IMPROVE- MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Gosling, of No. 19, Calthorpe
Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 21st January 1870, and dated the 22nd July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Gosling
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd July 1869.
I, WILLIAM HENRY GOSLING, of No. 19, Calthorpe Street, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to peculiar devices which operate in combination
with the needle of a sewing machine for forming the stitches, to a novel
feed motion for sewing machines, and also to means whereby a peculiar
varied motion is given to the reciprocating needle of a sewing machine.
In machines which work with a single thread and which form seams
consisting of repetitions of what is called the chain stitch, a looper is
employed, which is commonly either a rotating or reciprocating hook; this
looper at each descent of the needle takes the thread therefrom and holds

page_text: the same and spreads it into a loop through which the needle passes at
its succeeding descent, the loop being tightened as the needle ascends.
Upon the proper formation of this looper and its action in relation to the
needle the efficiency of the work mainly depends; and my said Invention
consists partly in peculiarities in the construction and in the method of
operating the said looper whereby I ensure security of the work and prevent
the missing of the stitches so common in other machines of this class.
My improved looper is a vibrating hook whose fulcrum has a hori-
zontal reciprocating motion, that is, the hook slides to and fro, while
its point vibrates or osscillates at the side of the needle. The said hook
is a thin flat piece of steel or other suitable metal elbowed or bent at its
fulcrum, one arm extending to and fitted upon a crank pin, and the other
arm extending up to the side of the needle. The fulcrum pin projects
from the side of the looper into a horizontal groove formed in a small
bracket attached to the frame, and the said pin is fitted to slide to and fro
in the said groove but without any slackness or lateral play therein. If
desired one side of this groove or guideway may be made adjustable to
compensate for the wearing of the pin on the sides of the groove. This
looper and the crank are so arranged in relation to the needle that im-
mediately after the needle passes through the work and is descending the
crank pin begins the downward half of its revolution, and during a
portion of the same moves the hook away from the needle, but by the
latter part of this downward movement of the crank the looper is caused
to turn on its fulcrum, while the latter is caused to return towards the
needle, the point of the looper being thereby thrown across the side of
the needle into the loop of thread which is formed as the latter rises.
The point of the looper is a triangular piece thickened at the back and
formed with a notch, in which the loop is held till the needle makes
another descent, when the looper point by the action of the crank as
above described is thrown up and back and releases the loop, which is
drawn up to tighten the stitch as the needle descends with the next loop.
The looper is preferably connected to the crank by a screw pin with
a broad thin head, which acts as a support to keep the said looper laterally
steady. The crank which operates the looper is carried on the end of a
shaft extending to the rear of the machine, where it is provided with a
pinion which gears into a toothed wheel connected to and rotating with
the driving wheel, which may be operated by hand or by any con-
venient power.
This central spur wheel is also geared into another
pinion fixed on the end of the needle bar shaft, which is supported in

page_text: bearings formed in the frame at the upper part of the machine, and
which is also provided with a crank to impart the required reciprocating
motion to the needle bar.
In forming the stitches with the needle and looper as herein-before
described it is desirable that the needle should pause or move very
slowly at the lower part of its stroke to give time for the looper to
For
return and take the loop from the needle as the same rises.
this purpose I attach to the needle bar a plate wherein is formed a groove
in which the pin of the crank is fitted. The general effect of a crank
thus working in a grooved or slotted rod or bar is well understood, but
the peculiar varied motion of the bar required for the purposes of my
Invention is obtained by making the groove or slot a portion of a circle
of the same or nearly the same radius as the path of the crank pin and
corresponding with the lower half thereof; when the crank pin is passing
through this lower portion of its travel the groove or slot permits it to
turn freely without moving the bar till it comes to the end of the said
groove or nearly so; the pin then acting on the upper surface of the
groove gives to the bar a quick up-and-down motion.
My said improvements also consist partly in the peculiar construction
of the feeding device. The feed bar extends across the under side of the
cloth plate, and is provided with teeth, which project upward through a
slot therein in the usual manner. To this bar is jointed or pivoted an
arm which extends downward into the path of a cam carried on the
lower shaft immediately behind the looper crank. This arm lies between
the periphery of the cam and the point of a screw which extends through
a bracket or boss on the frame. The point of this screw is above the
end of the arm and between the same and the joint or pivot, and the
point of the said screw thus forms a fulcrum whereon the arm is caused
to oscillate by the action of the cam, the said cam also giving the
required upward motion to the feed bar. The screw is formed with a
head which lies slightly outside the edge of the cloth plate and can be
turned without a screwdriver or other instrument, thereby forming a
convenient means for adjusting the feed to regulate the length of the
stitches. The feed bar is drawn back against the action of the cam by a
small spiral spring.
The above description relates to a machine for making what is known
as the loop stitch wherein only one thread is employed, but I also
combine my improved feed mechanism with devices whereby I can pro

