AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO TREADLES USED IN WORKING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO
TREADLES USED IN WORKING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Charles Gordon Patterson, of the City
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th November 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE
TO TREADLES USED IN WORKING SEWING AND OTHER MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a simple and efficient means
of starting crank shafts driven by treadles when arrested on their dead

page_text: .
centre, and of insuring their run in a forward or particular direction.
irrespective of the position of the crank at starting, without removal of
the foot from the treadle as in cases where an independent starting
treadle is used, and without any objectionable protrusion of parts to enter
the arch of the foot, and which it is difficult to adapt to feet of different
shapes or shoes of varied form, as, for instance, boots with heels and
slippers without heels. To these ends the Invention consists in a
combination with a pawl and ratchet starting mechanism connected
with the crank shaft, or any other means that will secure to the crank
shaft by treadle pressure or action a starting movement in the requisite
direction, of what may be termed a compound treadle for effecting both
the starting of the crank shaft in a forward or given direction, and for
running or driving of said shaft after it has been started. This
compound treadle is composed of a foot plate, which is pivotted or
hinged to an under stop plate or piece fast on the rock shaft of the
treadle, whereby the hinged foot plate which is connected by rod under
spring pressure or lift with the starting pawl or device, is made capable
both of an independent action and of a joint operation with the under
stop plate or piece that is in connection by pitman with the crank of the
shaft it is required to communicate rotary motion to, the hinged foot
plate first serving while being pressed down on to the lower plate or
piece to operate the starting devices, and after it has been brought to a
bearing on said lower plate or piece to form the foot plate of the treadle
motion for continuing the motion by action on the crank. The treadle
may be composed of either single or double foot plates for application
thereto of the one foot or of both feet of the operator, but where two
foot plates arranged side by side are used it is not necessary that more
than one of said foot plates should be hinged and connected with the
starting devices as described.
•
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO TREADLES USED IN WORKING SEWING
AND OTHER MACHINES," being a communication to me from abroad by
Charles Gordon Patterson, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The object of this Invention, which is applicable to treadle motions
generally, when the same are used to rotate a crank shaft, is to provide a
simple and efficient means of starting the crank shaft when arrested on
its dead centre, and of insuring its run in a forward or particular direction,
irrespective of the position of the crank at starting, without removal of
the foot from the treadle as in cases where an independent starting
treadle is used, and without any objectionable protrusion of parts. to enter
the arch of the foot, and which it is difficult to adapt to feet of different
shapes or shoes of varied form, as, for instance, boots with heels and

page_text: slippers without heels. To these ends the Invention consists in a com-
bination with a pawl and ratchet starting mechanism connected with
the crank shaft (or any other means that will secure to the crank shaft
by treadle pressure or action a starting movement in the requisite
direction) of what may be termed a compound treadle for effecting
the starting of the crank shaft in a forward or given direction, and for
running or driving of said shaft after it has been started. This compound
treadle is composed of a foot plate which is pivotted or hinged to an
under stop plate or piece fast on the rock shaft of the treadle, whereby
the hinged foot plate, which is connected by a rod under spring pressure
or lift with the starting pawl or device, is made capable both of an
independent action and of a joint operation with the under stop plate or
piece that is in connection by pitman with the crank of the shaft it
is required to communicate rotary motion to, the hinged foot plate first
serving while being pressed down on to the lower plate or piece to
operate the starting device, and after it has been brought to a bearing
on said lower plate or piece to form the foot plate of the treadle motion
for continuing the motion by action on the crank. The treadle may be
composed of either single or double foot plates for application thereto of
the one foot or of both feet of the operator, but where two foot plates
arranged side by side are used it is not necessary that more than one of
the said foot plates should be hinged and connected with the starting
device as described.
A double or two-foot arrangement is shown in the accompanying
Drawing, which represents the Invention as applied to the treadle motion
of a sewing machine, and the same will here be described accordingly,
although the Invention is equally applicable to other machines worked
by a treadle.
Having thus specified the object and nature of the Invention, its
description will be proceeded with in reference to the accompanying
Drawing.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of a treadle motion connected with
a sewing machine table or stand, and having the Invention applied
thereto; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same taken through the
line x, x, in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan of the treadle detached; Fig. 4 is a
side view of the ratchet, operating arm, or lever and pawl connected
with the starting device; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view on an enlarged
scale and at right angles to Fig. 4 of said lever and pawl, together with

