IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
SEWING
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES."A communication from abroad by The Singer Sewing
Machine Company (Incorporated), of the City and State of New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 13th August 1872, and dated the 15th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th February 1872.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates first to certain means for guiding the vertical
needle of the sewing machine in its descent to pierce the work, the

page_text: object being to maintain the needle in a vertical position and so to
support it near its point while piercing the work as to prevent its
fracture; secondly, to means for controlling the presser foot and leaving
the work free to be turned except at the moment the feed motion takes
place.
To attain the first object the needle guide is made to follow the needle
in its descent, and to work down to the presser foot or to the fabric to be
sewn. The needle guide arrangement may constitute a permanent
portion of the sewing machine, or it may form an appendage or acces-
sory thereto to be removed when not required.
The needle guide when forming a permanent portion of the machine
is fitted to a vertical rod or bar, which may be mounted in the guide box
or head of the frame and made to slide freely therein. A downward
motion may be given to this guide by means of a spring, and a shoulder
on the needle bar may by acting against the under side of a projection
on the guide bar lift it as the needle rises, or the guide may be worked
by an independent cam motion.
The needle guide, which is pierced with a hole just sufficiently large
to allow of the needle sliding freely therein, should be made capable of
adjustment horizontally on its bar. When the needle guide is made as
an appendage or accessory to the machine it is fitted to a slide which
works in a bracket that carries or forms a portion of the presser foot,
and this bracket is attached to the presser bar. The needle guide is
adjustable on its slide and it is operated by the needle bar or other motor.
The slide which carries the needle guide may be fitted to a bracket
fixed to the frame of the machine instead of the presser bar.
To provide for the turning of the work freely at all times other than
that at which the "feed" is in action, the presser foot instead of being
allowed to press upon the work continuously is held in such a position
as just to touch the work. It will therefore only press with force on the
rise of the feed dog or during the "feed." This may be done in various
ways depending on the construction of the machine; thus for example,
in machines having a crank pin on a rotary disc for operating the needle
the disc may be notched on its edge to form a cam, and on the periphery

page_text: of this cam may rest a crank lever, the tail end of which supports the
presser foot in the required position. On the notch of the disc coming
opposite the end of the lever the presser foot will be released, and will
be free to press with its full force upon the work.
The same effect may be produced by fitting to the detachable bracket
that carries the slide before mentioned an adjustable screw stop to act
upon the lifter used to raise the presser foot and prevent it pressing with
force upon the work. Or the adjustable screw may be fitted with a
collar and supported on the head of the frame, and made to lift and
adjust the presser foot to the work in the same manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRed.
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," being a communication to
me from abroad by The Singer Sewing Machine Company (Incorporated),
of the City and State of New York, United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my

page_text: improvements applied as will serve to illustrate both heads of the In-
vention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 1; Figs. 3 shew the needle guide arrangement detached. This
needle guide arrangement consists of a tubular bracket piece A made
fast to the presser bar B and forming a guide for a rod A', which is
hollowed at its lower end to receive a pivot pin which carries the needle
guide a. The rod A' is fitted at its upper end with a finger a¹ which
works in a vertical slot in the piece A, and thus the rod is prevented
from turning. The needle guide a is capable of receiving a radial
adjustment to bring it immediately under the vertical needle c of the
needle bar C, and it is fixed in position by means of a binding screw b.
The tubular bracket A is provided with a spring box, the upper end of
which is closed, while the lower end is open to receive a coiled spring d.
The use of this spring is to retain the needle guide a in its depressed or
normal position, as shewn by dots at Fig. 2., and this object it effects by
pressing on a screw e that passes through a vertical slot of the spring
box and is screwed into the rod A¹. The needle guide a being held in
the dotted position Fig. 2, and having a hole only just sufficiently large
for the needle to pass through, will serve as a support to the needle, and
prevent it from bending and breaking when the work presents great
resistance to its piercing action. It is found however desirable that the
needle guide should always remain above the eye of the needle. To
allow of this it is necessary that the guide should rise as the needle
leaves the work. To ensure this rise of the needle guide the binding
screw F which secures the needle c to the needle bar C is caused on the
rising of the needle to strike the under side of the finger a¹ of the rod A³,
and lift that rod together with the guide a which it carries. On the
descent of the needle to commence a new stitch the guide will follow
down with it, it being forced down by the pressure of the confined coiled
spring d. When this needle guide arrangement is not required to be
used it may be readily detached from the presser bar which carries it.
When applying this part of the Invention to sewing machines which
have a vibrating presser foot that moves in the line of the stitches, the
presser bar will not avail to carry the needle guide apparatus. Under
these circumstances the tubular bracket piece A is applied to the face
plate D of the machine. This modification is shewn at Fig. 4, Sheet II.
In other respects the needle guide apparatus and mode of working the

