IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR POINTING GLOVES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR SUCH PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abel Foulkes, of the City of Chester, Glove Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR POINTING
GLOVES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR SUCH PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abel Foulkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th May
1857.
I, ABEL FOULKES, of the City of Chester, Glove Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR
POINTING GLOVES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR SUCH PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention applies more particularly to the mode of ornamenting the
backs of gloves, sometimes called the "French point," which consists of three
plain seams, whether fair seam, or raised seam, or round seam, each stitched
along both sides; this stitching is at present done by hand. My improve-
ment consists in doing it with a sewing machine, which is rendered applicable
to this purpose by the addition of a groove, in which the seam previously made
moves along while it is being stitched round; this groove, of sufficient depth
and width to receive the seam, is made on one side of the needle hole, and at

page_text: the required distance from it. Without this groove, the seam rendering the
surface of the glove uneven, makes it impracticable to do the stitching accu-
rately in a sewing machine, whereas by my Invention, the seam, lying con-
stantly in the groove at an equal distance from the needle hole, becomes itself
the guide or guage by means of which the requisite uniformity in the distance
of the stitching from the seam is insured. This groove or a portion of it may
be made in a moveable plate fitted into or sliding in the table, and other
plates with grooves at different distances from the needle may be inserted
when required. Seams or rows of stitching may thus be made at different
distances from the guiding seam. *
It will be perceived that the right side of the glove is placed downwards
while being stitched, but the same result may be obtained by using a groove
in other positions, as, for instance, in the under surface of the claw feeder or
other part of the machine, by means of which the material to be stitched is
pressed down or propelled, in which case the right side of the glove will be
uppermost.
I produce the raised seams in the sewing machine by placing a raised guide
on the table in proximity to the needle and employing a one-sided feeder, or a
feeder with one side removed.
The folded leather or other material is kept in contact with the guide while
the seam is formed, it is then opened and the seam passed along the groove,
as herein-before mentioned, to produce the stitching on each side of the raised
The same machine may be employed for both purposes by having one
or more moveable plates with guides to drop into the table, or by having the
guide itself moveable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abel Foulkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABEL
FOULKES, of the City of Chester, Glove Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Abel Foulkes, Her special licence that I, the said Abel Foulkes, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Abel
Foulkes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR
POINTING GLOVES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR SUCH PURPOSES,"
upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Abel Foulkes, my executors or administra-
tors, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Abel Foulkes, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
The mode of ornamenting the backs of gloves, sometimes called the "French
point," consists of three plain seams, whether fair seam, or raised seam, or
round seam, each with a line of stitching along each side; this stitching is at.
present done by hand. My improvement consists in doing it by a sewing
machine, which is rendered applicable to this purpose by the addition of a-
groove, in which the seam previously made moves along while the stitching is
being done; this groove is of sufficient depth and width to receive the seam,
and it is made on one side of the needle hole and at the required distance
from it.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a plan of a portion of the table.
of a sewing machine; Figure 2 is a section of the same; Figure 3 is also a
section of the same, shewing a portion of the glove which is being stitched or
pointed. The same letters refer to similar parts in each Figure.
A is the table; B is the needle; C is the glove; a is the groove in the
table which receives the seam. When it is only required to place the stitch-
ing at one uniform distance from the seam, the table may be permanently
fixed, but it is more convenient to employ a moveable table, or to make a por-
tion of the table moveable, so as to adapt it for stitching at different distances
from the seam, and also for other descriptions of sewing. For this purpose.
the table may be made to slide horizontally in suitable guides, so as to bring
the groove a nearer to or farther from the needle, the needle hole being.

