IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: 1
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by Thomas Laycock at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 31st July 1872, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent"
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LAYCOCK, of Skipton-in-Craven, in the County of York, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES," and have petitioned Her Majesty
to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
I am the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Laycock, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following state-
ment:-

page_text: My Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
sewing machines in which shuttles are employed, but is applicable to
other kinds, and is for the purpose of preventing the breakage of
needles by the needles coming in contact with the top- or needle plate
or the shuttle whilst in operation, which is of frequent occurance in
machines of the ordinary constructions, and at the same time insure a
better loop for the shuttle point to enter, and thus render less liability
of mis-stitches.
My Invention consists in arranging the course of the needle entirely
free from the shuttle race, except when the loop is formed for the point of
the shuttle to enter at or about the time of the upward motion of the
needle. At this time an apparatus suitably attached and worked by the
machine bends the needle towards the shuttle; this apparatus will
herein after be termed a presser. By this operation the shuttle point
is insured entering the loop, and a better. loop is formed as the presser
throws it all upon the shuttle side of the needle; immediately the shuttle
point has entered the loop the presser is lifted from the needle, thus
allowing it to return by its elasticity to its original position.

page_text: red lines, and as the presser fits against the side of the needle it prevents
the thread on that side forming a part loop, and thus insures the loop
being made sufficiently large on the shuttle side to prevent any mis-.
stitches. The presser is arranged to come into operation and bend the
needle forward at or about the return stroke of the needle and shuttle,
and is withdrawn immediately the shuttle point enters the loop.
Although I only shew and describe my Invention as applied to one
description of shuttle machine, it is equally applicable to various others,
by suitably modifying the several parts.
Having described and ascertained the nature of my Invention and
the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it
understood that I do not bind myself to the precise details herein described
and shewn, as the same may be modified and changed without departing
from the spirit and nature of my Invention; what I claim is the appli-
cation of a presser to operate upon the needle for the purpose herein
described and shewn in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Laycock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
0
Witness,
WILLIAM HAIGH,
Skipton,
Yorks.
THOMAS LAYCOCK. (L.S.)