Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th July, 1898-Accepted, 1st Oct.,
1898
THE DINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of New
York, United States of America, Sewing Machine Manufacturers.]
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
I, WILLIAM HARVEY INSLEE, Manager of The Singer Manufacturing Company,
Kilbowie, Dumbartonshire, 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:—
My invention relates to that class of single-thread chain-stitch machines in
which vibrating or rocking hooks co-operate with the needles in forming the
chain-stitch seams. In this class of machines it is desirable that the hooks should
be made light and slender, and more particularly so when the machines are con-
structed to produce several closely arranged parallel seams simultaneously, or, in
other words, when constructed as multiple machines. But with the use of these
slender vibrating hooks there is danger, should the needles be slightly deflected in
passing through the work, that the hooks may pass on the wrong sides of the
needles and thus fail to catch the loops of needle thread. To avoid this trouble
I provide the rocking looper holder with a guard for each of the needles carried
by the needle-bar, this guard being formed by the side walls of a slot made in a
forwardly extended part of the looper holder, said slot being so arranged that
the needle will be in the same when below the point of the looper hook, and will
thus be guided and steadied by the side walls of said slots. For a single seam
machine, employing but one needle, there will, of course, be but one needle guard
or slot in the looper holder or looper shank, but with a multiple machine there
will be as many needle guards or slots in the looper-holder as there are needles.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a partial sectional side view of a
sewing machine embodying my invention. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are detail plan, side
and bottom views, respectively, of the looper holder and loopers, and Figs. 5 and 6
are detail views of a single looper embodying my invention.
A denotes a rock-shaft which may be operated in any suitable manner. The
loopers a, which co-operate with the needles b, carried by the needle-bar c, are
shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 as being attached by set screws d to a looper holder
consisting of a block e fixed to the said shaft A by screws e¹. In the forwardly
extending part of the looper-holder e are formed a series of slots f the side walls
of which serve as guards to steady the points of the needles when the latter are
below the points of the loopers a so that as the loopers move forward the said
needles will be positively and accurately held in such positions that the loopers
will advance on the proper sides thereof to take the loops of needle thread, and
thus any danger of skipping stitches owing to deflection of the needles in passing
through the work will be avoided. The forward part of the looper-holder in which
the needle-guarding slots f are formed projects radially as far from the centre of
oscillation as the points of the looper hooks do, and preferably slightly farther
so that the needles will be reliably guarded and steadied until the needle-loops
have been caught by the loopers. It will, of course, be understood that the walls
of the needle-guiding slots f are slightly chamfered off or inclined so that they

page_text: can offer no resistance to the points of the needles as the latter descend, or, in
other words, so that the needles cannot, in their descent, strike the forwardly
extending parts of the looper holders or shanks in which the said guard slots are
formed.
By reference more particularly to Figs. 3 and 6 it will be seen that the hooks
of the loopers extend above and in proximity to the forwardly projecting part of
the looper holder in which the needle guard slot or slots f are formed, and from
this construction it will be understood that when the needles descend and the
looper hooks are moving forward to take the loops of needle thread said needles
will pass into said slots and will continue therein until the loopers have taken
the loops of needle thread, the side walls of said slots, as heretofore stated, serving
as positive guards for the needles and preventing them from being deflected out
of proper position relative to the points of the loopers.
The loopers a may, if desired, be formed integral with their shanks or holders,
as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 (which show a single looper for co-operation with a
single needle) instead of being formed separate from the looper holder as shown
in the other figures of the drawings.
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 I
claim is:-
1. A vibrating or rocking hooked looper, for use in a single-thread chain-
stitch sewing machine, having a shank or holder provided with a part extending
forward of the point of said looper and as far from the axis of oscillation of the
latter as does the point of the looper, said part being provided with a slot the
walls of which serve as a needle-guard to insure proper co-operative action of the
needle and looper, the hook of said looper extending above and in proximity to
the part having the said guard slot.
2. In a multiple chain stitch sewing machine, the combination with a needle-
bar carrying a plurality of needles, of a plurality of loopers to co-operate with
said needles, and a rocking looper holder having a forwardly projecting part
extending as far from the axis of oscillation of the said loopers as do the points
of the latter, said forwardly projecting part being provided with a series of slots
the side walls of which serve as guards to prevent the needles from being deflected
out of proper positions relative to the points of the loopers, and the hooks of said
loopers being above and in proximity to said forwardly projecting slotted part.
3. In a multiple chain stitch sewing machine, the combination with a needle-
bar carrying a plurality of needles, of a rock-shaft A beneath the work-plate of
said machine, a looper holder consisting of the block e removably attached to said
rock-shaft, as by set screws e¹, a plurality of chain stitch loopers a rigidly but
removably attached to said block, as by set screws d, said block or looper holder
having a forwardly projecting part provided with a series of needle guarding
slots, and said loopers having their points or hooks extending forward so as to be
above or in proximity to said forwardly projecting slotted part; whereby when
the needles descend they will pass into said slots as the loopers are moving forward
and will be prevented from being deflected out of proper positions relative to the
points of the loopers.