page_text: the ratchet wheel of the starting mechanism and crank shaft on which
said wheel is secured.
In the Drawing A represents the table or stand of a sewing machine,
and B the rock shaft of the treadle by which the machine is operated.
C is the crank shaft which the treadle is required to drive; D, D¹, are
the foot plates of the treadle, the latter of which is connected by a
pitman 6 with the crank c of the shaft C. One of these foot plates or
both of them if desired is pivotted or hinged as at d to an under plate
or piece E, over which it lies. This under plate or piece is fast on the
rock shaft B, and it is connected in a fixed manner with the other foot
plate D¹ that is here supposed to be fast on the rock shaft. The hinged
or movable foot piece D is of a flat or other suitable contour, so that it
will present no obstruction to the passage of the foot over it, and is alike
applicable to boots or shoes with or without heels, it being independent
of the fit of the arch of the foot to it. By its arrangement relatively to
the remainder of the treadle of which it forms a part it is capable of
being operated without the removal of the foot from the treadle. When
down on the under plate or piece E the foot piece D constitutes in fact
a portion of the treadle for operation of the crank c by the pitman b,
as in other treadle motions, but when raised from a bearing or support
on the under stop plate or piece E it admits of an independent motion
being given it by pressure of the foot upon it to communicate the
necessary movement to the starting device of the crank shaft, so that
the latter may be started when arrested with its crank on the dead centre,
and its travel in a forward or given direction given to it regardless of
the position of the crank at starting. In order to provide for the
starting of the crank shaft in a forward or given direction, the hinged
foot plate D is connected by a pin with a rod e pendent from the starting
device, which is connected with the crank shaft C. A slotted guide or
arm projecting from the side of the foot plate D is made to embrace
the rock shaft B, and thus the rock shaft and foot plate D are connected
loosely together. The foot plate may be kept raised when the foot is
relieved from pressure on it by a spring adjustment of the starting device
by which the pawl is drawn back to its normal position.
The starting device represented in the Drawing consists of a pawl &
pivotted to a lever G, which is free to vibrate on a hub g of a ratchet
wheel H inside of an attached flange plate h. This ratchet wheel is
adjusted and fastened on the crank shaft C by a set screw i'arranged to

page_text: pass through a hub & on the opposite side of the wheel to that on which
the lever G is disposed. The connection of the starting device with the
foot plate D is made through the rod e, which is hooked into a lug on
the boss of the lever G. The pawl & bites into or gears with the wheel H,.
and is held in suitable position to start the crank shaft C. After being
operated it is returned to its required place by a spring I, that may be
of rubber or metal, and which draws on the lever G till checked by a.
suitably disposed stop or by the slotted guide f of the hinged foot.
plate D, that is raised by the retraction of the spring, which latter
may be variously disposed or arranged to have a like action or effect.
In the operation of the Invention the same application of the foot.
to the treadle actuates the starting device, and subsequently rocks the
shaft B to continue the motion of the shaft C through its crank c, the
first pressure of the foot simply bringing the foot plate D down to a
stop as it were on the treadle, and in so doing turning the shaft C
through the ratchet wheel H, and the after action of the foot being
employed to rock the treadle or foot plate D in the usual manner of
operating other treadles.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improve-
ment applicable to Treadles used in Working Sewing and other
Machines," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that under the above in part recited Lettors Patent
I claim, the combination with a ratchet or other starting mechanism
applied to the crank shaft of a treadle motion, of a compound treadle
composed of a foot plate hinged or pivotted to an under stop plate or
piece attached to the rock shaft of the treadle and connected with the
crank, whereby the same foot plate answers both to actuate the starting
device and as a treadle to keep up the rotary motion of the crank shaft,
substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, the Sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.