IMPROVEMENTS IN THREAD SPOOLS FOR SEWING, EMBROIDERING, AND OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Offico of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th January 1873.-A communication from abroad by Henri
Seeling, of Paris, France, Sewing Machine Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THREAD SPOOLS FOR
SEWING, EMBROIDERING, AND OTHER MACHINES," a communication, to be as
follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to improvements in thread spools for sewing,
embroidering, and other machines, that is to say, to the spools containing
cotton and linen threads, sewing silks, or other similar material used in
sewing and embroidering machines, and other machines where bobbins
are employed.

page_text: surfaces or inverted cones. It frequently occurs when the thread is
wound on the spool and the latter is on its carrying axis, that 'when
the thread is taken from the spool by the operation of the sewing,
embroidering, or other machine, and is drawn in a more or less oblique
direction, it passes over the spool bases and an undulation thereof is
produced whereby the tension ceases to be regular, and this circumstance
may injure the work and necessitate stopping the machine.
To obviate this difficulty I provide the ordinary spools with two small
auxiliary discs either plane or slightly concave, and of a larger diameter
than the bases of the spool they are fixed upon. These two discs are
formed with a central holo somewhat like a spring socket which enters
the central bore of the spool, and the said discs are thereby kept in
position.
When the spool thus modified is placed on its stationary pin or axis
the latter passes through the spool, the socket, and the discs centrally,
and when the thread unwinds or is fed, whether it is drawn perpen-
dicularly, or more or less obliquely, it can never be unwound otherwise
than in the direction of the rotation, and never passes over the bases or
edges of the spool owing to the circular rib on the discs, which acting
as a thread guard, prevents any unwinding in a contrary direction.
I have represented by way of example in the accompanying Drawing
an improved spool according to this Invention.
Figure 1 is an edge view of one of the said discs; Figure 2 is a front
view of the same; Figure 3 is a diametrical section of the same.
Figure 4 shows the spool provided with its two discs.
Figuro 5 is a longitudnal section of the entire spool provided with its
two discs, and Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the same on its
carrying pin.
In all these Figures the same letters of reference refer to the same
parts; a is the ordinary spool or bobbin; b, b, are the discs or thread
guards, they are made of metal or other suitable material and are
provided centrally with a socket c so split as to form a spring. The
said socket enters the bore d in the spool a, and the two discs are
thereby fixed to the two bases of the spool as shown in Figures 4, 5,
and 6; f is the thread wound around the spool a; g is the stationary
pin on which the spool is placed for the thread to be unwound there-
from.

page_text: The discs as shown in Figure 6 hold the thread in the required
direction of its feed as they increase the diameter of the spool bases and
prevent the dropping of the thread. The movable discs with spring sockets
which are attached to cach side of the spool groove may be of course
replaced by projections or spokes issuing from a central socket like that
above described and answering the same purpose, namely, increasing the
diameter of the spool bases and thus preventing the dropping of the
thread.