IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR THREADING NEEDLES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wolff, in Firm of Wolff & Knippenberg, of
Ichtershausen, near Erfurt, in the Empire of Germany, for the Invention of
<<
'IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR THREADING NEEDLES."
Sealed the 27th May 1879, and dated the 20th December 1878,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wolff at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1878.
WILLIAM WOLFF, in Firm of Wolff & Knippenberg, of Ichtershausen, near
Erfurt, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR THREAD-
ING NEEDLES."
The production of a practical needle-threader is a problem which has thus far
never been solved, while its solution would unquestionably meet a widely felt
want.
With needles which are worked by machinery it is not possible to deal as with
hand needles and hold the thread and the eye to the light to thread then, but the
head has to be bent down low while the eye of the needle is in most cases placed in
a full glare of light, so that the operation of threading involves no little incon-
venience and loss of time.
All needle threads which have hitherto been invented are either complicated or
incomplete and uncertain in action, besides which they are more or less expensive to
purchase, so that none of them have come into practical use.
My needle-threader is a new one and meets all the requirements of every day use.
It is easy to manipulate, cheap, and durable, and so reliable and certain in action
that needles can even be threaded in the dark with it.
My needle-threader is manufactured of cast steel wire, and is either made quite
straight, though generally tapering off at the anterior end, and furnished with a
loop at the other end to hang it by, or with a screw to screw it into a handle, or is
otherwise formed.
In the same plane as the loop or the flat surface of the handle the anterior

page_text: tapering end is bent at a right angle for about 6 millimeters, as shown in the
Drawing annexed, and the outer sharp point terminates in a hook formed by
bending the point, not by filing, cutting, or grinding, and which stands upwards
at right angles to the surface of the loop when the latter is in a horizontal
position.
Mode of Using. In the case of sewing machines, for instance, take the needle-
threader by the loop in the right hand; take hold of the needle fixed in the machine
with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and place the end of the threader,
which is bent at right angles, between the tips of the two fingers, when the point
of the threader will with certainty meet the groove of the needle. If the threader
be moved now in a downward direction between the finger tips as guides the
threader will pass through the eye, the hook standing pointing upwards; place the
thread on the projecting end and draw it through the eye, moving the threader
back.
The end of the threader, thus made at right angles, is made of various thick-
nesses to suit the different sizes of eyes. The hook need not entirely surround the
thread, as it will pierce it owing the its sharpness. For some sorts of machines it is
most convenient to have the bend to the right, for others to the left, while in some
few patterns it is best straight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Wolff in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th June
1879.
WILLIAM WOLFF, in Firm of Wolff & Knippenberg, of Ichtershausen, near
Erfurt, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR THREADING
NEEDLES."
The production of a practical needle-threader is a problem which has thus far
never been solved, while its solution would unquestionably meet a widely felt
want.
With needles which are worked by machinery it is not possible to deal as with
hand needles and hold the thread and the eye to the light to thread them, but the
head has to be bent down low while the eye of the needle is in most cases placed in
a full glare of light, so that the operation of threading involves no little incon-
venience and loss of time.
All needle-threaders which have hitherto been invented are either complicated or
incomplete and uncertain in action, besides which they are more or less expensive to
purchase, so that none of them have come into practical use.
My needle-threader, which is shown much enlarged by the annexed Drawings, is
a new one and meets all the requirements of every day use. It is easy to manipu-
late, cheap, and durable, and so reliable and certain in action that needles can even
be threaded in the dark with it.

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan, Figure 2 is a side view, and Figure 3 an end view. Figure 4
illustrates the mode of using, showing the end of the threader inserted into the eye
of the needle and having hold of the thread to be drawn through.
My needle-threader is manufactured of cast steel wire, and is either made quite
straight, though generally tapering off at the anterior end, and furnished with a loop
at the other end to hang it by, or with a screw to screw it into a handle, or is other-
wise formed. In the same plane as the loop or the flat surface of the handle the
anterior tapering end is bent at a right angle for about 6 millimetres, as shown in
the Drawing annexed, and the outer sharp point terminates in a hook formed by
bending the point, not by filing, cutting, or grinding, and which stands upwards
at right angles to the surface of the loop when the latter is in a horizontal
position.
Mode of Using In the case of sewing machines, for instance, take the needle-
threader by the loop in the right hand; take hold of the needle fixed in the machine
with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and place the end of the threader,
which is bent at right angles, between the tips of the two fingers, when the point
of the threader will with certainty meet the groove of the needle. If the threader
be moved now in a downward direction between the finger tips as guides the
threader will pass through the eye, the hook standing pointing upwards; place the
thread on the projecting end and draw it through the eye, moving the threader
back.
The end of the threader, thus made at right angles, is made of various thick-
nesses to suit the different sizes of eyes. The hook need not entirely surround the
thread, as it will pierce it owing to its sharpness. For some sorts of machines it is
most convenient to have the bend to the right, for others to the left, while in some
few patterns it is best straight.
What I claim is my needle-threader, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wolff, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy nine.
WILLIAM WOLFF. (LS.)