IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Kappmeyer, of Hamburg, Germany,
Engineer, for the Invention
MACHINES
93
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING
Sealed the 6th February 1874, and dated the 25th August 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Kappmeyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th August 1873.
I, EDWARD KAPPMEYER, of Hamburg, Germany, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
-
This Invention relates to means of effecting lock stitch in sewing
machines by the use of a rotating shuttle in combination with a loop
protector caused to revolve on the one side of the fabric to be sewn, in a
manner somewhat similar to that in which the revolving hook in the
machines commonly known as Wheeler and Wilson's sewing machines
is made to operate.

page_text: .
In the Wheeler and Wilson machine a spool containing the under
thread is placed loosely in the framing immediately under the needle,
and a crank hook fixed on a horizontal shaft is made to rotate round the
spool in such a manner as to draw round it a loop of the upper thread
from the eye of the needle.
In my novel arrangement the horizontal shaft carries a bent plate,
which I call a loop protector, and which is secured to a disc on the
shaft at two points, leaving a space between it and the disc, into which
space the shuttle is inserted. The loop protector and shuttle are enclosed
within a cylindrical casing, one part of the periphery of which is made
to open for the insertion or removal of the shuttle. The shuttle consists
of two side plates with a space between them for receiving a spool.
These side plates are at one end separated by a stud, and at the other
end, where they are made of a hooked form, they are bent so that their
ends are brought together and rivetted or soldered, so as to form one nose
to the hook.
.
The disc-shaped spool containing the under thread is inserted between
the two side plates of the shuttle, and the thread is passed through an
eye and guide hole in the side of the shuttle.
The shuttle containing the spool is inserted between the disc on the
horizontal shaft and the loop protector. The rotation of the shaft is so
timed to the movement of the needle that when the latter begins to
ascend, forming a bulge of the upper thread, the hook of the shuttle
enters this bulge, and swelling it as it advances carries the spool through
the loop of the upper thread. When the under thread has thus been
passed through the loop of the upper thread the needle again descending
partly draws up the slack of the loop, which the loop protector pushes
aside, so as to keep it clear of the advancing hook of the shuttle. The
shuttle enters the fresh bulge of the upper thread, and, in swelling it,
fully draws up the slack of the former loop, thereby causing the upper
and lower threads to be locked together in the body of the fabric.
The plate constituting the loop protector and the plates of the shuttle
are bent and curved in such a manner as to effect the operation described
above without permitting entanglement of the one thread or loop with
the other, swelling the loop,. holding it for a time to ensure the proper
. tightness of stitch, and then delivering it, keeping it clear of the
advancing shuttle, and finally drawing it up to close the stitch.

page_text: The mechanism described above may be applied to machines of the
Wheeler and Wilson kind by simply substituting it for the crank hook,
spool, and holder existing in such machines. Or other sewing machines
may be altered, so as to operate in the manner described above, by pro-
viding a horizontal under shaft fitted with the mechanism. Or new.
machines may be constructed with the novel mechanism for effecting
the lock stitch, the other parts, such as the movement of the needle, the
feed and fittings generally, being of any known construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Kappmeyer in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
KAPPMEYER, of Hamburg, Germany, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Kappmeyer, Her special license
that I, the said Edward Kappmeyer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Kappmeyer,
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 MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others),
that I, the said Edward Kappmeyer, 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 Edward Kappmeyer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in

page_text: and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to means of effecting lock stitch in sewing
machines by the use of a rotating shuttle in combination with a loop
protector caused to revolve on the one side of the fabric to be sewn, in a
manner somewhat similar to that in which the revolving hook in the
machines commonly known as Wheeler and Wilson's sewing machines is
made to operate.
In the Wheeler & Wilson machine a spool containing the under thread
is placed loosely in the framing immediately under the needle, and a
crank hook fixed on a horizontal shaft is made to rotate round the spool
in such a manner as to draw round it a loop of the upper thread from
the eye of the needle.
In my novel arrangement the horizontal shaft carries a bent plate,
which I call a loop protector, and which is secured to a disc on the
shaft at two points, leaving a space between it and the disc, into which
space the shuttle is partly inserted. The loop protector and shuttle are
enclosed within a cylindrical casing, one part of the periphery of which
is made to open for the insertion or removal of the shuttle. The shuttle
consists of two side plates with a space between them for receiving a
spool. These side plates are at one end separated by a stud, and at the
other end, where they are made of a hooked form, they are bent so that
their ends are brought together and rivetted or soldered so as to form
one nose to the hook.
The disc-shaped spool containing the under thread is inserted between
the two side plates of the shuttle, and the thread is passed through an
eye and guide hole in the side of the shuttle.
The shuttle containing the spool is inserted between the disc on the
horizontal shaft and the loop protector. The rotation of the shaft is so
timed to the movement of the needle that when the latter begins to
ascend, forming a bulge of the upper thread, the hook of the shuttle
enters this bulge, and swelling it as it advances carries the spool through
the loop of the upper thread. When the under thread has thus been
passed through the loop of the upper thread the needle again descending
partly draws up the slack of the loop, which the loop protector pushes

