IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hedley, of South Shields, in the County of
Durham, Draper, and George Ainsley, of the same Place, Photographer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.".
Sealed the 29th May 1866, and dated the 1st December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Hedley and George
Ainsley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 1st December 1865.
We, HENRY HEDLEY, of South Shields, in the County of Durham, Draper,
and GEORGE AINSLEY, of the same Place, Photographer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to machines for sewing with a needle and shuttle,
and consists in an arrangement and combination of mechanism for this pur-
pose, parts of which bave peculiar features of novelty, which may be used
separately and apart from the general combination of the mechanism. The
machine is formed by a table overhanging the feet upon which it is supported,
and from the table rises a stand carrying an overhanging jib, in the hollow
and lengthway of which the shaft has bearings which actuates the moving
-parts of the machine. Upon one end of the shaft the driving wheel or pulley

page_text: is fixed, and upon the other end of the shaft a disc is secured which carries a
crank pin that works in a cam slot in a lever having its fulcrum upon a stud
fixed in a part cast upon the end of the jib, this lever being at a right angle to
the driving shaft. The free end of the cam slotted lever has a stud fixed in it
which is jointed to a vertical slide forming the needle slide, the plane of this
slide being parallel to the driving shaft. The feed for advancing the cloth after
each stitch is a top feed, that is, a serrated plate at the lower end of the vertical
lever having its fulcrum upon a pin between its two ends, the fulcrum pin
being screwed into the projection from the jib. The upper end of this vertical
lever is acted upon laterally, so as to give the motion to feed the cloth being
sewn by a cam or "wiper" on the driving shaft, and the back lateral movement
of the vertical lever is produced by a spring; its vertical lifting movement is
produced by a weak spring, and its downward movement to press upon the cloth
when feeding by a powerful spring which acts upon a lever having its fulcrum
at one end, so as to press the free end of this lever upon the upper end of the
vertical feed lever, the presser lever being lifted by a "wiper" or cam on the
driving shaft, when the vertical feed lever is to be lifted by the weak spring.
The length of the stitch is varied by a small lever connected with a small
excentric, which forms a variable stop to the lateral' back movements of the
vertical feeding lever. The needle thread is tightened and slackened at each
stitch (and this is a peculiar feature) by a cam or wiper on the driving
shaft, which acts upon a lever having its fulcrum on the jib, the thread passing
through or partly round two pins fixed in the jib and through or partly round
a pin in the end of the lever working between the two fixed pins. The needle
thread is drawn from a spool and this spool is mounted upon a spindle which is
placed horizontally, so that it can rotate freely in bearings attached to the
framing; this spindle has a small pulley secured upon one end of it, upon
which a segment rests, that is attached to a lever having its fulcrum at one
end upon the framing. Upon this lever a weight is placed, so as to be readily
slided to and fro upon the lever to vary the pressure upon the brake pulley,
and thus vary the tension upon the needle thread to suit that upon the shuttle
thread, and this brake arrangement for the needle thread is another peculiar
feature of our Invention. Upon the driving shaft a drum cam is fixed
which acts upon an arm fixed upon the upper end of a vertical shaft carried
in centres, the lower end having another arm to which one end of a rod is
connected, the other end of the rod being jointed with a lever forked at one
end, and having its fulcrúm at the other end. This forked lever actuates the
shuttle, being placed in a recess under the surface of the table. The arrange-

