IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Berriman Sawdon, of the Town or Borough of
Kingston-upon-Hull, Sewing Machine Manufacturer, for the Inven-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Berriman Sawdon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th June 1871.
I, BERRIMAN SAWDON, of the Town or Borough of Kingston-upon-
Hull, Sewing Machine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
According to my Invention, which has reference more particularly to
lock-stitch and shuttle machines, I connect all the motions together and
work them upon one crank, so that while the driving pulley, that is to
say, the pulley or wheel which is generally fixed on the upper part of
the machine, will run either backwards or forwards the machine, cannot
be driven in the wrong, but will always run in the right direction.

page_text: Improved crank motions are provided for the better adaptation of
the Invention and to enable the machine to run stiller or quieter.
The manner in which my Invention may be carried into effect is as
follows:-
-In ordinary sewing machines there is an upper shaft to work
the needle bar and a lower shaft to work the shuttle and the feeder. I
couple these two shafts together by means of two wheels and a rack or
by two cranks and a connecting rod. I provide the machine with a
driving wheel and crank to lift the connecting rod up and down at a
given stroke in the same manner as in a steam engine. The shafts thus
receive a swinging or reciprocating rotary motion instead of a continuous
rotary motion. The machine therefore runs easily and without clash or
noisc. The position of the wheel and crank will vary according to
the kind of machine to which my Invention is applied. In some
machines they should be fixed at the right-hand end, and in others at
the back or far side. My cranks may be worked by the said wheel and
crank, or by an excentric motion, or a slot motion, as will be well
understood.
The Invention also applies to machines such as the Thomas' machine,
which work with levers instead of shafts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Berriman Sawdon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BERRIMAN
SAWDON, of the Town or Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, Sewing
Machine Manufacturer, send greeting.
-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the ycar
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Berriman Sawdon, Her special licence that
I, the said Berriman Sawdon, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Berriman Sawdon, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein.

page_text: 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 Berri-
man Sawdon, 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 Berriman Sawdon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawing:—
This Invention relates to improvements in sewing machines, and
more particularly to the form of sewing machine known as
"lock-
stitch" or "shuttle" machines, and has for its object the arrangement
of the working parts of such sewing machines in such manner that the
operation of the machine will be perfect as regards both the formation
of the stitches and the feeding of the work under the needle whether
the driving shaft and handle or driving pulley be driven either forward
or backward.
My Invention consists in arranging the bar or shaft by which the crank
or lever driving the needle or needle bar is actuated (in the ordinary.
method well understood and practised,) and the bar or shaft by which
the shuttle and feeding apparatus are driven in sewing machines known
as "lock-stitch" or "shuttle" sewing machines, in such a manner that
instead of such bars or shafts being made to revolve continuously in
one direction they may be made to make only partial revolutions back;
wards and forwards (which partial revolutions I prefer should be about
one-third of a complete revolution). And I couple or connect together
the two shafts or bars which actuate the needle and shuttle respectively
by means of toothed wheels (with or without a toothed rack con
necting them) or cranks and connecting rods, and I connect one or
both of the two shafts or bars described to the shaft or bar which drives
the sewing machine by means of a crank, excentric, cam, or slot
motion fixed upon the driving shaft, and by means of a rod connected
to a lever or arm upon the shafts or bars already described. By this

page_text: arrangement the movements of the needle and of the shuttle backwards
and forwards are precisely the same in whichever direction the driving
shaft of the machine is made to revolve.
I prefer to make the shafts or bars driving the needle and the shuttle
work between steel or other centre points arranged so that they can
readily be tightened or adjusted by means of screws.
Sometimes instead of using two shafts or bars one driving the needle
and one driving the shuttle I use one shaft having two "cams" fixed
upon it, one of which cams is connected to and works a lever which
drives the needle bar, and the other cam is connected to and works a
lever which drives the shuttle and feeding apparatus. The shaft upon
which the cams are fixed is so arranged that it does not revolve, but
only makes a partial revolution (which I prefer to be about one-third
of a revolution) backwards and forwards. And I connect this shaft to
the driving shaft of the machine by means of a crank, excentric, cam,
or slot motion upon the latter, attached by a connecting rod to an arm or
lever upon the former in the same way as I have already described.
By this arrangement the needle and the shuttle and feeding apparatus
are made to operate correctly in whichever direction the driving shaft. of
the machine is made to revolve.
In that form of sewing machine (such for example as that known as
Thomas's,) in which a lever in the upper part of the machine is used
to drive the needle bar, and a separate rod or bar is used to drive the
shuttle, I connect together the lever which works the needle, and the
bar which works the shuttle. And I cause the lever or arm which
connects them together to make partial revolutions backwards and
forwards by connecting it with the crank or its equivalent upon the
driving shaft as already described, and I make the levers or arms of
such a length that the needle and the shuttle move through the required
distance, when the levers or arms make a partial revolution (which I
prefer to be about one-third of a revolution). And I connect the lever
or arm to the driving shaft of the machine by means of a crank,
excentric, cam, or slot motion upon the latter connected by a rod or
rods to a crank or arm upon one or both of the former as already
described. By this arrangement the driving shaft of the machine may
be made to revolve in either direction without affecting the proper action
of the needle, the shuttle, and the feeding apparatus.
I vary the
position of tlie driving shaft, crank, excentric, or cam, and crank or

