Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 30th July, 1898-Accepted, 23rd Dec., 1898
A communication by REINHOLD EDER, of 18, Sedanstrasse, Weissensee, near
Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Mechanician..
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:-
It has hitherto been impossible to make on a machine, tongue or loop stitches
such as "button-hole" stitching, called "languettes" which resemble hand work.
The "languette" machines at present known work with several threads, or pro-
duce chain or tambour stitches for connecting the cross threads. Apart from
the fact that these machines are very complicated, the machine-made languettes
do not appear so nice as those made by hand, and therefore are less in demand,
so that the main bulk of the said languettes is still always made by hand.
The machine hereinafter described has in addition to its great simplicity the
advantage that it forms a languette which has the appearance of a hand-made
one. The machine is a two needle machine, but works with only one thread,
which it lays above and below double, and forms only on the edge a quilting
stitch as is the case in languettes made by hand.
The essential part of the machine is the material-shifting device simultaneously
working on both sides, and the mechanism for forming the stitch, that is to say
the needles in combination with a loop carrier and the gripper, and this machine
acts in the following way. The thread feeder only gives enough material to the
needles to form a stitch whilst the gripper conveys the thread from the eyed
needle to the hook needle and thereupon the loop conveyor transports the then
formed loop again to the eyed needle which now stitches through the material
the centre of the loop and again passes down in order to form a fresh stitch.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figures 1 and 2 are side views of the machine;
Figure 3 is an end view of same;
Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 show how the stitch is formed;
Figure 9 shows a piece of material with the finished languette;
Figure 10 shows the gripper;
Figures 11 and 12 the loop conveyor;
Figure 13 the transporter, and
Figures 14, 15 and 16 show the various positions of the plate which adjusts
the material shifter and thus forms the stitch.
The device for moving forward the material in the machine receives its move-
ment by means of a rock-bar e which is reciprocated by a lever d which in turn

page_text: is operated by means of a cam disc a, said lever carrying a roller which bears on
the cam.
This cam disc a is revolved by the machine shaft 6 by means of a cam
groove f, lever c and pawl g, which latter engages ratchet teeth on the cam a.
The material shifter must therefore describe curves according to the motion im-
parted to it by the disc a. The points are produced by the cam projections a¹.
It is thus possible, by affixing a suitable cam disc, to produce any suitable form.
of languette or tongue or loop stitch. The material pusher is so arranged that it
also works backwards and in the stitching direction and to right and left in
order that the distance of the separate stitches from the point or in the curve
may be equal. With this object the material pusher consists of the parts H Y
and Z, Figures 1, 3 and 13, the bar Zy being linked to the bar H so that it can
pivot laterally and also in the direction of stitching and opposite thereto.
The movement in and opposite to the direction of stitching is imparted to the
bar Zy by means of a lever X which is pressed down at such stitch so that said
bar and with it also the material pusher is moved as shown by the arrow
Figure 3 in the stitching direction, after which the spring z¹ pushes the material
pusher in the other direction, that is opposite the direction of stitching.
The bar H is formed as a sheath through which the needle bar freely passes.
This rod H Figures 1, 3, 13 is moved by means of the cam disc a Figure 1 by
the intermediary of the lever d and rack bar e as previously stated.
held in a ring i (Figure 15) is mounted on a square piece on the bar H, the said
ring being firmly connected with the bar Z y.
A plate A
The ring is thus influenced by the plate A and constantly moved to and fro.
As further this ring in mounted on the bar Zy which carries the material pusher
it causes this bar also to swing to right and left and move the material pusher
similarly.
In order that it may be able to operate opposite to as well as in the direction of
the stitching a space is left in the ring i¹, which is not entirely filled up by the
disc A and the movement may be imparted to the material pusher bar Z y.
In making a languette the plate A which is moved by the bar H assumes suc-
cessively in the ring ¹ the positions shown in Figures 14-16.
If the lever d bears on the disc a at the point B, Figure 1, the plate A assumes
the position shown in Figure 14 and moves consequently in the manner shown
in Figure 14, when the cam a moves further and the lever bears on the cam a
at the point C, the disc A will have the position shown in Figure 15 and move
as shown in Figure 15*. If the cam a be then further turned so that the lever
bears on the point D, the disc A will have the position shown in Figure 16 and
move as shown in Figure 16*. When therefore the cam a has revolved from B
up to D, the machine will have made a half loop as shown in Figure 17 after
which the lever & springs back to B the disc A reassumes the position of
Figure 14 and a fresh loop commences.
In all these movements the material pusher swings at each stitch towards and
away from the direction of stitching.
The thread feeder i is also operated by the machine shaft b. For this purpose
the feeder bears by means of a roller k on a cam disc mounted on the shaft 6 in
such a way that at one rotation of the shaft the feeder is moved once forwards
and swung backwards, whereby as much thread is drawn off the spool as is
necessary for forming one stitch.
Two needles are employed for forming a stitch; one an eyed-needle o in which
the thread is threaded, and the other a hook-needle h, both of which perforate
the material in common. The gripper mechanism m conveys the thread from the
eyed needle to the hook needle and engages it in the hook of. the same. This
gripper mechanism works from the right to the left and consists of two working
parts m¹ and m³. The gripper m places itself in front of the eyed needle between
the said needle and the thread and draws the thread when it swings forward to-
wards the hook needle. The device m² which has the action of laying the thread
round the hook, and which has hitherto rested closely on the gripper m¹ and thus

