IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by Charles Lennig,
of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America.
Sealed the 3rd May 1870, and dated the 28th February 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th February 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
5 Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the stationary shuttle
machine, whereby three different kinds of stitches can be formed in the
machine with rapidity, little liability to derangement, and with com-

page_text: paratively little noise. The shuttle with its spool of thread lies loose in
a case or shuttle holder secured to the under side of the table and close
The
to the aperture in the table through which the needle works.
shuttle case is composed of two parts, between which is an opening for
the passage of the loop of the needle thread, which is carried around
the shuttle. The shuttle thread extends from the shuttle over the upper
edge of the back part of the shuttle case to the cloth to be sewn. The
loop of the needle thread is taken by a revolving hook, which opens out
the loop and carries it around the shuttle to interlock the needle thread
with the shuttle thread. This hook or looper projects from one end of
a link bar near a joint which connects it with crank arm on the end
-of-the-main-shaft, and-the-other-end-of-the-link is hinged to a radius
bar. The motion given to the looper by reason of the connections is
such, in view of the inclined position of the shuttle case, that when it
takes the loop of the needle thread it is to the right of the upper end
of the back plate of the case and carries the loop in front of the front
edge of the said plate, and as it descends gradually carries it to the left
of the said plate, so that one side of the said loop is passed to the left of
the front edge of the shuttle, and the other side of it between the shuttle
and the said plate, the front and lower edges of which are bevilled or
rounded to facilitate the passage of the thread. After the hook has
carried the loop under and around the lower end of the shuttle it
liberates the loop preparatory to taking another. After the hook has
taken the loop of the needle thread, and whilst it is opening it and
carrying it around the shuttle, the left hand side of the loop is taken and
carried around in front of and to the right of the other side of the
loop, and by this operation the shuttle thread is thereby carried around
the needle thread, so that when the stitch is formed the shuttle thread
is not only interlocked with the needle thread but wound around at each
stitch and in what appears as a helix, thereby securing the stitch so that
it cannot be unravelled.
The instrumentality by which the last-named operation is performed
may be termed the thumb and finger mechanism, to be next described.
Beneath the table is a sliding bar, which receives the required recipro-
cating motion from a grooved cam on the main shaft through a rocking
lever, one arm of which engages the sliding bar and the other arm
carries a roller which runs in the cam groove. The left-hand end of
this bar is cranked to permit the passage of the looper in its revolutions

page_text: before described, and at the extreme end of the said bar a finger hook is
formed. While the looper is opening the loop of the needle thread the
sliding bar is moved from left to right, and in so moving the finger
hook takes the left-hand side of the loop and carries it around in front of
and to the right of the other side, and there holds it until the needle
again descends, that it may pass through such loop while so twisted, but
to prevent the loop from escaping from the finger hook during any part
of the operation there.is a thumb picce which closes the opening of the
finger hook until the loop is required to be liberated that that stitch
may be closed by the forming of the next loop. This thumb piece is
hinged to the upper surface of the finger piece, and at back of the
hinge it is enlarged and carries at its under face a pin, which as the
bar moves to the right and towards the end of that motion passes under
an incline which makes it close the finger hook. As the loop requires
to be thus held during the return motion of the finger hook the incline
projects from the face of an arm that is held in position by a spring.
On its return motion the pin pressing on the incline will cause the arm
to yield and the pin will pass the incline on the other side. The thumb
piece is operated to open the finger hook and liberate the loop towards
the end of the return motion by striking against the yielding arm or any.
other stop.
As above described the machine will form what has been above
described as the rotary stitch. If the shuttle be left in the shuttle
case, but without a shuttle thread, or by simply cutting the shuttle
thread, the machine without any alteration will form the well-known
chain stitch, but with the shuttle and shuttle thread in connection, by
merely suspending the operation of the thumb and finger mechanism by
drawing the roller of the crank arm from the grooved cam the machine
will form the lock stitch, the same as the well-known Wheeler and
Wilson machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence
that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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," being a communication to me from abroad by Charles
Lennig, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
This Invention relates to improvements on a machine known as the
stationary shuttle machine, whereby the three different kinds of stitches
heretofore made by the machine can now be changed and formed much
more rapidly, with less liability to derangement, and with less noise.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the
improved machine with the table in section; Fig. 2 is a bottom or
inverted plan view of the same; Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 are cross vertical
sections taken in the planes of the lines A a, Bb, and Cc of Figures 1
and 2; and Fig. 7 is a separate view on an enlarged scale of the thumb
and finger mechanism. The same letters indicate like parts in all the
Figures.

page_text: a is the table of the machine, and a standard and curved arm, in the
vertical front end of which the needle bar c slides in manner not
materially different from other sewing machines. The needle bar is
reciprocated by a lever d, which receives motion by an excentric rod e
from an excentric fon the main shaft g below the table, or in any other
suitable manner well known to constructors of sewing machines. The
presser foot for holding on to the table the material to be sewn is
mounted in the front end of the arm of the standard by the side of the
needle bar in manner not materially different from other machines.
And the feeder i is arranged below and acts on the material through an
aperture in the table, as is well known, and the required motion is given
to the feeder in manner represented in the accompanying Drawings, and
as is well known to persons skilled in the art. The needle j is of the
usual form, but may be shorter than used in other machines by reason
of the organization which co-operates with it for the formation of the
stitches, and to be herein-after described. The needle thread k is on a
spool, and passes through suitable guides to the needle, and is to be
controlled by any of the known means for regulating the tension. And
the shuttle thread on a spool m is mounted in a shuttle n, the form of
which may be varied, although it is preferred to make it as represented
in the Drawing. The shuttle with its spool of thread is dropped into a
case or shuttle holder m¹ secured to the under side of the table and close
to the aperture in the table through which the needle works, and is
inserted through an aperture p in the table covered by a sliding plate q.
When inserted the shuttle remains stationary during the operations of the
machine except a slight movement given to it by the thread, it being
loosely fitted in the case for that purpose. And both the shuttle and
the case are slightly inclined from a perpendicular line, as represented.
The horizontal section of the shuttle case is very similar to a corre-
sponding section of the shuttle, and has an opening along the entire
height in front and between the flat parts next to the needle and the
curved back, which opening is for the passage of the loop of the needle
thread which is carried around it, as will be herein-after described. The
shuttle thread extends from the shuttle over the upper edge of the flat
parts of the shuttle case to the cloth to be sewn.
has descended and carried its thread below the table the loop of this
thread is taken by a hook ", which opens out the loop and carries it
around the shuttle to interlock the needle thread with the shuttle thread.
This hook is formed as represented, and projects from the front of a
So soon as the needle

