IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES." -A communication
from abroad by Jacob Zuckermann, of San Francisco, in the State
of California, United States of America.
Sealed the 3rd August 1869, and dated the 19th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th March 1869.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES,'
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide an improved motive power
for light machines and more particularly for sewing machines.
The

page_text: device is equally applicable to any of the known machines for sewing,
giving the requisite motion, and requiring only to be occasionally wound
up, when it will furnish sufficient power to run the machine a certain
length of time without further attention. The motive force is obtained
by the use of springs which may either be compressed or expanded, and
may be either coiled or elliptical, but the latter form is preferred.
Elliptical springs laminated or otherwise and arranged in pairs somewhat
like carriage springs are placed (two, three, or more pairs) one upon the
other and connected together at the middle by rivets or otherwise. A
lug is secured to the uppermost spring to receive a hook from a chain
pendent from a fusee barrel on which it is intended to be wound. This
barrel is mounted on a horizontal shaft which is capable of being turned
by a winch handle transmitting its motion through spur gearing.
Supposing the motive power apparatus to be applied to a sewing
machine the fusee shaft is mounted on the table of the machine, and the
springs are secured to the base thereof. Affixed to the end of the
conical grooved fusee barrel is a ratchet wheel, and mounted adjacent
thereto loosely on the shaft is a spur wheel which carries a click
that takes into the ratchet teeth and is held thereto by a spring. This
wheel gears into a pinion on the boss of a spur wheel which in its turn
drives a pinion on a horizontal chain, wheel, or pulley shaft. A chain or
belt from the pulley of this shaft passes over a pulley on a fly wheel
shaft which is connected with the sewing or other machine to be driven.
When therefore the chain is wound upon the fusee barrel the springs
will be extended, and the tendency will be for the springs to draw down
the chain and thereby rotate the fusee and drive the mechanism in
connection therewith. To arrest the action or retard the speed of the
machine driver a spring brake is applied to the fly wheel, a thumbscrew
or its equivalent serving to press. it into and hold it in contact with the fly
wheel. When the compression of the springs is relied on for sustaining
rotary motion an obvious modification of the above-described mechanism
will be employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FOR SEWING AND OTHER
MACHINES," being a communication to me from abroad by Jacob Zucker-
mann, of San Francisco, in the State of California, United States
of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
The object of this Invention is to provide an improved motive power
for light running machines and more particularly for sewing machines.

page_text: The device is equally applicable to any of the known machines for
sewing, giving the requisite motion, and requiring only to be occasionally
wound up, when it will furnish sufficient power to run the machine a
certain length of time without further attention. The motive power
mechanism consists of a series of gear wheels operated by means of
springs, and so arranged that the power exerted upon the machine to be
driven will be uniform. The number of parts liable to get out of order
are few while the mechanism can be constructed very cheaply.
To more fully illustrate and describe the Invention reference is had to
the accompanying Drawing forming a part of this Specification, of which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the motive power mechanism, shewing it
applied to a mounted sewing machine which it is intended to drive;
Fig. 2 is a plan view shewing more clearly the connection of the driving
and driven mechanism, and Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same;
Figures 4, 5, and 6, shew modified forms of springs to be used when
desired in place of the elliptical springs shewn in Figures 1 and 3.
Similar letters of reference in each of the Figures indicate like parts.
A is the bottom of a frame or stand having the top B supported by
end standards C. Upon the bed or bottom board A is fixed a series of
elliptic springs D which are connected together and secured to the
bottom board by means of bolts or screws. Any desired number of the
springs may be used to form a set or series according to the duration of
the motive force required to be exerted. These springs are made wide
so as to furnish a considerable amount of power. The leaves d being
joined at each end by means of hinges e which allows them to be ex-
panded to their utmost when sufficiently wound up. The upper
leaf d
of the top spring is provided with an eye bolt in which the hook fon the
end of a pendent chain F is placed. The chain F passes up through an
opening in the top B and around a fusee G to the largest diameter of
which it is secured. The shaft which carries the fusee has its bearing at
each end in the standards H, H³, and carries the large gear wheel I
with which a pinion on the axle J engages. This axle is provided with
a crank K by turning which the chain is wound around the fusee and
the springs are extended. L is a ratchet wheel carried by the fusee shaft
and directly beside it is an independent gear wheel I'. On the side of
this wheel is pivotted a pawl i which operates in the teeth of the ratchet
wheel and is kept to its place by a flat spring ¹, also secured to the
wheel I'. This arrangement admits of the chain being wound upon the

page_text: fusee without moving the wheel I', but when the machine is in motion.
the pawl i engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel L and carries it round
with the shaft, the whole forming a winding ratchet communicates the
motion by means of a pinion M to a gear wheel O which engages with
the pinion N on the shaft P, from which motion is transmitted to the
machine to be operated. On the end of the shaft P is a chain pulley S
around which the chain U passes to the main shaft of the sewing
machine where it passes over a similar chain pulley U₁ on the driving
shaft, and thus gives the desired motion to that shaft.
In order to place the machine entirely under the control of the
operator a spring V provided with a proper cushion is placed near the
balance wheel on the main shaft, and by means of a screw x this spring
may be forced against the face of the wheel and stop the machine or regu-
late its motion so as to run at the desired speed. By the use of the fusee
a uniform power is derived from the springs, as when the springs are
extended to their utmost the chain is wound around the smallest.
diameter of the fusee, and it gradually unwinds from the larger diameter
as the springs descend and their power decreases. Any kind of spring
capable of being extended may be used, or the elliptical spring may be
compressed and their force exerted in opening will be sufficient to give
power to run the machine, but the elliptic spring as shewn applied is
preferred on account of the facilities it presents both in construction and
the amount of power it is capable of exerting.
The spiral spring shewn in plan and elevation at Figures 4 and 5 when
made of sufficient strength would serve the purpose of this Invention, or
the serpentine or folded spring, shewn at Fig. 6, may be adopted, and for
some machines these might be preferable to the elliptical spring, but for
operating sewing machines where the power to be exerted should be
great and uniform the elliptic spring is preferable. By the use of this
motive power sewing machines can be operated without the use of the
treadle, thus saving much labor in working them, and allowing the
operator to attend more particularly to the work being done by the
machine. By simply turning the screw so as to press the spring upon
the balance wheel the working of the machine may be stopped on the
instant, and by turning the screw so as to relieve the pressure it can be
again set in motion without the operator moving from the seat. The
springs necessary for running a sewing machine will furnish power
to run it and continuously for about one hour, but under ordinary

page_text: circumstances where it is necessary frequently to stop the machine to
shift and rearrange the work it will run with one winding up for two
hours and over, after which it will be necessary to rewind it. This can
be done quite easily, if desired, while the operator remains sitting.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Obtaining Motive Power for Sewing and other Machines," as com
municated to me from abroad, and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, obtaining a store or reserve of
driving power applicable to sewing and other light running machines by
the mechanical device above described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here.
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-
nine.