IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Louis Kieffer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, ou the
24th October 1868.
I, JOSEPH LOUIS KIEFFER, of Haguenau, in.the French Empire, and
at present temporarily of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Sewing
Machine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
There is a notch or slot in the cylinder or cam which drives the
shuttle so arranged that the shuttle starts to enter the loop as soon as the
needle has formed it, and returns before the stitch is tightened up.
The shuttle presents the thread to sew at the edges of the holes, the
slot or notch in the cylinder or cam feeding the thread. Two levers
are coupled together by a square roller to obtain uniform motion for
the presser foot frame. A moveable plate covers the shuttle in its slide
plate. A screw regulates the to-and-fro motion, its path being limited
by a cam. By this screw (when using the double lever, and the parts
connected therewith) a plain stitch and other stitches may be made,
instead of a buttonhole stitch, the tension of the thread being
regulated accordingly. A spring shaft is used to work an appliance
which keeps the button or other hole open for the needle. to pass.

page_text: When the fabric is to be shifted a turning or
compass lever is used
consisting of a lever or arm connected and working with the presser
foot; it describes an arc at its end of longer radius than the path of
the foot; it is toothed or serrated so as to move and turn the fabric.
An arrangement of two needles may be employed, the shuttle driver
being worked by an excentric path in a curved piece, the action being
communicated through connecting rods. The arrangements may be
mounted in the frame of a single needle machine, the shuttle driver
acting horizontally and button holes may be thus stitched at both edges
at once.
The Invention will be best understood by describing its application
to a button hole machine.
According to my arrangements. I give the thread sufficient tension
for causing the needle to enter first into the button hole and then into
the fabric, and I impart to-and-fro motion to the fabric, and I feed it
forward at each stroke of the needle the required interval. In the
cylinder or cam which drives the shuttle is a notch or slot so disposed
as to cause the shuttle to return before the stitch is tightened over the
edge of the material between the two cross stitches, and sufficient thread
is provided for tightening the stitches at the edges of the hole, and the
needle supplies the thread for working continuously round the hole. In
the cam or excentric of the needle carrier is a groove of rectangular
section and equidistant from the edge of the inner opening. In this
groove works a cylindrical roller connected with the needle carrier by
its axis. A cylinder or cam actuates the shuttle, and has a groove of
rectangular section equidistant from the edge of the opening of the
cylinder or cam. In this groove revolves a roller attached to the arm
or bracket and communicating its oscillating motion by a connecting
rod to the shuttle, which it moves forward and backward at given
intervals. The needle carrier is fitted by a dovetail in a vertical
guideway. The bobbin carrier is a rod sunk in the frame. On the
head of the machine an axis is screwed to an arm and furnished with
two concave washers between which the thread slides; one washer is
pressed against the other by a spring held by a nut, by which tension
and motion are given to the thread. The thread is kept between the
washers by a guide stop. To give the needle thread sufficient tension
to draw back the shuttle thread on the edge of the fabric I sometimes
employ a guide piece, through which the thread passes freely outside

page_text: the thread tension piece; the tension of the thread is thereby regulated
and breakage obviated. It is formed with smooth holes, through which
the thread passes and brings back the knot from the hole and edge and
forms the pearl heading. The bobbin thread passes from the needle
between the two washers to the thread carrier and through holes, whence
it rises into a ring on the moveable guide and through a plate on the
needle earrier, and thence into the needle, thus stretching the thread,
but yet giving to it necessary play to follow the needle in its movements.
To allow the shuttle to pass through the loop below the fabric the
moveable guide is made to follow the motions of the needle and permit
it to relax sufficiently when the shuttle passes into the loop, being
lowered proportionately to the strain of the thread; a horizontal rod on
the needle carrier raises it from below. A slide block is used to give
to-and-fro motion. The shuttle driver is united to the cam or cylinder
by a connecting rod and arm. The shuttle driver has two claws to
receive the shuttle and give it reciprocating motion sufficient to yield to
the movements of the thread. The foot has a spring which tends to
press it down, and against an arm on the spring a cam acts. This
spring is fixed to the frame and is adjusted by a screw. A cam or
double excentric is secured to the cam on the cross shaft and screws it.
against the shaft. At the side of the cam a stud tends to raise the
spring at given intervals by a piece which abuts against the double cam.
The other part causes the foot to advance when the needle leaves the
material which is drawn in the required direction. The feed and presser
foot works in a side block; a spring keeps it against the cam and causes
it to move.
The spring acts on the foot, and its curve raises the piece
till the pressure of the spring ceases to act on the foot; but when the
foot rises a rod presses it forward the required distance. This rod is on
an axis on the plate and is fixed by a nut having, a roller which presses "
on the double excentric on the motion shaft, and when thus pressed upon
the spring it is counterbalanced. In the double eam is a slioulder
which causes the roller to cease. pressing on the foot and allows it to
be acted on by the spring. On the foot is a roller on a screwed axis,
so that the foot when rising engages in the fabric and slides in the
square roller with a slight friction, the roller allowing it to describe the
required path. A claw is screwed to the frame of the foot against
which the screw of the regulator abuts. The slide block of the foot
is on a frame which works by a dovetail fitting in a slide block. Tho
frame is connected with an arm which acts by means of a roller ou.

