IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Ward, of Wells Street, Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES.
"
Sealed the 27th October 1877, and dated the 21st August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Ward at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st August 1877.
EDWARD WARD, of Wells Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
The Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines and relates,-
Firstly. To that class of machine in which the driving wheel is capable of being
thrown in and out of gear with the sewing mechanism so as to enable the winder
to be rotated independently of the sewing mechanism when desired; and this part
of my Invention consists in the addition of indicating means to the locking and
unlocking mechanism, by which means it can readily be seen when the machine is
arranged for sewing, and when only for winding.
My Invention also relates to that class of machine known as the ". arm and plat-
form" machine, and consists, secondly, in mounting the winder on an arm or lever
mounted on an axis of motion, near one end thereof, the short end of which lever
is acted upon by a blade spring to retain it in or out of position for winding, as
may be required. This spring is fixed in position in a saw cut in a projection from
the casting, and secured by a screw, the head of which bears. on the outer edge of
such blade spring.
And my Invention relates, thirdly, to the feed mechanism of such description
of machine, and consists in placing all the working parts of the feed lever at the
driving end of the machine, and in the adaptation of a self-indicating feed regulator
thereto. For this purpose I employ a wedge which is raised or lowered between
the feed cam and the feed lever, which are placed close to the driving wheel;-and I
mount the axis of such wedge in a slide which works in a slot in the casting, and
is fixed where required by means of a fly nut working on a screw fixed to such

page_text: slide, and I place figures or marks on the margin of the slot, so that a pointer or
mark on a plate fixed to the slide may indicate the length of stitch being produced;
and in order to prevent the falling of the wedge when the fly nut is slackened, I
employ a friction spring between the parts.
$
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edward Ward in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st February
1878.
EDWARD WARD, of Wells Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex.
IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
The Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines and relates,—
Firstly. To that class of machine in which the driving wheel is capable of being
thrown in and out of gear with the sewing mechanism so as to enable the winder
to be rotated independently of the sewing mechanism when desired; and this part
of my Invenion consists in the addition of indicating means to the locking and
unlocking mechanism, by which means it can readily 'be seen when the machine is
arranged for sewing and when only for winding.
My Invention also relates to that class of machine known as the "arm and plat-
form" machine, and consists, secondly, in mounting the winder on an arm or lever
mounted on an axis of motion, near one end thereof, the short end of which lever
is acted upon by a blade spring to retain it in or out of position for winding, as
may be required. This spring is fixed in position in a saw cut in a projection from
the casting, and secured by a screw, the head of which bears on the outer edge of
such blade spring.
And my Invention relates, thirdly, to the feed mechanism of such description of
machine, and consists in placing all the working parts of the feed lever at the
driving end of the machine, and in the adaptation of a self-indicating feed regulator
thereto. For this purpose I employ a wedge which is raised or lowered between
the feed cam and the feed lever, which are placed close to the driving wheel, and 'I
mount the axis of such wedge in a slide which works in a slot in the casting, and
is fixed where required by means of a fly nut working on a screw fixed to such
slide, and I place figures or marks on the margin of the slot, so that a pointer or
mark on a plate fixed to the slide may indicate the length of stitch being produced;
and in order to prevent the falling of the wedge when the fly nut is slackened, I
employ a friction spring between the parts.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying-Drawings, more fully
to describe the same.

