IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES FOR STITCHING SACKS, BAGS, CARPETS, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Webster, of San Francisco, in the
County of San Francisco, and State of California, one of the United
States of America, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES FOR STITCHING SACKS, BAGS, CARPETS, AND FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 24th March 1876, and dated the 30th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Webster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th November 1875.
I, WILLIAM WEBSTER, of San Francisco, in the County of San
Francisco, and State of California, one of the United States of America,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES FOR STITCHING Sacks, Bags, Carpets, and for
OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
:―
My Invention relates to sewing machines used for heavy coarse work
and known as “bag machines.” This class of machines use a coarse

page_text: thread or twine, and it is found that the better kinds of such machines
sew an overhand stitch with a single thread making an overhand seam.
The object of my Invention is to produce a machine capable of
sewing very heavy and coarse material, and of making a strong stitch
with a single thread or twine.
The principal parts of my machine are a stationary disc with a
channel or recess for the needle, a curved needle having the same curve
as the groove or track in the disc which is driven by arms worked by a
stationary cam and a beveled drum to receive and take up the slack of
the thread. The said stationary disc is secured to the table. The
needle has two notches, one at the point and the other at the heel or
cye, and against these notches the arms or drivers fit, and thus carry
the needle around with them in the track or groove in the disc. The
motion of these arms and the needle is such that as the needle passes
into the cloth and through the needle plate the drivers are drawn back
one after the other by grooves in the cam, but one of the arms or drivers
is in contact with the needle at all times cither the front or the rear
one; thus the needle is carried forward with a positive motion through
the cloth. The thread is carried around the drum as it and the needle
revolve, and the thread coils around it until it slips off the bend of the
drum, one coil at a time as the needle enters the cloth, and the loop or
slack thus dropped by the drum is sufficient for the amount required by
the stitches. As the sewing progresses the drum drops one coil at each
revolution and takes up the slack of the thread beyond what is required
for the stitch.
The needle has two shoulders, one at the point and the other at the
eye or heel, and the heads of the arms or drivers are notched to receive
the needle so that the needle rests in them and against the face of the
groove in the disc with the shoulders in front of and against the drivers.
The proper motions are given to these parts by suitable mechanism, and
a feed motion is combined with them to space the stitches. The thread
is supplied from a spool and controlled by proper tension; it is drawn off
for the needle by the drum and the bevel, as before described, that is,
formed on the end of the drum allows the slack required for the stitch
to drop off its end.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WEBSTER, of San Francisco, in the County of San Francisco, and State
of California, one of the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Webster, Her
special licence that I, the said William Webster, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Webster,
my 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 SEWING MACHINES FOR STITCHING SACKS, BAGS, CARPETS, AND
FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William, Webster, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 William Webster, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
bc performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
My said Invention relates to that class of sewing machines used in
the manufacture of grain bags, sacks, and other articles made from

page_text: disk, and a conical revolving thread take up for throwing off the proper
amount for each stitch and taking up the slack of the thread as the
sewing progresses. These parts are arranged with proper driving and
feeding mechanism to produce a working machine.
A is the bed or table of the machine; B, the circular grooved disk
having a sliding horizontal motion upon the shaft C but not revolving
with it; D, the revolving conical take up fixed on the shaft C; and d, №ª,
are the two arms or dogs that engage with the notches or shoulders of the
needle E and give to it a continuous rotary motion within the groove b.
These arms are operated from a face cam that forms a part of the needle
disk B within the conical take up, whereby one arm at a time is drawn
from the shoulder of the needle to allow it to pass through the material
and thrown out again in contact with the needle after the shoulder has
passed through and below the needle, so that while the needle is free to
carry its thread through the material it is always in contact with and is
driven by one of the arms or dogs, and from the form of the cam the
arms are withdrawn from the needle only while that shoulder engaged
by the arm is passing through the material. These arms or dogs d, d',
work through slots in the conical take up D, and they give a positive
continuous rotary motion to the needle.
The form of the needle E and the manner of holding it within the
groove in the disk B, and of driving it with a positive motion renders
it capable of sewing through many thicknesses of the coarsest and
heaviest material that is used in the manufacture of grain bags, sacks,
and other articles. The thread or twine is secured to the oud of the
needle E and is wound around the conical take up as the sewing
progresses, but as the disc B has a sliding horizontal motion towards the
end of the conical take up D, and the take up itself has a rotary motion
in the same direction, as the needle moves the thread does not bind
upon the surface of the take up, but one loop at a time slips off the
elastic band i at the end of the take up at every revolution and the
proper slack is produced for the formation of the stitch. The sliding
movement of the disk B is produced by the rack G secured to the disk
and the pinion g upon the ratchet wheel f. The necessary rotation of
this wheel is produced by a finger h on the feed bar I, as shown in
Figure 4. When the disk B has reached the limit of its motion towards

