon the shape or contour of the edge, and the direction of motion, and shape
of the prongs; the thread, therefore, forms no slack below the needle, and the
atter runs down the thread, leading always in a straight line from the needle
eye to the cloth; just before the needle eye reaches the cloth, the bight of
hread acted upon by the prongs rides over that part of the edge which is bent
orwards or away from the fork, and when the eye reaches the cloth, or at

page_text: about that time, the bight on the edge has slipped so far forward that it is no
longer acted upon by the fork (see upper Diagram in Figure 4). The needle
now descending below the cloth, takes up twice the length of thread due to its
length of motion, and the bight between the eyes being rele ised from the fork,
slips out between the prongs and the edge, and furnishes the requisite length
for the use of the needle. While the needle eye is descending below the cloth
the fork and its prongs are descending doing nothing (see Diagram of Figure 4).
When the needle commences to rise in order to form a loop, there is no straiu
on the thread, and consequently no tendency to steal a loop, and as the needle
rises, the fork ascends with it, doing nothing until it again reaches a position.
above the thread, and commences in its descent again to pull out a bight of
the thread. No slack is ever formed below the needle eye or point, con-
sequently there is no danger of entangling or piercing the thread, and as the
needle runs down a straight thread the stitch is properly and evenly laid. The
edge E may be so shaped and adjusted in reference to the fork that more or
less length of bight may be formed or pulled out by a given length of descent
of the forks, and a change of curve in its lower part or a change of position in
the fork will cause the bight to slip out freely from the fork at a sooner or
later period. The office of the eyes is to hold a line of thread to be struck by
the fork; the office of the edge is to hold the thread within the grasp of the
fork as long as needed, and to a certain extent to regulate the time when the
fork shall cease to act on the bight of thread, and it shall be permitted to slip
out between the edge and the fork. The office of the fork is to pull out or
develope a bight of thread so long as the thread is held within its reach; and
these the acting parts of this contrivance may be variously formed, constructed,
attached, and operated, so long as each performs its proper office, and they, in
combination operate substantially as specified.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the saine is or may be used or carried
iuto effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be nove
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by th
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
Firstly, the general constructions, arrangements, and combinations of part
of sewing machines, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the combination in a sewing machine of a supporting table and a
eye-pointed piercing needle, with a lower needle or looping instrument havin
motions in six directions, in the manner and for the purpose herein.befor
described.

page_text: Thirdly, the mode of imparting motion in six directions to a lower needle or
looping instrument in sewing machines by means of an inclined crank pin,
substantially as herein-before described.
Fourthly, the combination of a tension apparatus, a check spring, and
nippers, arranged and combined substantially in the manner and for the
purpose herein-before described.
And, lastly, I claim the peculiar "take-up" apparatus, consisting of the
combinatiom of two stationary eyes with an edge piece and reciprocating fork,
operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)