IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED www.ww
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland,
both of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Sewing
Machine Manufacturers, carrying on Business as "Westmoreland
Brothers," for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND ARRANGEMENT OF SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
www.ww"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Westmoreland
and Edwin Westmoreland at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
with their Petition, on the 28th October 1865.
We, WILLIAM WESTMORELAND and EDWIN WESTMORELAND, both of the
Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Sewing Machine Manufac-
turers, carrying on Business as "Westmoreland Brothers," do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND ARRANGEMENT OF SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of apparatus in which we employ cams and levers
with their auxiliaries, by means of which we obtain a reversible quadruple
action on the feed, apparatus in sewing machines, whereby the leather, cloth,
or other material to be sewed, stitched, ornamented, or otherwise acted upon
may be moved or directed as required with ease and precision. Our shuttle
box is constructed in such manner that the shuttle is always kept at the
proper distance from the needle or needles employed.

page_text: In carrying out our Invention we use an arrangement whereby we traverse
the material to be sewed, stitched, ornamented, or otherwise acted upon, four
several ways at right angles to each other as follows:-We employ for
moving the shuttle driver lever or levers a cam cut with equal sides, so that
the shuttle will operate as required whether the machine be driven backward
or forward. The cam which effects the traversing of the feeding foot is
likewise cut with equal sides, so that if the machine be moved backwards or
forwards the material to be operated upon will be traversed forward or
backward, the cam being cut with equal inclines on the side, the material
will therefore be traversed to the right or left if the machine is set to traverse
either way instead of to the front or back; such right and left movements
are effected by a rocking bell-crank lever; the boss or barrel of this lever
may form a short arm taking into a groove on the face of a small disc, in
which position the material is traversed towards or from the operator
according as the machine is driven. The disc has a notch on its circumference,
into which takes the end of the short arm on the bell-crank lever, such
notch holds the end of the bell-crank lever which is situated next the cam
somewhat lower than when in the backward and forward movements of the
feeding foot, so that the side of the cam only operates upon the traversing
lever. There is a stud or short pipe in the centre of the reciprocating
shuttle box expanded at the root, so that it will lie close to the back of the
shuttle and hold its face close to the side of the shuttle race. These arrange-
ments may be applied to the machines described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to us, dated the Eleventh day of April 1860, and numbered 911."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 2
by the said William Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland in the.
Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
WESTMORELAND and EDWIN WESTMORELAND, both of the Town and County'
of the Town of Nottingham, Sewing Machine Manufacturers, carrying 'on 3
Business as "Westmoreland Brothers," send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the 3
said William Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland, Her special licence

page_text: that we, the said William Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland, our 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF SEWING MACHINES,
AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon 'the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Westmoreland and Edwin Westmoreland,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 we, the said William Westmoreland and Edwin
Westmoreland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of apparatus in which we employ cams and levers
with their auxiliaries, by means of which we obtain a reversible quadruple
action of the feed apparatus in sewing machines, whereby the leather, cloth,
or other material intended to be sewed, stitched, ornamented, or otherwise
acted upon, may be moved or directed as required with ease and precision..
Our shuttle box is constructed in such manner that the shuttle is always
kept at the proper distance from the needle or needles employed.
In carrying out our Invention we use an arrangement of parts of machinery
whereby we traverse the material intended to be sewed, stitched, ornamented,
or otherwise acted upon four several ways at right angles to each other as
follows: We employ for moving the shuttle driver lever or levers a cam cut
with equal sides, so that the shuttle will operate as required whether the
machine is driven backward or forward. The cam which effects the traversing
of the feeding foot is likewise cut with equal sides, so that if the machine be
moved backward or forward the material to be operated upon will be traversed
forward or backward, the cam being cut with equal inclines on the side, the
material will therefore be traversed to the right or left if the machine is set