page_text: Figure 10 is an elevation, Figure 11 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 12 is
a cross section of an improved shuttle, such as I prefer to employ, whereby facility
is afforded for threading the same and for regulating and indicating the tension on
its thread, and Figure 13 is a separate view of part thereof.
a is the driving wheel, which is capable of being thrown into and out of gear
with the sewing mechanism by means of a bolt a', which works in a socket formed
for it in the driving wheel a, and is acted upon, when permitted, in one direction
by a spring a² to force the nose of the bolt into a hole in the toothed wheel b,
whilst it is capable of being withdrawn from such hole by means of the handle a³,
pin jointed to such bolt, and provided with a cam a on the inner end thereof,
which acts against the boss on the wheel a through which the bolt a¹ works. This
handle as is, according to this part of my Invention, provided on the one side with.
the word "machine," and on the other side with the word " winder," by which
means it can readily be seen when the machine is arranged for sewing and when
only for winding.
Indicating means may be applied to other arrangements of locking or unlocking
mechanism, and to different arrangements of sewing machines without departing
from this part of my Invention.
My Invention also relates to that class of machine known as the "arm and plat-
form" machine, and consists, secondly, in mounting the winder c on an arm or
lever c mounted on an axis of motion c², near one end thereof, the short end of
which lever is formed with suitable bearing surfaces and is acted upon by a blade
spring to retain it in or out of position for winding, as may be required. This
spring d is fixed in position in a saw cut formed in a projection e¹ from the casting
or framing e, and is secured by a screw e², the head of which bears on the outer
edge of such blade spring d.
My Invention also relates to the feed mechanism of such description of machine,
and consists in placing all the working parts of the feed lever fat the driving end
of the machine, and in the adaptation of a self-indicating feed regulator thereto.
For this purpose the feed leverf is mounted on an axis of motion at f¹, with
capability of moving thereon, within certain limits, in any direction; and it is
operated in the following manner :-On the lower axis g of the machine the feed
cams h, h¹, are fixed; the camh gives the horizontal or feed motion to the feed lever,
and the cam h¹ the vertical motion, as is well understood.
According to this part of my Invention, I employ a wedge i which is capable of
being raised and lowered between the feed cam h and the part få of the feed lever f
so that by raising and lowering such wedge i, as required, the extent of feed may
be regulated. I mount the axis of such wedge in a slide j, which works in a slot e²
in the casting e, and is fixed where required by means of a fly nut j² working on a
screw j³ formed on an extension of the axis j', and I place figures or marks on the
margin of the slot e², so that a pointer j or mark on a plate 5, fixed to the slide j,
may indicate the length of stitch being produced; and in order to prevent the
falling of the wedge when the fly nut is slackened, I employ a friction spring
between the front and back parts of the slide j; and in the arrangement shown in
the Drawings, the plate j5 serves the purpose of such spring, a suitable play being
allowed in the front plate for the heads of the screws connecting the front and back
parts of the slide j together.
The feed lever f is kept up to its cams by a spring or springs, as is well under-
stood.
At Figure 2 I have represented an improved arrangement I have devised for
regulating and indicating the amount of tension on the needle thread. For this
purpose I form a longitudinal groove in the screwed spindle of the tension discs k,
and I apply thereto a tube which has one end of the tension spring connected
thereto, whilst the other end of such spring is bent so as to work within the groove
in the screwed spindle ¹ in order to prevent such tube turning round upon the
spindle k¹, or such tube / may be prevented rotating in any other convenient manner.
The nut m working on the screwed spindle k has connected thereto a tube m',

page_text: which is capable of passing over the tube ; along the tube land around the inner
edge of the tube m', I place a number of marks and figures, as shown, by which
means I am enabled to adjust and indicate the amount of tension to the needle
thread.
The improved shuttle, which is represented at Figures 8 to 13, is formed as usual
with a guide bar n provided with a pointed free end n¹ to facilitate the passing of
the thread from the shuttle around the same. On the opposite side of the shuttle
I form an angular slit n² communicating with a horizontal slit or opening n³, and on
the inside of the shuttle, on the side of the slits n², n³, I fix a flat tension spring n³,
which is formed with a slit n³, and is adjusted in amount of friction by means of a
screw no, on the head of which is formed a mark to point to figures placed around
the same on the body of the shuttle so as to indicate the tension put upon the shuttle
thread.
2
In threading this improved shuttle, the thread is first passed around the bar n,
it is then passed into the slit n of the spring plate nt, and afterwards by the slit n²
into the opening n³.
The spring plate n¹ can at any time, when it is required to clean the same or
remove cotton or fibre therefrom, be turned outwards on the adjusting screw nº,
after which it can be returned to its position without altering the tension, and it is
retained in position by a projection n' therefrom, passing into an opening in the side
of the shuttle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ward, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
EDWARD WARD. (L.S.)