page_text: ment of the shuttle forms another peculiar feature of our Invention. The
shuttle reciprocates in the segment of a circle, and a tangent drawn from the
central part of the shuttle will be nearly vertical to the line in which the cloth
is fed, when the point of the shuttle is about to pass through the loop formed by
the needle thread; but when the shuttle has passed through the loop a tangent
from its central part will be about parallel to the line in which the fabric is fed.
By this arrangement the angle of the tip of the shuttle which acts upon the
loop of the needle thread is much less obtuse than in the ordinary arrange-
ment of shuttle, consequently the loop passes over the shuttle more easily and
with much less drag or strain upon the needle thread than with the ordinary
sewing machine shuttle. The shuttle comes within the fork herein-before
mentioned, as formed at the end of the actuating lever, and is kept close
against the curve of the shuttle race by a spring attached to the fork of the
actuating lever. The shuttle is curved to fit the shuttle race at one side, and
upon the opposite or back side it is straight, except at the tip, which is slightly
bevelled; but its other peculiar features are applicable to ordinary sewing
machine shuttles. That side of the shuttle left open in the common shuttle
has a lid hinged to it, and in this lid bearings are formed for the thread reel,
so that when the reel is placed in its bearings it is kept from moving end-
ways when the lid is sbut. The tension is regulated in a peculiar manner;
the thread passes from the reel, then round a bar secured to one edge of the
lid of the shuttle, then to a shorter bar secured to the other edge of the lid,
and the tension upon the thread is obtained by passing it round the second bar
as many times as are necessary to produce the required tension, after which it
passes through a hole in the side of the shuttle. The piercing needle is made
in a peculiar manner; the eye of the needle is made to pass obliquely through
the needle, and the needle is without groove from the eye to the point of the
needle, but has a groove above the eye on that side at which the thread enters,
and a slight groove upon the opposite side.
0 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Hedley and George Ainsley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
HEDLEY, of South Shields; in the County of Durham, Draper, and GEORGE
5 AINSLEY, of the same Place, Photographer, send greeting...

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry Hedley and George Ainsley, Her special license that we, the said
Henry Hedley and George Ainsley, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Henry Hedley and George Ainsley, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Hedley and
George Ainsley, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, (or
under the hand and seal of one of us,) should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Henry Hedley and George Ainsley, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
:-
Our Invention relates to machines for sewing with a needle and shuttle,
and consists in an arrangement and combination of mechanism for this purpose;
parts of which have peculiar features of novelty which may be used separately
and apart from the general combination of mechanism. The improvements
are illustrated by the Figures of the accompanying Sheet of Drawing. Fig. 1
is an elevation of one side of the machine parts in section; Fig. 2, an elevation
of the other side, parts also in section; Fig. 3, an elevation of the front end
of the machine; Fig. 4, a plan or top view, partly in section; Fig. 5, a plan
view of the table, partly in section, to show the shuttle and shuttle race;
Fig. 6, a sectional elevation, showing the mechanism for feeding the fabric to
be stitched; and Fig. 7 is a detached section, showing the manner in which
tension is put upon the spool from which the needle thread is drawn. All the
Figures above mentioned are drawn to a scale of half the natural size. Fig. 8
is a top outside view of the shuttle, showing the shuttle lid when open in
dotted line. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section; Fig. 10, an edge view; Fig. 11

page_text: is a cross section of the shuttle; and Fig. 12.is a detached view of the inside
of the lid of the shuttle. All these views of the shuttle are full size. Fig. 18
is an enlarged section of our improved needle. The machine is formed by a.
table (a) overhanging the feet (a!), upon which it is supported, and from the
table rises a stand (a³), which may be cast to the table or secured by a
bolt (a), as shown in Fig. 7. This stand carries an overhanging jib (a'), in
the hollow and lengthway of which the shaft (6) has bearings which actuates
the moving parts of the machine. Upon one end of the shaft (6) a driving
wheel or pulley (6¹) is fixed, and upon the other end of the shaft a disc (c)
is secured which carries a crank pin (c'), that works in a cam slot in a
lever (), having its fulcrum, upon a stud (c) fixed in a part cast upon the
end of the jib (a), this lever being at a right angle to the driving shaft (b).
The free end of the cam slotted lever (c) has a slot in which a die (c') works
that is free on a stud or projection (c) secured to a vertical slide. (c) forming
the needle slide, the plane of this slide being parallel to the driving shaft (b),
(as shown). The feed motion for advancing the cloth or fabric after each
stitch is a top feed, that is a serrated plate (d) jointed at the lower end of a
vertical bent lever (d), having its fulcrum upon a pin (d) between its two
ends, the fulcrum pin being screwed into the projection from the jib as shown.
The upper end of this feeding lever. (d') is acted upon laterally, so as to give
the motion to feed the cloth, being sewn by a cam or wiper (d³) secured upon
the driving shaft (b), and the back lateral movement of the said lever is pro-
duced by the reaction of a spring (d') (secured as shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 2).
The vertical lifting movement is produced by a weak spring (³) fixed as
shewn in Figs. 6 and 2, which spring acts against a pin fixed in the feeding
lever (d'), as shown. The downward movement to press the serrated plate (d)
upon the cloth when feeding is produced by a powerful india-rubber or other
spring (d), which acts upon a lever (d'), (having its fulcrum (d) at one end)
so as to press the free end of this lever (d) upon the upper end of the feeding
lever (d'), the india-rubber spring (d) passing round a projection (d) in the
lever (d), and a small bowl on a pin (d), as shown in Fig. 6. The presser
lever (d) is lifted by a cam or wiper (d) on the driving shaft (6), when the
feeding lever is to be lifted by the weak spring (ds), that is just before the
serrated plate (d) has to be moved back to take fresh hold for the next stitch.
The length of the stitch is varied by a small lever or arm (d"), con-
nected with a small excentric crank or cam (d"), which forms a variable
stop or limit to the extent of the back movements of the feeding lever,
by which means the length of the feed movement can be increased or

