Improvements in Hemstitching, Veining, and analogous Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Hemstitching, Veining, and analogous Machines.
I, DUNCAN MACGLASILAN, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Sewing Machine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
―
My invention relates to a hemstitching and general veining machine, the
essential feature of which is that it can be constructed so as to operate with
one, two, or a greater number of needles, and thus make simultaneously one,
two or a greater number of parallel open work or veining stitches. Owing to
this essential feature, my machine makes rapidly and cheaply open-work patterns,
which could only be obtained with the machines now in use by causing the
fabric to pass several times and successively through the machine in order to
make a single open-work stitch at each passage.
The other particular features of my machine are as follows:
The radial arrangement, round the supporting feed rings for the fabric, of
needle carriers having as usual an upward and downward movement in slide-
ways of armis, the pivoting of which allows the needles to move alternately to
the right and left in a plane which is perpendicular to the feed of the fabric
to be operated upon..
A device for regulating the right and left movement of the said needle carrier
arms according to the stitch to be made, such adjustment being effected in an
independent manner for the arm of each needle-carrier, whilst by a novel
construction, I cause the rotary shuttle and the needle plate to be supported by
the arm of the needle-carrier itself, so that the needle always moves in unison
with the shuttle and needle-plate and falls exactly at the same point of the
needle-plate.
The transverse movements of the needles and shuttles being thus regulated,
I devise a corresponding arrangement to give to the fabric forward and back-
ward movements combined with the previous vertical and transverse movements
of the needles, the characteristic features of this arrangement being that the
fabric is held by presser feet on milled rims, which form feed rings moving
simultaneously backwards and forwards at the proper time, whilst the presser-
feet press on the fabric when the needle thread is being taken up, and then
rises to allow the annular carriage to move the fabric along.

page_text: My machine further comprises a very simple and exact arrangement for causing,
by means of a single driving shaft, the oscillatory movements of all the needle-
carrier arms, the upward and downward movements of the needle-carriers in
ne said arms, the rotatory movements of the shuttles, and the backward and
forward movements of the feed rings for feeding the fabric. A special arrange-
ment for throwing into gear, whereby one or all of the needles may be made
to operate simultaneously and an arrangement whereby the exact spot on
which each of the needles is to make an open-work stitch on the fabric may
be regulated.
Aly machine also comprises various other and less essential features, which
contribute, however, to render the operation of the machine very rapid, exact and
sure, the amount of work turned out being thus very considerable.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shown, by way of example, in several
general and detailed views, a machine embodying my improvements and having
two needles; the machines having three, four, or more needles operating
exactly the same manner, each needle making an open work stitch, and the
said machines being made on the same model as the machine hereinafter
described, suitable modifications being made in the matter of dimensions and
operative parts.
In the drawings―
Figure 1 is an end elevation showing the needle-carrier arms arranged radially
around the feed rings for feeding the fabric:
Figure 2 is-an-opposite endelevation showing the arrangement for operating
the arms of the needle-carriers and the shuttles:
Figure 3 is a bottom plan view showing more particularly the cams operating
the annular feed carriage in its backward and forward movements:
Figure 4 is a side elevation:
Figure 5 is a detailed view on a larger scale--than-Figure 1, shewing the
presser-feet corresponding to the two needles:
Figure 6 is a corresponding plan view:
Figure 7 represents in elevation the cam shaft which operates the presser-
feet in their upward-and-downward-movements:-
Figure 8 is a sectional view in a corresponding perpendicular plane:
Figure 9 is an elevation shewing the arrangement for operating the annular
feed carriage in its backward and forward movements:
Figures 10 and 11 are respectively a plan and elevation, showing
of the said latter arrangement:
a detail
Figures 12 and 13 are respectively a section on the axial line and an elevation
of the arrangement for throwing either needle in or out of gear as required:
Figures 14 and 15 are respectively a longitudinal sectional elevation and a
perpendicular section of the double elbow rocking arm carrying at one of its
ends a needle-carrier and at the opposite end a shuttle-case:
Figure 16 is a view explaining the stitch made by one of the needles:
Figures 17 and 18 represent two different patterns of open work stitches made
by two needles:
The main frame A of the machine is made to support the different axes or
shafts of the operative parts, and to rest, in its turn, on a suitable support;
on the frame A are the arms or goose necks B, B¹, each enclosing a double
elbow rocker arm, carrying a needle carrier and a shuttle-case.
