IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Frederick Thomas, of Newgate Street, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.""
Sealed the 24th March 1857, and dated the 16th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Frederick Thomas
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1856.
I, WILLIAM FREDERICK THOMAS, of Newgate Street, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to bo as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines. For
these purposes, in order to keep the edges of the materials to be sewn up to
the guide (as in making gloves and parts of garments), discs or rollers on
axes placed in an oblique direction to the movement of the materials are used
together with the guide, or, in place of such oblique rollers or discs, instru-
ments moving towards the guide may be employed, such instruments having
motion communicated to them in such manner as to admit of their passing
back from the guide without moving back the materials, as is well understood
when moving materials past the needle for making the stitch.
When binding the edges of articles by a sewing machine, a rotatory brush
is employed to keep the binding material in position; or in place of such
rotatory brush a reciprocating instrument, such as. is used for feeding the

page_text: material to the needle, may with advantage be made to press the binding
towards the edge of the article to be bound therewith.
In order to facilitate the passing of the loop (drawn through the fabric or
material by the passing of the needle) over a shuttle or bobbin, an excentric
or other similar instrument is used, which gives motion to a lever in such
manner that its end is caused to enter the loop, and to hold it in a convenient
manner for the passing of the bobbin or shuttle which carries the second
thread.
The excentric or like acting instrument moves the lever to and fro on its
axis, and up and down at its point to accommodate for the passage of the
needle and loop for receiving the second thread.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Frederick Thomas in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FREDERICK THOMAS, of Newgate Street, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Frederick Thomas, Her special licence that 1, the said William Frederick
Thomas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Frederick Thomas, 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,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Frederick Thomas, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Frederick Thomas, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements- in sewing machines. For
these purposes, in order to keep the edges of the materials to be sewn up to
the guide (as in making gloves and parts of garments), discs or rollers on axes
placed in an oblique direction to the movement of the materials are used
together with the guide; or in place of such oblique rollers or discs, instru-
ments moving towards the guide may be employed, such instruments having
motion communicated to them in such manner as to admit of their passing
back from the guide without moving back the materials, as is well understood;
when the moving materials pass the needle for making the stitch.
When binding the edges of articles by a sewing machine, a rotatory brush
is employed to keep the binding material in position; or in place of such
rotatory brush, a reciprocating instrument, such as is used for feeding the
material to the needle, may with advantage be made to press the binding
towards the edge of the article to be bound therewith.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows so much of a front elevation of an ordinary sewing machino
as will enable me to describe the first part of my Invention. Figure 2 shows
a side elevation of some of the parts separately. a is the needle attached to a
slide, and is moved up and down by a cam acting on a lever in the ordinary
manner; b is part of the lever which actuates the shuttle, as has heretofore
been practised; c is a moveable foot roughed at its under surface for moving
the fabric as heretofore; d is a roller or disc on an oblique axis, under which
the fabric is moved, and by reason of the axis being set obliquely across the
line in which the fabric is moved the roller presses the edge of the fabric up
to the guide or stop e. The frame d' of the roller d is connected with a slide d³,
and is pressed downwards by an india-rubber or other suitable spring d³ affixed
at one end to the fixed guides of the slide d².
When sewing two pieces of fabric together, and where the two edges are
required to be pressed up towards two stops or guides opposite to each other,
two rollers or dises d, d, are used, as shewn in Figure 3, one pressing on the
upper piece of fabric or material, so as to press its edge towards the upper
stop a, whilst the under roller presses the under fabric or material in the.
opposite direction against the under stop a³, and this is accomplished by having
the axes of the two rollers set at opposite angles, and the rollers are respectively

page_text: pressed downwards and upwards against their respective fabrics or materials.
In place of using rollers set on oblique axes, feet or instruments having
roughed surfaces, such as are used for moving the fabric or fabrics a distance
after each stitch or passage of the needle, may be used, set at an angle to the
course of the movement of the fabrics, and by having a movement given
to such feet (when pressing on the fabrics) the edges will be forced up
towards the stops by such feet or instruments, but it is preferred to employ
discs or rollers on axes placed oliquely to the line of motion of the fabrics, as
such rollers simply require to be pressed constantly on to the fabrics. Figure 4
shows a front elevation of part of an ordinary sewing machine, with a brush
applied thereto, according to my Invention, to aid in keeping binding correctly
in position on the edge of the material to be bound; f is a rotatory brush,
which by its rotation constantly presses the binding g, which is shewn by red
lines smoothly under the material h, which is shewn by a blue line; or, in
place of such rotating brush, an instrument having a brush or roughed surface
may be used, and be moved across the under surface of the binding when
pressed up against the under surface of such binding, in a similar manner to
that above described for forcing up the edges of fabrics to the stops, as before
explained.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is,-
First, the mode herein described of applying discs, or rollers on oblique
axes in combination with sewing machines, and I also claim the application of
feet or instruments in place thereof, as above explained.
And, secondly, I claim the application of a brush or instrument for assisting
in correctly placing and holding "binding" in sewing machines, as berein
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Frederick Thomas, have here-
• unto set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
year of
Witness,
GEO. HASELDEN.
.
W. F. THOMAS. (L.S.)