IMPROVEMENTS IN RUFFLES OR FRILLS COMPOSED OF STRIPS OF FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Chauncey Orrin Crosby, of the City of New Haven,
County of New Haven, State of Connecticut, United States of America,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RUFFLES OR FRILLS COMPOSED OF
STRIPS OF FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR
THEIR MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 3rd April 1866, and dated the 6th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Chauncey Orrin Crosby
at the Office of the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th October 1865.
I, CHAUNCEY ORRIN CROSBY, of the City of New Haven, County of New
Haven, State of Connecticut, United States of America, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RUFFLES OR FRILLS
COMPOSED OF STRIPS OF FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to produce a ruffle or frilling similar in
appearance to that formed by hand by the operation known as gathering, but
without that unavoidable irregularity in the shirrs or gathers. When made
by hand the strip of fabric from which the frill or ruffle is to be made is first
hemmed upon one edge, and then a strong thread "run" in near the other
edge, or the fabric may be stitched in a double thread sewing machine, one of
the threads being taut and the other slack; this done the fabric is taken in

page_text: the bands, one band holding the thread (the taut thread is done in a sewing
machine), the strip is "gathered" or shirred upon the thread with the other
band. It will be readily seen how impossible it is to form the shirrs in this
manner with any degree of accuracy.
My Invention therefore consists, firstly, in the mechanical contrivance
whereby a shirred ruffle or frill is automatically formed; and, secondly, in
the production of a shirred ruffle or frill, by means of the said mechanical
contrivance in which every shirr equal, or, in fewer words, a mechanically
shirred ruffle, as a new article of manufacture.
To enable others skilled in the art to construct the required mechanical
contrivance, and produce my new ruffle or frill, I will proceed to fully describe
the same, as set forth in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which
Fig. 1 represents a side view of a "sewing machine," shewing my improvement
for producing my new ruffle thereon; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of the same;
Fig. 3, a portion of Fig. 2 to illustrate the operation of the second thread
carrier; Fig. 4, a double machine; Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 illustrate the con-
struction of my ruffle.
First, as to the mechanism, I employ in this illustration and practically
prefer the sewing machine known as the "Wilcox and Gibbs, machine," and
partially represented in Figs. 1 and 2,
A is the cloth plate; B, the needle bar; b, the needle; C, the presser
foot; D, the feed; E, the driving shaft; E', the looper. These parts are
all substantially the working parts of the said machine to be threaded and
operated in the usual manner. To these working parts of the original machine
I add a rock shaft F worked by a cam G through the lever H. a is a stop
or clamp fixed to the said rock shaft, the point or foot of which falls on to the
cloth plate directly at the back of but at a little distance from the presser
foot C; I is a roller around which I pass a second thread, as denoted by a
red line, thence down and under the presser foot as represented; c is an eye
through which the said second thread passes; a reciprocating movement is
given to the said eye by the cam L through the sliding rod N, to which the
said eye is attached. The shaft O, in which the cam I is placed, is made to
revolve once to every two revolutions of the shaft E by means of toothed
wheels d and f, this is done for the purpose of carrying the second thread first
to one side of the needle and then to the other, so that each stitch formed
crosses the second thread and will present the appearance as shewn enlarged
in Fig. 5. P is à check fixed to the rock shaft F to act upon the roller I, so
that when required it will press upon the roller and prevent a greater supply.
of the second thread than is required, as more fully explained hereafter.

page_text: My machine being now complete, I will proceed to describe its operation
to produce my mechanically shirred ruffle.
I take a strip of fabric which
has been previously hemmed upon one edge; I introduce one end of the
strip under the presser foot in the ordinary manner for sewing, so that the
needle will enter the strip near the unhemmed edge, taking care to secure
the end of the second thread in the proper position, that is, so that the
needle will pass down at one side of it; now start the machine, the needle
goes down on one side of the second thread, and in a full revolution forms
one stitch; the needle rises and leaves the fabric. Before the needle
again descends the second thread will, by the mechanism before described,
have been carried over so far to the opposite side of the needle that it (the
needle) will in its next descent enter the fabric upon the opposite side of the
second thread to its first entrance, see Fig. 3; thus the second stitch will be
formed across the second thread, see Fig. 5; the second thread being denoted
in red, the stitches in black. The tension of the two threads must be such
that the upper thread will lie entirely upon the upper surface of the fabric.
The second stitch being completed before the needle enters for the third stitch,
the second thread will have been carried back to its first position, causing
the stitch to cross it, and so on alternately, first to one side of the needle and
then to the other, so as to cause each stitch formed to cross it (the second
thread). As the stitches are formed the strip is fed along in the ordinary
manner until the first stitch reaches the stop or clamp a, which said clamp
at the instant the feed commences to move the fabric presses upon the said
fabric, and at the same instant the check is applied to the second thread;
the result of their operation is that as the fabric cannot pass the clamp the
feed will cause the stitches to slip on the second thread, and as there is
nothing to hold down the fabric for the space of one stitch between the presser
foot and the clamp it will "full" the fabric up into that place and form one
shirr; after this is properly formed, and before the feed is complete, the clamp
rises from the fabric, and at the same time the check rises from the second
thread and the feed carries the fabric and second thread with it to complete it's
(the feed's) movement; the feed returns, and in its next forward movement
forms a second shirr in like manner as the first, and so on, each and every
shirr being exactly like the preceding one, variable in proportion as the clamp
or stop is allowed to remain for a greater or less portion of the entire feed.
these shirrs are shown in Fig. 6 enlarged, but not quite closed; the red lines
denote the second thread, the black line, the stitches or needle thread, the
blue line the fabric. It will be seen that the shirrs may in this manner be
made very much finer, and with a degree of regularity impossible to attain by
i

