CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Birch, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Sewing Machine Maker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 29th April 1870, and dated the 1st November 1869,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Birch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st November 1869.
I, WILLIAM BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Sewing
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to sewing machines used for sewing or stitching
the ends of pieces of cloth for calico printers, dyers, and others, and
consists in the application to the machine of improved machinery for
guiding the cloth and starting and stopping the machine by self-acting
means. Hitherto the piece ends to be sewn or stitched were guided and
the machine started and stopped by the person tending the machine, but

page_text: with my improvements the person has only to feed or supply the cloth
to the machine. I place the ordinary treddle connected with the brake
and driving motion at the left side of the machine, and give pressure to
tho treddle by a lever and spring, and to the framework or other con-
venient place I joint a weighted arm having on the end one or more pins
and a stripper, and on the arm there is an adjustable screw in contact
with the lever when the machine is stopped, which screw adjusts the
position of the arm to different widths of cloth as required, and the axis
of the arm is out of the centre of the machine for enabling the stripper
to rise as it travels on the cloth plate. When the machine is stopped
the arm is in an angular position with its adjustable screw pressing on
the lever; and when the cloth has to be sewn or stitched it is hooked on
to the pin or pins, and its front end placed under the needle on the feed,
which action raises the arm and lifts the adjustable screw from the lever,
so as to allow the spring to cause the lever to press the treddle and set
the machine to work; and as the cloth is fed onwards it draws up the
arm until the stripper is raised by pressing on the cloth plate and
releasing the pin or pins from the cloth, thereby allowing the arm to fall
down and cause its adjustable screw to act on the lever to raise the
treddle and stop the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Sewing Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Birch, Her special licence
that I, the said William Birch, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Birch, 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

page_text: therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Birch, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 William Birch, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
=
This Invention relates to sewing machines principally used for sewing
or stitching the ends of pieces of cloth for calico printers, dyers, and
others, and consists in the application to the machine of improved
apparatus for guiding the cloth and starting and stopping the machine
by self-acting means. Hitherto the piece ends to be sewn or stitched
were guided and the machine started and stopped by the person tending
it, but with my improvements the person has only to feed or supply tho
cloth.
The manner in which this Invention is to be performed will be clearly
understood by the following particular description thercof, reference
being had to the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are side and front elevations drawn to
a scale of two inches to the foot of a sewing machine provided with my
improvements, and Figs. 3 and 4 are views of parts of the same drawn
about full size.
I place the treddle a of the treddle lever b, c, connected with the
ordinary break strap d and driving motion e at the left side of the
machine, and give pressure to the treddle for setting the machine to
work by a lever f, g, and spring h, and to the framework i or other
convenient place I joint a weighted arm k, having at its outer end a
plate 1, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, carrying one or more pins m and a stripper n,
and on the arm there is an adjustable screw o in contact with the aim f
of the lever f, g, when the machine is stopped, which screw adjusts the
-

page_text: position of the arm to the required different widths of cloth, for when
the screw is turned back and the strap p lengthened the outer end of the
arm is lowered, but if the screw is turned in the reverse direction the
end of the arm is raised. The cloth plate q is concentric with a point in
a vertical line central with the machine, but the axis r of the arm k is
out of the centre for enabling the stripper " to rise as it travels on the
cloth plate. When the arm k is adjusted for any required width of cloth
and the machine is stopped, the arm is in its lowest position with its
adjustable screw o pressing on the arm of the lever f, g, and raising
the arm g to enable the weighted arm c to keep down the break strap
and hold the cone of the driving motion e out of gear. When the ends
of two pieces of cloth have to be stitched the ends are placed together,
after which the back end of the two pieces is hooked on to the projecting
pin or pins m, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and the front end placed over the cloth
plate q on to the pins s of the feed motion and under the needle, which
action raises the arm to the position shewn by the dotted lines and lifts
the adjustable screw o, so as to allow the spring / to raise the arm fand
lower the arm g to press down the treddle a, arm b, and raise the arm c
to lift the break strap from the break wheel and put in gear the driving
motion e to set the machine to work, and as the cloth is fed onwards it
draws up the arm & until the stripper is raised, as shewn in Fig. 4, and
releases the cloth from the pin or pins m, so as to allow the arm k to fall
and cause its adjustable screw to depress the arm fand raise the arm g,
to enable the weighted arm to press the break strap on the break wheel
and shift the cone of the driving motion out of gear and stop the
machine, after which the stitched ends are removed from the pins of the
feed motion, and to an unstitched end an end of another piece is placed,
and then hooked on the pins on the feed motion and arm k, and so on
for as many pieces as required, and it is evident that this improved
apparatus for guiding the cloth and starting and stopping the machine
by self-acting means can be readily applied to sewing machines used
for sewing the seams of trousers and other articles having seams or
joinings.

page_text: stripper n for holding and releasing the cloth, as all such improvements
are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Birch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Birch, in
the presence of
G. S. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
WILLIAM BIRCH. (L.S.)