Carpet Sewing Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 18th Mar., 1899
from abroad by THE DINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, Of New
York, United States of America, Sewing Machine Manufacturers.]
Carpet Sewing Apparatus.
I, JOHN KING MACDONALD, Manager of The Singer Manufacturing Company,
Kilbowie, Dumbartonshire, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the carpet sewing machine apparatus shown and
described in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 16460 of 1894, and comprises
certain improved means for returning the travelling sewing machine to its initial
position, on the track or guide-way on which it moves, after a seam has been com-
pleted, so that said machine will then be in starting position for a new scam. In
the apparatus covered by the said patent the travelling sewing machine was
returned to starting position by a special returning-belt with which the machine
was engaged by the attendant when it was to be returned, but in the present inven-
tion the machine is returned by a reversing mechanism operated from the same
endless belt which drives the machine forward, thus dispensing with the special
returning-belt.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a plan view of a travelling carpet sewing
machine equipped with my improvements, and Fig. 2 an end view thereof. Fig. 3
is a detail view of the reversing mechanism..
The travelling sewing machine B, moving on lower and upper guide-rods or
rails b, 61, is, or may be, essentially the same in construction and operation as the
machine shown and described in the patent above referred to excepting as to the
returning mechanism. The pulley M, over which the endless driving belt L runs,
has a clutch connection with the driving shaft m, as shown and described in the
said patent, so as to be operatively connected with said shaft when the machine
is travelling forward, the clutch connection being automatically released or broken
when the machine is stopped and is to he returned to starting position, and when
this clutch connection is thus released or broken said pulley will run free, or as a
loose pulley. C is the reversing shaft suitably journalled in bearings in the
machine frame, said shaft being provided at one end with loose and fast pulleys c
and c', and at its other end with a gear wheel ca meshing with internal gear teeth e
formed on a gear wheel E journalled on a stud el supported by the machine frame
and having peripheral teeth e meshing with the teeth of the rack-bar J along which
the machine is fed by means of the feeding mechanism described in the said
patent, and in the use of which the feeding levers or bars will be disengaged from
said rack-bar when the machine is to be returned.
F is a belt-shifter consisting of an arm extending downward from a vertical
shaft adapted to turn or rock on a hollow post or sleeve fl supported by an
arm fextending from the machine frame, said belt-shifter arm having a hole

page_text: through which the driving-belt L loosely passes. The belt-shifter shaft ƒ has a
laterally extending upper arm or handle 3 which will be taken hold of by the
attendant, when the machine has been stopped by the unclutching of the pulley M,
to turn the belt-shifter arm so as to transfer the driving-belt L from the loose
pulleye to the fast pulley c¹ and set the reversing shaft C (which shaft and the
gear wheel E run idly when the machine is travelling forward) into positive and
reverse movement, or in the direction denoted by the arrow 2, in Fig. 3, thus
causing the gear wheel E, by its engagement with the teeth of the rack-bar J, to
carry the machine back along said rack-bar and the guide rods or tracks 6 and 61
to starting position.
[
To automatically stop the return travelling movement of the machine (as in the
apparatus covered by the former patent) I. provide a stationary rigid tripping
abutment supported by a rigid arm attached to the clamp-supporting rod d
and rod b and located at or near the starting point of the machine, said abutment 2
extending slightly within the path of movement of the outer end of the handle' f3
of the belt-shifting device so that when said handle strikes said stopping abutment
the belt-shifter will be turned slightly to transfer the driving belt L from the fast
pulley to the loose pulley c, and thus the reverse travel of the machine will be
automatically arrested. The arm f when turned backward to place the belt on
the loose pulley c can pass by the abutment 2 so that no injury of the parts will
result from the contact of said arm with said abutment.
To limit the turning movement of the shaft f in either direction the post or
sleeve is provided with a lug f which is straddled by depending lugs on the
collar of the arm or handle f* fast on said shaft, and thus the belt-shifter shaft
will be prevented from turning so far as to move the belt L off from the pulley c, c¹.
When a seam has been completed the machine is stopped by the automatic un-
clutching of the pulley M from the driving shaft of the machine, as described in
the former patent, and when this has been done a machine, equipped with the
present invention, may be returned to starting position simply by the movement
of the arm or handle 3 by the attendant to transfer the driving belt L from the
loose pulley to the fast pulley c¹, and the machine is then driven back to its first
position, at which point its return movement is arrested, as herein before described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing
machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of an endless belt for causing said
machine to travel forward, and a reversing mechanism separate from said belt
and with which said belt may be connected to cause the machine to be returned to
its starting point without reversing the travel of the belt.
2. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing
machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of an endless belt for causing the said
machine to travel forward, a reversing mechanism separate from said belt and with
which said belt may be connected to cause the machine to be returned to its
starting point without reversing the travel of the belt, and a stopping device for
automatically arresting the return travel of the machine.
3. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing
machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of a rack-bar along which said machine
is fed in its forward travel, an endless driving belt, mechanism operated by said
belt to cause the said machine to be driven forward along the said rack-bar, a
reversing shaft geared to said rack-bar and provided with loose and fast pulleys,
and a belt-shifting device by means of which the said driving belt may be placed
on either of said pulleys according to whether the machine is to travel forward or
backward.
4. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing

page_text: machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of a rack-bar along which said machine
is fed in its forward travel, an endless driving belt, mechanism operated by said belt
to cause the said machine to be driven forward along the said rack-bar, a reversing-
shaft geared to said rack-bar and provided with loose and fast pulleys, a belt shifting
device by means of which the said driving belt may be placed on either of said
pulleys according to whether the machine is to travel forward or backward, and a
stopping device for automatically arresting the return travel of the machine.
5. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing
machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of a rack-bar along which the machine
is fed, an endless belt for driving the stitch-forming mechanism of said
machine and for causing the latter to travel forward, a driving pulley having a
clutch-connection with the driving-shaft of said machine, said pulley being thus
adapted to run loose relative to said shaft when said clutch-connection is released,
and a returning-mechanism comprising a shaft geared to the said rack-bar and
which shaft is provided with fast and loose pulleys, and a belt-shifting device by
means of which the belt may be placed in engagement with either of said pulleys
on the returning-mechanism shaft.
6. In a carpet sewing apparatus, the combination with a travelling sewing.
machine and a track or guide-way therefor, of a rack-bar along which the machine
is fed, an endless belt for driving the stitch-forming mechanism of said machine
and for causing the latter to travel forward, a driving pulley having a clutch
connection with the driving shaft of said machine, said pulley being thus adapted
to run loose relative to said shaft when said clutch-connection is released, and a
returning-mechanism comprising a shaft geared to the said rack-bar and which
shaft is provided with fast and loose pulleys, a belt-shifting device by means of
which the belt may be placed in engagement with either of said pulleys on the
returning-mechanism shaft, and a device for causing the said belt to be auto-
matically transferred from said fast pulley to said loose pulley when the machine
has been returned to starting position.
Dated this 8th dov
1800
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER,
Of the Firm of Cruikshank & Fairweather,
Chartered Patent Agents,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agent for the Applicant.
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER,
Of the Firm of Cruikshank & Fairweather,
Chartered Patent Agents,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow,
Agent for the Applicant.