page_text: bars according to the kind of sewing machine to which my Invention
is applied. The levers or arms upon the shafts or bars may be caused
to make the partial revolutions backwards and forwards as described,
cither by means of a wheel and crank upon the driving shaft of the
machine or by an eccentric or a slot motion as will be well understood,
and when arranged as described they work with great ease and without
noise.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings is in illustration of my Inven-
tion. Figure 1 represents a side view (partly in section), and Figure 2
an end view (partly in section) of my Invention applied to a sewing
machine in which the needle bar is driven by a lever upon a bar in the
upper part of the machine and the shuttle and feeding gear are driven
by levers upon a bar in the lower part of the machine. The feeding gear
is not shewn in the Drawings, and I make it in any of the methods
well understood and practised. The same letters of reference relate to
the same parts of the apparatus in both Drawings.
A is the frame of the machine, in the front part of which the needlo
bar B is arranged to work up and down vertically. C is a bar or shaft
arranged to turn upon the centre points of screws D, D, attached in
suitable positions to the frame A. Upon the bar C is fixed a lever E
which actuates the needle bar B when the bar C is made to make partial
revolutions backwards and forwards. F is another bar or shaft arranged
to turn upon the centre points of screws G, G, attached in suitable
positions to the bed plate H of the machine, to which the frame A is
attached. Upon the bar F is fixed a lever I which actuates the lever K
carrying the shuttle L (Figure 2) when the bar C is made to make
partial revolutions backwards and forwards. The bars C and Fare
connected together by means of the levers M, N, and the connecting
rod O, which are so arranged that when the connecting rod O is made
to work up and down the needle bar B and the shuttle L are actuated
in their proper relative positions and at the proper times. The rod O is
made to move up and down by means of the adjustable crank P, which
is fixed upon a driving shaft which works in the bearing Q attached to
the frame of the machine, and is made to revolve by means of the driving
5 pulley and wheel R. The crank P is connected to the rod O by means
of the connecting rod S. By the arrangement shewn the shafts C and F
and the needle bar and shuttle B and L arc actuated in the manner
required, in whichever direction the driving shaft and crank revolve.

page_text: Figures 3 and 4 shew the form of cylindrical cam which I adopt in
that form of sewing machine in which the needle bar and shuttle are
actuated by revolving cams. In such machines two cylindrical cams
are generally used fixed upon one revolving shaft. In a properly shaped
recess in one of these cams the end of the lever driving the needle bar
works, and in a recess in the other cam the end of the lever driving the
shuttle works. The recesses in such cams are usually carried con-
tinuously round the circumference, of the cams, but. in apparatus made
according to my Invention I form the recess B (Figures 3 and 4)
in only a part of the circumference of the cylindrical cam A, and I
make the shaft upon which two such cams are fixed make only partial
revolutions backwards and forwards by means of a connecting rod, one
end of which is connected to a lever upon the shaft or to a pin upon the
cam, as shewn at C, and the other end is connected to a crank attached
to and driven by a revolving driving shaft, as already described. By
this arrangement the driving shafts of machines of this construction
may be made to revolve in either direction without affecting the proper
action of the needle bar and shuttle and feeding gear.
I do not claim the precise forms of construction described and shewn,
which may be varied when applied to different forms of sewing machines;
but I claim as my Invention, the use in sewing machines of arms or
levers turning upon centres and driving the needle, the shuttle, and the
feeding apparatus, such levers or arms being arranged so as only to
make partial revolutions backwards and forwards, and being connected
by levers and rods to cranks, excentrics, cams, or slot motions upon the
driving shaft of the machine, so that such driving shaft may be made to
revolve in either direction without altering the correct action of the
needle, shuttle, and feeding apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said Berriman Sawdon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
BERRIMAN SAWDON. (L.S.)