page_text: to traverse either way instead of being set to traverse to the front or back;
such right and left movements are effected by a rocking bell-crank lever; the
boss or barrel of this lever may form a short arm taking into a groove on the
face of a small disc, in which position the material is traversed towards or from
the operator, according as the machine is driven. The disc has a notch on
its circumference into which takes the end of the short arm on the bell-crank
lever, such notch holds the end of the bell-crank lever which is situated
next the cam somewhat lower than when in the backward and forward move-
ments of the feeding foot, so that the side of the cam only operates upon the
traversing lever. There is a stud or short pipe in the centre of the recipro-
cating shuttle box expanded at the root, so that it will lie close to the back
These
of the shuttle, and hold its face close to the side of the shuttle race.
arrangements may be applied to machines described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to us, dated the 11th day of April 1860, and numbered 911..
Having thus set forth the nature of the said Invention we now proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same with reference to the
accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 1, Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, Sheet 2, and
Figures 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39, Sheet 6, represent the several parts which
form when combined with certain other parts described in our former Patent
granted to us, dated the 11th day of April 1860, No. 911, a sewing machine
constructed with our present Invention according to our first modification
thereof. Our first modification of improvements in this our present Invention
consists of a sewing machine in which the feeding foot is capable of traversing
the material to be stitched four several ways, a side view of such machine is
seen at Figure 1, an end view of the bead is seen at Figure 4, and a side view
of the back of the head is seen at Figure 5. A represents the standard of the
machine, and B the platform or bed in which is contained the shuttle and
shuttle race; C is the feeding foot which has a slot near the upper end of its
stem, which end is capable of sliding up and down, in and rocking to and fro
with a box D (shewn in side view Figure 36, and in plan Figure 37); through
the sides of this box is passed an axle, which passes through the above-named
slot in the feeding foot; this box D is furnished with projections or lugs on each
side of it which receive the ends of two screws, which are passed through short
arms which project from the side of a plate D' (shown in plan at Figures 35),
which is secured to the top of the standard A. By the above arrangement
the feeding foot is capable of being moved to and fro across the platform of the

page_text: machine, as indicated by the arrows Figure 4, and also in the direction of the
length of the platform of the machine, as indicated by the arrows seen at
Figure 5. Below the box D the foot is provided with two armis D, D³, the
arm D has motion communicated to it by the cam E (two side views of which
are shown at Figures 7 and 8), upon one end of the shaft F in such manner
that the foot will be lifted up when the needle is in the position shown, or nearly
in such position, and at the time it is so lifted the spring G7 will pull the foot
towards the head of the machine, the distance traversed being regulated by
a screw and lock nut C¹, the pressure of the foot upon the fabric to be stitched
is obtained by means of the arm D³, which has a rod D' pressed upon it by a
spring which surrounds it, the rod D' passing through a hole in one end of
the plate D¹, the rod is screwed at its lower end, and is provided with a nut by
means of which the pressure of the foot is capable of being regulated. The
movement of the foot C from the head A is effected by the cam E depressing
the arm G of a tube G, which turns upon an axle G lying in bearings
which project from the standard A surrounding the axle G, and lying within
the tube G is a spring which tends constantly to press the tube and its arms
G', G, G³, towards the foot C, which lies in a slot in the arm G¹, the end of
the arm G is notched or recessed in such manner that one side will take into
ȧ groove cut across the end in the direction of the diameter of a disc H, and
the other side of the recessed arm G³ will take into a groove cut in the cir-
cumference of the disc H, which disc is secured to or forms part of an axle
which is passed transversely through the lower end of the head of the standard A,
the disc H is capable of being turned one quarter round by a handle Hat
the front end of the axle when the disc H is in the position shown at Figure 5;
the foot will have a to-and-fro movement across the bed B, but when the
disc H is turned a quarter round the tube G will be pressed towards the foot C
by the spring so as to allow the side of the cam E, shown at Fig. 7, to
operate upon the arm G' and traverse the foot in the direction of the length
of the bed of the machine, the distance it so traverses being governed by
the screw pin and lock nut G8, which with the screw pin and lock nut C¹
regulates the length of stitch each way, the portion of the foot which
presses upon the fabric to be stitched has two slots in it at right angles
to each other, as seen at Figure 9, Sheet Two, which represents the
foot in plan. The side of the cam E, as shown at Figure 8, is provided with
a truck, which takes into the slot of a cam plate Hs secured to one side of
the needle bar H2, which receives a vertical reciprocating movement during
cach revolution of the cam E, the thread which is supplied to the needle is
taken from its bobbin or spool, and passed through a hole in a short arm M,