As the two arms B and B are of the same construction, I will describe what
concerns the arm B, giving the same letters of reference to the like members of
arm B
The arm or frame B carries at its head part (Figures 1, 4 and 14) the axis a
on which pivots the piece b, cast in one piece, in the form of a double elbow
arm (Figure 14) which is provided at its upper end with slide-ways b¹, b
6. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, an operative
arrangement or device for simultaneously actuating the needles and the cor-

page_text: and at its lower end with a frame or casing 62; the guide-ways 61, 6 guide
the usual needle-carrier in its upward and downward movement, the said
movement being effected in the ordinary manner by the pitman c¹, (Figure 15)
connected to the eccentric stud 2 on the plate e, fixed to the shaft ct.
moment.
رو
The said shaft, resting in a bearing housed in the arm B, receives its
rotatory movement from the pulley and fly wheel d (Figure 2) and, whilst
operating the needle-carrier c, it causes, by means of an original device, the
thread take up
e (Figures 1 and 14) to move up and down at the proper
The said device comprises a cam e¹, fixed on the shaft c¹, or integral with
the plate 3, and a support e rocked by the cam and carrying the thread "take
up" e.
It is to be observed that the walls of the groove of the cam e¹ are not
straight, but incurved or shaped to suit the angular movement of the rocking
lever or arm e², the roller e³ of which is moved by the said groove.
The casing fixed at the lower end of the double elbow arm, Figure 14,
encloses the shuttle reel of well known construction and operation. The latter
is controlled by the shaft 63 having bearings in projections on the frame A and
which is actuated by the crank 4 (Figure 2). The lower end of the bobbin
carrier carries the needle plate 65 (Figure 6).
With this arrangement, when the arm b pivots on the axis a, the needle never
ceases to register exactly with the hole in the needle plate .
The rocking movement of the arm b on the shaft a guided also by the move-
ment of the groove of the arm b on the stud al of the frame B, Figure 14, is
operated by the sliding of the roller f¹, in a suitable groove of a cam f, mounted
on the shaft (Figure 3); the said shaft f2, held in bearings in projections on
the frame A, receives its movement, through the gear ft operated by the pinion f
from the driving shaft of the machine. On the other hand the roller fl
revolves on a horizontal axis fixed in the end of the bar h, which pivots according
to the movement of the roller f¹ in the cam groove f on the vertical shaft h¹
firmly connected to the frame A.
The bar or beam is fixed to the arm by means of a screw h², Figure 15,
which passes through a second pivoting bar 6, and the head of which moves in
a slide-way made in the end of the arm b: when the bar oscillates upon the
axis h, the two adjacent arms b, b receive equal oscillatory movements and in a
reverse direction around their pivots a, a.
It is by means of the two flat bars h and hand of the screw that I regulate
on the one hand the motion of the needles transversely to the feed of the fabric,
and on the other hand the distance between the parallel open work stitches made
by the two needles. For that purpose the bars h and h6 (Figure 3) are provided
with longitudinal slots, the slot of the bar 6 being wider than that of the bar h,
whilst on the bar h can be moved a small plate 4, provided with a slot of a length
equal to the greatest width of the slot in the bar h6 and having a direction per-
pendicular to the slots of the flat bars h and he which are parallel to the direction
of feed of the fabric; having suitably moved the screw h² in the slots of the
bars h, he and h* it is fixed to the flat bars h and 16 and the plate + by means of
the screw h³, (Figure 15); this adjustment can be made in an absolutely inde-
pendent manner by means of the two screws h², h² for each of the two oscillating
arms b, b.