page_text: elongated a little to allow of the motion; or one end of the table may turn on a
pivot or pin, while the other end is adjusted horizontally by means of a screw
or otherwise.
Another mode consists in applying moveable plates with grooves in
different positions, and slipping these plates into a recess in the table, as
indicated at A in the plan, Figure 4. The groove may be continued in the
fixed portion A' of the table at a'. When the variations in the distance of
the groove from the needle are small, the grooves in the different plates may
all commence from the end of the groove a', and the seam will then be very
slightly bent in passing from the groove a¹ into the groove in the plate. When
the distance of the groove in the plate A from the needle is greater, additional
grooves as a², may be made in the fixed portion of the table to meet the
groove in the plate A.
When the machine is to be used for other purposes
the plate A may be removed and a plain plate inserted in its place. A plate
with a fixed or moveable guide or projection may also be introduced when
required for producing the raised seam, as herein-after described.
In an ordinary sewing machine with a flat plain table and the ordinary
feeders, it is impracticable to do the aforesaid stitching accurately, because the
seam renders the surface of the glove uneven, whereas by my Invention the
seam, lying constantly in the groove at an equal distance from the needle hole,
becomes itself the guide or guage, by means of which the requisite uniformity
in the distance of the stitching from the seam is insured.
It will be perceived that the right side or outside of the piece of leather or
"trank" which is to form the glove is placed downwards while being stitched.
The stitching may be effected by placing the glove with the right side upwards,
and by employing a groove in the claw, or feeder, or other part of the machine,
by means of which the material is pressed down or propelled, in lieu of em-
ploying the groove in the table. The groove in the table, however, has a
great advantage over any such arrangement, as the leather or other material
can be laid upon the table and the seam pressed into the groove by the
fingers of the attendant with much greater facility than it could be guided
into a groove in the claw or other part placed above the material to be
stitched.
I produce the aforesaid raised seams of gloves in the sewing machine by
placing a raised guide on the table in proximity to the needle, and employing
a one-sided feeder, or a feeder with one side removed.
Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6 is a section, shewing the guide D and one-
sided claw or feeder F; Figure 7 is a side view, also shewing the glove C.

page_text: The guide D is represented as being fixed on a loose plate A, which fits into a
recess in the table A', like the loose plate in Figure 4. The guide may be
adjusted on the plate, or other plates with guides at different distances from
the needle may be used, or the guide may be mounted at once on the fixed
table of the machine.
The folded leather or other material C is kept in contact with the guide
while the seam is formed. The raised seams are thus made with great accu-
racy. The material is then opened or unfolded, and the raised seam passed
along the groove of the sewing machine, as herein-before described, to pro-
duce the stitching on each side of the raised seam. Some of the feeders or
claws ordinarily employed in sewing machines are forked, as shewn in the plan,
Figure 8, so as to act on both sides of the needle, and their width is then so
great as to prevent the guide D from being brought sufficiently close to the
needle to guide the work in making the raised seam of a glove; but by the
application of a one-sided claw or feeder in combination with a guide, as
herein-before described, I am enabled to bring the guide as close to the needle
as may be required. To adapt a forked claw, such as that shewn in Figure 8,
to the purpose of my Invention, it is not necessary to remove the entire half
of the claw, but only so much as to enable it to work clear of the guide, as
indicated by the dotted line in Figure 8, and as shown in Figures 5, 6,
and 7.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,-
First, the mode of producing the raised seams of gloves by means of a
sewing machine, in which the folded leather or other material which is to form
the glove is propelled by a one-sided claw or feeder, and is kept in contact
with a raised guide on the table or on a moveable portion of the table, as
herein-before described.
f
Second, the mode of producing the stitching on each side of the raised
seams of a glove point by means of a sewing machine in which the glove is
guided by its seam entering a groove in the table or in a moveable portion of
the table, as herein-before described.
°
Third, constructing sewing machines with a raised guide on the table or on
a moveable portion of the table, in combination with a one-sided claw or
feeder, and adapted for producing the raised seams of gloves, as herein-before
described.
Fourth, constructing sewing machines with a groove in the table or in a

page_text: moveable portion of the table and on one side of the needle, and adapted for
receiving and guiding the seam of a glove while being stitched or pointed, as:
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abel Foulkes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
THOMAS CHEERS,
Grosvenor Lodge,
Chester.
ABEL FOULKES. (L.B.)