An Improved Sewing Machine Attachment for Stitching Button Holes, and for other analogous purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 16th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 26th Mar., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Sewing Machine Attachment for Stitching Button
Holes, and for other analogous purposes.
We GEORGE SPEIGHT of Smith Street, Bradford, in the County of York,
Drysalter, SAMUEL CHAPMAN of 70 Herbert Street, Blackley, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinist and RICHARD TODD of 13 Mason Street, Manchester in the
County of Lancaster, Embroiderer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
Our said invention relates to an improved attachment for application to ordinary
lock-stitch sewing machines whereby such ordinary machines are rendered capable
of stitching button holes or of edging, lining or overcasting as is well understood.
Our attachment can be easily applied to and removed from a sewing machine by an
unskilled person so that an ordinary machine can be quickly transformed into a
button hole or over-casting machine and as quickly returned to its normal
condition. Our improved attachment has also the property of producing a button
hole stitch having the same appearance as that produced by hand. For the
purposes of our invention we use two needles fixed side by side in the ordinary
needle bar and through the eyes of the said needles we pass two threads from
spools mounted on the machine the said threads passing through the usual or
suitable tension appliances. The shuttle thread beneath acts in unison with these
two threads. In making the stitch a part of the attachment engages with and
carries the outer thread across the inner needle as it descends, the continuity of
the thread beneath the feed plate lying on the opposite side of the inner needle
which thus passes down into a loop. On the up stroke of the needles the shuttle
passes through the loops of both needle threads, thus making the necessary binding
pick the loops being thus drawn up so as to form the stitch on the edge of the
button hole. The ridge formed by the engagement of the loops lies along the upper
edge of the button hole stitching presenting the same appearance as a hand sewn
button hole. The attachment whereby the required motions and dwells are obtained
is constructed as follows. We attach a bracket either to the front of the machine
or to the presser bar so made as to be easily shipped and unshipped. Upon this
bracket we pivot a plate or arm having the general form of a bell crank lever.
Upon the same bracket but at a different point we pivot a second plate or arm lying
in contact with the first and carrying an adjustable latch which lies parallel or
about parallel with a similar extension from the first plate or arm. The second
plate has a curved slot through which passes the shank of the screw which pivots
the first plate or arm upon the bracket. At the foot of the second plate or arm is
a pin which projects through a slot in the first plate, the two slots allowing for the
differential movements of the two plates or armis arising from the different pivots.
A pin projecting from the needle bar extends between the two latches or extensions
from the two arms or plates and thus the latter are rocked by the up and down
motions of the needle bar. The differential pivotting of the plates or armis is
chiefly for the purpose of allowing the latch on the second plate to readily clear the
pin on the needle bar on the down stroke. The foot of the first plate is connected
by a link to a pivotted hook lying in the horizontal plane, the said pivotted hook
being the means whereby the thread of the front needle is caught and carried
across the second needle as already described. When the machine is at work the
reciprocating needle bar vibrates the aforesaid pivotted plates or arms and swivels
the pivotted hook to and fro so as to perform the functions herein set forth.
The presser foot is formed with a toe or projection which enters the button hole

page_text: slit or bears on the edge of the material so as to act as a guide. Means are
provided whereby we are enabled to vary and adjust the amount of movement
imparted to the reciprocating hook.
Dated this 21st day of November 1891.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Sewing Machine Attachment for Stitching Button
Holes, and for other analogous purposes.
We GEORGE SPEIGHT of Smith Street, Bradford, in the County of York,
Drysalter, SAMUEL CHAPMAN of 70 Herbert Street, Blackley, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinist, and RICILARD TODD of 13 Mason Street, Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Embroiderer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:
:-
Our said invention relates to an improved attachment for application to ordinary
lock-stitch sewing machines whereby such ordinary machines are rendered capable
of stitching button holes or of edging lining or overcasting as is well understood.
Our attachment can be easily applied to and removed from a sewing machine by an
unskilled person so that an ordinary machine can be quickly transformed into a
button hole or overcasting machine and as quickly returned to its normal condition.
Our improved attachment has also the property of producing a button-hole stitch
having the same appearance as that produced by hand.
To render our invention fully understood we will now proceed to describe the
same particularly and with reference to the annexed sheet of drawings :-
On the said sheet the first four figs. illustrate the button hole stitch and its
formation :-
Fig. is an enlarged plan view of the button hole stitch executed by our
improved appliance.
Fig. 2 is also a plan view showing the two needles in the act of executing the
stitch.
Fig. 3 is an edge view of the button hole stitch.
Fig. 4 is a sectional view at the line A B (Fig. 1) in further illustration of the
stitch.
The remaining eight figs. illustrate the mechanism for executing the stitch. The
said figs. are drawn to an enlarged scale and only so much of the sewing machine is
shown as is necessary to render our invention perfectly clear.