page_text: duce the lock stitch, which consists of two threads, one of which is carried
by the needle and the other by a bobbin arranged below the cloth plate.
In this modification of my Invention the looper is not used, its place
upon the lower rotating shaft being occupied by a rotating hook, which
is somewhat similar to the hook used in the so-called "Wheeler and
Wilson" machine described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to Auguste Edouard Loradoux, Bellford bearing date the 6th day of
October, A.D. 1852, No. 251. In my machine however the hook rotates
in a plane parallel with the driving wheel and at right angles to the longi-
tudinal centre of the framing. My improved rotating hook, also as shown
in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing (which illustrates by corre-
sponding views the different formation of the two hooks) is more simple
of construction than the hook of the said "Wheeler and. Wilson"
machine; the latter is grooved or recessed, as shown at a, Figure 2, at the
back, which is not the case with my hook. The point or extremity of
the latter is also of a different form to that of the hook shown in
Figure 2, but the chief peculiarity of my hook consists in the means
whereby the crossing of the two threads which is necessary at a certain
part of each stitch is permitted to take place in a very advantageous
manner. This peculiarity consists in cutting away a portion of the rim
at b, into which cut away portion the one thread lies as the other
passes over it. I use a thin flat bobbin, which lies in the centre of the
hook and is kept in place by a ring secured by a set screw to a small
piece projecting from the base of the machine, the said ring being formed
with a flanged foot which fits over the projecting piece and insures the
ring being always fairly adjusted to the bobbin. In this machine the
needle bar is also provided with a slotted or grooved plate, as already
described, but in this case it is necessary that the needle should move
quickly through the work and slowly when raised above the same. The
curved slot is therefore made to coincide with the upper half of the path
of the crank pin.
In both of the herein described modifications of my Invention the
upper thread has to be passed through only one eye or guide, which may
be at the top or side of the needle bar. The tension on the reel or spool
is produced by means of a spiral spring and adjusting nuts on the spool
spindle. The framing of the machine may be of any suitable form and
construction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Gosling in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY GOSLING, of No. 19, Calthope Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Henry Gosling, Her special licence that I;
the said William Henry Gosling, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry Gosling, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and 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 I, the
said William Henry Gosling, 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 William Henry Gosling, 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 accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification
--
My Invention relates to peculiar devices which operate in com-
bination with the needle of a sewing machine for forming the stitches,
to a novel feed motion for sewing machines, and also to means whereby
a peculiar varied motion is given to the reciprocating needle of a sewing
machine.

page_text: In machines which work with a single thread, and which form seams
consisting of repetitions of what is called the chain stitch, a looper is
employed which is commonly either a rotating or reciprocating hook;
this looper at each descent of the needle takes the thread therefrom
and holds the same, and spreads it into a loop, through which the needle
passes at its succeeding descent, the loop being tightened as the needle
ascends. Upon the proper formation of this looper and its action in
relation to the needle the efficiency of the work mainly depends; and
my said Invention consists partly in peculiarities in the construction
and in the method of operating the said looper whereby I ensure security
of the work, and prevent the missing of the stitches so common in other
machines of this class.
This part of my said Invention is illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine; Figure 2 is a
front elevation of the said machine partly in section; and Figure 3 is
a plan of part of the same. A is the frame; B is the cloth plate of the
said machine.
My improved looper is a vibrating hook a, whose fulcrum a' has a hori-
zontal reciprocating motion, that is to say, the hook a slides to and fro,
while its point a vibrates or oscillates at the side of the needle b. The
said hook is a thin flat piece of steel or other suitable metal elbowed or
bent at its fulcrum a¹; one arm a³ extends to and is fitted upon a crank
pin c, and the other arm extends up to the side of the needle b. The
fulcrum pin a projects from the side of the looper a into a horizontal
groove d' formed in a small bracket d attached to the frame, and the
said pin is fitted to slide to and fro in the said groove, but without any
slackness or lateral play therein. If desired one side of this groove or
guideway may be made adjustable to compensate for the wearing of the
pin a' on the sides of the groove. This looper and the crank are so
arranged in relation to the needle that immediately after the needle
passes through the work and is descending the crank pin c begins the
downward half of its revolution, and during a portion of the same moves
the hook a away from the needle b, but by tlie latter part of the down-
ward movement of the crank the looper a is caused to turn on its
fulcrum a', while the latter is caused to return towards the needle b, the
point of the looper being thereby thrown across the side of the needle
into the loop of thread, which is formed as the latter rises. The