It will be understood that, by fixing the screw 2 at a greater or less distance
from the pivot h¹, the corresponding needle will be more or less displaced
transversely.
h2, h3 of the two
are moved to the
with regard to the
There results from
On the other hand by simultaneously shifting the screws
arms b, b in the corresponding plates h, ht, the said arms b,
same extent but in contrary directions, the one to the right
feed of the fabric and the other to the left of the said feed.
this relative displacement of the said two arms b, b an equal displacement of the
needle-carriers b¹, b¹ on which will depend, previously to starting the machine

page_text: each time, the distance between the two parallel hemstitches, made by the corre-
sponding needles.
It is by means of these two adjustments independent one of the other, and also
independent for the different needles, that the machine can be made to make the
most varied openwork as regards both the width of the open stitches and the
distance between the different parallel stitches thus enabling it to make several
fancy veining patterns on linen, silk or other fabrics.
I would observe that as regards the groove of the cam f, the walls of the same
are, like those of the cam operating the thread "take up," slightly angled, to
suit the angular movement of the roller f' connected to the pivoted bar h.
As herein before described (a) the upward and downward movement of each
needle-carrier is produced by the rotation of the corresponding pulley d
(Figure 2), (b) the movement of each rocker arm 6 on its pivot is the result of
the rotation of the main shaft g of the machine (Figure 3), and (c) the operation
of each shuttle is brought about by the rotation of the corresponding crank
(Figure 2); the connection or control of these several movements is obtained in
a simple and safe manner by means of the arrangement shown in Figures 2,
3 and 4.
The said arrangement consists essentially in connecting the two pulleys d¹, d
and the shaft g by a rigid triangle, 2, and at the apices of which are crank
-pins fixed eccentrically and suitably on the said pulleys, and on a crank g
mounted on the shaft g. One of the pulleys d, on which is an integral-fly-
wheel d, being operated by means of a cord or belt the rotation of the said pulley
will be integrally transmitted to the other pulley and also to the shaft in
a manner which cannot fail.
g
I can throw out of gear, that is to say, stop either of the needles in a very
simple manner (Figures 12 and 13). For that purpose the pulley d is, with its
flywheel mounted loose on the shaft c; on the said shaft c is fixed a disc c
which carries in a projection an eye or socket in which slides a pin c provided
with-an-operating-knob-;-by-pushing the-said_pin_c_into_a_hole_e_in_the
pulley the wheel d and the shaft c are thrown into gear, whilst by putting
the pin back into a hole or mortice c10 in the frame B, the wheel is thrown
out of gear. The pin c is held in either position by the action of a pin c" which
enters holes provided in the pin c and which is riveted to the end of a flat
spring c fixed on the disc c³.
As regards the adjacent cranks 6+, the rotation of which operates the corre-
sponding bobbin-hooks (Figure 2) their movement is obtained by means of a
jointed parallelogram formed by two small arms j, j pivoted on the one hand on
pins fixed on the ends of the cranks 64, 64 and on the other hand on
pins fixed on a cross piece fixed to the operating rod 1, 2, 3.
Having thus described the movements of the needles, needle-plates and
shuttles I will now describe the arrangement of the feed rings which produce
the forward and backward movements of the fabric in combination with the
previous movements. The fabric rests on a feed carriage formed of a central
stationary and smooth part (Figure 6) fixed at its ends to the main frame A
and of two rings 1, the external edges of which are roughened by means of
grooves or ridges, the rings 1, being placed respectively adjacent to the faces
of the fixed part and having both the same movements which reciprocate and
feed the fabric. To that end the rings 1, 1 are provided with internal teeth
(Figure 1) in gear with two pinions of equal size 1, (Figure 10) cast in one
piece with the hollow shaft 2 which connects them together; one of the said
pinions is fixed on one face of a disc the other face of which is provided with
radial teeth (Figures 10 and 11). The hollow shaft integral with the pinions/¹
and and with the disc 73 is mounted loose on a shaft resting on a fork of the
frame A and capable of being moved away from or nearer to the circumference
of the rings 7, as required so that the shaft can be easily removed and replaced
by another carrying pinions, and a wheel having different teeth, and which

page_text: will reciprocate the fabric in a different manner to correspond to another pattern
of open stitches.