page_text: a cam.
The foot has an enlarged portion below the slide block through
which a screw passes to regulate or lengthen the stitch. It presses
against the claw fixed to the foot frame. A plate on which the foot
presses on the material covers the shuttle and follows the motion of
the foot. To communicate such motion a knee joint or double or
jointed lever is connected by a roller, one end being attached to one
lever and the other engaging in a square hole in the other hence
working the foot frame and the shuttle plate. The arm of the levers
abuts on the foot frame and on the side plate one arm bears on the cam
and is connected with its motions by a spring which presses on one
of the levers. The roller being fixed to the arm against the cam play
is given by a screw, against which one of the levers abuts and thus
regulates the breadth of the stitch. Wheels communicate to-and-fro
motion. One wheel is on the driving shaft, and all parts put in
motion by the driving pulley do double work, the driving shaft only
turning once. To keep the button hole open I use a perforated frame
in which a shaft with two studs slides; one stud works. in a slot so that
when engaged the shaft only moves down and presents the requisito
parts to the needle; but when those parts are not required the shaft
is raised and the stud ceases to be engaged. The other stud is on the
shaft, and a spring allows the parts to act when presented to the
needle and presses the shaft down. An elliptical boss on the shaft
has an aperture which receives certain appliances. A screw acts on a
slot opener fixed in the boss and adjusted by the shaft so as to be
presented in front of the needle when in the button hole. The piece
or frame in front of the foot frame follows all its motions, and. when the
slot opener is. in the hole it opens it and renders the work accurate.
One stitch enters the fabric and the other the hole, a space is formed
for the needle to pass. A lever describing an arc is used for holes and
eyelets, &c.; it carries a stud of the size of the hole or cyclet, it carries
also a spring stud. This spring works in the second stud on the rod
which passes through the elliptical boss. It is flat at one end, and has
a slot for the passage of the stud or axis of the lever and allows it to
move the required interval between two stitches. A spring acts on the
plate which passes through the elliptical boss forcing the stud to rise
when released. In the lever is an aperture; at its end are teeth, and
in the centre a stud. The studs and lever being placed in position
(that is, the stud being in the hole and the lever beyond the foot in
a groove therein a stud on the lever entering therein) when the foot

page_text: rises and the lever follows it (by the tension of the spring) and the
slot in the plate which traverses the boss, the fabric is acted on by the
lever which forces it to move the stud, the lever not being held by the
stud is engaged by the foot (but it extends to give a double motion to
the foot when used for button holes). For over-casting a stitch is
made by the to-and-fro motion, the tension being regulated to form the
stitches in the fabric. For plain sewing the knee piece and screw are
used, closing the latter in such manner as to prevent the roller on the
arm from acting. In the knitting stitch the screw is regulated to form
a zig-zag, the tension of the thread being regulated to make the stitch
at each side where the needle enters. For double button hole stitch
wherein the ends are to be fastened the two sides of the button hole are
stitched at once. The needle carrier holds two needles and the slide.
two shuttles. The slide block is placed under the plate of the frame.
The arm of the shuttle driver is so placed as to allow it to move to and
fro horizontally. To drive this shuttle carrier I employ a rod actuated
by a lever working partially in a guideway and fixed to a rod which is
connected with a lever and carries a roller taking into a groove in a
lever on the feed plate, so that the lever which actuates the rod causes
the latter lever to work and transmit motion to an excentric path in a
curved piece engaged by a roller on the shuttle driver, and as the slide
advances it moves the shuttle carrier roller when the lever permits.