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of our improved button holing appliance.
Fig. 6 is a front view of Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 is a section of the presser foot bar showing the detachable bracket d upon
which the greater part of the mechanism is pivotted.
Fig. 8 is a horizontal section of Fig. 5 at the line C D Fig. 5.
Fig. 9 shows the path described by the hooker relatively to the needles a a'.
Figs. 10, 11, and 12 illustrate modifications of the hooker and carrier.
Referring to the said figs. a portion of the arm E of the sewing machine appears
in Fig. 5 and also the lower end of the needle bar box F. In carrying our inven-
tion into effect we use two needles a a' as is the case in other forms of button holing
appliances. These two needles a a' are fixed side by side in the ordinary needle
bar b. Through the eye of the needle a we pass a thread 1 and through the eye
of the needle a we pass a thread 2 the said threads being led from spools carried.
on the arm of the machine as is usual and passing through the ordinary or suitable
tension appliances. The threads 1 and 2 are indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 5,
6 and 8. The shuttle thread which is marked 3 in the illustrations of the stitch,

page_text: acts in unison with the threads 1 and 2 as will be afterwards explained. The
mechanism for operating the hooker e consists of the following parts. We provide
a bracket d having an open side and adapted to be secured to the presser foot bar e
by a screw f
This bracket is separately shown in plan in Fig. 7. Upon this bracket are
pivotted the parts which operate the hooker c It will be noted that on the
bracket & there are two pivots one marked g and the other . Upon the pivot g
there is hung a plate and upon the pivot a plate j. The upper part of the
plate i is formed with a horn which lies immediately over a pin k projecting from
the needle bar b. The foot of the plate i carries a stud / adjustable in a slot in the
plate and the said stud engages with a slot in the outer end of the hasp link m
which connects the plate with the upper end of a pivotted carrier n which is
pivotted at o to the presser foot p The plate as has been said is pivotted at / to
the bracket d and is formed with a curved slot as shown so as to vibrate free from
interference with the pivot study. The foot of the plate carries a stud pin q
which enters a slot in the tail of the plate. Thus the plates and are connected
at the foot so as to vibrate together although being hung at different points their
movements are differentiated from each other. The reason of these differential
movements of the plates and will become evident from what follows. It will be
seen that upon the plate a finger is secured. This finger projects towards and
at times comes beneath the stud according to the position occupied by the parts.
In Fig. I the needle bar is supposed to be rising, lifting, the horn and vibrating
the plates inwards towards the needles. When the needle bar is at the top of
its stroke it will be found that the finger rowing to the larger radius through
which it swings and consequent slower movement has come beneath the stud k.
On the return downward stroke of the needle bar the stud k pushes down the
finger thus swinging both plates i outwards and the outward motion is continued
until the finger by virtue of its differential movement has swung clear of the
stud whereupon the outward motion of the plates ceases and they remain at rest
until the needle bar. has completed its descent and is again rising. This pause at
the end of the outward motion of the plates gives the dwell which is necessary
to allow of the completion of the stitch and will be hereinafter further
alluded to.
It will now be understood that the said intermittent to and fro swing of the
plates is communicated by the hasp link m to the pivotted carrier_n. The said
carrier has centred upon it at the foot a hookere which vibrates freely upon its
pivot t and is constantly drawn towards the carrier n by a spring one end of
which is secured to the carrier while the other free end engages with the arm c¹
of the hooker and tends to draw the hooker inwards. To enable the hook nose of
the hooker to pass across in front of the needle a' and at the same time to get round*
rather to the rear of the needles at the end of each stroke, in short to describe a
curved path similar to that indicated at Fig. 9 with relation to the needles, we form
the arm of the hooker with vee shaped cam surfaces or inclines as clearly shown
at Fig. 8 which cam inclines act in concert with a stud and with a spring u in
such a manner that when the hooker is carried across the needles it is at the
same time moved outwards by the arm e' slipping up and over the stud thus
pushing the hook nose outwards and allowing it to pass in front of the needle a
The dotted lines in Fig. 8 indicate the position occupied by the hooker at the end
of its outward stroke.
The presser foot is formed on its lower side with a toe or projection w which acts
as a guide in sewing button holes or in edging cloth.