page_text: which turns upon a rod supported above the standard of the machine. The
number of turns the arm is caused to make round the rod determines the
tension of the needle thread from the tension apparatus, the thread is taken
and passed through a loop screwed into the plate D', thence through a loop
near one end of a vibrating arm G working upon a pin in a bracket pro-
jecting from the top side of the plate D', the arm G is passed through a
slotted piece secured to the upper end of the needle bar H³, by which means
the slack of the needle thread which is produced by the passage of the shuttle
between it and the needle is taken up. As the bar rises the arm G³ being lifted
by the spring G movement is communicated to the above-described parts by
means of a belt worked by any prime mover, and passed round the grooved
pulley (shown by dotted lines to the right in Figure 1), the side of such pulley
next the standard is provided with a bevel wheel, which gears into a similar
one on a short shaft provided with a fly wheel so as to enable the machine to
be driven by hand. Lying within the standard, which is cast hollow as shown
by the dotted lines, is a cam K secured on the shaft F; this cam K com-
municates motion to a rocking lever L furnished with a truck at its upper
end, and a slotted hole in its lower end, in which hole a pin takes, which is
secured at or near one end of the shuttle-driving rack bar, the rocking lever L
is seen at Figures 38 and 39, which represent respectively an edge view and
a side view. The shuttle-driving rack bar being similar to those we use in
other of our modifications, we shall refer to it hereafter. In the modification
just described reference is made to the figures of the cams and cam plate, two
of the four traversing movements of the foot Care made by turning the axle F
of the machine one way, and the other two movements are made by turning
it the reverse way.
In the combination forming our second modification, the material to be
stitched is also traversed four several ways, but the machine is driven con-
tinuously in one direction whilst the traversing foot is placed above the plat-
form as in our first modification.
Figure 10 represents side view of part of a machine, Figure 11 an end
view of the head of the same machine constructed according to our second
modification.
A is the standard; B, the platform or arm of the machine; C, a vibrating
lever working upon an axle on the front side of the standard; D, a similar
vibrating lever working upon an axle on the opposite side of the standard,
both these levers have motion communicated to them by a cam (not shewn),
but which cam is like the cam we use in our third modification, the shuttle-
driving rack bar is also moved in a similar manner in our 2nd and 3rd

page_text: modifications, the lever C is bored out in the direction of its length to receive.
a pin C which slides in it, the outer end of the pin is enlarged, and has a
hole through it to enable it to be placed upon a stud carried by a piece secured*
to or forming part of the needle rod, which has a needle secured in it at its
lower end by a set screw; on one side of the needle rod are two short studs C³,
the lowermost of which during the vertical upward movement of the needle
rod raises an arm D belonging to the apparatus, which gives the requisite
traverse to the feeding foot, the uppermost of the studs Cs during the down-.
ward movement of the needle rod depressing the arm D.. The traversing.
apparatus consists of the following parts:-A plate or collar having an arm D
(shown in side view at Figure 17), which is securely held on a tube F by two.
set screws, this tube F is capable of turning in a bearing near to the lower
side of the head of the machine, such bearing is shown in section at Figure 16,
through this tube F is passed the stem of a disc E, seen at Figure 15, the
face of the disc is recessed as shown by the dotted lines at Figure 15, and of
the depth shown at Figure 16 by the curved line, the disc is prevented from
moving wholly round in the boss through part of the boss being cut away to
form a recess for a pin (seen at Figure 15) in the back of the disc, which
disc has also a recess formed in it upon its circumference. The plate or
collar has four holes (or other required number of holes) in it, according to the
number of traverses the machine is set out for, either of which receives a pin
in a cap G, which cap G has a keyway cut in it to enable it to slide
upon a key or stud in the stem of the plate E, the cap G being held
locked (in the position in which it is placed) by a spring passed round the
end of the stem of the disc E, the spring being kept in place by a screw.
in the end of the disc stem as seen at Figure 10. H is a bracketed plate.
(shown more fully at Figure 14), in which slides vertically the traversing
feeding foot I, which is prevented from turning in the plate by a key near.
its lower end sliding in a way cut in the lower end of the plate H, this
plate is free to move upon an axle at its upper end secured in a boss,.
which boss is itself also free to move upon an axle H¹ secured in the front
plate in which the needle rod slides. The stem of the feeding foot has a
collar H secured on it by a set screw (shown at Figures 14 and 11). This
collar bas an arm projecting from one side, which arm passes through and
slides up and down in a slot in the plate H, the end of the arm also takes
into a slot in one end of the lever. D, which lifts the feeding foot during part
of the time the material to be stitched is held by the needle.. The pressure of
the foot upon the fabric to be stitched is obtained by a spring, through which
is, passed, a screw pin H* pressed by the spring on to the collar H', the plate H,

