Improved Means for Guiding and Feeding Folded or Welted Fabrics while they are being Stitched by a Sewing Machine.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by EBENEZER BAKER WELCH, of No. 823, Main Street,
Cambridge, State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Gentleman.]
Improved Means for Guiding and Feeding Folded or Welted Fabrics
while they are being Stitched by a Sewing Machine.
I, OLIVER IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, 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 :--
This invention has for its object to provide improved means for guiding and feeding
folded or welted fabrics while they are being stitched by a sewing machine, and it
consists in the several improvements hereinaftor describod relating to the feed bar and
presser foot of a sewing machine.
:
Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1
represents a perspective view of the feed dog forming a part of my invention. Fig. 2
represents a perspective view of the presser foot. Fig. 3 represents a side elevation
of the feed dog, presser foot and needle. Fig. 4 represents a section on line xx,
Fig. 3. Fig. 5 represents an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 4, showing the fabric
and welt as guided by my invention. Fig. represents a perspective view of a
presser foot having a folding guide. Fig. 7 represents a front view of the foot shown
in Fig. 6, and a section of the feed dog.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all of the figures.
In the drawings,
a represents the feed bar or dog of a sewing machine. Said feed bar is operated
by any suitable mechanism adapted to give it the usual horizontal and vertical
reciprocating motions. At one edge of the feed bar is a lip or guide a¹, which
projects above the serrated portions of the feed bar and above the throat plate c of the
machine, the upper edge of said lip or guide being higher than the under surface
of the presser foot when the latter is in its normal position. Said lip is so
arranged that its inner side supports and guides the edge of a fold or welt d in a piece
of fabric, keeping said edge in the proper relation to the needle e while its upper edge
supports that part of the fabric which projects beyond the welt, as seen in Fig. 5.
The upper edge of the lip a' is preferably serrated to enable it to feed the fabric
resting upon it. The lip a is preferably arranged with its highest. portion in
advance of the presser foot, as shown in Fig. 3, the upper edge of the lip being
inclined downwardly so that at that part of the presser foot which contains the
needle hole, the upper edge of the lip is but little higher than the operating
surface of the feed dog.
It will be seen that the lip or guide enables a welted piece of fabric to be stitched
at a uniform distance from the edge of the welt, and ensures the feeding of the pro-
jecting edge of the upper ply or fold of the welt at the same rate as the portion
resting on the ordinary acting face of the feed dog.
The presser foot has a recess f¹ in its under surface and inner edge to receive the
portion of the fabric that rests on the lip or guide a¹.
In Figures 6 and 7, I have shown a folding guide i attached to the presser foot and
formed and arranged to hold the welt against the lip a', as shown in Fig. 7.
It will be seen that by the conjoint action of the folding guide on the presser
foot and the lip or guido a' on the feed bar, the welted edge is accurately guided
and controlled so that it will be necessarily uniform in width, and will be stitched at
a uniform distance from its outer edge.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is :
1. The combination with a presser foot, of a feed bar having at one edge a lip
or guide projecting above the throat plate and above the operative surface of the
presser foot, and serrated on its upper edge, as set forth.
2. A feed bar having at one edge a lip or guide projecting above the throat plate,
combined with a presser foot recessed to receive the upper edge of said lip, as set
forth.
3. The combination with the feed bar having the raised lip or guide, of a presser
foot having a folding guide arranged to hold a fold or welt against said lip, as set
forth.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.