Improved ÅttACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FOR FOLDING PLAITS."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Orange McConnell Chamberlain, of the City and
State of New York, United States of America, for the Invention of
“Improved ÅttACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FOR FOLDING PLAITS."
IMPROVED ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FOR FOLDING PLAITS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Orange McConnell
Chamberlain at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 26th June 1872.
I, ORANGE MºCONNELL CHAMBERLAIN, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FOR
FOLDING PLAITS," to be as follows:―
This machine is for folding the cloth or fabric into plaits in its
passage to the sewing mechanism. Reciproating plaiters have been
used for folding cloth in its passage to the pressing rollers that crease
the fabric, but with woollen goods these plaiting machines are valueless,

page_text: because the material does not remain in a folded condition for subsc-
quent sewing.
My machine folds the fabric, and presents it to the sewing machine
feed in such a manner that the plaits are held until secured by the
stitching, and the mechanism is such that a fold or seam can be passed
over without interfering with the correctness of the fold or plait. A
reciprocating and rocking plaiter is employed, having an edge composed
of a range of springs that press upon the cloth, and carry it forward to
make the fold or plait, and this plaiter is reciprocated by connecting
rods from a rocking shaft attached by joints on the upper side of the
plaiter, and the ends of the plaiter slide in guides, hence as the rocking
shaft acts to move the plaiter forwards it first presses down upon the
fabric the edge formed of the range of springs, and these accomodate
themselves to the thickness of the fabric, or the various portions thereof,
and the further movement produces a fold in the fabric that is carried
forward to the point where the ordinary sewing and feeding mechanism
act to draw the fabric along, and stitch the same, either at right angles
to the plait or diagonal thereto. Upon the return movement the con-
necting rods tend to lift the feeding edge off the cloth, as well as to
draw back the plaiter. The rock shaft receives a movement every given
number of stitches through the agency of a ratchet wheel, crank, and
connection with the needle bar, and these are variable so as to produce
different widths of folds or plaits.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Orange McConnell Chamberlain in the Great Seal 28
Patent Office on the 20th December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ORANGE
MCCONNELL CHAMBERLAIN, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
'

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Orange McConnell Chamberlain, Her
special licence that I, the said Orange McConnell Chamberlain, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Orange McConnell Chamberlain, my exccutors, 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 " IMPROVED ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES
FOR FOLDING PLAits," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Orange McConnell Chamberlain, 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 Orange M'Connell Chamberlain, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being made to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 is a plau of the plaiting
mechanism in a form adapted to ordinary straight plaiting.
Fig. 3 is a plan, Fig. 4 is a side view, and Fig. 5 is a section of the
plaiter in a form adapted to making a double or box plait, such as repre-
sented in Fig. 6.
Fig. 7 is a plan, and Fig. 8 is a side view of the plaiter adapted to
plaiting goods diagonally to the line of stitching, the plaited material
being represented in Fig. 9.
The plaiting mechanism is to be made with reference to the character
of the sewing machine to which it is to be applied.
In the following description I have set forth the special features of
novelty and the operation of the parts, so that the machinist can adapt
the Invention to the various circumstances under which it is to be used.

page_text: The improvements in question are for folding a strip of cloth into a
plait, and presenting the same directly to the feeding and sewing
mechanism of the sewing machine, so that the plait may be retained by
a line of stitching. This is accomplished by a blade that is reciprocated
sufficiently to gather up the cloth, and rocked to press the edge upon
the fabric in plaiting the same, and lift the edge off as the blade returns
above the cloth. The plait is made either single or double, and either
at right angles to the length of the strip or diagonally to the same.
When the plait is made single it is of the character shown in Fig. 10;
when made double it is usually called a box plait, such as shown in
Fig. 6. In any case the plaits are to be held together by a line of
stitching running across them, and this line of stitching may also unite
a tape or strip of material to form a heading.
The bed a is suitable for attachment to the sewing machine; the
ratchet wheel b is revolved by a pawl and lever or connection b¹ to the
sewing machine needle arm, or shaft, or other moving part. The
plaiting blade c is set to slide back and forth in guides or ways d, and is
held upon a cross shaft or bar e, and the motion is given by connecting
rods fconnecting with the arms g.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the connecting rods are in two parts, extending
from the crank pin i to the intermediate arm h on the rock shaft 2, so
that the adjustment can be by varying the connection in the holes at 3
to give the plaiting blade c more or less motion by a given motion of the
crank-pin i, but in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 7, & 8 the crank pin i is variable in position
to effect the same object, and the rock shaft and arms h are dispensed
with. As the plaiting blade is slid back and forth in the ways dits
edge is raised as it is drawn back and pressed down upon the fabric, as
it is forced forward in consequence of the rocking movement upon the
cross bar e resulting from the arm g extending off nearly at right angles
to the blade. The result of this movement is that the fabric is carried
forward by the edge of the blade, a plait formed, and the edge of that
plait carried in under the presser foot of the sewing machine, so that
the fabric is carried along by the sewing machine feed in its folded
condition, and the folds united by the row of stitching.
It is preferable in some machines to insert in the presser foot la
roller n, having a roughened surface or a surface of points that ensure

page_text: uniformity in the movement of the plait in its ontiro width. The edge
of the plaiting blade is represented in Figs. 2 & 3 as made of a number
of separate spring fingers to press uniformly upon the cloth, even when
a seam is being passed through, or there is inequality in the thickness
of the fabric.
In Figs. 3, 4, & 5 the plaiters c are duplicated and act alternately, and
the fabric passes in between them. The lower plaiter acts against the
under side of the presser foot 1, and makes the plait downwardly, and
the upper plaiter acts upon the surface of the bed, and makes the next
plait upwardly, so that the box plaiting is produced that is shown in
Fig. 6. The crank pins i are made double, and set at opposite sides of
the centers, so that onc plaiter c is moving back as the other comes
forward and plaits the fabric, and the cranks are adjustable to vary the
length of motion.
Springs b applied to the cross bars e apply friction at the journal boxes
in the guide ways d, so that the crank arms g raise and lower the
operative edge of the plaiting blade before moving the same bodily.
In Figs. 7 and 8 the parts before described are represented, and the
operation is the same, but in consequence of the parts being placed at
an inclination to the line of feed the plaiting is made with a fold
diagonal to its length, and to the line of stitching that unites the said
plaits, as represented in Fig. 9. The strip of material operated upon is
fed in nearly in line with the direction of the sewing, and hence the
diagonal plait is carried by the folding blade diagonally to the strip, and
into the path of the feeding mechanism of the sewing machine. A slot
provided at in the presser foot 7 serves for a tape or strip of cloth to
pass in above the fold, and form a heading for the plaited fabric. The
direction of feed is indicated in Fig. 7 by the dotted lines u, u.

page_text: to the line of feed in the sewing machine to present a diagonally folded
plait to the sewing mechanism, as set forth.
Fourth. Two reciprocating blades operating alternately, and between
which the fabric to be plaited passes, and is folded to form a box plait,
as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Orange McConnell Chamberlain,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of
November, A.D. 1872.
ORANGE MCCONNELL CHAMBERLAIN. (L.S.)
Witnesses,
CHA". H. SMITH, New York, N.Y.
GEO. T. PINCKNEY,
"
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