IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alfred Cowper, of No. 6, Great George
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE
ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE."
Sealed the 22nd July 1873, and dated the 20th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alfred Cowper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th May 1878.
I, EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, West-
.minster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE," to be as follows:-
In a Provisional Specification filed by me on the 13th of January
1873, No. 181, for an Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Sewing a Sole on to a Boot or Shoe," I described an improved looper,
whereby the thread is looped on to the hook of the hooked needle used
for sewing soles on to boots or shoes, such looper being at the upper end

page_text: When by turning the needle block the second spindle with its inter-
mediate pinions is also turned these pinions travelling round inside the
internal gearing cause the pinion on the spindle of the cranks, cams, or
eccentrics to rotate more or less, and thereby set forward or backward as
the case may be, the cranks, cams, or eccentrics bringing them into
accord with the position of the needle.
The wheel internally geared above mentioned may have either a
continuous or a reciprocating rotary motion imparted to it, either
uniform or variable, or it may have a uniform and continuous rotary
motion; and the cams on the spindle may be so formed as to impart to
the looper a variable motion.
The object above stated may be effected by gearing of various
descriptions, as may be readily understood. For example, the eccentrics
for working the looper may be mounted on a spindle having an inclined
or helical feather, and this spindle may be moved longitudinally by
gearing from the needle block, so that the eccentrics shall be turned
more or less round on the spindle while they are driven by it. Or, in
like manner, the spindle carrying the cranks, cams, or eccentrics may
be geared to a wheel mounted by a helical feather on a shaft caused to
traverse longitudinally by the rotation of the needle block.
It is obvious that gearing of the kinds above described may be applied
to a revolving looper or whirl as well as to a looper of the kind described
in my Provisional Specification above referred to.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Alfred Cowper in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, Her special license,

page_text: that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheets of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked a
thereon, that is to say:
-
In the Specification of a Patent obtained by me, dated the 13th of
January 1873, No. 131, for an Invention of " 'Improvements in
Machinery for Sewing a Sole on to a Boot or Shoe," I described an
improved looper, whereby the thread is looped on to the hook of the a
hooked needle used for sewing soles on to boots or shoes, such looper
being at the upper end of a lever extending up the hollow rest, which
is inserted inside the boot or shoe.
The apparatus described in the said Specification was for the purpose
of giving to the looper a movement in a path nearly circular round the
needle. As in working machinery, to which such a looper is applicable,
it is convenient to turn the needle on its axis, so that its hook is always
presented in the direction of the stitching in order to secure the proper
hooking of the thread on the needle, the traverse of the looper in its
path should always be the same relatively to the hook of the needle.
My present Invention relates to apparatus for this purpose. I connect
the block in which the needle reciprocates vertically (which block is
E

page_text: mounted so that it can turn on a vertical axis as described in the
Specification of a Patent granted to L. R. Blake, dated 3rd May 1859,
No. 1111) to the spindle, on which are fixed the cranks, cams, or
eccentrics for working the looper by gearing of such a character that
when the needle block is turned on its axis those cranks, cams, or
eccentrics are turned to a like extent on their axis. As they have either
a continuous or reciprocating rotary motion for working the looper,
which motion is imparted to them independently of the turning of the
needle, the effect of the connection above described is that while they
have their proper rotary motions they are by the turning of the needle
set more or less forward or backward so as to be in accord with the
needle.
One form of gearing for effecting this object is of the following
kind: On the spindle on which the cranks, cams, or eccentrics are
fixed I fix a pinion, and I mount loosely on the spindle a larger wheel
with internal gearing. On a separate spindle in the same axial line I
fix one or more arms, which carry pinions gearing both into the pinion
fixed on the spindle and also into the internal geared wheel mounted
loosely thereon.
The second spindle above named is connected by gearing or otherwise
to the needle block, so that it is made to revolve simultaneously and
proportionately therewith. When this second spindle is at rest the
internal geared wheel being driven drives the intermediate pinions, and
through them the spindle of the cranks, cams, or eccentrics.
When by turning the needle block the second spindle with its inter-
mediate pinions is also turned these pinions travelling round inside the
internal gearing cause the pinion on the spindle of the cranks, cams, or
eccentrics to rotate more or less, and thereby set forward or backward,
as the case may be, the cranks, cams, or eccentrics, bringing them into
accord with the position of the needle.
The wheel internally geared above mentioned may have either a
continuous or reciprocating rotary motion imparted to it, either uniform
or variable; or it may have a uniform and continuous rotary motion,
and the cams on the spindle may be so formed as to impart to the looper
a variable motion.
The object above stated may be effected by gearing of various
1:1
TA...
L th

