IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCHING APPARATUS DESIGNED TO SERVE AS AN ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCHING APPARATUS DESIGNED TO
SERVE AS AN ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES." A communication
from abroad by Julius Gutmann, of Berlin, Prussia, Sewing-machine
Manufacturer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th September 1881.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCHING
APPARATUS DESIGNED TO SERVE AS AN ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES."
[A communication from abroad by Julius Gutmann, of Berlin, Prussia, Sewing-
inachine Manufacturer.]
This Invention relates to button hole stitching or sewing apparatus, and is.
designed to serve as an attachment for sewing machines.
For efficiently sewing or stitching the edges of button-holes machines of special
construction have hitherto been required, which machines cannot be advantageously
used for other descriptions of work. Button hole sewing devices of various kinds,
designed to be attached to ordinary sewing machines without material interference
with the construction of such machines, have been tried, but have not hitherto
been found to be fully efficient.
The present Invention has for its object to provide a button hole stitching
apparatus or device which can be attached to any sewing machine in which the
shuttle moves transversely to the feed motion.
•
According to a previous Invention a button hole sewing machine has been
provided with a head upon the needle-bar, in which a slide capable of moving
transversely with relation to the axis of the needle-bar can be set to vary the
distance between two needles acting together, one of the said needles being fixed
to the slide. The adjustment of this needle slide is effected by hand, when the

page_text: "
"bars or end stitches of a button hole are to be made, or when a transition from
sewing "bars" to the sewing of button hole edges is required.
According to the present Invention I provide in the needle-bar-head a slide, the
adjustment of which is automatically effected by the machine in such a manner
that before each stitch is made the slide is stitch by stitch alternately brought
into one or the other of two determined positions. By this arrangement the
stitches for the edge of a button-hole can be produced with a single needle in a
shuttle sewing machine.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I provide the throat plate of the
machine with a guide pin and an oblong aperture. The upper thread must be
tightly stretched, the shuttle thread being comparatively slack. The motion of
the needle slide brings the needle at one time into such a position that it enters
the button-hole slot or slit made in the material, passing in close proximity to and
behind the aforesaid pin, whilst in the following stitch the needle enters the cloth
or material to be sewn. At each movement the shuttle passes through the loop of
the upper thread, and at each stitch made in the cloth the loosely stretched shuttle
thread is carried through the aperture by the upper thread, and is laid upon the
cloth up to the edge of the buttonhole. The upper thread extends straight along
the edge, and is embraced by the shuttle thread from above and from below
alternately.
Upon the upper shaft of the machine and immediately behind a heart shaped
disc there is mounted a toothed wheel gearing with another toothed wheel. Upon
the latter there is a projection for actuating a lever, the lower end of which engages
with a notch in the aforesaid needle slide each time the needle bar reaches its
highest position. The number of teeth in one of the toothed wheels is double that
of the teeth in the other, so that the said projection will act upon the lever only
once for each two revolutions of the machine, and when this takes place the needle
slide is pushed aside towards the right hand. A spring presses the lever against
the projection, and when the latter has passed the lever causes the needle slide to
return into its former position by means of the lever. This position is determined
by the lever abutting against the excentric part of an adjusting device, which,
when in a certain position, will allow the lever to move twice as far as it will
move when the said device is in another position.
"
"
When the device is in the latter position the needle enters the slit in the
material, and when the needle slide is in another position the needle enters the
-cloth-;-when-the-length-of-stroke-of-the-lever_is_doubled_by_means_of_the_said
adjusting device the needle will enter the cloth on the other side of the slit also,
and a stitch is formed by which the bars at the ends of the button holes are
made. One side of the button hole is first finished by allowing the edge of the
same to be fed along the guide pin, and when it has arrived at the end the cloth is
turned round the pin to the extent of 180°, and is held fast so as not to allow the
feed mechanism to act upon the same, and then the adjusting device is set to cause
the longer stroke of the lever. The bar is thus made by a number of stitches one
upon the other; then the adjusting device is reset to the short stroke, and the
cloth being rendered free for the feed mechanism to act upon the same the second
buttonhole edge can be at once sewn, and another "bar" produced at its end.
