IMPROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Jackson, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES."
Scaled the 13th September 1872, and dated the 18th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Jackson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1872.
I, CHARLES JACKSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SHUTTLES FOR SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
shuttles for sewing machines whereby the shuttles are less costly in
manufacture, and are more durable, and offer greater facilities in use
than shuttles of the ordinary kind.
In ordinary shuttles the bobbin is supported in the shuttle case or
shell by making the ends or pivots of the bobbin engage in holes or

page_text: recesses in either end of the case, and is fixed in its place in the shuttle
case by a jointed arm or latch at the heel end of the shuttle case or by
a spring centre.
According to my Invention I support the bobbin at one end in a
spring bearing fixed to the shuttle case, the said spring bearing also
The said elastic
securing the bobbin in its place in the shuttle case.
bearing consists of a strip of steel or other elastic metal, one end of the
said strip being doubled or bent upon the other part, the front of the
said doubled part forming a vertical spring bearing in which one end
or pivot of the bobbin engages. The other end of the strip is bent
at right angles and constitutes a plate which is fixed to the heel part of
the shuttle case and serves to secure the spring bearing to the shuttle.
That part of the strip situated between the bearing and heel parts
described lies upon the bottom of the shuttle case. In introducing
and fixing the bobbin in the shuttle case one end or pivot of the bobbin
is inserted in a depression in the spring bearing at one end of the shuttle
case, and the other end or pivot of the bobbin is placed against the fixed
heel plate at the opposite end of the shuttle case. By depressing the
bobbin in the shuttle case the spring bearing yields longitudinally and
the bobbin snaps into a depression in the fixed heel plate, the bobbin is
thereby fixed securely in its place, the said bobbin being free to rotate in
its bearings. In order to remove the bobbin from the shuttle case the
bobbin is lifted with sufficient force to press back the spring bearing.
By this arrangement the .bobbin is fixed in and removed from the
shuttle case with great facility, and the shuttle is less costly than
ordinary shuttles. The spring arm, commonly called the compensating
arm, which bears upon the thread on the bobbin for the purpose of
regulating the unwinding of the thread therefrom may be made in
one piece with the spring bearing described or separately.
made in one piece with the said spring bearing I prefer to cut from
the middle of the base plate of the said bearing a shaped or tongue
piece, which T piece is raised out of the plane of the base plate and
made to bear on the thread on the bobbin at the under side thereof; or
the spring regulating arm may be made from the side or other con-
venient part of the base plate of the spring bearing of the bobbin. The
spring bearing or combined spring bearing and regulating arm are
applicable to ordinary metal shuttles and to shuttles of the kind
herein-after described.
When

page_text: In order to prevent the wearing away of the nose and other parts of
the caso or shell of the shuttle, and to reduce the wear of the shuttle race
I make the oase or shell of the shuttle of hard porcelain or other vitreous
material instead of metal, I prefer to employ for this purpose as being
most suitable porcelain of the kind used for the manufacture of artificial
teeth, which is composed essentially of feldspar, silex, and kaolin. When
the porcelain shuttle is to be provided with the spring bearing or com-
bined spring bearing and regulating arm, as herein-before described,
plates or pins of platinum are inserted in the porcelain shell or case
before it is burnt, and after the shell or case has been burnt the spring
bearing or bearing and regulating arm are secured to the shell or case
by means of the said plates or pins of platinum. Other means how-
ever may be adopted for securing the bobbin in the porcelain shell or
case. For example, a hole may be left at the heel end of the shell
through which hole and the hollow axis of the babbin a spindle is passed
to secure the bobbin in the shell or case,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Jackson in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 16th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JACKSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Jackson, Her special licence that I,
the said Charles Jackson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Jackson, 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 SHUTTLES FOR SEWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles

page_text: Jackson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and i
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Jackson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say -
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
shuttles for sewing machines whereby the shuttles are less costly in
manufacture, and are. more durable, and offer greater facilities in use
than shuttles of the ordinary kind,
In ordinary shuttles the bobbin is supported in the shuttle case or 1
shell by making the ends or piyots of the bobbin engage in holes or
recesses in either end of the case, and is fixed in its place in the shuttle
case by a jointed arm or latch at the heel end of the shuttle case or by
a spring centre.
According to my Invention I support the bobbin at one end in a 2
spring bearing fixed to the shuttle case, the said spring bearing also
securing the bobbin in its place in the shuttle case. The said spring
bearing consists of a strip of steel or other elastic metal, one end of
the said strap being doubled or bent upon the other part, the front of
the said doubled part forming a vertical spring bearing in which one
end or pivot of the bobbin engages. The other end of the strip is bent
at right angles, and constitutes a plate which is fixed to the heel part
of the shuttle case, and serves to secure the spring bearing to the
shuttle. That part of the strip situated between the bearing and heel
parts described lies upon the bottom of the shuttle case. In introducing
and fixing the bobbin in the shuttle case one end or pivot of the bobbin
is inserted in a depression at one end of the shuttle case, and the other
end or piyot of the bobbin is placed against the fixed heel plate at the
opposite end of the shuttle case. By depressing the bobbin in the
shuttle case the spring bearing yields longitudinally, and the bobbin
snaps into a depression in the fixed heel plate, the bobbin is thereby
fixed securely in its place, the said bobbin being free to rotate in

page_text: its bearings: In order to remove the bobbin from the shuttle case the
bobbin is lifted with sufficient force to press back the spring bearing.
By this arrangement the bobbin is fixed in and removed from the
shuttle case with great facility and the shuttle is less costly than
3 ordinary shuttles. The spring arm, commonly called the compensating
arm, which bears upon the thread on the bobbin for the purpose of
regulating the unwinding of the thread therefrom, may either be made
in one piece with the spring bearing described or separately: When
made in one piece with the said spring bearing I prefer to cut from the
middle of the base plate of the said bearing a T shaped or tongue piece,
which T piece is raised out of the plane of the base plate and made to
bear on the thread on the bobbin at the under side thereof; or the
spring regulating arm may be made from the side or other convenient
part of the base plate of the spring bearing of the bobbin.
The spring bearing or combined spring bearing and regulating arm
are applicable to ordinary metal shuttles and to shuttles of the kind
herein-after described:
Having explained the nature of this part of my Invention, I will
proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the
manner in which the same is to be performed:
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2 in
plan a shuttle in which the bobbin is supported by a spring bearing
made according to my Invention, the said spring bearing being made
in one piece of metal with the regulating or compensating arm of
the bobbin Figure 3 represents the shuttle with a bobbin combined
therewith, and Figure 4 is an elevation of the shuttle: The said spring
bearing made according to my Invention consists of a strip of steel or
other elastic metal, one end of the said strip being doubled or bent upon
the part e; so as to form the vertical spring bearing marked f in which
one end of the bobbin i engages: The other end of the strip e is bent
at right angles, and constitutes a plate y which is soldered to the heel
part of the bobbin case a; and thus serves to secure the spring bearing to
the shuttle case: The parts f, g, of the spring bearing have depressions
made in them to receive the pivots h, h², of the bobbin i; k is the com-
pensating or regulating arm made from the base plate e of the bearing:
The said arm is made by piercing in the said base plate a.T shaped
tongue piece and raising it out of the plane of the said base plate. The

