IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTION OF BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Browning, of Cheapside, in the City of
London, Mechanician; for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTION OF BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES."
THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Browning at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
May 1867.
I, GEORGE BROWNING, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Mechanician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF-BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first object of this, Invention. is to remove the liability, which now
exists in the Union button hole sewing machines, and machines of that class,
of the needle as it descends missing the open loop and thus producing a miss
stitch. This defect is caused by both the points of the loop spreader (which
points embrace the needle) moving in ares described from the same centre,
consequently one point moves towards the needle and the other from the
needle.
Now the first head of my Invention consists in giving the two-loop spreader.
points the same motion relatively to the needle. This I may effect in various:
ways, but the arrangement I prefer is to form the points on the ends of a pair,

page_text: of crank levers which are beld back out of action by springs, and are moved
forward by the thrust of a rocking or sliding arm to open the loops of the
needle and locking threads. The loop openers will thus move forward
simultaneously on opposite sides of the needle as heretofore, and they will
alternately come into action, but their advancing movement will be to a
common point on a line intermediate of the working positions of the needle. I
am thus enabled to open the loops of both the needle and the locking threads
in a manner that will ensure the needle entering at or near the centre of those
loops.
The second improvement relates to means for preventing the waste-of_silk.
and gimp that is now experienced in sewing button holes in the Union
machine above referred to. In these machines the work is carried by a clamp,
which in order that it may receive the work and be brought into proper con-
nection with the driving wheel requires to be drawn back, and to allow of
this the slot in the clamp through which the "throat" projects is elongated,
and a spring clip for holding the ends of the silk and the gimp is fixed to.the
lower plate of the clamp at the end of the slot. The consequence of this.
arrangement is that lengths of silk and gimp equal to the distance between
the end of the button hole (at commencing the sewing) and the clip is
'wasted every time a' button hole is sewn. Now to avoid this. I fit the spring
clip to a movable piece, say a swing arm, which can be brought close up to
the "throat," and as the clamp moves forward the drag of the silk and gimp
will retain the clip in contact with the throat until the work has arrived at
the proper position for the sewing to cominence. An adjustable stop on the
clamp will now strike the arm carrying the clip and cause it to move forward
with the clamp, and thus lay the gimp around the button hole.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BROWNING, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Mechanician, send
greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth
of Her reign,
did, 'for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give-and-grant unto me, the-said
year.

page_text: George Browning, Her special licence that I, the said George Browning, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or, such others as I, the said George
Browning, 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 Channe!
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, thé: said George Browning, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing. under my, 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 George Browning, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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):
The first object of this Invention is to remove the liability which exists iu
Union button hole sewing machines as heretofore manufactured, and in
machines of that class, of the needle-missing in, its descent the opened loops,,
and thereby producing a miss stitch. This result is, due to the defective action.
of the loop spreader, which is a forked plate, the points of which move forward
to catch alternately the loops of the needle and under or looper thread.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn at Figures 1 and 2 the
ordinary construction of loop spreader in two positions, and the needle and.
looper in corresponding positions, in order that the defective action of the
loop spreader may be clearly understood.
A is the forked loop spreader affixed to a reciprocating lever B, which has
its fulcrum at C. As therefore the loop spreader 'is 'advanced from its back-.
ward position (shewn in the Diagram Fig. 3) to the advanced position..
(shewn dotted in that Figure) to act on the loop, its points will describe ares.
from the same centre, and the consequence is that one point will move
towards while the other recedes from the needle. The opening of the loops.
of the needle and looper thread in succession is for: the purpose (as is well
understood) of allowing the needle to leave a locking, loop within them; it is.
therefore essential to the making of good work that they shall be opened out
in such a manner as to ensure the needle on its descent entering the opened

