IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING AND EMBROIDERING MACHINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Holloway, of the firm of Holloway, Brothers,
of Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, Clothes Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING AND EMBROIDERING MACHINES."
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING AND EMBROIDERING MACHINES."
Sealed the 14th November 1854, and dated the 17th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Holloway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
June 1854.
I, GEORGE HOLLOWAY, of the firm of Holloway, Brothers, of Stroud, in the
County of Gloucester, Clothes Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING AND EMBROIDERING
MACHINES" to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is, firstly, to hold the thread of sewing and
embroidering machines in tension, so that whatever the quantity of thread
contained on the bobbin or bobbins, the same amount of tension will be pre-
served, and that without putting any injurious drag upon the thread. To
effect this end I connect one end of a helical wire spring to the framing of the
machine, and the other end of the spring I draw out, and bend it up into a
serpentine form (m), and between the folds of the wire I pass the thread
as it comes from the bobbin. An elastic tension will thus be given to the
thread, and a tighter stitch than heretofore may be ensured without risk of

page_text: breakage. If, however, from any cause too great a drag should be put on
the thread, the spring will yield slightly, and prevent it from breaking.
The Invention relates, secondly, to certain details which will permit of the
ready adjustment of the circular needle of sewing machines, and will otherwise
ensure the better working of such machines. To prevent the rotating cam,
by which the bell crank levers that work the vertical and circular needles are
rocked, acting when worn as tappets on the bowles of these levers, and giving
them an undue amount of motion, I cause the bowles of the levers to work
on a face cam instead of in a grooved cam, and, by means of a spring applied
to the levers, I keep their bowles constantly in contact with the cam surface.
For facilitating the adjustinent of the circular needle, and preventing it from
working round into contact with the vertical needle, and being thereby injured,
I provide a means of traversing on its shaft the cam which operates the rack
lever, whereby the circular needle is driven, and I thus obtain a very delicate
adjustment of the needle. This traverse of the cam may be effected by a
screw working through a fixed plate or arm, carried by the cam shaft, and
bearing against the cam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Holloway in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HOLLOWAY, of the firm of "Holloway, Brothers," of Stroud, in the County of
Gloucester, Clothes Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Holloway, Her special license that I, the said George Holloway,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others. as I, the said
George Holloway, 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 AND EMBROIDERING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Holloway, by an instrument in writing under my

page_text: hand and seal, 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 George Holloway, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates, firstly, to certain means of holding the thread of
sewing and embroidering machines in tension, so that whatever the quantity
of thread contained on the bobbin or bobbins, the same amount of tension will
be preserved, and that without putting any injurious drag upon the thread.
I effect this object by passing the thread as it comes from the bobbin around
or over a wire, twisted or coiled up to form a spring, which is secured at one end
to the framing of the machine, and will yield to the drag of the thread, and
prevent it from breaking, when from any cause too great a drag is put upon
the thread, and yet ensure a good tight stitch.
The Invention relates, secondly, to certain details which will permit of the
ready adjustment in that class of sewing machines known best as the Lan-
caster sewing machines of the circular needle, and will otherwise ensure the
better working of such machines. To prevent the rotating cam, by which the
bell crank levers that work the vertical and circular needles are rocked, acting
when worn like tappets on the bowles of these levers, and thereby giving an
undue amount of motion to the needles, I keep the bowles constantly in con-
tact with their respective cam surfaces, by means of a spring applied to the
levers, and make them always follow the inequalities of those surfaces.
For facilitating the adjustment of the circular needle, and preventing it from
working round into contact with the vertical needle, and being consequently
injured, I provide a means of giving a delicate endway adjustment to the cam,
which imparts, through the segment rack lever, an axial motion to the circular
needle.
In the accompanying Drawing the manner in which I prefer to carry out
these improvements is clearly shown. Fig. 1 is a partial sectional elevation
of a Lancashire sewing machine with my improvements applied thereto; and
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same, taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. a, a,
shews the spring for putting an elastic tension on the sewing thread as it
passes from its bobbin to the vertical needle. This spring is carried by a
standard b, and it is composed of wire, bent round into a helix for a sufficient

page_text: length, to give it the required amount of elasticity, and then continued in a
serpentine form. The thread is passed between the serpentine folds of the
wire, and thence to the needle; a drag is thus put upon the thread, pro-
portionate to the number of folds or convolutions of the wire, which may
be increased or decreased as required. Or, instead of bending the end of
the wire into a serpentine form, I continue it as a straight prolongation of
the coil, as shewn in the detached views, Figs. 3 and 4, and also at c, in the
plan view, Fig. 2, and twist the thread two, three, or more times around
the straight prolongation. In either arrangement the strain put upon the
thread will be determined by the friction of contact between the wire and the
thread, modified, however, by the elasticity of the coiled spring, which. is
intended to elongate, and thereby slacken the thread when an undue
strain is put upon it by the needle. This modo of holding the thread at
tension is applicable in all cases where the thread is drawn from a stationary
bobbin.
To prevent the smooth action of the vertical needle from being affected by
the wearing away of the bowle of its bell crank lever or of its cam, I employ
a face cam to act upon the bowle, and I keep it in contact with the cam by
means of a spring d, (Fig. 1,) the opposite ends of which are connected respec-
tively to the framing of the machine, and to the lever f. Or, in machines
already constructed, I use the grooved cam, as shewn, and cause the bowle to
bear upon one side only of the groove. I also provide a similar contrivance
for keeping the bowle of the segment rack lever (which works the circular
needle) in contact with the face of its cam. This is shewn in the plan view
Fig. 2; g, being the segment rack lever; i, the cam; and h, the spring for
pressing the bowle against the cam face. To permit of an endway adjustment
of this cam, and thereby to set the circular needle so that it shall when
working escape from contact with the vertical needle, I slot the cam i to
receive a feather, with which its shaft is provided, and I bolt to the shaft a
flanged collar k, which I also connect to the cam i by means of an adjusting
screw. This screw is dropped into a notch made in the flange of the collar
k, and it is secured to the flange by means of a nut, as shewn. A hole is
tapped in one end of the cam i to receive the screw 1, and by turning the
screw, therefore, to the right or left, the cam will be caused to approach or
recede from the fixed collar on the cam shaft. It will be obvious that this
endway adjustment may be effected by a variety of analogous means; I do
not, therefore, confine myself to the precise arrangement shewn, but prefer it
as being both simple and efficient.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in

page_text: Sewing and Embroidering Machines," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the application to sewing and embroidering machines of the means
herein described, or any mere modification thereof, for holding the threads
at tension, and slackening the threads when any undue strain is put on
them.
Secondly, the employment of springs for keeping the bowles of the rocking
levers which work the needles in continuous contact with the working face of
their respective cams.
Thirdly, the means above described, or any mere modification thereof, for
effecting the lateral adjustment of the cam by which the rocking lever of the
circular needle is worked.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Holloway, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GEORGE HOLLOWAY. (LS.)