On the shaft (Figure 3) is mounted a cam m which acts with both its faces
one of which m¹ is in relief, and the other m² of which forms a recess. In the
recess m³ is guided a roller operating a slide m³ which works in a way m' fixed
on the main frame A; in the head of the said slide m³ a pin m³ passes in and out
(Figure 9) which has a tooth me projecting from one of its ends and is provided
at its other end with a square fork m² which embraces the shaft 4, and assists in
guiding the pin m³.
The in and out movements of the pin m³ in the head of the slide m³ are con-
trolled by a horizontal fork n embracing a stud n projecting from the pin m³
and caused to move in a slot in the head m³, by the part in relief m¹³ of the cam m;
to this end the fork n is, at the end of one of the arms of a lever n², pivoted on a
fixed vertical pin connected to the main frame A, the other arm of the lever
carrying a roller moving over the part in relief m¹ on the cam m.
The profiles of the parts m' and m² of the cam m are so drawn that the move-
ment of the slide m in the direction of feed of the fabric, and the movement of
the fork perpendicularly give by their combination the following result.
Assuming that the fork has pushed the pin m³ into the head of the slide m³;
in that position the tooth m gears with the teeth of the disc ; the cam m having
turned, its part m² moves the slide m³ and consequently (as the fork n has not
moved) the tooth m forward the result being a forward movement of the disc 13,
of the pinions, and consequently of the rings 1, 1.
The cam m continuing to rotate, the part m² causes tlie slide m³ to move back,
the fork still remaining at rest which results in a backward movement of the
rings 1, 1.
Finally, by the subsequent movement of the cam m, its part m¹ acts to produce
the backward movement of the fork n and the pin m³, so that the tooth m² moves
out of the teeth of the disc 13; then, immediately afterwards, the slide m³ moves
forward, and this forward movement being effected, the fork n pushes forward the
pin m³, so that the tooth m comes back into gear with the disc ; but as the
latter has remained stationary, it is into the following recess that the tooth me
enters, with the result, that when the slide m³ moves forward, it causes the disc 13
to revolve to the extent of one tooth, so that, after the forward and backward
movements of the rings 1, 1, corresponding to a stitch of the needles, there is a
final forward movement which produces the feed of the fabric, after which the
needles make, in combination with a like forward and backward movement of the
rings 1, 1, the following stitch and so on.
The rings, rest on rollers o¹, o¹ and o, o, turning loosely on pins concen-
trically fixed on the main frame A, Figure 1.
The fabric is maintained on the feed rings after each movement of the rings 1, 1
and at the moment the needle thread is being taken up, by the presser-feet p, p,
controlled two by two by the same eccentric 7 fixed at the end of the machine,
to the shaft g (Figures 7 and 8). This eccentric moves at the proper time the
pitman (Figure 2) which then gives an oscillatory movement to the parallel
arms p, 2, connected together by a shaft p³, which oscillates on pivots fixed on
the frame B and controls in a well-known manner the upward and downward
movements of the presser-feet p, p.
The other parts of the machine are well-known and they are operated in the
usual manner. The fabric is constantly held on the feed rings 1 by the ordinary
pressers, arranged right and left of each presser-foot p, (Figures 1 and 6)
and sufficiently free to allow of the fabric effecting all the movements required
by the rings . 7. These movements are so combined with those of the needles
that each needle makes on the fabric the succession of stitches shown in Figure 16.
Thus, the needle having made the stitch 0. the fabric moves forward at the same
time that the needle moves to the right (of the direction of feed), so that the
following stitch is made at 1. Then the fabric continues to advance and the

page_text: needle passes to the left and makes stitch 2. It then remains stationary while
the fabric is moving back, so that the needle passes through it at 3, and so on.
The two hemstitches thus made by two needles are shown in Figure 17. To
make, on the contrary, the open stitches shown in Figure 18, and in which the
open parts are in contrary positions, I can slightly move one of the needle-carriers
in such a manner as to give it the necessary advance; to that end, the slide-
ways b in which the needle-carrier moves up and down, are fixed by a plate,"
on the rocker arm b. (Figure 15) by means of two screws the lower one of
which passes through an oblong hole in the said plate so that, owing to this
oblong hole, the position of the needle-carrier relatively to the hole of the corre-
sponding needle plate can be slightly altered.