By a slight sidewise adjustment of a piece, by which pressure is exerted upon the
lever, the stroke of the latter is increased, and thus the sewing of the button hole
can be made broader or narrower as desired.
When the machine having this attachment is to be used for ordinary sewing the
lever with its spring, the adjusting device and a wheel are detached, these parts
being mounted separately from the others on a plate. The needle slide is fixed in
a central position upon the needle-head by means of a screw, and the throat plate
is exchanged for an ordinary one having no pin. The needle is fixed on the slide
by means of a screw.
A spring is provided, which presses against the slide, and thus gives sufficient
friction to prevent the same from sliding when not required.

page_text: The thread guide is fixed on the needle slide for the purpose of always keeping
the stretched thread in an equal parallel position relatively to the needle, and
preventing the thread from causing the needle to bend, whatever the position of
the latter may be.
The pin for guiding the button hole edge may, if desired, be fixed on the presser
foot instead of on the plate, and in that case extends downward from the presser
foot into an aperture of proper shape.
Hemming may also be effected by means of this button hole apparatus, ôr the
"bar" stitch may be used in two widths, as an ornamental stitch on flat cloth.
To produce variety for such ornamental stitch the proportion of the number of
teeth in the wheels may be as 1 to 3, or as 1 to 4, or otherwise.
If the upper thread is not stretched quite taut the thread in the sewing contracts
on the lower side of the button hole into loops formed with the lower thread, and
the threads thus form a welt seam, which may sometimes be desirable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th March 1882.
"
"
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCHING
APPARATUS DESIGNED TO SERVE AS AN ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES."
A communication from abroad by Julius Gutmaun, of Berlin, Prussia, Sewing-
machine Manufacturer.
This Invention relates to button hole stitching or sewing apparatus, and is
designed to serve as an attachment for sewing machines.
For efficiently sewing or stitching the edges of button holes machines of special
construction have hitherto been required, which machines cannot be advantageously
used for other descriptions of work. Button hole sewing devices of various kinds
designed to be attached to ordinary sewing machines without material interference
with the construction of such machines have been tried, but have not heretofore
been found to be fully efficient.
The present Invention has for its object to provide a button-hole stitching
apparatus or device which can be attached to any sewing machine in which the
shuttle moves transversely to the feed motion.
According to a previous Invention a button hole sewing machine has been
provided with a head upon the needle-bar, in which a slide capable of moving
transversely with relation to the axis of the needle-bar can be set to vary the
distance between two needles acting together, one of the said needles being fixed
to the slide. The adjustment of this needle-slide is effected by hand when the
bars or end stitches of a button hole are to be made, or when a transition from the
sewing of "bars" to the sewing of button hole edges is required.
According to the present Invention I provide in the needle-bar-head a slide, the
adjustment of which is automatically effected by the machine in such a manner
that before each stitch 'is made the slide is stitch by stitch alternately brought into
-one-or-the-other-of-two-determined-positions. By this arrangement-the-stitches-
for the edge of a button hole can be produced with a single needle in a shuttle
sewing machine.
T

page_text: that it enters the button-hole slot or slit. made in the material passing in close
proximity to and behind the pin a whilst in the following stitch the needle enters
the cloth or material to be sewn. At each movement the shuttle passes through
the loop of the upper thread, and at each stitch. made in the cloth the loosely
stretched shuttle thread is carried through the aperture by the upper thread, and
is laid upon the cloth up to the edge of the button hole. The upper thread
extends straight along the edge, and is embraced by the shuttle thread from above
and from below alternately, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3.
Upon the upper shaft b of the machine and immediately behind the heart-shaped
disc C is mounted the toothed wheel d (Figures 6 and 7) gearing with the toothed
wheel e.
Upon the latter is the projection f for actuating the lever g, the lower
end of which engages with a notch in the needle slide each time the needle-bar
reaches its highest position. The number of teeth on the wheel d is double that of
the teeth on the wheel c, so that the projection f will act upon the lever g only
once for every two revolutions of the machine, and when this takes place the
needle-slide is pushed towards the right hand, as shewn in Figure 5º. A spring k
presses the lever g against the projection f, and when the latter bas passed the
lever causes the needle-slide to return into its former position by means of the
lever. This position is determined by the lever g abutting against the excentric
part of an adjusting device i, which when in the position shewn in Figure 5 will
allow the lever g to move twice as far as it will move when the said device is in
position shown in Figure 5*. When the device is in the latter position the needle
enters the slit in the material, and when the needle-slide is in the other position
the needle enters the cloth. When the length of the stroke of the lever is doubled
by means of the adjusting device the needle will enter the cloth on the other
side of the slit also, and a stitch is formed (see Figures 3 and 4) by which the
"bars" at the ends of the button holes are made. One side of the button hole is
first finished by allowing the edge of the same to be fed along the guide pin a, and
when it has arrived at the end the cloth is turned round the pin to the extent
of 180°, and is held fast so as not to allow the feed mechanism to act upon the
same, and then the adjusting device is set to cause the longer stroke of the lever.
The "bar" is thus made by a number of stitches one upon the other, the adjusting
device is then reset to the short stroke, and the cloth being rendered free for the
feed mechanism to act upon it the second button-bole edge can be at once sewn
and another " bar" produced at the other end of the slit. By a slight sidewise
adjustment of the piece g' by means of which pressure is exerted upon the lever g
the stroke of the latter is increased, and thus the sewing of the button hole can be
made broader or narrower as desired.
When the machine having this attachment is to be used for ordinary sewing the
wheel c, the lever g with its spring and the adjusting device i are detached, these
parts being mounted separately from the others on a plate p. The needle-slide is
fixed in a central position upon the needle-bar-head by means of the screw o, and
the throat-plate is exchanged for an ordinary one having no pin.
When this button hole apparatus is to be again attached, care must be taken
to obtain a correct inter-meshing of the teeth on the toothed wheels.
In Figures 8, 9, and 10, the needle-bar-head with the needle-slide his shewn
drawn to a larger scale.
By means of the screw the needle is fixed in the slide.
The spring m presses against the slide and thus creates sufficient friction to
prevent the same from sliding when not required.
The thread-guide n is fixed on the needle-slide for the purpose of always keeping
the stretched thread in a parallel position relatively to the needle, and thereby
preventing the thread from causing the needle to bend whatever the position of
the latter may be.
The pin a for guiding the button-hole edge may if desired be fixed on the
presser foot, as shewn in Figure 11, instead of on the throat-plate, and in that case it

page_text: extends downward from the presser foot into an aperture of suitable shape in the
Baid throat-plate.
Hemming may also be effected by means of this button hole apparatus, or the
"bar" stitch may be used in two widths as an ornamental stitch on flat cloth. To
produce variety for such ornamental stitch, the proportion of the number of teeth
on the wheels d and e-may be as 1 to 3, or as 1 to 4, or otherwise.
If the upper thread is not stretched quite taut the thread in the sewing contracts
on the lower side of the button-hole into loops formed with the lower thread, and
the threads thus form a welt-seam which may sometimes be desirable.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim,-
First. The needle-slide in the needle-bar-head capable of being shifted alternately
into one or other of its positions after each stitch, or after a determinate of stitches,
the shifting of the said needle-slide being performed automatically, substantially as
and for the purposes specified.
Second. The apparatus for shifting the needle-slide, consisting of the toothed
wheel d, the toothed wheel e, the projection f, the lever g, and spring k, and the
adjusting device i, the whole, with the exception of the toothed wheel d, being
mounted upon the plate p, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Third. The guiding pin attached to the presser foot instead of to the throat-
plate, substantially as described and shewn in Figure 11.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.