page_text: same will be similar to that described with reference to Sheet I. of the
Drawings.
Fig. 5 shews a further modification of the first head of the Invention.
In this example the tubular bracket piece A is situated in rear instead
of in front of the vertical needle c, as in the preceding examples, the
bracket piece being made fast to the main framing of the machine.
Instead of using the vertical motion of the needle bar to lift the needle
guide a cam E is provided on the cam shaft to perform this office.
Pendent from this cam E is a hooked bar E¹, on the hooked pendent end
of which rests the finger of the needle guide rod A¹. The action of this
cam is so timed with respect to the motions of the needle bar that it will
cause the hooked bar E¹ to lift the needle guide a as the needle rises
from the work, and thereby keep the needle guide above the eye of the
needle. As the smaller radius of the cam E comes round the coiled
spring d will be free to act and force down the needle guide to its
normal position as the needle descends.
I will now describe the second head of the Invention, which relates to
the controlling of the presser foot. I have said that the presser foot
may be caused just to touch the work by means that will vary according
to the construction of the machine to which this improvement is to be
applied.
Figures 6 and 7 shew two plans of carrying out this part of the
Invention. In Fig. 6 the tubular bracket piece A is made fast to the
presser foot bar B, and it is extended laterally in the form of a lug
which is tapped to receive an adjusting screw G; this screw terminates
in a button g which rests on a bracket h made fast to the head of the
machine. This button underlies the ordinary lever B¹, which is used to
lift the presser out of action. The position of the presser foot with
respect to the work is determined by the distance between the button g
and the lug of the bracket piece A.; in other words the button serves to
support the presser foot in its adjusted position. A clamping nut g¹ is
provided for fixing the adjusting screw when it is set.
It will now be understood that the presser bar will be free to rise and
fall as heretofore to press and release the work, but that instead of
pressing with all the force due to its pressing spring, its downward

page_text: position will be controlled by the adjusting screw G, which serves to
retain it at a suitable distance above the table of the machine.
Fig. 7 shews the controlling apparatus applied to the head of the
machine instead of to the presser bar, the bracket piece forming in
this instance a portion of the tubular bracket piece A. The end of the
adjusting screw G bears against the under side of the lifting lever B',
and thus prevents the presser foot from touching the table. The
controlling action in these two arrangements is precisely the same.
Figures 1 and 2, Sheet I., illustrate the application of the second head
of the Invention to a machine having a crank pin on a rotary disc for
operating the needle. In these Figures H is the cam shaft, on the end
of which is fixed the disc H', which is now converted into a cam by the
cutting away or sinking of about one-fourth of its periphery. On the
periphery of this cam rests an adjusting screw i carried by a crank
lever I, the tail end of which serves as a support for a pin K that
projects from the side of the presser bar B, and thus by the adjustment
of the screw i the presser foot is held in the required position to allow of
the turning of the work. On the smaller radius of the disc coming
opposite the adjusting screw the presser foot will be released, and will be
free to press with its full force upon the work.
Fig. 2 shews a variation of the controlling action. In this
arrangement the presser foot presses as usual, that is, with all its force
on the work, and the controlling action is for the purpose of lifting the
presser foot at the proper moment to allow of the turning of the work.
A cam H on the cam shaft H causes by its rotation a crank lever I to
rock, and by that means to lift the presser foot at the proper moment.
The crank lever carries at its upper end a regulating screw i, which
receives the pressure of the cam H', and on the tail end of the crank
lever I bears the pin K, projecting laterally from the presser bar B. It
will now be understood that if the cam H' is properly timed with respect
to the other motions of the machine the presser foot will be raised so as
to enable the attendant to turn the work after the completion of every
stitch.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of the " Improve-
ments in Sewing Machines," as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondents, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,

page_text: I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,―
First. The means above described for guiding the needle as it pierces
the work.
Second. The means above described for automatically lifting and for
controlling the pressure of the presser foot upon the work.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.