Improvements in the Formation of Stitched Protective and Orna- mental Borders for the Edges of Woven or Knitted Fabrics.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1894-Accepted, 19th Jan., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Formation of Stitched Protective and Orna-
mental Borders for the Edges of Woven or Knitted Fabrics.
I JULIUS KÖHLER of Limbach, Saxony, Germany, Sewing Machine Manu-
facturer, 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 said invention relates to improvements in the production in a sewing machine
of a stitched and looped edging for protecting and ornamenting the cut edges of
woven or knitted fabrics.
To prevent the fraying of woven fabrics or the drawing of the meshes of knitted
fabrics when cut attempts have been made to obviate the need of hemming by
whipping or oversewing the edges of such fabrics.
Such stitching as has hitherto been employed while forming an ornamentation
has in consequence of the open or loose state of the threads or loops composing it
not acted as a sufficiently efficient protection for the edge of the fabric to which it
has been applied.
The object of my said invention is to produce an edging which owing to the mode
of looping the separate threads cannot be drawn; it therefore presents a more
complete protection to the cut edge of the fabric while forming an ornamentation for
the same.
I will now describe my said invention with reference to the accompanying sheet
of drawings in illustration thereof.
To a sewing machine I apply two or more needles bc Figure 1. The fabric a is
fed to these needles so that the outer needle enters.very close to the edge of the
fabric.
A needle plate Figure 2 is so shaped that the tongues d d¹ spread the stitches
until they are formed and can slide off the tongues. The width of the tongue d'
determines the distance from the edge of the cloth to the first needle.
The feeder consists of two toothed' racks e e' over which stands the presser (not
shown).
Near to the needle plate is a looper g shown in side elevation in Figure 3 and in
plan in Figure 4. The looper g receives the thread g¹ which is laid as a loop round
the edge of the fabric by a loop layer h (Figures 5 and 6).
The process of forming the stitch is as follows:-
On moving to the right the looper 9 (Figure 1) passes through the two loops b³ c³
of the needles b and c when they are about to rise. After the needles have risen
the relative position of the parts is as in Figure 3. The fabric is then fed forward
the length of a stitch so that as shown in Figure 4 the needle threads form loops
about the looper g. The thread 9' of the latter is now seized by the loop layer h
(Figure 3) and so placed in front of the entering needles bc (as shown in Figures 5
and 6) that the latter enter within the loop of the looper thread. The loop
layer and the looper g retreat and then come into the position shown in Figures 7
and 8 (the same as in Figure 1) and are ready to form the next stitch.
The stitch produced by this process as seen from the top of the fabric is illustrated
in Figure 9 and as seen from below in Figure 10.
The separate loops which pass over the edge of the fabric are held by two
rows of stitches b and c so that the separate loops may not lose their relative
positions.
The process is the same when more than two needles e.g. three needles are

page_text: used. The edging can then be wider as is necessary for open or loose fabrics.
Figure 11 shows such an edging in which three rows of stitches b¹¹¹ hold the
looper thread loops.
If a third needle is used without thread the looper thread forms an extended free
loop as shown in dotted lines at y in Figure 9.
The motions for the loop layer the looper the needles and the feed may be
obtained by the usual combinations of mechanism employed for analogous purposes
in sewing machines as will be well understood by those conversant with such
machinery and such mechanical combinations or movements form no part of my
present invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. The process of forming a stitched horder for protecting and ornamenting the
edges of woven or knitted fabric by which a thread 9' presented by a looper g is
drawn round the edge of the cloth in the form of a loop into which penetrate two
or more needles whose stitches secure the loops substantially as set forth and
shown.
2. An edging for cloth in which one or more rows of stitches such as b¹ c¹ secure
to the cloth the loops of a separate thread z which passes round the edge of the
cloth substantially as set forth and shown.
3. In a sewing machine the combination of two or more needles, the loop layer
and the looper carrying a separate thread g² substantially as and for the purpose
set forth and shown.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.