IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Willis, George Rice, and
Arthur Maxfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 8th June 1867.
We, HENRY WILLIS, of the City of Worcester, Boot and Shoe Manu-
facturer, and GEORGE RICE, also of the City of Worcester, Tailor and Draper,
and ARTHUR MAXFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Our improvements in sewing machines consist, firstly, of the following
arrangements for driving sewing machines worked by hand, which arrange-
ments may also be applied to driving sewing machines worked by the foot.
We make the driving wheel with an internal rim, which may either be
rough or smooth, and on the shaft to be driven is a pulley, the periphery of
which is covered with india-rubber or other substance which when the
pulley is pressed against the interior of the rim of the driving wheel will
produce sufficient friction to cause the pulley to take motion from the driving.
wheel. In order to produce a sufficient degree of friction between the driving
wheel and pulley the axle of the driving wheel is made to work in a slot, so
that it can be pressed with greater or less force against the pulley, and thrown-
into and out of gear at pleasure; or we fix a ring of india-rubber or other

page_text: substance capable of producing sufficient friction on the internal surface of
the rim of the driving wheel. The working surfaces of the driving wheel
and those of the pulley may either be plain or bevilled, but by preference we
make them bevilled; or we make the driving wheel and pulleys with grooves on
their peripheries, and drive the said pulleys by a band from the driving wheel.
In order to preserve the requisite tightness in the band one or more pressing
pulleys may be employed to press against and tighten the band, the said
pressing pulleys either being fixed by a screw working in a slot or urged by a
light spring.
These arrangements of driving mechanism may be applied to machines
having two parallel shafts, one under the bed plate of the machine for
working the feeder and looper, and the other over the bed plate of the
machine for working the. needle; or the said driving mechanism may be
applied to machines of the kind herein-after described having but one rotating
shaft.
Our improvements in sewing machines consist further of the following
arrangements for producing the motion of the needle:-Instead of producing
the motion of the needle by means of a rotating shaft situated over the bed.
plate of the machine we produce the said motion of the needle either by
means of a rocking shaft, that is, a shaft having a reciprocating or vibrating
motion, or by means of a lever having motion in a vertical plane. The
motion of the said rocking shaft or lever is taken from the pulley of the shaft
under the bed plate of the machine by means of a connecting link or rod.
Our improvements in sewing machines consist further in making the
rotating shafts work in centres or conical bearings instead of the nsnal
cylindrical bearings, whereby the said shafts work more truly and with less
friction than the ordinary cylindrical bearings.
Our improvements in sewing machines consist further in arranging the
parts of the machine so that it will produce three different kinds of stitch
at the pleasure of the operator. We effect this in the following manner :-
On the shaft that works under the bed plate of the machine we fix a cam
either with or without a bell-crank lever or other mechanical arrangement
capable of producing a reciprocating motion in a looper or loopers; these
loopers are so formed and fixed that they take hold of and release the loops as
they are given out and taken by the needle descending and ascending through
the fabric being sewn. The three kinds of stitch made by these loopers
during the reciprocating motion described are, first, an interlock or double
chain stitch with two threads; second, a chain or simple thread stitch; and third,

page_text: a new kind of stitch made with two threads, and which is a frilling stitch or
twisted chain cord.
We also make the lock stitch with the same class of machines. This may
be effected by a revolving hook in combination with a metallic bobbin and.
bobbin holder or by the application of a shuttle and driver.
Our improvements in sewing machines consist, further, of the following
arrangement of the feeding apparatus for producing basting or other long
stitches: We fix upon the feeding shaft two or more metallic sectors lying
upon one another or nearly in the same plane; these sectors by being turned
upon the axis may be opened and closed similar to a fan, and the metallic arc
produced by their edges and by which the fabric being sewn is carried
forward be made of a greater or less angle. By each rotation of the shaft a
portion of the fabric is carried forward equal to the length of the arc of the
feeder, which may be fixed at any required length, and a long stitch thus
produced.
Our improvements in sewing machines consist further of an adjustable
self-acting hem folder to be used in connection with sewing machines for
folding the fabric in the form of a hem as it is being sewn in the machine.
One part of the folder is fixed to the bed of the machine, and the other part
is capable of being moved on the former so as to increase or diminish the
width of the hem produced.
Our improvements consist further in making the shuttle cases and drivers
of sewing machines of non-metallic substances so as to prevent the noise
which is caused by the working of the machines when the said parts are
made of metal.
Our improvements consist further of an improved tuck marker, one part
being fixed on the presser foot of the sewing machine, and the other part to
the bed plate of the machine. This marker on the descent of the presser foot
presses the fabric on an adjustable slide, and thereby marks it for the next
tuck.
Our improvements consist further in the following self-acting arrangement
for throwing the spools of winders for sewing machines out of gear, when
sufficient thread has been wound upon them:-The pulley which drives the
spindle slides upon it, and is pressed by a spring into a position which when
the spring is permitted to operate ungears it from the shaft; a wire parallel
with the shaft is bent at both ends nearly at right angles, one end of the wire
bearing against the inclined side of the pulley, and the other being situated
over the spool. When the thread has accumulated sufficiently on the spool

page_text: it bears against the last-mentioned end of the wire, and acting upon it causes
the other end no longer to press against the side of the pulley, when the
spring described presses the pulley a short dis ance along the axis and throws
it out of gear, thereby stopping the further winding of thread on the spool.