page_text: manner in which the arm k presses on the thread of the bobbin is scen
in Figure 3. The blank from which the combined spring bearing and
regulating arm is made is represented in Figure 3. In fixing the
bobbin in the shuttle case a one pivot of the bobbin is placed in the
depression in the spring bearing f, and the other pivot-is placed against
the fixed heel plate g and the last-named pivot depressed in the groove
in the said plate. The spring bearing f is thereby made to yield
longitudinally and the bobbin snaps into the fixed heel plate. To remove
the bobbin it is lifted so as to press back the spring bearing f
Figure 5 represents a combined spring bearing and compensating 1
arm in which the said arm marked k is made from the side of the base
plate e, instead of from the middle thereof as in Figures 1, 2, and 3, and
Figure 6 represents the blank from which the said bearing and arm are
made.
Figure 7 represents in longitudinal section, and Figure 8 in plan a
shuttle having a spring bearing made according to my Invention but
without a compensating spring arm; Figure 9 represents a bobbin
combined with the shuttle, and Figure 10 is an elevation of the shuttle;.
Figure 11 is the blank from which this spring bearing is made.
The parts of the spring bearing, Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, are marked
with the same letters of reference as corresponding parts in Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4. When the spring bearing is made as last described a separate
compensating arm similar to that represented in Figures 12 and 13 is
soldered to the base plate e of the said spring bearing.
Figure 12 represents in longitudinal section, and Figure 13 in plan a
modification of the spring bearing last described.
In this arrangement I make the spring bearing of a piece of sheet
metal c bent at right angles and soldered to the nose of the shuttle case.
The middle of the plate c is slit or pierced so as to form a tongue piece
c², to which tongue piece the boss or bearing proper c³ to receive the
pivot of the shuttle is soldered. The fixed bearing at the heel end of
the shuttle is made of a trough piece of metal soldered to the said heel
end;
d is the ordinary compensating arm for pressing on the thread of
the bobbin, the said arm being soldered at d² to the bottom of the
.shuttle case.
Figure 14 represents in longitudinal section and cross section, and
Figure 15 in clevation a shuttle containing a modification of the spring

page_text: bearing represented in Figures 7, 8, and 9; Figure 16 represents the
blank of the same. In this spring bearing the base plate e is furnished
with two side wings or pieces e², e³, which are made to fit portions of the
sides of the shuttle case a.. The side e after the spring bearing has been
put in the shuttle case is pressed outwards so as to eyelet the holes at
in the side of the case. The spring bearing is thus fixed in the shuttle
and the holes at 7 made very smooth. The spring bearing may also be
fixed to the shuttle case by soldering the heel plate g to the shuttle:
In the side is a rounded bar n, which bar when the spring bearing
is fixed in the shuttle is situated at the required place in the opening
at p left in the side of the shuttle case a. By this arrangement the
bar which is ordinarily pierced or cut in the shuttle case, as seen in
Figure 10, is formed in one piece with the spring bearing, and great
economy in the making of the shuttle case is secured and the holes in
the opposite side of the shuttle case are made very smooth. Instead
of making the spring bearing with a heel plate in which one of the
pivots of the bobbin engages the spring end f only of the bearing may
be employed and the bearing at the heel end of the shuttle be made
by corrugating the shuttle case at the said heel end.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in longitudinal section in
Figure 17, horizontal section in Figure 18, and cross section in Figure 19.
f is the spring bearing at the nose end of the shuttle case, which may
either be straight as in Figure 17, or curved as in Figure 20, the base
plate e of the bearing being soldered to the bottom of the shuttle case a.
The bearing 9 at the heel end of the shuttle case is made by corrugating
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the metal thereof, that is, by pressing inwards the metal at the said
end, so as to form a circular groove or depression, the part enclosed
within the said groove forming the central depression or bearing q for
receiving one of the pivots of the bobbin. Opening into the said
central depression or bearing 9 is a vertical groove or depression », made
in a similar way by pressing inwards the metal at the heel end. The
vertical depression is of less depth than the central depression q, so
that after the pivot of the bobbin has snapped into the said bearing q
it cannot return by the vertical groover excepting by the yielding
longitudinally of the spring bearing f.
զ
Figure 21 represents in end elevation and side elevation a spring
bearing for the bobbin of a shuttle constructed according to my Invention,
in which the ends to receive the pivots are made in the form of clips, which