page_text: link vand near to that end of the link which is fitted to a crank arm wo
on the end of the main shaft g, and the other or upper end of the link v
is hinged to one end of a radius bar x, the lower end of which is in turn
hinged to a hanger y attached to the under side of the table. The
motion given to the hook by reason of the connections is such in view
of the inclined position of the plates of the shuttle case that when it
takes the loop of the needle thread it is to the right of the upper end of
the plates; it carrics the loop in front of the front edge of the said plate,
and as it descends gradually carries it to the left of the said plate, so
that one side of the said loop is passed to the left of the front edge of
the shuttle, and the other side of it between the shuttle and the said
plates, the front and lower edges of which are bevilled or rounded to
facilitate the passage of the thread, and after the hook has carried-the-
loop under and around the lower end of the shuttle it liberates the loop
preparatory to taking another. The peculiar motion of the hook due to
the rotation of the crank and the connections of the link on which it is
formed with the crank and with the radius bar is clearly illustrated at
Figures 4, 5, and 6. After the hook has taken the loop of the needle
thread, and whilst it is opening it and carrying it around the shuttle, the
left hand side of the loop is taken and carried around in front of and to
the right of the other side of the loop, and by this operation the shuttle
thread is thereby carried around the needle thread, so that when the
stitch is formed the shuttle thread is not only interlocked with the
needle thread but wound around at each stitch and in what appears as a
helix, thereby securing the stitch so that it cannot be unravelled.
The instrumentality by which the last-named operation is performed
may be termed the thumb and finger mechanism, to be next described.
There is a sliding bar a adapted to slide in suitable ways secured to the
under side of the table, and this bar receives the required reciprocating
motion from a grooved cam b¹ on the main shaft g by a rocking lever c¹,
one arm of which engages the sliding bar, and the other arm carries a
roller d', which runs in the cam groove. The left hand end of this bar
is bent, as shewn at e¹, to permit the passage of the hook " in its
revolutions before described, and at the extreme end of the said bar
there is formed a hook termed the finger hook, represented on an
enlarged scale at Fig. 7. While the hook is opening the loop of
the needle thread the bar a' is moved from left to right, and in so moving
the finger hook takes the left hand side of the loop and carries it around
in front of and to the right of the other side, and there holds it until the

page_text: needle again descends that it may pass through such loop while so
twisted, but to prevent the loop from escaping from the finger hook
during any part of the operation there is a thumb piece f¹, which closes
the opening of the finger hook until the loop is required to be liberated
that that stitch may be closed by the forming of the next loop. This
thumb piece f¹ is hinged to the upper surface of the finger piece at g¹,
and at back of the hinge it is enlarged, as represented at h', and from
the under face of this projects a pin i, which as the bar moves to the
right and towards the end of that motion passes under an inclined
cam j, which makes it close the finger hook. As the loop should be
thus held during the return motion of the finger hook the cam j¹ (see
Fig. 2) projects from the face of an arm k¹ that vibrates on a stud pin.
secured to the under face of the table; and the cam ¹ is so formed that
on the return motion the pin passes on to the other side, the arm
being provided with a spring & to permit the arm and cam to yield for
that purpose. The thumb piece is operated to open the finger hook and
liberate the loop towards the end of the return motion by the cam form
of the edge at g¹ striking against the arm k¹ near its stop pin or by
striking any other stop.
As above described, the machine will form what has been above
described as the rotary stitch. If the shuttle be left in the shuttle
case but without a shuttle thread or by simply cutting the shuttle
thread the machine without any alteration will form the well known
chain stitch, but with the shuttle and shuttle thread in connection
by merely suspending the operation of the thumb and finger mechanism
the machine will form the lock stitch the same as the well known
Wheeler and Wilson machine. All that is necessary to be done
to fit the machine for sewing the lock stitch is simply to draw
the friction roller d' out of the cam groove b¹, leaving the finger
hook in the extreme position to the left. This disconnection is
readily effected by having the friction roller which runs in the cam
groove mounted on the end of a cylindrical rod fitted in the arm of
the lever, so that it can slide therein, a thumbscrew s¹ or equivalent
device being used to secure the said rod with the roller in or out of the
cam groove.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Sewing Machines" as communicated to me from abroad, and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood

page_text: that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the
mechanism of the finger hook for crossing the loop of the needle thread
with the thumb piece for opening and closing the said hook to control
the loop, substantially as described.
I also claim the combination of the hook for opening the loop of the
needle thread, the stationary shuttle, the thumb and finger mechanism
for crossing and controlling the loop of the needle thread and the needle,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
And I also claim the cam for reciprocating the finger hook and
thumb piece, and the lever and roller, so arranged that it can be
disconnected from the cam in combination with the finger hook and
thumb piece, substantially as described, by means-of-which-the-machine
can be readily changed to sew scams with the rotary, the chain, or the
lock stitch, as set forth.
In witness whercof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)