page_text: diminished, as is well understood. The excentric (d) is secured so as not to
turn when the required length of stitch is obtained by a screw (dis) passing.
through a concentric slot in the arm (d"), as shown. The needle thread
is tightened and slackened at each stitch by a cam or wiper (e) on the driving
shaft (6), which cam or wiper acts upon the bent end of a lever (e¹), having
its fulcrum formed by a short shaft (e), on the jib (a), and the end of this
lever (e) is kept against the cam or wiper by a spring (e), arranged as shown
in Figs. 2 and 4, the spring at one end being fixed in a stud (e), the free
end passing through a part secured to the lever. The thread passes from the
spool (a) to the needle (c), as shown by the peculiar dotted line, that is,
through an eye x1, x2, 3, and through oue (es), carried by the end of the
lever (e); then through another eye (a), and then through one (c'), at the
top, and another (c) at the bottom of the needle slide (c), and then through
the eye of the needle (c). The eye (e) carried on the end of the lever (e³)
is between the two eyes (3) and (a), consequently the movements of the
lever up and down will tighten and slacken the thread. The spool (*) for
the needle thread is mounted on a bolt (f), forming its axis, the spool being
secured to the bolt so as to turn with it by a screw (f¹), as shown. This
bolt or axis has concave and convex cone centres, so that it can be mounted
in corresponding centres, as shown in Figs. 4 and 7. One "centre" end of
the spool axis (f) is carried by an adjustable screw centre (f³) provided
with a "lock nut" (f) the other centre is carried by a piston part (f*)
which can slide endways in a tube (f³), arranged as shown in Fig. 7. The
piston (f) is pressed towards the spool by a spring (f). It is by means of
the pressure
of this spring (f), put on by the adjusting screw (f), that the
required resistance to the rotation is given to the axis, and consequently to
the spool, and as a comparatively great pressure is required to produce a
small resistance to rotation a great nicety of adjustment in the tension of the
thread can be obtained which will remain constant when once adjusted.
Another modification for putting the tension upon the needle thread consists
in mounting the spool (a) in centres as shown, but without the piston (f)
and spring (f) arrangement, and in securing a small pulley on the axis
(f), and causing a brake surface to be pressed upon the periphery of the
pulley by a lever having its fulcrum on a stud fixed in the stand, the lever
having an adjustable weight which can be slided upon it to and from its
fulcrum, to diminish or increase the pressure of the brake surface upon
the pulley.
In this modification the spool may be placed with its axis parallel to the