page_text: band or any known device. Thus I produce mechanically a complete shirred
ruffle.
Fig. 7 represents the ruffle complete, the red line denoting the line of
stitches and second thread; this is styled a single ruffle.
Fig. 8 represents a double ruffle shirred in like manner, the red line
denotes the stitches and second thread; but in making a double ruffle I
prefer a double machine, or two needles and two second threads, as denoted in
Fig. 4, each of the second threads having a separate eye in the thread
carrier the proper distance apart, otherwise the machine is the same for
double as single, and the ruffle thus formed has two row of stitches, as seen
in Fig: 8.
Fig. 9 represents a single ruffle sewed to a band or binding or separate
strip of fabric; this is attached to the ruffle in a machine distinct from the
shirring machine. The line of stitches thus taken are represented by the
unbroken red line, the broken line representing the stitches taken in the
shirring machine. This band or binding is not a necessity to the com-
pletion of the ruffle, but in some cases is a matter of convenience to the
consumer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Chauncey Orrin Crosby in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHAUNCEY
ORRIN CROSBY, of the City of New Haven, County of New Haven, State of
Connecticut, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Chauncey Orrin Crosby, Her special licence that I, the said Chauncey Orrin
Crosby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Chauncey Orrin Crosby, 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
RUFFLES OR FRILLS COMPOSED OF STRIPS OF FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR
.

page_text: APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Chauncey Orrin Crosby, my executors or administra-
tors, by an instrument in writing under iny, 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 Chauncey Orrin Crosby, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
The object of my Invention is to produce a ruffle or frilling similar in
appearance to that formed by hand by the operation known as "gathering,"
but without that unavoidable irregularity in the shirrs or gathers. When
made by hand the strip of fabric from which the frill or ruffle is to be made
is first hemmed upon one edge, and then a strong thread "run" in near the
other edge; or the fabric may be stitched in a double thread sewing machine,
one of the threads being taut and the other slack; this done the fabric is
taken in the hands, one hand holding the thread (the taut thread if done in a
sewing machine), and the strip is "gathered" or shirred upon the thread
with the other hand; it will thus be readily seen how impossible it is to form
the shirrs in this manner with any degree of accuracy.
My Invention consists, firstly, in à mechanical contrivance whereby a
shirred ruffle or frill is automatically formed; and, secondly; in the production
of a shirred ruffle or frill by means of the said mechanical contrivance in
which every shirr is equal, or, in fewer words, in a mechanically shirred
ruffle as a new article of manufacture.
To enable others to construct the required mechanical contrivance and
produce my new ruffle or frill I will proceed to fully describe the same as set
forth in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents
a side view of a " Wilcox and Gibbs'" sewing machine, showing my im-
provements for producing my new ruffle thereon; Fig. 2, a top or plan view.
of the same; Fig. 3, a portion of Fig. 2, to illustrate the operation of the
second thread carrier; Fig. 4, a double machine; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
illustrate the construction of the ruffle.
:
"
First, as to the mechanism, I employ in this illustration and practically
prefer the sewing machine known as the "Wilcox and Gibbs'" machine, and
partially represented in Figs. 1 and 2.
A is the cloth plate; B, the needle bar; b, the needle; C, the presser foot ;:

