IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Alfred Cowper, of 6, Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Alfred Cowper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th January 1873.
I, EDWARD ALFRED COWPER, of 6, Great George Street, Westminster,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR SHOE," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to such kind of machinery for sewing a sole
on to a boot or shoe as has a fixed arm or rest inside the boot or shoe, as
in the Specification to the Patent of Lyman Reed Blake, dated 3d May
1859, No. 1111; or that of Lucius Aurelius Bigelow, dated 25th
February 1861, No. 483; or to that kind of machinery which has a
moveable arm or rest inside the boot or shoe, as in the Specification of

page_text: John William Ford, dated 16th April 1862, No. 1113; or that of George
Hazeltine, dated 27th August 1864, No. 2113; or that of William
Robert Lake, dated 5th March 1868, No. 760.
This Invention consists in the application in the hollow rest sup-
porting a boot or shoe whilst being sewn, of a looper consisting of a lever
with an eye at the upper end for the passage of the thread, moving in a
circular or elliptical path of motion round the needle, and I actuate the
lover at its lower end by cranks or cams, it having its fulcrum working
in guides so as to produce the requisite path of motion of the eye of the
looper carrying the thread, so as effectually and safely to place it in the 1
hook of the needle when at or near the bottom of its stroke.
The means which I prefer for producing the requisite motion of the
eye of the looper is a crank, and a connecting rod working in guides and
actuating the lower end of the lever carrying the looper, by being
jointed to it at a point moving in an oval path; or I produce the
requisite motion of the eye of the looper by means of cams or cranks
acting in a longitudinal and transverse direction on the lower end of the
lever, or any means substantially the same for producing the requisite
motion of the eye of the looper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Alfred Cowper in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALFRED COWPER, of No. 6, Great George Street, Westminster, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, Her special
license that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Alfred
Cowper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: "
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 MACHINERY FOR SEWING A SOLE ON TO A BOOT OR S¤оë,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper,
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 imme.
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheets of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to such kind of machinery for sewing a sole
on to a boot or shoe as has a fixed arm or rest inside the boot or shoe, as
in the Specification to the Patent of Lyman Reed Blake, dated 3rd May
1859, No. 1111, or that of Lucius Aurelius Bigelow, dated 25th February
1861, No. 483; or to that kind of machinery which has a moveable arm
or rest inside the boot or shoe as in the Specification of John William
Ford, dated the 16th April 1862, No. 1113; or that of George Hazeltine,
dated 27th August 1864, No. 2113; or that of William Robert Lake,
dated 5th March 1868, No. 760.
This Invention consists in the application in the hollow rest sup-
porting a boot or shoe whilst being sewn of a looper consisting of a lever
with an eye at the upper end for the passage of the thread moving in a
circular or elliptical path of motion round the needle, and I actuate the
lever at its lower end by cranks or cams, it having its fulcrum working
in guides so as to produce the requisite path of motion of the eye of the
looper carrying the thread, so as effectually and safely to place it in the
hook of the needle when at or near the bottom of its stroke.
The means which I prefer for producing the requisite motion of the
eye of the looper is a crank and a connecting rod working in guides and
actuating the lower end of the lever carrying the looper, by being jointed