page_text: point a of the looper is a triangular piece thickened at the back, and
formed with a notch a*, in which the loop is held after each descent of
the needle until the said needle makes another descent, when the looper
point by the action of the crank c', as above described, is thrown up and
back, and releases the loop, which is drawn up to tighten the stitch as
the needle descends with the next loop. The looper a is preferably
with a broad thin collar e',
connected to the crank c¹ by a screw pin e
which keeps the looper laterally in place, and acts as a support to the
said looper. The crank c which operates the looper a is carried on
the end of the shaft f. This shaft extends to the rear of the machine,
where it is provided with a pinion g, which gears into a toothed wheel h
connected to and rotating with the driving wheel i, which may be
operated by hand, by a belt, or by any convenient power. This central
spur wheel is also geared into another pinion j fixed on the end of the
needle bar shaft k, which is supported in bearings formed in the frame A
at the upper part of the machine, and which is also provided with
a crank to impart the required reciprocating motion to the needle
bar m.
In forming the stitches with the needle band looper a, as herein-before
described, it is desirable that the needle should pause or move very
slowly at the lower part of its stroke to give time for the looper to
return and take the loop from the needle as the same rises. For this
purpose I attach to the needle bar m a plate m', wherein is formed a
groove m², in which the pin of the crank / is fitted.
The general
effect of a crank thus working in a grooved or slotted rod or bar is well
understood, but the peculiar varied motion of the bar m required for the
purposes of my Invention is obtained by making the groove or slot m² a
portion of a circle of the same or nearly the same radius as the path of
the crank pin, and corresponding with the lower half thereof. When
the crank pin is passing through this lower portion of its travel the
groove or slot m² permits it to run freely without moving the bar m till
it comes to the end of the said groove, or nearly so; the pin " then
acting on the upper surface of the groove m² gives to the bar m a quick
up-and-down motion.
The
My said improvements also consist partly in the peculiar construction
of the feeding device, which is best seen in Figures 2 and 3.
feed bar n extends across the under side of the cloth plate B, and is

page_text: provided with teeth n¹ which project upward. through a slot in the said
plate in the usual manner. To this bar n is jointed or pivotted an arm n²,
which extends downwards into the path of a cam o carried on the lower
shaft immediately behind the looper crank c¹. This arm n² lies
camo and the point of
boss A¹ on the frame A.
a screw 9, which
The point q¹ of
between the periphery of the
extends through a bracket or
this screw is above the end of the arm n², and between the same and the
joint or pivot n³, and the point q' of the said screw thus forms a fulcrum
whereon the arm n² is caused to oscillate by the action of the cam o,
the said cam also giving the required upward motion to the feed bar n
at each stroke. The screw q is formed with a head q³ which lies slightly
outside or beyond the edge of the cloth plate B, and can be turned by
the fingers without a screwdriver or other instrument, thereby forming
a convenient means for adjusting the feed to regulate the length of the
stitches. The feed barn is drawn back against the action of the
cam o by a small spiral spring n³.
The above description relates to a machine for making what is known
as the loop or chain stitch wherein only one thread is employed; but I
also combine my improved feed mechanism with devices whereby I can
produce the lock stitch, which consists of two threads, one of which is
carried by the needle and the other by a bobbin arranged below the
cloth plate.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in the following figures of the
aforesaid Drawings:-
Figure 4 is a front view of part of a machine constructed according
to this part of my Invention.
Figures 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6b, explain my improved formation of a rotating
hook for a lock stitch machine.
In this modification of the said Invention the looper a is not used,
its place upon the lower rotating shaft being occupied by a rotating
hook, which is somewhat similar to the hook used in the so-called
"Wheeler and Wilson" machine, described in the Specification of.
Letters Patent granted to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, bearing
date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two, No. 251. In my machine, however, the

page_text: hook rotates in a plane parallel with the driving wheel and at right
angles to the longitudinal centre of the framing, as will be seen by
referring to Figure 4. I have shewn these two hooks detached, in order
more clearly to explain the differences in the formation of the same.
My hook, Figure 5, 5, 5b, is more simple of construction than the
hook 8 of the said "Wheeler and Wilson" machine, which is shewn
in Figures 6, 6, 6. The latter is grooved or recessed, as shewn at 8', at
the back, which is not the case with my hook. The point or extremity.
of my hook is also of a different form to that of the hook shewn in
Figure 2, but the chief peculiarity of my improved hook consists in the
means whereby the crossing of the two threads which is necessary at a
certain part of each stitch is permitted to take place in a very advan-
tageous manner. This peculiarity consists in cutting away a portion of
the rim at, into which cut away portion the one thread lies as the
other passes over it. I use a thin flat bobbin t which lies in the space,
formed in the centre of the hook ", and is kept in place by a ring u
secured by a set screw u¹ to a small piece A³ projecting from the base
of the machine, as shewn in Figure 4, the said ring being formed with
a flanged foot u², which fits over the projecting piece A³, and insures the
ring being always fairly adjusted to the bobbin. In this machine the
needle bar m is also provided with a slotted or grooved plate, as already
described, but in this case it is necessary that the needle b should move
quickly through the work and slowly when raised above the same. The
curved slot is therefore made to coincide with the upper half of the
path of the crank pin.
In both of the herein described modifications of my Invention the
upper thread has to be passed through only one eye or guide, which
may be at the top or side of the needle bar. The tension on the reel or
spool is produced by means of a spiral spring to and adjusting nuts w¹
on the spool spindle w. The framing A of the machine may be of the
form shown, or of any other suitable form and construction.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and shown how the
same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I
claim,―
First. The improvements in the mechanism of a chain stitch or single
thread sewing machine, substantially as herein set forth.

page_text: Second. The improvements in the mechanism of a lock stitch or double
thread machine, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Gosling, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
WILLIAM HENRY GOSLING. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. J. GEDGE,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.