CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND MECHANISM FOR DRIVING THE SAME
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES,
AND MECHANISM FOR DRIVING THE SAME."-A communication from abroad
by Jacob Zuckerman, of San Francisco, in the State of California, United
States of America.
Sealed the 16th May 1865, and dated the 5th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th January 1865.
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES,
AND MECHANISM FOR DRIVING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to certain improvements in that
class of sewing machines which produce what is termed the "lock stitch."
The loop of the needle thread is caught by the beak of an oscillating bobbin

page_text: holder which rests loosely between the jaws of a shoe secured to a horizontal
shaft below the table of the machine; to this bobbin an oscillating motion is
imparted by contact with the shoe, recesses being made in the shoe and cor-
responding projections on the bobbin holder, or vice versa, to act as a coupling,
which allows the needle thread to pass freely between the shoe and the bobbin
holder. The bobbin and bobbin holder are further held in position by
hemispherical spring bearings which drop into sockets in the centres of said
bobbin on one side and of the bobbin holder on the opposite side, and which
are so arranged that the loop of the needle thread will slip between them and
their sockets. After the loop of the needle thread has passed over the
bobbin carrying the lower thread and the needle has ascended, the loop is
turned up under the table by a vibrating arm pivotted to the under side of the
table, and held in such a position that the needle, on its subsequent descent,
will not pass through it, and each stitch is drawn tight by the subsequent
action of the beak of the bobbin holder on the next succeeding loop of the
needle thread; this vibrating arm is operated by a V-shaped lever mounted
on the horizontal shaft to which the shoe for carrying the bobbin holder is
keyed. The feeder is secured to a bar which has a reciprocating and a rising
and falling motion, being subjected to the action of a spring and to that of a
cam on the horizontal shaft, which cam raises it up and presses it forward
against the downward action of the presser and that of the spring previously
mentioned, and in retreating the feeder is depressed by the action of the
presser, and its teeth clear the cloth or material to be sewn.
The second part of this Invention relates to a power for operating sewing
machines, which consists of a series of gear wheels, to which motion is
imparted by a spring contained in a barrel or a weighted cord wound upon a
barrel; this mechanism being brought into gear with a spur wheel on the
fly wheel shaft of the sewing machine, motion will be transmitted to that
shaft, and through it to all the working parts of the sewing machine. An
adjustable friction device or regulator, consisting of a sliding pad secured to
the table of the machine, acts upon the fly wheel of the sewing machine in
such a manner that the motion or speed of the sewing machine can be regu-
lated independently of the weight of the spring, and a weight or spring can
be employed of sufficient power to work the machine for a long time without
winding up.

page_text: 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 5th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
5 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 Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, 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 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND MECHANISM FOR DRIVING
THE SAME," being a communication from abroad by Jacob Zuckerman, of
San Francisco, in the State of California, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to that class of sewing machines which produce
what is termed the lock stitch. Instead of a traversing shuttle being used,
as heretofore, for taking up the loop of the vertical needle, an oscillating
bobbin holder formed with a break is used to catch the loop of the needle
thread, open it out, and pass the bobbin through the loop..