On the same model as the two needle machine herein before described, I can
construct machines capable of working with a greater number of needles; in
which case, in order to support the fabric on a wider base, I can arrange other
feed rings gearing with the same number of pinions fixed to the same shaft 12.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. A machine having multiple, radial and independent needles for making fancy
open-work or veining stitches, and characterized by the radial arrangement round
a feed ring which serves as a support for the fabric, and reciprocates-and-feeds
the said fabric, of a number of needle-carriers, the movements of any one of
which can be regulated 'independently of the others, and each of which can be
put either into or out of operation as required. substantially as set forth."
2. In a-machine-for-making-fancy-open-work stitches of the kind described in
the first claiming clause, an annular carriage formed of rings having roughened
surfaces resting on rollers connected to the main frame of the machine and gear-
ing internally with interchangeable pinions which give them the required forward
-and-backward_and_rotatory_movements for each pattern of open-work stitch,
substantially as set forth.
3. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, a device for
giving the pinions which actuate the feed rings the suitable movements as
herein before described, and comprising essentially a cam provided on one of
its faces with a cam surface in relief and on the-other face with a recessed
cam surface, the first named surface, by means of a pivoted lever ending
in a fork, causing a tooth or pawl to move into or out of the teeth of a disc
integral with the said pinions, whilst the recessed surface, by means of a slide,
in and out of the head of which moves a pin provided with the said tooth or
pawl, communicates to the head of the slide a predetermined forward and back-
ward movement, substantially as set forth.
4. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause the arrange-
ment consisting in supporting the guide-ways in which the needle-carrier moves
up and down, by a two elbowed rocker-arm which at its lower end supports also
the shuttle holder and the needle-plate, substantially as set forth.
5. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, the arrange-
ment for giving the U-shaped or double cranked arms an oscillatory movement,
and which comprises essentially a flat bar turned on its pivot by means of a cam
and firmly connected by adjustable screws to two adjacent oscillating arms, so
that the movement of the said flat bar on its pivot communicates to the said
arms oscillations in opposite directions; whilst the extent of the oscillations of
each arm can be regulated independently of the other, by placing the screw
connecting the arm to the pivoted flat bar, at a point more or less distant from
the pivoting point of the latter and, on the other hand, by moving simultaneously
the screws of two adjacent arms in a direction perpendicular to the line of feed
of the fabric, the distance can be regulated between the parallel open-work
stitches made by the two needles, substantially as set forth.

page_text: relative parts of each of them consisting of a rigid triangle on the tops of which
are respectively two crank pins fixed excentrically on the shafts which control
the upward and downward movements of two adjacent needles, and a crank pin
fixed excentrically on the cam shaft of the machine, which controls the different
other movements, substantially as set forth.
7. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause a device for
putting in rotation or at rest the shafts controlling the upward and downward
movements of the needles, consisting in causing the controlling devices described
in the sixth claiming clause to act on pulleys mounted loose on the shafts, the
putting in gear being effected by means of a pin connected to the pulley, sub-
stantially as set forth.
8. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, a device for
causing two needles to make contrary open-work stitches, and which consists of
means for allowing the support of the guide-ways of a needle-carrier, to be moved
to a given extent on the rocker arm by means of an oblong hole through which
passes the fixing screw, so that the needle is thereby somewhat displaced rela-
tively to the hole in the corresponding needle plate, substantially as set forth.
9. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, the arrange-
ment consisting in applying the fabric on the supporting annular carriage or
feed rings, by means of two pressers, and of a presser-foot which rises during
the movements of the fabric, and falls to press on the material when the needle
thread is being taken up, substantially as set forth.
10. In a machine of the kind described in the first claiming clause, the use of
cams, the grooves of which have inwardly curved walls to suit the angular move-
ment of the actuating rollers, substantially as set forth.
11. The machine having multiple, radial and independent needles for making
fancy open-work stitches as hereinbefore described in general as in detail, and
shewn in the accompanying drawings, by way of example as arranged in the case
of two needles.
Cu THIS STU way of repruary 1o.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.