page_text: and consequently the feeding foot, are kept to their work by the springs
H' and H, and the traverse of the fabric to be stitched to the right or to the
left in the direction of the length of the arm B is regulated by the adjustable
screw pin and lock nut H³, and the motion of the fabric to and fro across the
bed by the screw pin and lock nut H³; the to-and-fro movements across the
bed being effected by the recessed face of the disc E, and the movements in
the direction of the length of the bed by the edge of the said disc. The upper
part of the stem of the feeding foot has a pin inserted in one side thereof;
under which pin a small hand lever H, by means of which the foot is raised
from off the bed, and held so raised while work is placed on or taken off the
bed. The needle is supplied with thread from a bobbin or spolė on the top
of the machine standard, the end of the thread being passed through several
holes in a plate L to give it the required tension; such plate is shown in plan
at Figure 30, Sheet 5. The thread is passed from the tension plate through
a loop on the top of the head of the machine, then through a hole made
through the upper end of the needle rod, then through a loop K¹ on the front
plate of the head, then through a loop at one end of a coiled wire K, and
back again through the loop K¹, then through a hole in the lower end of the
needle rod, and then to and through the eye of the needle, the spring K
taking up the slack of the thread. Figure 12 shows part of the bed B in
plan; the shuttle race being represented by the circular dotted line. Figure 13
shows the form of the shuttle.
..
A machine constructed and arranged according to a third modification of
our Invention is shown in side view at Figure 18, Sheet 4, an end view of the
head of the samé is shown at Figure 19. In this modification instead of using
a traversing feeding foot above the bed B of the machine, we employ a feeding
foot I capable of being traversed four several ways under the bed, the toothed
or serrated top of such foot standing slightly above the top of the bed,' and
for the purpose of holding the fabric to be stitched firmly upon the bed we
employ a pressing foot H above the bed, a portion of the head through which
the stem of the pressing foot passes is recessed, so as to allow of the free
action of a spring which is coiled round the stem in such recess, which spring
presses. the foot downwards, excepting at such times as it is lifted by the
lever D, which has its upper end forked to embrace the stem of the pressing
foot. The lever D vibrates upon an axle in the back part of the standard, and
is operated upon at its lower end by a cam D, seen in Figures 26 and 27,
Sheet 5. To ensure the rising of the pressing foot at the time the forked end
of the lever D is raised, the stem of the foot is provided at its upper end with
a spring coiled round it, and which presses upon the top of the head of the

page_text: machine, and a pin is passed through the top of the stem of the foot. The
needle bar is moved by the lever C, which lever C vibrates upon a pin in the
front side of the standard, and has a truck at its lower end operated upon by
the grooved cam C¹, shown at Fig. 25, Sheet 5. E¹ is a truck upon a short
arm secured to the face of the cam D' and revolving with it; the truck takes
into a groove E in a lever E' (shown in side and edge views at Figures 22 and
23) which vibrates upon a pin secured to the bed of the machine. The upper
end of the lever is provided with an axle pin passed through a boss on one
end of a rod E, the other end of the rod forming a toothed rack, which takes
into a wheel E', Figure 24, which is secured on the stem of the shuttle driver
E', shewn in position in the shuttle race of the bed B at Figure 18, the race
being shown in plan at Figure 20 by. the circular dotted line. The tra-
versing foot I is regulated in the direction of the length of the bed by one end
of the rod being screwed and provided with the lock nuts I'; the rod of the
traversing foot is passed through four bearings I, I, I, I, upon the under
side of the bed of the machine, as seen at Figure 29. Between the bearings I³
and I a spring is placed round the rod of the traversing foot, which said
spring bears upon a pin in the rod, and also upon the bearing I*; this spring
bears the foot towards the left of the machine, except when held towards the
right by the circumference of the cam plate shown at Figure 43, Sheet 6.
The traversing of the foot I to and fro at right angles to the length of the
bed of the machine is regulated by a screw pin and lock nuts L, seen at
Figure 40, Sheet 6, which represents the apparatus we employ for traversing
the foot I the four several ways. The screw pin L is passed through a
thimble L containing a coiled spring, which coiled spring presses upon the
enlarged end of the screw pin L; this screw pin passes through a stud screwed
into the bed of the machine, and is secured by a screw to the top of a lever K,
so that the coiled spring will press the recessed end, seen at Figure 41, of such
lever on to the cam plate M. The lever K being secured upon the rod of
the foot I, the foot will partake of any movement communicated to the lever
by the cam plate M. O is a boss screwed to the bed of the machine, and
through which boss is passed a pipe having secured on to its end next the
Hever K an arm N (seen at Figure 42 in side view), which arm has a pin which
takes into the slotted upper end of a lever F, which has a truck at its lower
end which takes into the cam groove F¹, shown at Figure 26, Sheet 5, which
communicates a rocking motion to the arm N through the lever F,, the cam
plate M partaking of the same movement and operating upon the traversing
of the foot in a similar way to that described in our second modification,
either the edge or the face of the cam plate M being brought into position for