page_text: needle) from the eccentrics X and Y, working the lever b, pivotted in
the slide c, within the hollow rest, in the manner described in the
Specification above referred to of a Patent granted to me on the
13th January 1873, No. 131.
The action of the mechanism is as follows:-When the needle block D,
carrying with it the needle bar C and needle B, is turned round its axis
the mitre and bevil gearing communicate rotary motion to the vertical
spindle R; the pinions T, T, being thus caused to revolve turn the
spindle W so as to set the eccentrics X and Y in accord with the position
of the needle block.
Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet III., show respectively a sectional elevation and
a front elevation of a modified form of the apparatus.
In these Figures
many of the parts are the same as in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, Sheets I.
and II., and these parts are marked with the same letters.
According to this modification motion is communicated from the
mitre wheel M on the rotary needle block D by the mitre wheel N,
spindle O, and bevil pinion P gearing into the bevil wheel Q to the
vertical spindle R. At the lower end of this spindle is a mitre wheel T
mounted on an axis R¹ fixed at right angles to the spindle, and gearing
both into the mitre wheel Us (the hollow spindle of which turns in a
bearing Z' made in halves and attached to the framing A) and also into
the mitre wheel V₁ fixed on the vertical spindle W, which carries the
cranks, cams, or eccentrics X and Y for giving motion to the looper a.
The mitre wheel Us has teeth which gear into the mitre wheel U' on the
driving spindle H. It will be seen that this mechanism corresponds in
its action with that previously described.
Figs. 7 and 8, Sheet IV., shew respectively a sectional elevation and
a front elevation; and Fig. 9, Sheet V., shews a sectional plan of
another modification of the apparatus.
A is the framing of the machine; B¹, the needle; C¹, the needle bar;
D¹, the rotary needle block. Reciprocating vertical motion is given to
the needle by means of the cam G¹ on the driving spindle H' acting
through the lever J' turning on the fulcrum K', which may be made to
rise and fall to allow of the needle passing through different thicknesses
of sole. The needle block D¹ (which can be turned by the handle E¹)
has on its circumference a number of teeth forming a pinion M¹ gearing
into the rack N', which slides in guides on the framing of the machine.

page_text: Attached to the end of the rack, but capable of turning in it, is a
spindle O¹ having on it two helical feathers. A mitre wheel P¹ is
mounted on the screw spindle O¹, and turns with it, being supported in
bearings o¹, o³, and by them prevented from moving endways. The
mitre wheel P¹ gears into a mitre wheel Q₁ on the vertical spindle R³,
on which are fixed the eccentrics X and Y', which give the requisite
motion to the looper a¹. The driving spindle H³ is hollow to allow of
the spindle O¹ sliding in it when the spindle is caused to reciprocate by
the pinion M acting on its rack N¹, but the spindle O¹ cannot turn in
the driving spindle H', being prevented from turning by a projection p
(on the spindle O¹), which slides in a groove cut in the side of the hollow
driving spindle H'.
The action of this apparatus is as follows:-When the needle
block D', carrying with it the needle bar C¹ and needle B¹, is turned
on its axis the pinion M¹ moves the rack N¹ and spindle O' longi-
tudinally, and the mitre wheel P¹ is thus caused to rotate as a nut on a
screw, and turns the vertical spindle R³ more or less with the cams,
cranks, or eccentrics, which move the looper a¹, so that its traverso is
made to accord with the position of the needle B¹.
Although I have herein-before described the construction and operation
of mechanism for the purpose of producing accord between the rotating
ncedle block and a looper worked in the manner described in the Speci-
fication of my Patent above referred to, it may be readily understood
that a like arrangement of mechanism is applicable when a looper is
employed worked by other means, as for example, when such looper is
in the form of a whirl mounted in the rest of the machine and driven
by bevil gearing from a spindle mounted within the said rest. In such
case the spindle which works the whirl may have a reciprocating
movement imparted to it by cams or eccentrics, the shaft carrying such
cams or eccentrics being connected by gearing such as I have described
to the rotary needle block.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim as my improvements in
machinery for sewing a sole on to a boot or shoe,―
First. Connecting the shaft or spindle, which works the looper in the
manner described in the Specification of my Patent of the 13th January
1873, No. 131, to the rotating needle block by gearing so arranged that

page_text: the traverse of the said looper in its path is always the same relatively
to the hook of the needle, substantially as herein described.
Second. The use for the purpose of causing the traverse of the looper
in its path to be the same relatively to the hook of the needle, of gearing
and apparatus, constructed and arranged substantially as hercin described
in reference to the Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet I., and 3 and 4, Sheet II., of
the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The use for the purpose above referred to of gearing and
apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as hercin described in
reference to Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet III.
Fourth. The use for the purpose above referred to of gearing and
apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as herein described in
reference to Figs. 7 and 8, Sheet IV., and Fig. 9, Sheet V.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.