page_text: In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of
the improved machine, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is
a partial side elevation shewing the needle bar and the thread controller
which it carries in a raised position, and Figures 1* and 2*, Sheet II., are
front views of so much of the working parts as will explain the relative move-
ments of the vertical needle and bobbin carrier.
excentric 63 the requisite
Keyed to the horizontal
table, is a pinion c, which
A, A, is the framing of the machine, and A¹ the table; B is the needle bar
working as usual on a guide box carried by a bracket arm forming a portion
of the framing A. The needle bar is worked in its guide by a link 6 pendent
from a pin on the bar, and connected to a crank pin on a disc b¹ keyed to the
-main driving shaft . Affixed to this shaft is an excentric 63 (shewn best in
the detached view, Fig. 3), which carries the strap of a connecting rod b*;
the lower end of this rod is secured by a screw to a segment rack b³, which
works on a screw stud on the framing. From the oscillating notion of
this segment rack produced by the rotation of the
motion for working the bobbin holder is obtained.
shaft C, which is supported in bearings below the
gears into and is driven by the segment rack ; on the opposite end of this
shaft C a shoe or support for the bobbin is keyed. This shoe or support is of
peculiar construction, its duty being so to hold the bobbin that the loop formed
by the needle thread will be free to pass between the bobbin holder and its
support. It is shewn detached at Figures 4 and 5, Sheet I., and consists of a
hub D, from which projects a bracket arm for carrying two plates d and d¹;
these plates are secured to opposite sides of the arm by means of screws, as
shewn. Upon this bracket arm, and between the plates d and d' the bobbin
holder rides, the face of the bracket arm being curved to correspond to the
bobbin holder. A short horn from the hub D extends the support for the
bobbin holder, and enables the shoe to embrace so much of the bobbin holder
as lies between the beak, before mentioned, and a tooth-shaped projection on
the opposite side of the periphery of the bobbin holder.
The better to explain the construction of this bobbin holder, it is shewn in
side and edge views and in cross section at Figures 6, with the bobbin both
in place and detached. It consists of a circular shallow box E formed with a
benk e projecting from its outer periphery and a tooth e¹ from the opposite side
thereof; at the centre of the box is a stud which enters a hole in the centre
of the bobbin e², and forms the axle upon which the hobbin rotates. On the
side of the bobbin holder or bottom of the box is a wedge-shaped projection e³,
which enters a slot in the plate & of the shoe, and is supported thereby; to
the other plate d' is attached a spring d³ formed with a stud at its free end,

page_text: which stud projects through a hole in the plate d¹, and enters the centre hole
of the bobbin.
From the above explanation, it will be understood that the machine having
been started in the usual way as the needle descends to the position of Fig. 2
to make a stitch, the shaft C will vibrate the shoe D, and advance the bobbin
holder until its beak enters between the needle and its thread. The con-
tinued forward motion of the bobbin holder will cause it to open the loop, as
shewn at Fig. 1*, and finally the bobbin holder will pass through the loop into
the position of Fig. 2*, the projection on the box E, and the stud on the
spring d offering no obstruction to the loop. When the bobbin holder has
attained this position the ascent of the needle will draw, the loop clear of
the bobbin holder; in this way the bobbin thread is laid in the loop of the
needle thread, and the stitch is secured.
The feed is obtained in the well known way by means of a cam F on the
shaft C (shewn detached at Figures 7) acting upon a sliding bar F¹, which
carries the roughened feed plate F³; G is the presser for holding the work
down upon the table. The needle thread passes from a bobbin H through a
fixed guide on the framing A, thence round a tension pulley h¹ to the needle
bar; through this bar the thread passes to an eye at the outer end of a rock
lever h,.which lever is mounted on the top of the needle bar, and thence
through studs on the guide box to the needle. The tail of the rock lever h³
projects through a bridle h³ mounted on the bracket arm, and carrying at top
a pad of leather or other suitable material. As the needle rises the tail of
the lever will strike against the pad, and the eye of the lever being thereby
raised the needle thread will be drawn to tension.
This machine may be driven in any approved manner, but I prefer to
employ the arrangement of clockwork shewn at Fig. 8, which is connected by
a clutch to the driving shaft b; this shaft also carries a fly wheel I, to which
a break block i is applied for regulating the speed of the machine. This
break block is carried by an arm i¹ secured to an adjustable plate i³, which
slides in A guides of a bed ³, and is secured by a clamping screw in position;
this bed i³, with its adjustable plate 3, is shewn in plan at Fig. 3b. The
plate has attached to it a notched bar, into the notches of which a spring click
secured to the bed takes for facilitating the adjustment of the plate i³. The
motion of the machine is temporarily arrested by the attendant placing her
hand on the fly wheel, but in order to maintain the clockwork quiescent, a
stop may be applied to the spur wheel which winds up the barrel.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Sewing Machines," as communicated to me from abroad, and explained the

page_text: manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim the construction of bobbin holder and its support, and the mode of
operating the same for the taking up of the loops of the needle thread, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)