Improvements in Apparatus for Mending Wearing Apparel.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Apr., 1898-Accepted, 6th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Mending Wearing Apparel.
I, CHARLES HOWARD EVANS, of Royal Insurance Buildings, in the City of
Chicago, County of Cook, and State of Illinois, one of the United States of America,
Gentleman, do hereby declare that the nature of my invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement; -
The object of the invention is to provide hand controlled mechanism by which
rents or holes in garments, hosiery and the like, can be quickly and neatly closed
in a manner analogous to weaving, and for this purpose I employ a rest or support
having an opening over which the rent or hole in the article to be mended is placed,
a saddle, preferably of spring metal, with a similar opening, and with depending
lips or flanges, which fits snugly over the rest or support and by its resiliency
clamps the fabric to be mended thereupon, and sets of sliding and vibrating hooks
to hold the warp-threads and change their relation for the reception of the weft,
in a manner resembling that in a loom.
し
In order that my invention may be properly understood and readily carried into
effect I have hereunto appended two sheets of drawings of which
Figure 1 is a top plan view of mechanism embodying my invention.
Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof, secondary positions of the moving parts
being represented in dotted lines.
Figure 3 is a transverse section therethrough on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.
Figure 4 a perspective view of the mechanism in the operation of mending a
rent, and
Figure 5, a detached view of the rest or support.
A represents the rest or support, preferably stamped out of sheet metal, with
depending sides a, and a central opening a through its top-plate. Over this sup-
port the article to be mended is drawn with the rent or hole registering with the
central opening. A saddle B, corresponding in outline with the support A, that is,
having depending side-lips b, and central opening 1, but of such diameter as to
sit over and snugly upon the support or rest, is also struck or stamped out of sheet
metal, and advisably made resilient or springy so as to close upon and firmly hold
the fabric drawn upon the support, the rent in said fabric being exposed through
the said last mentioned central opening.
At one end of the opening through the saddle are a series of rigid fingers C,
terminating in upwardly turned hooks c the extremities of which are oblique to
the line of the fingers and turn back thereover. Supported in keepers D on the
sides of this saddle, by means of vertical tongues d sliding in such keepers, is a
thumb plate D, held up by a spring D², but capable of being depressed. This
thumb plate is provided with a series of fingers E, which are bent down somewhat
below the plane of the thumb piece and alternate in space with the underlying
fingers C, and like them terminate in upturned hooks e, the extremities of which
are oblique to the lines of said fingers, but reversely to those of the fingers
beneath.
So long as the thumb-piece is upheld by its spring its fingers will be above the

page_text: fingers C, but when it is depressed as by the pressure of the thumb of the operative,
its fingers will pass between those beneath, and the positions will be reversed, thus
throwing the warps to form the shed for the passage of the needle. In keepers F
upon the opposite end of the saddle slides the tang f of a hook-plate F, having a
series of hooks fl turned reversely to those just described, but not necessarily
oblique to their bodies. This hook-plate has side lugs f, which embrace the
saddle, and fixed dogs f³ which catch into notches f4, formed along the depending
lateral lips of the saddle, and its tang is sufficiently resilient or springy to lock the
dogs into these notches and preserve any adjustment that may be given, according
to the size of the hole to be mended, against the stress of the warp-threads, which
it will be understood extend back and forth between the hooks of this plate and
the two opposite sets of hooks.
In operation, the fabric being. clamped between the support and saddle and the
distance between the opposite sets of hooks having been adjusted to the require-
ments of the patch, the warp is first stitched into the fabric so as to hold its end
and is then laid back and forth over the hooks until the rent is covered. Now
one set of warp threads is raised above the other by the uplifted position of the
thumb-piece, and the weft can be thrown through the shed thus formed and into
the fabric along one side of the rent or hole therethrough; next the thumb-piece
is depressed reversing the warps, and the needle carrying the weft is returned
through the new shed, and thus it is continued until the opposite side of the rent
is reached and properly closed, when the hook-plate will be slid out of its keepers
and turned up, as represented in dotted lines in Figure 2, to disengage it from
the warp. It will then be easy to disengage the warp from the opposite set of
hooks, and the saddle being removed the projecting ends can be trimmed with
shears, leaving a neat woven patch over the rent.
The oblique arrangement of the hooks is for the purpose of preventing the
warps from slipping off as the hooks pass each other in alternating the shed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
The apparatus for mending fabrics hereinabove described, consisting of the sup-
port or rest, the saddle, the fixed set of hooked fingers, the thumb piece with its
alternating set of hooked fingers, and the adjustable hook-plate, all substantially
as hereinbefore set forth.
D
1
1
1
e A 1 1000
BOTTOMLEY & LIDDLE,
154, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, Applicant's Patent Agents.