Having in the foregoing description tried to make the construction and arrange-
ment of the parts of our appliance plain to the reader we will now describe the
operations of the mechanism when put to work. It has already been pointed out
that the stitch consists of three threads ciz. the thread 1 passing through the
needle a the thread 2 passing the needle a' and the binding thread 3 which is the
shuttle thread. It will be seen in Fig. 1 that the stitch formed by the thread 1 is

page_text: drawn up to the edge of the fabric and that a loop of the thread 2 passes between
the stitches at the edge as most clearly seen at Fig. 3 while the loop of the
thread 2 is in its turn looped and held by the shuttle thread 3 which at the same
time engages with and binds the thread 1 at the under side of the fabric. The
stitch 1 is so drawn over by the hooker c, which on completion of the up stroke of
the needle is swung to its outside position and seizing the thread from the
needle a draws it over while the needles are descending. At the same time the
cloth is fed forward thus taking the last stitch well behind the needles so that
that portion of the thread which is drawn across and in front of the needle a¹ forms
a loop (as indicated at Fig. 2 and also in dotted lines at Fig. 8) into which loop
the needle a descends carrying with it the thread 2. On its return stroke the
loop of the thread 2 (and at the same time the loop of the thread 1) is caught by
the shuttle thread at the under side of the fabric in the usual manner and the
loop 2 draws the shuttle thread up towards the upper edge of the button hole as
clearly shown in Fig. 3 the shuttle thread at the same time preventing the loop of
the thread 2 from escaping from the horizontal loop of the thread 1.
The requisite
dwell in the movements of the hooker c to allow of the ascent and descent of the
needles is brought about by the differentially pivotted plates ijin the manner
already described. By adjusting the tension appliances the looping together of the
various threads can be consolidated and drawn together as closely as possible.
along the upper edge of the button hole thus presenting an appearance similar to
that of hand sewn button holes. The whole appliance may be quickly removed
and the sewing machine rendered capable of doing ordinary work by throwing the
slotted hasp link m clear of the stud and slackening the screw of the bracket d
thereby removing everything except the hooker and carrier which also can be taken
away by removing the pivot screw o. The hooker and carrier are capable of
modification without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example as
in Fig. 10 the hooker c might be in the form of a simple pusher hook pivotted at t
upon the presser foot p. In this case motion would be imparted to the hooker by
connecting it at o to a link extending from the vibrating plate i.
We have found however that this simple form of hooker cannot always be
adapted to carry the thread through the proper are the curve of the are not being
sufficient to take the hooker from the rear across the front of the needle and so to
the rear again. To overcome this defect we might mount the hooker as in Fig. 11 upon
a pivotted plates. The plates would be held against the stop pin w by a spring and
the inner curved surface of the hooker in revolving would act as a cam to push the
plates back and with it the pivot of the hooker thus drawing the nose of the hooker
back after it has passed in front of the needle a¹ with the thread hooked from
the needle a. Another form of hooker might be as in Fig. 12. The carrier n is
pivotted to the presser foot at o and is connected by a link to the vibrating plate i.
The hooker is hinged at t to the carrier and is held against the face of the
presser foot by a spring similar to the spring referred to in describing Figs. 5, 6
and 8.
To give the hooker the requisite outward motion as it swings to and fro so as
to come in front of the needle a' we fix a rounded stud head in the presser foot.
As the hooker swings to and fro it slides over this stud point that is to say the
portion marked c² slides over the stud the hooker being forced outward to the
extent represented by the protuberance of the stud head.
In addition to button hole stitching as hereinbefore described our invention may
be used for line stitching, edging and embroidering different effects being produced
by varying the respective tensions of the threads and by using threads of different
colours. The whole attachment can be easily and cheaply produced as the various
parts may be pressed, stamped and bent from flat sheet metal.
The appliance does not require nice fitting or adjustinent nor is it liable to get
out of order. No material change is required to be made in the machine to which
it is applied and its application or removal can be effected by an unskilled person
in a short space of time.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The general arrangement construction and combination of parts comprising
the improved means or appliance for attaching temporarily to sewing machines so
as to enable them to sew button holes or execute edging or line or fancy stitching
substantially as described and shown.
2. The improved means or appliance for attaching temporarily to sewing
machines for the indicated purposes and consisting of two plates or parts
differentially pivotted to a removable bracket and formed with or carrying horns
or fingers which are operated by a projection from the needle bar so as to vibrate
the plates with the requisite dwells between in such a manner as to rock a carrier
at intervals upon which is pivotted a hooker operating in the described manner the
whole acting in conjunction with two needles carried by the ordinary needle
bar and constructed and operating substantially as hereinbefore described and
shown.
3. The hooker c pivotted on the rocking carrier n and formed with a hook nose
to seize and carry the thread from the outer needle across the path of the inner
needle the said hooker being governed by a spring and having also a cam face
which works against a fixed abutment so as to give the hooker the requisite
oscillating movement on its pivot to enable it to pass in front of and to clear the
path of the inner needle substantially as hereinbefore described and shown.
4. The vibrating hooker either pivotted directly to the presser foot as in
Fig. 10 or upon a moveable plate in conjunction with a fixed abutment as in
Fig. 11.
5. A hooker as shown at Fig. 12 hinged to a rocking carrier and governed by a
spring, the requisite outward and inward movements being effected by a rounded
stud head over which a portion of the hooker slips during its to and fro movements
substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 15th day of February 1892.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents.