IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Ward at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 9th September 1880.
EDWARD WARD, of Wells Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
My Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines, and
consists :-
Firstly, in so arranging the machine that when not in use the handle and
platform or work-plate may be caused to lie within the area of the base plate,
instead of projecting beyond as has generally been the case hitherto, thereby
enabling the machine to pack closer and greatly facilitating transport.
For this purpose I divide the work-plate or platform into two or more sections,
one of such sections being a fixture as at present, and I hinge the moveable portion
or portions to the fixed part, so that the moveable portion or portions may be turned
down when desired, and I mount beneath the fixed portion one or more turn
buttons or swivelled brackets, which act in conjunction with an incline or inclines
on the moveable portion or portions, and may be turned into position when required
to support the moveable portion or portions and thus complete the work-plate or
platform, or other means may be employed to support the moveable portions of
the work-plate or platform in position.
I hinge the handle to the hand wheel and form the butt of the handle with two
flats thereon to act in combination with a spring, so that the handle will either
stand at right angles to the hand wheel ready for work, or will lie down thereon
for transport, no portion thereof requiring to be detached from the machine.
The Invention relates, secondly, to means for facilitating the threading of the
machine. For this purpose I mount on the arm of the machine, at the back of or
near to the tension discs, two horns which are twisted into the form of thread
carriers with open loops or cyes; and I form the top of the needle bar and the
other thread carrier or carriers with a diagonal saw cut leading to the eye thereof,
and I also form the loop or staple through which the thread passes to and from
the spring take-up and the eye of the take-up itself open at one point. I limit
the extent of motion of the take-up by means of a guide in which it travels, such
guide and the loop or staple being formed in one piece and held in position by a
screw.

page_text: By these means the thread, instead of being threaded through the carriers in the
manner of threading a needle, may be readily slipped into place at any portion of
its length.
The Invention relates, thirdly, to means for facilitating the threading of the
shuttle, and for regulating the tension of the shuttle thread.
B
For this purpose I hinge the shuttle bar to the shuttle at one end, and extend the
other end nearly around the interior of the shuttle, so that the bar and its extension
form a frame, which may be turned outward on the hinge when it is desired to
remove the bobbin or to thread the shuttle, but which at other times lies within
the shuttle, and acts to retain the bobbin in place.
The upper extension of the frame has tension holes formed therein, and the upper
part of the shuttle is also formed with a tension hole, and such tension holes have
slits or saw cuts leading thereto, those in the frame leading in from the opposite
side to that in the shuttle, by which means the thread may be readily slipped into
position without the trouble of threading in the ordinary manner, and cannot
possibly work out therefrom.