page_text: the end of the conical drum D the rack is sprung away from contact
with the pinion and the disk is drawn back to its first position for
another start.
In a machine of twice the size shown in the Drawing the needle will
make seventy revolutions and produce as many stitches while the disk is
moving from one end to the other of the conical take up. The take up
is made conical in order to allow the thread to lie regularly and to cause
it to work towards the clastic end of the cone that the loop may be
thrown off by it at each revolution, and the head of the take up cylinder
is provided with an elastic surface or band i to act as a tension upon the
loop of thread that it may be drawn off by the pull or strain upon it by
the motion of the material instead of dropping loosely off and falling
down in the way of the sewing mechanism; but as the slack or loops
thrown off by this cylinder D is more than sufficient for the formation of
one stitch the slack of the thread is taken up and the stitch drawn tight
by the revolution of the take up. Thus the conical cylinder D opcrates
as a cast off and a take up and produces besides the proper tension upon
the thread.
The elastic band i has a plate H within the head of the take-up
cylinder and adjustable upon its shaft by means of the set screw j, as
shown in Fig. 9, so that the rim of the band i may be raised and spread
out more or less to act upon the loop of thread and retard its motion in
dropping or being drawn off the cone to a greater or less degree, and in
this manner the tension upon the thread is increased or diminished. The
feed of the material is produced by the serrated bar I operated from the
main shaft C through the medium of the eccentric J, link K, and
lever L, but the form of feed may be varied in the construction of my
machine, and I do not confine myself to the form herein described and
shown, as many other forms of feed motion may be substituted for it.
The disk B has a presser foot O and a movable plate in the side of
the flange to permit the needle to be removed and replaced when
necessary. It has also a notch m extending down to the groove or
track of the needle to facilitate the introduction of the thread into the
eye of the needle.
The needle driving mechanism is shown in detail in Figs. 5, 6, 7.
The form of the com M is szok that that 111: _L1

page_text: the shoulder at the point of the needle as it reaches the cloth, and is
thrown out again to engage with the shoulder after it has passed through
the material, and the second dog d is operated in the same manner as it
passes the cloth, one of the dogs being at all times in contact with the
needle, and the motion produced by them being a positive one. The
face cam M that drives the dogs is stationary and forms a part of the
needle guiding disk B, the form of its groove is shown in Figs. 5
& 6. The dogs are held in place against this cam and rotated by the
face plate P, each dog being provided with a pin and roller and moving
up and down in the groove in the face plate that is fixed upon the
driving shaft. This arrangement of mechanism is shown in Fig. 7.
The form of the needle and the manner of driving it makes a strong
sewing mechanism capable of penetrating the strongest material and of
uniting many thicknesses of it together.
This machine has also the capacity to sew a continuous seam
around corners and make curved as well as straight lines of sewing,
and from the principal of its construction it will be seen that it
can be run at a rapid rate of speed and still make a perfect seam.
The conical take up holds the thread as it is laid by the needle in a
compact manner out of the way of the sewing mechanism and prevents
any entanglement or snarling of the thread. In the machine of the
size shown in the Drawing the take up will carry thread enough to sew
seventy stitches, but the size of the machine can be increased to sew
twelve or more sacks before it would be necessary to move back the
disk B on the shaft towards the head of the take-up cylinder. The
curved needle E is shown with the shoulder or notches d, d, for driving
it made on the under surface, but I do not confine myself to the precise
form or position of them as they may be placed at the side of the shank
and made of a wedge shape.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is,—
First. A sewing machine or mechanism composed of the following
elements, viz., a circular disk or needle guide B having a groove or

page_text: mechanism consisting of a cam M, cam plate P, and dogs or arms d, d',
or equivalents for giving to the needle a continuous rotary motion within
the groove in a forward direction, and a cylindrical take up D formed
with a conical surface and revolving continuously in the same direction
as the needle when the same are arranged with proper feeding, driving, &
and thread controlling mechanism, as described and set forth.
Second. In a sewing machine or mechanism the circular needle
holding and guiding disk B with a groove or track for the needle
coinciding with the center of the disk and operated by mechanism to
move in a horizontal direction upon its axis or shaft over and upon the 1
conical take up D but having no rotary motion, constructed as and for
the purpose described and set forth.
Third. In a sewing machine or mechanism the cylindrical thread
controller and take up D formed with a conical surface to hold and
deliver the thread, having a continuous rotary motion in a forward 1
direction in the manner and for the purpose described and shown.
Fourth. The curved needle E having the form of an arc of a circle
whose center coincides with the axis of the needle guiding disk B and
made with notches, shoulders, or equivalent devices for engaging with
its driving mechanism, operating in the manner set forth.
Fifth. In a sewing machine or mechanism the combination with the
needle E herein above claimed of the revolving cam M, cam plate P,
and dogs d, d', or equivalent mechanism for driving and propelling the
needle continuously forward in a rotary path, in the manner and for the
purpose described and shown.
Sixth. In a sewing machine or mechanism the combination with the
needle E and its propelling mechanism herein above claimed, of a
revolving conical thread cast off and take up D arranged within the
circle traversed by the needle and having a continuous rotary motion in
the same direction as the motion of the needle, in the manner and for
the purpose described.
Seventh. In a sewing machine or mechanism, the elastic tension
band i and its adjusting plate H or equivalent arranged and combined
with the conical revolving take up D to control the loops of thread, in
the manner described and shown.
6

page_text: Eighth. In a sewing machine or mechanism the combination and
arrangement with a curved needle traveling in a continuous rotary path
around a center or axis of an intermittent feeding device to feed the
material to be sewed, constructed and operating in the manner herein
described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Webster, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.