IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Starley, of the Coventry Sewing Machine
Company, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 9th October 1868, and dated the 21st May 1868...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Starley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1868.
I, JAMES STARLEY, of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company,
Coventry, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of,
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINERY," to be as.
follows:
This Invention relates to improvements in sewing machines whereby,
their action will be more quiet and more certain than heretofore, the main
object being to produce a thoroughly efficient hand machine at small.

page_text: cost that will form the shuttle stitch. The driving shaft is fitted
with a cam that has a diagonal groove in which works a forked piece
connected by a ball-and-socket joint with the rocking arm of the
vertical needle. The rotation of this driving shaft gives to the rocking
arm a smooth and silent vibrating "motion. On the end of this shaft
is mounted the rotating hook by which the loop of the needle thread
is opened to receive the thread of the under bobbin, and this bobbin
is held in place (in the hollow of the rotating hook) by means of a
cup carried by a sliding stem which allows of its being drawn back
to release the bobbin when required. The relative positions of the
needle, rotating hook, and bobbin are peculiar for this class of machine;
the bobbin lies in front of the descending needle and the point of
the hook works at the back of the needle. This arrangement prevents
the entanglement of the threads with the hook and removes the liability
of either the bobbin or the needle thread loops being missed and
defective work resulting. The feeding plate is carried by a crank lever
mounted on an elongated horizontal spindle, which has its bearings
in lugs cast on the under side of the table of the machine. This
spindle slides in its bearings to give the traverse motion to the feed
plate and it rocks to impart the rising and falling motion. This arrange-
ment ensures great steadiness in the feed; the motions of the feed
plate are obtained from two cams on the driving shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Starley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STARLEY, of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company, Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year
(if our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Starley, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said James Starley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Starley, 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 MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Starley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 James Starley, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here.
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) -
This Invention relates to improvements in sewing machines whereby
their action will be 'rendered more quiet and more certain than here-
tofore, the main object being to produce a thoroughly efficient hand
machine suitable for family use at small cost that will form the
shuttle stitch.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional
elevation of a sewing machine of the rotary shuttle or Wheeler and
Wilson construction with the improvements applied thereto; Fig. 2
is an inverted plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation
taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
The Invention relates, firstly, to an improved means of transmitting
motion to the rocking arm carrying the needle bar; and, secondly, to
an improved mode of mounting the feed plate.
A is the driving shaft receiving rotary motion through a crossed
band from a hand wheel B mounted on an adjustable bracket arm C,
which admits of the band when slack being readily brought to tension

page_text: on the driving pulley A¹. The shaft A is fitted with a cam D in which
a transverse diagonal groove is formed to receive a forked piece E (see
the detached view, Fig. 4) connected by a ball-and-socket joint with
the rocking arm F of the vertical needle. The rotation of this driving
shaft gives therefore to the rocking arm a smooth and silent vibrating
motion. On the front end of the shaft A is mounted the rotating
hook G by which the loop of the needle thread is opened to receive
the thread of the under bobbin H, and this bobbin is held in place
(in the hollow of the rotating hook) by means of a cup I carried by
a sliding stem I* which allows of the cup being drawn back (against
the counter pressure of a coiled spring) to release the bobbin when
required. K is the feeding plate made fast by screws to and carried
by a crank lever L, which lever is itself mounted on and made fast
to a loose horizontal spindle M having its bearings in lugs cast on the
under side of the table of the machine. This spindle slides in its
bearings to give the traverse motion to the feed plate, and it rocks to
impart the rising and falling motion. The crank lever L is formed
with a tail L' bent at right angles thereto, which tail bears upon a
conical cam N on the driving shaft A, and receives therefrom a rocking
motion which produces the requisite rise and fall motions of the feed
plate. The crank lever is also furnished with a finger or projection L'
which is borne against by a cam O carried by the driving shaft A, and
from which cam the feed plate derives its traverse motion. These ex-
tensions L, L2, of the crank lever are held within reach of their
respective shafts by means of a tension spring P. An adjustable stop
rod Q serves to limit the range of endway motion of the spindle M,
and thus regulates the amount of traverse of the feed plate K to suit the
length of stitch required. This arrangement ensures great steadiness in
the "feed" and removes the tendency (so common to feeds as ordinarily
constructed) for the "feed" to deteriorate by reason of the wear of the
parts constituting the feed motion.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improve-
ments in Sewing Machinery," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part, recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The means above described for transmitting motion to the
rocking arm used for working the needle bar.

page_text: And, secondly. Mounting the feed plate on a sliding rock spindle
in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Starley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JAS. STARLEY. (L.S.)