page_text: lay inside the loop of the thread, is prized apart by means of a piece m³ and
thus draws apart therefore the loop of the thread and lays it round the hook
needle h.
The needles then again move upwards and the conveyor n takes the loop of
the thread from the hook of the hook needle h and carries it over to the eyed-
needle and then again passes downwards through the loop.
The conveyor in the example shown consists of a pair of jaws which hang on a
rod p which can swing to and fro. This to and fro swinging of the rod p takes
place by means of a roller q travelling in a grooved cam r mounted on the
machine shaft b. On the rotation of the shaft b the jaws n move forward and
backward. When they have reached their farthest forward point they must
open in order that the eye-needle and the loop of the thread may drop between
the jaws. This opening of the jaws takes place by means of a cam s on a con-
veyor slide which pushes itself between the upper ends t of the jaw shanks and
forces them apart, Figures 1 and 12. When these jaws have again returned and
the forwarding slide commences to rise, the cam s moves away from the shanks of
the jaws and the latter are again closed by means of springs. The conveyor need
not necessarily be a pair of jaws but may be formed of any suitable mechanism.
It might, for instance, also be a hook which first releases the loop from the hook
needle and then conveys the thread to the eyed-needle. After the eyed-needle
has stabbed through the loop, the hook returns and makes an inclination forwards
in order not to encounter the eyed needle.
The machine works in the following way:-
The two needles, the eyed-needle o and the hook-needle h perforate the material
and the eyed-needle carries the thread with it, Figure 4. The thread feeder then
swings forward, and at the same time the gripper mechanism commences also to
swing forward. Its grippers m¹ then push themselves between the eyed needle
and the thread, and carry the thread which has been delivered by the thread
feed to the hook-needle. The device m2 then forces the needles apart and
places the loop of the thread round the hook needle, Figure 5. The needles again
rise, the hook carrying with it the loop of the thread which has been laid round
the hook needle by the device m². At the same time the gripper mechanism m
again moves backward into its initial position, Figure 6. The jaws n then com-
mence also to move forward. They push themselves with their point into the
loop of the thread, remove this loop from off the hook of the hook-needle and
carry it to the eyed needle, Figure 7. In the meantime the machine has moved
the material one stitch, further forward, the eyed-needle once more stitches
between the loop and fastens this latter thus to the material. On the descent of
the conveyor, the cams has penetrated between the shanks of the jaws and opened
the latter, and by the rotation of the machine shaft b the jaws n have again been
drawn back, Figure 8. The stitch is thus finished and the machine stands again
in its initial position for a second stitch.
Figure 9 shows a piece of material provided with languette or loop stitches
from which it may be seen without further explanation what appearance the
stitches have and how they are formed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:
1. A double needle languette stitching machine, which works with one thread
and makes languettes having the appearance of hand work by laying the thread
above and below double, and fastening only at the edge by a quilting stitch, sub-
stantially as hereinbefore set forth.
2. A form of construction of the sewing machine herein before described, in
which the formation of the stitch takes place by means of an eyed and a hook
needle between which the thread is conveyed to and fro as a loop, and in fact is
conveyed to the hook neeule by means of gripper mechanism and to the eyed

page_text: needle by means of a conveyor whilst the stitch or binding is produced by the
passage of the eyed-needle through the loop conveyed to it by the conveyor, sub-
stantially as herein before described.
3. In the sewing machine herein before described, a gripper mechanism (m)
adapted to swing from right to left to convey the loop from the eyed-needle (o)
to the hook needle (h), consisting of a gripper (m¹) and a device (m²) for laying
the thread round the hook needle (h), substantially as herein before described.
4. In the sewing machine herein before described, the thread guide formed as
jaws (n) for conveying the thread loop from the hook needle (h) to the eyed
needle (o), said jaws consisting of spring arms (t) which are opened by means of a
cam (s) mounted on the conveyor slide (v) and are afterwards closed again by
means of springs, substantially as hereinbefore described.
5. In the sewing meachine herein before described, a material pusher adapted
to push the material simultaneously in two directions and moved in the stitching
direction by means of a lever (X) operated by a slide and moved, by means of a
cam (a) and suitable connections, vertically to the direction of stitching accord-
ing to the form of languettes to be made, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 29th day of July 1898.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.