page_text: D, the feed; E, the driving shaft; and E', the looper. These parts are all
substantially the working parts of the said machine, to be threaded.and
operated in the usual manner. To these working parts of the original
machine I add a rock shaft F worked by a cam G through the lever H. a is
a stop or clamp fixed to the said rock shaft, the point or foot of which falls on
to the cloth plate directly at the back of but at a little distance from the
presser foot C.
I is a roller around which I pass a second thread, as denoted
by a red line, and thence down and under the presser foot, as represented.
c is an eye through which the said second thread passes, a reciprocating
movement being given to the said eye by the cam L through the sliding
rod N, to which the said eye is attached. The shaft O, on which the cam L
is placed, is made to revolve once to every two revolutions of the shaft E by
means of toothed wheels d and f; this is done for the purpose of carrying the
second thread first to one side of the needle and then to the other, so that
each stitch formed crosses the second thread, and will present the appearance
as shown enlarged in Fig. 5. P is a check fixed to the rock shaft F to act
upon the roller I, so that when required it will press upon the roller and
prevent a greater supply of the second thread than is required, as more fully
explained hereafter.
My machine being now complete, I will proceed to describe its operation
in producing my mechanically shirred ruffle. I take a strip of fabric which
has been previously hemmed upon one edge, and introduce. one end of the
strip under the presser foot in the ordinary manner for sewing, so that the
needle will enter the strip near the unhemmed edge, taking care to secure
the end of the second thread in the proper position, that is, so that the needle
will pass down at one side of it. If the machine be now started the needle
will go down on one side of the second .thread, and in a full revolution form
one stitch. As the needle rises and leaves the fabric, and before it again
descends, the second thread will by the mechanism before described have
been carried over so far to the opposite side of the needle that it (the needle)
will in its next descent enter the fabric upon the opposite side of the second
thread to its first entrance (see Fig. 3), and thus the second stitch will be.
formed across the second thread (see Fig. 5, the second thread being denoted
in red, the stitches in black). The tension of the two threads must be such
that the upper thread will lie entirely upon the upper surface of the fabric.
The second stitch being completed, and before the needle enters for the third
stitch, the second thread will have been carried back to its first position,.
causing the stitch to cross it, and so on. alternately, first to one side of the
needle and then to the other, so as to cause each stitch formed to cross it (the

page_text: second thread). As the stitches are formed the strip is fed along in the
ordinary manner until the first stitch reaches the stop or clamp a, which said
clamp at the instant the. feed.commences to move the fabric presses upon
the said fabric, and at the
Same instant the check is, applied to the second
thread, the result of their operation being that as the fabric cannot pass the
clamp the feed will cause the stitches to slip on the second thread, and as
there is nothing to hold down the fabric for the space of one stitch between
the presser foot and the clamp it will "full" the fabric up into that place
and form one sbirr; after this is properly formed, and before the feed is
complete, the clamp rises from the fabric, and at the same time the check
rises from the second thread, and the feed carries the fabric and second thread
with it to complete its (the feed's) movement; the feed then returns and in
its next forward movement forms a second shirr in like manner as the first,
and so on, each and every shirr being exactly like the preceding one, variable
in proportion as the clamp or stop is allowed to remain for a greater or less
portion of the entire feed. These shirrs are shown in Fig. 6 enlarged, but
not quite closed, the red lines denoting the second thread, the black line the
stitches or needle thread, and the blue line the fabric. It will be seen that
the shirrs may in this manner be made very much finer, and with a degree of
regularity which it is impossible to attain by hand or any known device. Thus
I produce mechanically a complete shirred ruffle.
Fig. 7 represents the ruffle complete, the red line denoting the line of
stitches and second thread, this is styled a single ruffle.
Fig. 8 represents a double ruffle shirred in like manner, the red line denoting
the stitches and second thread. In making a double ruffle I prefer a double
machine, or two needles and two second threads, as denoted in Fig. 4, each of
the second threads having a separate eye in the thread carrier the proper
distance apart, otherwise the machine is the same for double as single, and
the ruffle thus formed has two rows of stitches, as seen in Fig. 8.
Fig. 9 represents a single ruffle sewed to a band or binding or separate
strip of fabric, which is attached to the ruffle in a machine distinct from the
shirring machine, the line of stitches thus taken being represented by the
unbroken red line, the broken line representing the stitches taken in the
shirring machine. This band or binding is not a necessity to the com-
pletion of the ruffle, but in some cases is a matter of convenience to the
consumer.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
what I claim is,

page_text: Firstly, the combination of the check and carrier for the second thread,
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Secondly, the combination of the check and carrier for the second thread
with a sewing mechanism, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Thirdly, the combination of the carrier for the second thread, feeding 5
mechanism, and clamp, substantially as and for the purpose described. .
And, fourthly, the mechanically shirred ruffle described as a new article of
manufacture, whether the same be double or single, or either with or without
a band or binding attached thereto, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Chauncey Orrin Crosby, have hereunto 1
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHAUNCEY ORRIN CROSBY. (Ls.)