page_text: to it at a point moving in an oval path; or I produce the requisite
motion of the eye of the looper by means of cams or cranks acting in a
longitudinal and transverse direction on the lower end of the lever, or
any means substantially the same for producing the requisite motion of
the eye of the looper.
The Figures on Sheet I. shew one form of the apparatus for producing
the required movement of the looper, constructed according to this
Invention. Fig. 1 represents a vertical section through such a hollow
rest as is described in the Specifications above referred to; Fig. 2
represents a plan of the lower part thereof; Fig. 3 represents a view
from underneath the sloping arm, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section on
the line Z, Z, Fig. 1. A is the hollow rest which may either be fixed in
position or mounted so as to revolve round an axis B in line with the
needle C, as described in some of the Specifications above referred to, and
D is the gear ordinarily employed for giving motion to the looper. On
the horizontal spindle d of this driving gear I fix a bevil pinion d'
gearing into a bevil wheel E fixed on a vertical spindle mounted in the
lower part of the rest. On the face of the wheel E is fixed an eccentric
pin or stud e, and also an eccentric spherical pin e¹. A lever F is a
arranged within the hollow of the rest A on a fulcrum at f, where it can
also slide longitudinally. The lower end of this lever is made with a
slot between two side guides e², enclosing the eccentric e, and a con-
necting rod G from a spherical pin 7 on the lever F embraces the
eccentric spherical pin e¹; at the upper end of the lever F is fixed a short?
tube through which is passed the stitching thread. Continuous or
reciprocating rotary motion being given to the gearing D in the usual
way a like motion is given to the wheel E and to the eccentrics e and
e¹ upon it. The lever F is thereby caused to oscillate on its fulcrum f,
and also to slide longitudinally in such manner that the tube f¹ is made 3
to travel in a path nearly circular round the needle C. This movement
being properly timed to the strokes of the needle the thread passed
through the tube f is brought round the needle C in such manner as to
be caught in its hook; whereby it is on the ascent of the needle drawn
up to form the loop or chain stitch.
To relieve the lever of the upward drag when the needle ascends it is
preferably made with a shoulder f, which bears against a flat face under
3

page_text: the rest. In the construction above described the fulcrum of the lever
F is at f, near the upper end thereof in order to give firmness to the
action of the looping tube f¹, and owing to this position of the fulcrum
the throw of the eccentric e has to be greater than the transverse
excursion of the tube f¹. The eccentric e if it acted alone in a hole
instead of a slot would therefore give a too great longitudinal excursion
to the tube f¹; such longitudinal excursion being independent of the
position of the fulcrum. The second eccentric e¹ acting on the lever
longitudinally is provided to diminish the longitudinal excursion in such
proportion that the actual movement of the tube f¹ is nearly circular.
By pivotting the lever F near its middle the required movement of the
looping tube f¹ may be obtained with the use of a single eccentric.
This arrangement is shewn in Sheet II., where Fig. 5 represents a
vertical section; Fig 6 a plan of the lower part; Fig. 7 a view from
under the inclined rest; Fig. 8 a section on Z, Z, Fig. 5. In these
Figures the letters indicate parts corresponding with those marked with
the same letters in the Figures on Sheet I.; but it will be seen that
on the wheel E there is only one eccentric spherical pin e, which gives
both the longitudinal and the oscillating movement to the lever F. As
the fulcrum f of this lever is near its middle, the path of the looping
tube f¹, at the one end very nearly corresponds to that of the pin e at
its other end, that is to say, it is in a circle of small diameter round
the needle C.
The Figures on Sheet III. represent another form of the apparatus;
Fig. 9 is a vertical section of the arm; Fig. 10 a plan of the lower part,
and Fig. 11 is a section on the line Z, Z; Fig. 9 shewing a view from
under the inclined arm. The letters on those Figures mark the same
parts as have been described in reference to the Figures on the preceding
Sheets; but in this case a crank pin e upon the bevil wheel E, works
a horizontal bar e³, which is fitted to slide in guides e³, and which has
on it a spherical pin e¹ whereby the lever F is worked on its sliding
fulcrum fin such manner that the looper tube f¹ is caused to travel
round the needle C.
Besides the several modes of working the lever F from the wheel E,
described above, cranks, eccentrics, or cams might be arranged in con-
nection with the said lever and wheel in other ways so as to impart to
the lever such oscillatory and longitudinal movement as will cause the
looper f¹ at its upper end to travel round the needle C in a path circular,

page_text: elliptical, or in a curve, approaching those Figures as may be readily
understood.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not claim generally the use of an arm or rest or of a looper worked
therein so as to travel round a hooked needle for the purpose of stitching
soles to boots or shoes; but I claim, the use for working the looper of
a machine for sewing soles on boots or shoes, of a lever mounted in the
hollow of the rest of such machine, such lever being acted on at its lower
end by cranks, eccentrics, or cams, so as to give the required movement
round the needle to a looper fixed at the upper end of the lever, sub-
stantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Alfred Cowper, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
EDWARD ALFRED COWPER. (L.S.)