IMPROVEMENTS IN NEEDLES FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon and
Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
NEEDLES FOR SEWING MACHINES." A communication from abroad by
Augustus Celanus Carey, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th July 1878.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 1, Rue Laffitte,
Paris. "IMPROVEMENTS IN NEEDLES FOR SEWING MACHINES." [A communication
from abroad by Augustus Celanus Carey, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States
of America.]
This Invention of improvements in needles for sewing machines consists in
providing the needle with a thread-cutting portion at or near the shank, or that
part against which the holding screw operates, just below the end of the needle
bar.
The needle at or near its upper or shank portion, or that portion which enters
an opening in the needle bar, where it is held by a set screw or other needle-holding
device, is provided with a thread cutter. This thread cutter is placed upon the
needle shank far enough from the point of the needle, so as not to enter and cut
the material being sewn, and a slack portion of the thread drawn out between the
eye of the needle and the cloth may be pushed or pressed against such cutter and
be severed.
This cutting edge may be formed by reducing the needle shank, or bringing it to

page_text: an edge, or by forming an edge thereon, or in any other suitable manner, so as to
present a cutting edge.
Instead of making the edge sharp and smooth it may be made as a sickle edge.
The shanks of some needles are of greater diameter than their bodies, but in
other ordinary sewing machine needles the diameter of the body and shank are
the same. In this latter class the cutting edge may be made to project.
Instead of forming the cutter directly upon the needle it may be formed on a
small collar, which may be forced upon the needle body, and thereafter form a
portion of it, or the needle may be grooved or slotted to receive in it a thin cutting
blade.
The shank may be notched to form the cutting edge, and may have one or more
cutting edges.
Thread cutters have been commonly used in connection with sewing machine
needle bars, throat plates, and presser feet, but never before this has a thread cutter
been made as a permanent part of a needle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th January 1879.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown,
Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 1, Rue
Laffitte, Paris. "IMPROVEMENTS IN NEEDLES FOR SEWING MACHINES." A com-
munication from abroad by Augustus Celanus Carey, of Boston, Massachusetts,
United States of America.
This Invention of improvements in needles for sewing machines consists in
providing the needle with a thread-cutting portion at or near the shank, or that
part against which the holding screw operates, just below the end of the needle
bar.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation a needle containing this Invention, the
needle being held in a needle bar; Figure 2, a cross section thereof on dotted lines,
Figure 1.
Figure 3, a modified form of cutting edge.
Figure 4, a modified form of cutter attached to a collar fitted upon the needle
shank.
Figure 5, a needle with the cutting edge projected beyond the diameter of the
shank of the needle.
Figure 6, a needle with the cutter set into its shank; and Figure 7, a modification
showing the needle shank notched to form a cutter.
The sewing machine needle herein described is and may be of any usual
construction.
Such a needle at or near its upper or shank portion 6, or that portion which
enters an opening in the needle bar c, where it is held by a set screw or other
needle-holding device, is provided with a thread cutter d. This thread cutter is
placed upon the needle shank far enough from the point of the needle, so as not to
enter and cut the material being sewn, and a slack portion of the thread drawn
out between the eye of the needle and the cloth may be pushed or pressed against
such cutter and be severed.
This cutting edge may be formed by reducing the needle shank, or bringing it to
an edge, or by forming an edge thereon, as shown in the Drawing, Figures 1, 2,
and 3, or in any other suitable manner, so as to present a cutting edge.
Instead of making the edge sharp and smooth it may be made as a sickle edge
as in Figure 3.
The shanks of some needles are of greater diameter than their bodies, as shown
in Figure 1, but in other ordinary sewing machine needles the diameter of the body
and shank are the same. In this latter class the cutting edge d may be made to
project, as in Figure 5.
Instead of forming the cutter d directly upon the needle it may be formed on a
small collar f, Figure 4, which may be forced upon the needle body, and thereafter
form a portion of it, or the needle may be grooved or slotted to receive in it a thin
cutting blade, as in Figure 6.
The shank may be notched to form the cutting edge, as in Figure 7, and may
have one or more cutting edges.
Thread cutters have been commonly used in connection with sewing machine
needle bars, throat plates, and presser feet, but never before this has a thread cutter
been made as a permanent part of a needle.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood

page_text: that what I claim is, as an improved article of manufacture a sewing machine
needle provided at or near its shank with a thread-cutting edge to operate sub-
stantially as and for the
purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)