page_text: clips after the pivots have passed into their places close upon them, and
hold the bobbin securely in its place. 8, 8, are the clips or spring ends
of the bearing, each clip consisting of two strips of metal cut from the
ends of the base plate t, and raised at right. angles to the said base
plate. By opening out the clips s, s, of the spring bearing the pivots
may be lifted out of the bearing parts s², s², and the bobbin removed
from the shuttle case. Detached spring bearings having the clipping
action last described may be soldered to each end of the shuttle case
to receive the bobbin. One of these detached spring bearings is
represented in end elevation, in Figure 22, the said bearing being fixed
to the case of the shuttle by the strip or piece u. Or spring bearings of
the kind represented in end clevation and plan in Figure 23 may-be
employed. These spring bearings consist of a trough plate having
at one end a spring clip w made by slitting the said trough plate.
When the pivot is introduced into the bearing, Figure 23, the clip part w
springs partly over the trough plate and prevents the return of the
pivot. By drawing back the clip part o the bobbin can be lifted out
of its bearings and removed from the shuttle case. The spring bearings.
represented in Figures 21, 22, and 23 may be made of wire instead of
sheet metal.
Figure 24 represents in longitudinal section, Figure 25 in cross section,
and Figure 26 in plan a shuttle provided with a spring bearing con-
structed according to another modification of my Invention; Figure 27
is a part of the spring bearing. In this modification I make the spring
bearing of a coiled spring a, between the two coils of which spring is a
depending loop b, see the separate view Figure 27. To this loop a boss
or plate of metal c having a hole or depression in it to receive the pivot
of the bobbin is connected in any convenient way. The coiled spring a
is supported on an axis d fixed across the shuttle case, the ends e, e, of
the wire from which the coiled spring a is made being soldered to the
nose end of the shuttle case in the manner best seen in Figures 24
and 26.
My Invention consists further of the following improvements in
shuttles -In order to prevent the wearing away of the nose and other
parts of the case or shell of the shuttle and to reduce the wear of the
shuttle rase, I make the case or shell of the shuttle of hard porcelain
or other vitreous material instead of metal. I prefer to employ for this
purpose as being most suitable porcelain of the kind used for the manu-

page_text: facture of artificial teeth, which is composed essentially of feldspar, silex,
and kaolin. When the porcelain shuttle is to be provided with the
spring bearing or combined spring bearing and regulating arm herein-
before described plates or pins of platinum are inserted in the porce-
lain shell or casc before it is burnt, and after the shell or case has
been burnt the spring bearing or bearing and regulating arm are
secured to the shell or case by means of the said plates or pins of
platinum. Or holes may be left in the shell for the wire bearings
to fit in.
Other means however may be adopted for securing the bobbin in the
porcelain shell or case, for example, a hole may be left at the heel end of
the shell, through which hole and the hollow axis of the bobbin a spindle
is passed to secure the bobbin in the shell or case,
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements
in shuttles for sewing machines,-
Firstly. Constructing the spring bearings for supporting and securing
the bobbins in the shuttle cases substantially as herein-before described
and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 34, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making the said spring bearings
from one piece of sheet steel or other clastic metal for supporting both
ends of the bobbin, also the modifications of the said spring bearings
herein before described and illustrated in Figures 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 22,
23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. Making the spring bearings and spring compensating arm
for regulating the unwinding of the thread from the bobbin of one piece
of metal, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. Forming in one piece with the spring bearings the bar of
the shuttle case, and the method of fixing the spring bearings to the
shuttle case, and cyletting or making smooth the holes in the said
shuttle case, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 14, 15, and 16 of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Fourthly. Making the fixed bearing of the bobbin by corrugating or
indenting the heel end of the shuttle case as herein-before described
and illustrated in Figures 17, 18, and 19 of the accompanying Drawings.
Lastly. Making the shuttle case of hard porcelain or other vitreous
material for the purpose and substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Jackson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
CHARLES JACKSON. (L.S.)