page_text: aside, so as to keep it clear of the advancing hook of the shuttle. The
shuttle enters the fresh bulge of the upper thread, and, in swelling it,
fully draws up the slack of the former loop, thereby causing the upper
and lower threads to be locked together in the body of the fabric.
The plate constituting the loop protector and the plates of the shuttlo
are bent and curved in such a manner as to effect the operation described
above without permitting entanglement of the one thread or loop withi
the other, swelling the loop, holding it for a time to ensure the proper
tightness of stitch, and then delivering it, keeping it clear of the
advancing shuttle, and finally drawing it up to close the stitch.
-
The mechanism described above may be applied to machines of the
Whecler and Wilson kind by simply substituting it for the crank hook,
spool, and holder existing in such machines. Or other sewing machines
may be altered, so as to operate in the manner described above, by pro-
viding a horizontal under shaft fitted with the mechanism. Or new
machines may
be constructed with the novel mechanism for effecting the
leck stitch, the other parts, such as the movement of the needle, the
feed and fittings generally, being of any known construction.

page_text: After
and is rivetted to the protector plate. The lip c and the pin d
form stops for the shuttle, the former acting as it driver when it is
inserted. The shuttle consists of two thin side plates kept apart by and
secured to a stud or back piece 9, which may preferably be of box wood,
ebonite, or such like material, for the sake of lightness, and to diminish
friction and noise when the shuttle revolves within its casing, on the
interior of which this back piece rubs. The two side plates of the
shuttle are brought together and rivetted to form the nose f. The spool h
consists of two thin discs secured to a tube in their centre. It is inserted
within the shuttle through a circular hole in one of the side plates.
thercof on to a pin projecting inwards from the other side plate.
being inserted the spool is prevented from coming out by turning a
picce m, so as to intercept the holo through which it was. introduced.
This piece m is jointed to the side plate of the shuttle on the inside
thereof. The thread of the spool is 'passed through an eye i in the
middle of the shuttle and through a hole k in such a position on one of
its sides that when the shuttle is in working position the hole for the
thread is nearly in the centre of rotation. The disc with its loop pro-
tector a are enclosed within a cylindrical casing e, part of the periphery
of which is hinged to open (as shewn by the dotted lines e', Fig. 1) for
the insertion of the shuttle, which is placed so that the lower end of the
picce rests against the lip c of the protector plate, while the hollow of
the shuttle hook bears on the pin d. The shuttle is made to fit loosely
in this position, so that there is room for the loop of the thread which it
engages to pass freely between the shuttle and its bearing points, as
well as between the back of the stud g and the interior surface of the
10
casing e.
I
The action of the apparatus will be understood by referring to Figs. 7,
8, 9, and 10, of which Fig. 7 shows the hook of the shuttle just engaged
with the bulge formed in the upper thread às the needle begins to
ascend, the preceding loop of the needle thread from the hole 3 having
had the shuttle thread passed through it, and being held aside, as shewn
in Fig. 2 and 3, by the loop protector a out of the reach of the needle
or of the shuttle hook, so as to prevent the entanglement of one loop
with another. Fig. 8 shews the shuttle hook advanced about one
quarter of a revolution with the last loop of the needle thread engaged
on it, and the preceding loop from hole 3 nearly drawn up by the
extension of the later loop. At this time the needle is about the upper
•

page_text: extremity of its stroke. Fig. 9 shews the shuttle still farther advanced,
about half round, with the shuttle thread drawn tight up into the hole 3,
and about to enter the loop of the needle thread. To effect the drawing up
of the shuttle thread for completion of the stitch 3 a rounded notch / is
provided on the edges of the shuttle plates, which notch prevents the
loop from slipping along those edges until it is so far extended as to
draw up completely the preceding loop. The needle, it will be seen, is
now descending. Fig. 10 shews the shuttle advanced about three
quarters round, the needle being about the lower extremity of its stroke,
and the shuttle thread having passed through the last loop. This action
is repeated at each revolution of the disc b, during which the needle
makes an up and a down stroke, and the fabric being fed onwards in any
known manner, a series of lock stitches are thus effected, as is well
understood.
Fig. 11 represents a plan, and Figs. 12 and 13 respectively side and
end views of a convenient form of base for a sewing machine operating
as described above. The horizontal spindle carrying the shuttle disc
works in bearings a and b formed in lugs projecting down within the
hollow base. These lugs are cast in one with the base, and cored out
with square holes. After the spindle has been set in its proper position
these holes are filled in round it with fused soft metal, which on cooling
forms true bearings for the spindle, thus rendering the boring or drilling
of bearing holes unnecessary.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
make no claim generally to lock stitch sewing effected by machinery,
nor to means of effecting such lock stitch either by a reciprocating
shuttle carrying the lower thread through the loop of the needle thread,
or by a rotating hook carrying a loop of the needle thread over a spool
containing the lower thread; but I claim,-.
First. The method of producing lock stitch in sewing machines by
causing a hooked shuttle containing a spool to revolve continuously in
such relation to the strokes of the needle that during each of its revolu-
tions it is passed through a loop of the needle thread, and by extending
that loop draws tightly up the preceding stitch, the entanglement of the
threads being prevented by a loop protector, substantially as herein
described.

page_text: Second. The use for effecting lock stitch in the manner above referred
to of a revolving disc with a loop protector attached thereto in com-
bination with a hooked shuttle, and with a cylindrical casing that can
be partially opened for the introduction or removal of the shuttle,
arranged and operating substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Kappmeyer, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
EDWARD KAPPMEYER. (L.S.)