IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greenwood, of Leeds, in the County
of York, and John Keats, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 22nd November 1870, and dated the 11th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greenwood
and John Keats at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
with their Petition, on the 11th June 1870.
We, THOMAS GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, and
JOHN KEATS, of Leek, in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements on the boot and shoe
sewing machine for which Letters Patent were obtained bearing date
April 14th, 1863, No. 938, the object being to simplify the construction
and increase the efficiency of the machine. Instead of as heretofore

page_text: employing two instruments for opening the loop for the shuttle to pass
through we now employ one instrument, which both opens and spreads
the loop, taking it from the hooked needle and throwing it over the
advancing shuttle. The loop opener is mounted in a pendent rocking
arm which is provided at front with a vertical socket for receiving the
vertical stem of the horizontal loop opener, and at its rear it is furnished
with a pin which is embraced by the forked end of a rock lever that is
actuated by a grooved cam on the cam shaft of the machine. Made fast
to the stem of the looper is an arm carrying a stud pin which enters
a fixed slotted cam. The rocking of the pendent arm by the forked
lever will cause the loop opener to advance and take the loop from the
hooked needle, and hold it open for the nose of the advancing shuttle to
enter. When the shuttle has entered the loop the loop opener will, by
reason of the fixed cam and pin before mentioned, receive a sudden
sideway motion, and it will thus be caused to throw the loop over the
shuttle and ensure the formation of the stitch. The looper will retire
to the proper position for reapeating its action. The shuttle race may be
formed of two pins set in line, but at a proper distance apart, over which
the shuttle will traverse, or the shuttle being cylindrical may be em-
braced by a segment shaped race. Provision must be made in both
cases by a rib and groove or their equivalent to prevent the shuttle from
turning on its axis.
A further improvement relates to the feed. We employ what is known
as a top feed. The presser foot is jointed to the lower end of a rock
lever pendent from a hollow cylindrical rod which is capable of turning
in its bearings. In this slide works a pressing rod which terminates at
bottom in a wedge piece that bears upon the head of the rock lever
carrying the presser foot. The pressing rod is set in action by the
downward pressure of a rock lever which is actuated by a cam on the
cam shaft. This pressing rod is held up by a spring that keeps
the presser foot lever always in contact with its wedge-shaped ter-
mination. When the pressing rod is depressed the presser foot lever
will be rocked and the work fed forward. The same result will take
place whatever direction the presser foot may be set, and it is to allow
of this change of direction that the hollow rod that carries the feeding
mechanism is made to turn in its bearings.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Greenwood and John Keats in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 10th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
GREENWOOD, of Leeds, in the County of York, and JOHN KEATS, of
Leek, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Thomas Greenwood and John Keats, Her special
licence that we, the said Thomas Greenwood and John Keats, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Thomas Greenwood and John Keats, our 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 MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Green-
wood and John Keats, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, 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 Thomas Greenwood, on behalf of
myself and of the said John Keats, do hereby declare the nature
of our 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 hereunto.
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the boot and choo

page_text: April Fourteenth, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, No. 938,
the object being to simplify the construction and increase the efficiency
of the machine.
The Invention relates, firstly, to increasing the efficiency of the loop
opener; secondly, to the mounting and guiding the shuttle; and, thirdly,
to the operation of the top feed. As the general character of this class
of machine is well known it will only be necessary to describe par-
ticularly those parts to which our improvements refer.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional
elevation of a boot and shoe sewing machine, shewing our improvements
applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a partial transverse section of the same, taken
in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and looking in the direction of the arrow.
Instead of, as heretofore, employing two instruments for opening the
loop for the shuttle to pass through we now employ one instrument,
which both opens and spreads the loop, taking it from the hooked needle
and throwing it over the advancing shuttle.
The loop opener is shewn at A, and consists of a curved arm with a
wedge-shaped termination, it being so formed to enter readily into the
loop formed by the hooked or barbed needle B (which draws up the
thread from below the work) for the purpose of expanding the loop
laterally to receive the shuttle E. This loop opener A. is keyed to a
short cranked shaft A', which has its bearing in the pendent arm of a
cranked lever As, A³, and is free to rock therein. The pin which forms
the fulcrum of the cranked lever A³, A³, is carried by the bracket arm
of the machine, and is free to rock in its bearing. By this mode of
mounting the loop opener a compound motion may be imparted to it.
For imparting the compound motion to the loop opener the cam shaft C
is provided with cams C¹, C². The arm A³ of the crank lever is pro-
vided with a bowle which enters the groove cam C¹, and by the rotation
of that cam the crank lever is rocked on its fulcrum. A' is a rocking
lever which has for its fulcrum a sliding rod D. This lever is forked
at its lower end to embrace the cranked shaft A¹ of the loop opener, and
at its upper end it is caused to bear on the cam C. By the rotation of
this cam, the form of which is shewn in dots at Fig. 2, an axial motion
is imparted to the crank shaft of the loop opener. It will now be
understood that the rocking of the crank lever A³, A³, will cause the

