IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th January
1864. A communication from abroad by Doctor Isidore Sollier and
Baron Gerard Dedel, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad
by Doctor Isidore Sollier and Baron Gerard Dedel, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, to be as follows:--
This Invention relates to the heavier class of sewing machines intended for
boot and shoe work, harness work, and the stitching of leather and strong
materials generally, and consists of the combination and arrangement of parts
herein-after described. The main driving shaft of the machine is contained
within the overhanging bracket or fixed arm, and is provided at its rear end
with a fly wheel, driven either by a foot lever, by hand, or by a driving belt, if
steam or other prime mover be employed. At the front end of the driving shaft
a slotted disc is keyed, in which works a slide, the course of which is variable in
order to regulate the stitches to be produced. This disc imparts motion to the

page_text: principal pieces of mechanism in the head of the machine. Cam surfaces or
projections are formed on the periphery of the disc for the purpose of imparting
by the aid of suitable levers and a vertical sliding rod or spindle, an up-and-
down motion to the feeding foot, which operates upon the top surface of the
material. Another rod or spindle placed horizontally and also actuated by the
cam surface above referred to, imparts the horizontal to-and-fro motion to the
feeding foot by the aid of a double lever and sliding plate. The needle slide
receives its up-and-down motion from a slide and antifriction roller. An
instrument for taking up the slack is fitted to the lower end of a vertical rod
or stem working in the head of the bracket, and made in two separate parts
held together by a helical spring contained therein. Upon suitable bracket
supports is fitted a helical spring which acts upon a lever and tends to draw
down the feeding foot, causing it to press upon the material to be stitched. A
screwed spindle is employed for holding in an elevated position the feeding
presser foot, or for releasing it, so as to cause it to act upon the material, it
being simply requisite to advance or withdraw the spindle. There is an anti-
friction roller fitted to the upper end of the vertical sliding rod, and working
in the groove of the cam on the rear end of the driving shaft, whereby a to-
and-fro motion is imparted to a toothed rack on the lower end of the vertical
sliding rod. On a short cross spindle or shaft working in bearings near the
bottom of the fixed bracket arm and at the rear thereof two spur wheels are
keyed, one of which is actuated by the toothed rack herein-before referred to.
A horizontal sliding rod is fitted underneath the table of the machine, and is
provided at each end with a rack, the one rack receiving a to-and-fro horizontal
motion from the second of the two spur wheels above referred to, and the
other rack imparting a circular reciprocating motion to a vertical spindle
situate under the bed plate of the machine. To each end of this spindle is
fitted a pinion, the lower one receiving motion from the horizontal rack, and
the upper one imparting motion to a double rack which actuates the thread
distributor under the needle by means of a steel wire passing round a guide
pulley at the lower end of the horn which supports the work, or by any other
convenient contrivance. This horn is carried by an arm which is free to turn
round a pivot or centre in the bed plate of the machine, so as to afford facility
for turning the work in any desired direction when stitching. The upper end
of the horn carries the thread distributor herein-before referred to. The
thread employed is contained on a bobbin or reel inside the rotating arm
which is also provided with a tension apparatus, and with a compartment for
containing a small lamp or gas jet for heating the horn or arm of the machine.
A horizontal table or platform is employed for some kinds of work fitted when

page_text: required by screws or otherwise to the horn or lower arm before referred to.
The stitch produced is the single thread chain or tambour stitch, and a hooked
needle is employed into which the thread is placed after it has penetrated the
material by the thread distributor berein before referred to.