page_text: operating upon the traversing foot by a cap Q, Figure 45, which has a pin,
which takes into either of the holes in the collar P, Figure 44, which is secured
on the opposite end of the pipe carrying the arm N, the cap Q being held to
the face of the collar P by a spring held in it by the head of a screw in the
end of the stem of the cam plate M, the cap Q having a keyway sliding upon
a key in the stem of the cam plate. The cams C¹, D¹, and F¹, are on one end
of a spindle, supported by a long bearing G secured by screws to the bed of
the machine, such bearing is seen at side and end views at Figures 27 and 28,
Sheet 5. The spindle at that end which is opposite to the cams is provided
with a fly wheel to enable the machine to be driven by the hand of the
operator.
Our fourth modification is shown by the Figures 46, 47, 48, and 49, whereby
we are enabled to traverse the work two ways at right angles by means of the
traversing foot I; B is the bed plate of the machine, having four bearings on
the under side, between two of which bearings is a spring which bears the
foot to the left of the machine, as described in our third modification, the
traverse in the direction of the length of the bed of the machine being regu-
lated by the lock nuts I° on the screwed end of the foot I, and the traverse at
right angles thereto by a screw pin and lock nuts L and spring I, as before
described, the screw pin being secured to the upper end of a double-ended lever
F (seen in side view at Figure 47), both ends of the lever F being notched
or recessed, the upper end being operated upon by a cam plate M, and the
lower end by either the top of the cam F¹ (seen in plan and side view at
Figures 48 and 49), which performs the traverse at right angles to the length of
the bed or by the side of the cam F¹, which causes the traverse to be made in
the direction of the length of the bed. The stem of the cam plate M, which
is passed through a boss screwed to the bed of the machine, is provided with
a handle by means of which the cam plate is set for the traverse required,
there being a pin in one end of the boss which takes into a slot in the back of
the cam plate to prevent it being turned too far.
By the above Figures and description it will be understood that the inner
tube F may have a piece cut away at one end to receive a pin which may be
carried by the cam plate E to regulate the number of traverses it is intended
the machine shall make, the partial revolution of the cam plate being governed
by the length of the part so cut away from the end of the tube F, instead of
the number of traverses being governed by cutting a groove in the boss O for
a pin in the cam plate E, as seen at Figure 16, Sheet 3, so that apparatus
similar to that above described may be employed for a double traverse machine,
or a treble traverse machine, or a quadruple traverse machine, according to

page_text: the length of the part so cut away from the end of the tube F, or according
to the length of the groove cut in the boss O.
According to our Invention we sometimes produce a treble-feed action as
well as a double-feed action or a quadruple-feed action, that is to say, we can
feed the material in three directions as well as in four. The double-action
bottom feed machine may be made to work either way, that is to say, to turn
the machine either backwards or forwards, so as to get a quadruple-feed
action. We sometimes use a sliding bar instead of a cam to give the required
motion to the feeder. The roughened plate which feeds the material is so
arranged that whilst it has freedom to work as required it does not alter its
position when the direction of the stitches is changed, but always remains on
one side of the needle.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, we declare that we claim the general arrange-
ment and combination of parts constituting the improved sewing machine,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Westmoreland and Edwin
Westmoreland, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
5
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
WILLIAM WESTMORELAND. (LS.)
EDWIN WESTMORELAND.
(L.S.)