page_text: loop opener A to
advance and enter the loop formed by the hooked or
barbed needle B. Before the nose of the advancing shuttle E reaches
the loop the loop opener A will by reason of the action of the cam C'
on the rock lever A* receive a sudden sideway motion, and it will thus
be caused to expand the loop laterally and present it to the advancing
shuttle, at the same time throwing the loop over the shuttle, and thus
ensuring the formation of the stitch; this having been effected the looper
will retire to the proper position for repeating its action.
The shuttle is made cylindrical with a taper or pointed end, and the
shuttle race is shewn as formed of two pins E', E', set in a line but at
a proper distance apart to allow of the free movement of the loop of
the needle thread. Over this space the shuttle will traverse not leaving
one pin until well supported by the other; or the shuttle being
cylindrical may be embraced by a segment shaped race as shewn at E³,
Figures 3 and 4, a space being provided at the middle of the race for
the spreading of the loop for and its escape from the shuttle. Provision
is made in both these cases by a rib and groove interlocking (see the
cross sections) or their equivalent to prevent the shuttle from turning
on its axis.
The last head of our Invention relates to an improvement in what
is known as the top feed, and consists in working it by a direct action,
the advantage of which is that the inequality in the length of the stitch
due to the presentation to the needle of an increased thickness of
material, as, for example, where a cross seam occurs in the work, will be
avoided or to a great extent removed. F is the roughened presser
and
feeding foot formed on the lower end of a rock lever F¹. This rock
lever is jointed to a forked and cranked piece F* which has a cylindrical
elongation upwards as at F³, the two parts forming together the presser
rod. This rod is fitted in a socket F" which slides in guides forming part
of the casting of the bracket arm, and it is held in position by a screw f,
the end of which enters an annular groove turned in the presser rod.
This arrangement provides for setting the presser or feed foot at any
desired angle to the shuttle race in order to feed the work diagonally;
the upper end of the presser rod is slotted to receive the end of a
rocking arm G, which is pivotted to the bracket arm, and is intended to
depress and hold down the presser foot on the work.

page_text: This downward pressure is produced by means of a spring G' which
bears upon the arm G. This arm G carries a bowl g which overlies
cam G³ at the extremity of the cam shaft C.
By the rotation of this cam the arm G is lifted and with it the presser
rod and presser or feeding foot which it carries. The connection
between the arm G and the presser rod is such as to allow of the axial
motion above mentioned of the rod in its socket.
The rock lever F has a lug or projection in rear of its centre, and a
similar lug or projection is formed on the cranked portion of the presser
rod. These two lugs are intended to receive the end of a coiled tension
spring f¹, the object of which is to retract the presser or feeding foot
after every advance it has made. The advance or feeding motion of the
roughened presser foot F is effected by the thrust of the rod D before
mentioned, which rod slides in a bearing formed for it in the bracket
arm casting. In rear of this rod is placed a set screw D¹, which forms
a stop to limit the back motion of the rod D. Fitted to the rear end of
the rod D is a stud which carries a bowl d, to receive the pressure of
the face cam H on the cam shaft C. It will now be understood that
when the presser rod D is thrust forward by the rotation of the cam H,
this presser foot lever F will be rocked, and the presser foot being at
that time held down upon the work the work will be fed forward.
When the downward pressure on the presser foot is removed the rod D will
be free to recede. At this time the spring f¹ will come into action and
tip the rock lever, thereby forcing it to take up a position ready for the
next advance of the presser or feeding foot, and at the same time
pushing back the pressing rod D, and presenting its bowle to the action
of the cam H. The same result will take place to whatever direction
this presser foot may be set, and it is to allow of the change of direction
of the feed that the rod which carries the feeding foot is made to turn
in its bearing.
و"
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of " Improvements
in Sewing Machines and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent we claim, —
First. The improved loop opener, constructed and operating in
conjunction with a booked needle and shuttle no cho

page_text: Second. The means above described for mounting the cylindrical
shuttle and preventing it from turning in its race.
Third. The arrangement of presser or top feed above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Greenwood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.