page_text: loop. Now in order to accomplish this I propose to give the. two loop
spreader points the same motion relatively to the needle, or to make them
traverse towards a point common to both, as indicated by the dotted lines in
the Diagram Fig. 4; this I may effect in various ways, but the arrange-
ment I prefer is to form the points on the ends of a pair of crank levers which
are held back out of action by a spring, and are moved forward by the thrust
of a rocking or sliding arm to open the loops of the needle and locking
threads.. This arrangement is shewn in inverted plan view and on a scale
double that of the working machine at Figures 5 and 6, the positions of the
needle and the looper being different in the two Figures the better to shew
how the loops of the needle thread and the under or locking, thread are
opened relatively to the vertical positions of the vibrating needle. Figures 7
and 8 are vertical sections showing the working parts in positions corres-
ponding to their respective plan views. A, A, are a pair of crank-levers
forming the loop openers or spreaders, the one operating to open the loop. of
the needle-thread, which is shewn in red in the Figures above referred to; and
the other to open the loop of the locking or. under thread, which is shewn in
blue. The crank levers or loop spreaders. have their fulcrums at A¹, A'; and
they are so shaped as to overlie one the other, and yet allow of their points
working in the same plane. Dis a coiled spring connected at its opposite
ends to the crank levers in such a way that its tendency will be to bring them
to the position shewn in the Diagram Fig. 4; E is a pusher carried by the
rocking lever, as at B, Fig. 2, the fulcrum of which. is at C.; and F is, the
looper for laying the under or locking thread within the loop of the needle.
thread, as fully described in the Specification of the Patent granted to Alfred
Vincent Newton, dated March Twentieth. One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five, No. 776. It will now be understood that the points of the loop.
spreaders instead of moving in. ares. described from the fulcrum point of the
lever B will while moving forward simultaneously on opposite sides of the
needle, as heretofore to come alternately into action, advance to a common
point on a line intermediate of the working positions of the needle.. This
arrangement enables nie to open the loops of both the needle and the looper
threads in a manner that will, ensure the vibrating needle entering at or near
the centre of those loops, as clearly shewn at Figures 5 and 6, instead of at or
near the side thereof, and allowance is thus made for any undue slackness of
thread or other defect that may occur in the formation of the open-loop-by-the-
presence of which the needle is rendered liable to descend outside of the loop,
and thus produce a miss stitch.
The second improvement relates to means for preventing the waste of silk

page_text: and gimp that is now experienced in sewing button holes in the Union
machine above referred to. In these machines the work is carried by a clamp;
which in order that, it may receive the work, and be brought into proper
connection with the driving wheel requires to receive a backward sliding,
motion, and to allow of this the:slot.in the clamp through which the "throat"
projects is elongated,, as shewn in the plan view, Fig. 9; this elongation of
the throat allows of the clamp. being brought into the dotted position. The
position, however, for starting the sewing for a given size of button hole is
shewn by the drawn lines, the opening in the throat for the descent of the
needle indicating the point at which the button hole is commenced. A spring
clip a for holding the ends of the silk and the gimp b, c, is fixed to the lower plate
A of the clamp at the end of the slot. The consequence of this arrangement
is that lengths of silk and gimp equal to the distance between the end of the
button hole (at commencing the sewing) and the clip is wasted every time a
button hole is sewn. To avoid this waste of material I fit the spring clip to a
sliding piece which can be brought close up to the "throat," and as the clamp
is moved to engage it with the driving gear the drag of the silk and gimp will
retain the clip in contact with the throat until the work has arrived at the
proper position for the sewing to commence. This arrangement is shewn in
plan view at Fig. 10; the lips of the slot are in this case rebated to receive a
sliding plate d which carries a spring clip e. A shoulder or arm-is formed on the
side of this plate to receive the pressure of a pin f (which may be made
adjustable to suit different lengths of button holes) fitted to the clamp. The
gimp and silk being laid under the spring clip e, and the work put in place in
the clamp, the clamp is drawn to the dotted position of Fig. 10 for the purpose
already explained; but during this movement the plate D remains stationary
or in contact with the throat, to which it has been brought to receive the ends of
the gimp and silk; when however the clamp is moved back to the position for
'commencing work the pin f will be brought up into contact with the arm on
the side of the plate d. The forward progress of the clamp by which the
work is carried under the action of the needle will cause the adjustable stop on
the clamp to strike the arm of the plate d, carrying the clip and move it
forward with the clamp, and thus lay the gimp around the button hole.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction of Button Hole Sewing Machines," 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 1 claim,-
First, causing the points of the loop spreaders of button hole sewing
machines (of the construction above mentioned) to move towards a line drawn

page_text: intermediate of the planes of motion of the vibrating needle, in the manner
and for the purpose above set forth...
Secondly, the arrangement above described for effecting a saving in the
gimp and silk used in the formation of button holes.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Browning, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness to the signature of
Geo. Browning,
LACHLAN-MCBEAU,-
147, Cheapside.
GEORGE BROWNING. (L.S.)