Needle Bar Appliance for Sewing Machines.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1887.
Specification Accepted. 7th Oct., 188"
Needle Bar Appliance for Sewing Machines.
We HUGO HENGSTENBERG, of 46, Turnerstrasse, and ROBERT WITTENSTEIN, of
11, Neumarkt, both of Bielefeld, Germany Manufacturers do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The principal object of the hereinafter described invention is to prevent the upper
thread or cotton of a Sewing Machine from being made dirty by the oil which runs
down the needle bar, and also to provide a better and lighter construction of the heart
shaped cam and needle bar appliance, whereby substantially greater durability is
obtained as compared with the hitherto known means or appliances.
In the annexed drawing Figures 1 and 2 represent the new arrangement, and
Figures 4 and 5 the arrangement of needle bar and heartshaped cam and race now
used in the well known "Singer" Sewing Machine.
Figure 3 represents an appliance or accessory for buttonhole machines.
According to the old mode of construction the needle bar is carried in the front
plate or in an arm of the machine. When the needle bar is arranged in this position,
this part of the machine must be continually well oiled, so as to make it work easily,
and then the oil on the needle bar runs down to the needle and makes the thread in it
dirty.
For the purpose of preventing this inconvenience, instead of forming the heart
shaped cam as at g Figure 4, it is so constructed that a slotted slide plate g' Figure 1
is formed which works in a guide of the front plate. By this means the surfaces to
be oiled are on the outside, and the oil which runs down, accumulates in oil boxes or
receptacles b b which are formed at the bottom of the guides of the front plate.
The heart shaped piece carries the needle bar a in its centre said bar not being
guided by the front plate, so that the needle bar does not come in contact with the
surfaces which are oiled.
For the purpose of regulating the working of the apparatus in the guide arrange-
ment two screws ff are provided.

page_text: It is obvious that the arrangement of a slide plate can also be applied to other
sewing machines, in which the working of the needle bar is not effected by means of a
heart shaped cam or race, but otherwise.
One advantage of this invention is its use for the construction of button hole making
machines.
Till now the mechanism for the lateral movement of the needle in button hole
making machines has been arranged on the lower end of the needle bar, and is a great
inconvenience and obstruction to the putting in and threading of the needle and also
to the operation of sewing.
By the hereinafter described construction, it is possible, without difficulty, to
arrange the button hole mechanism on the upper end of the needle bar, since
according to the new arrangement the needle bar only turns in the carrier and so has
no injurious effect on the backward and forward motion (see Fig. 3). Figure 3
represents the new heart mechanism with the needle bar passing through it, which is
held in position by means of the rings k on the heart mechanism, the needle bar can
also, without injury to its to and fro motion, be turned as desired, for example, it may
be given a swinging movement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim:
The arrangement of needle bar appliance for sewing machines, by which the running
of the oil on to the needle and its thread is prevented whether the motion of needle
bar is effected by means of a slide-plate through the heart shaped cam or race as shown
at Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Drawings, or in machines whose needle bar has its
motion through a slide plate which slides in the head of the sewing machine in
triangular shaped grooves without heart shaped cam, as described.
Dated 2nd September 1887