page_text: At the
shaft (6), the weighting lever being at a right angle thereto.
Upon the
driving shaft (6) a double action drum cam (9) is fixed, which acts upon a
bowl carried by an arm (9¹) fixed. at the upper end of a vertical shaft (9),.
carried in adjustable screw centres (9), as shown best in Fig. 2.
lower end of the vertical shaft (92) another arm (9) is fixed, which is jointed
to one end of a rod (9), the other end of the rod being jointed to a lever (98),
having its fulcrum on a screw stud (9'), as shown in Figs. 2 and 5. The free
end of the lever (9) is in the form of a segment and carries projections
between which the shuttle is placed, having play as in ordinary shuttle sewing
machines. The shuttle (h) is kept pressed against the side of the shuttle
race (g) by a spring (98), as shown.
:
The arrangement of the shuttle forms a peculiar feature of our Invention.
It reciprocates, in the segment of a circle, and a tangent drawn from the
central part of the shutle when its point is about to enter the loop formed by
the needle thread will be nearly vertical to the line in which the fabric is fed,
but when the shuttle has passed through the loop of the needle thread a tan-.
gent from its point will be about parallel to the line in which the fabric is fed.
In Fig. 5 the shuttle (h) is shown in full line in the position in which its
point is about to enter the loop of the needle thread, and it is shown in dotted
line in its position when it has passed through the loop of the needle thread...
The part in which the shuttle race is formed is marked (97); it is covered by a
part (9) secured by screws. Access to the shuttle is obtained by removing.
the sliding cover (910).
By the arrangement of the shuttle in its race according to our Invention
the angle of the tip or point of the shuttle which acts upon the loop of the
needle thread is much less obtuse than in machines of ordinary arrangement,
consequently the loop passes over the shuttle more easily, and with much less
drag or strain upon the needle thread than with the ordinary sewing machine
shuttle. The shuttle is curved to fit the shuttle race at one side and is straight
upon the opposite or back side except at the tip, which is slightly bevelled;
but it has other peculiar features applicable to the common sewing machine
shuttle, which will be understood by reference to Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
That side of the shuttle which is left open in the common shuttle has a
lid (h) hinged to it as shown, and in this lid bearings are formed for the
thread reel so that when the reel (2) is placed in its bearings it is kept from
moving endways when the lid is shut. The tension is regulated in a peculiar
manner. The thread passes from the reel (h³), then round a small bar (h³),
equal to in length to the reel secured to the lower edge of the lid of the shuttle,

page_text: then through a small hole (*) at the upper edge of the lid, then round an
adjoining bar (h) as many times as are necessary to give the tension required,
and then through the hole (h) in the side of the shuttle. The reel can be
put in its place after the shuttle has been threaded as described, and then the
lid is shut.
The needle is made in a peculiar manner, as shown by Fig. 13. It is grooved
on each side as in the ordinary sewing machine needle above the eye, but has
not any grooves below the eye, or between the eye and point on either side,
and the eye itself is made to pass diagonally through the needle on one side
at the top and the other side at the bottom is bevelled off as shown, so that
the thread can pass through with the least possible amount of friction from
the eye of the needle. The cams or wipers and the cam lever for the needle
are all formed to actuate the shuttle needle and feed motion at about the
same time and same order as these parts are actuated in the ordinary sewing
machines, for sewing with a needle and shuttle which are well known. The
cam or wiper for tightening and slackening the thread is formed to actuate
the lever to tighten the thread, so as to begin to tighten the thread when the
needle begins its descent, to finish this by the time the needle has half
descended, then to slacken the thread during the remainder of the descent of
the needle, having fully done this by the time or a little after the needle has
made its short ascent to form the loop for the shuttle to pass through. The
reels for the shuttle are filled with thread when placed in the winding head
formed by the spindle (k), and the spring sliding centre (¹) as shown, the
parts forming a miniature lathe (as will be readily understood) in which the
reel is placed to be rotated.
We have now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
mode of carrying the same into effect, and claim as our Invention,-
Firstly, the general combination and arrangement of mechanisin for sewing
with a needle and shuttle, substantially as herein-before described and shown
in the Drawings.
Secondly, the mechanism as described and shewn for tightening and slacken-
ing the thread after each stitch.
Thirdly, the mode of mounting the needle thread spool on centres, and
putting retarding friction upon it to regulate the tension, substantially as
herein-before described and shown in the Drawings.
Fourthly, the arrangement of a sewing machine shuttle to work in the arc
of a circle, when such shuttle makes a double reciprocation for each stitch,
substantially as hereiu-before described, and shown in the Drawings.
.

page_text: Fifthly, the mode of constructing sewing machine shuttles with a lid,
ubstantially as herein-before described and shown in the Drawings.
Sixthly, the mode of regulating the tension of the shuttle thread in sewing
achines by a combination of a long bar (7³), hole (*), and short bar (h³),
s herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
Seventhly, the use of needles for sewing machines formed as herein-before
escribed, and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Hedley and George Ainsley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
HENRY HEDLEY.
(L.S.)
GEORGE AINSLEY. (L.B.)