IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle
Street, Holborn (City), London, and now of 29, Boulevart St. Martin,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th December 1854.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn
(City), London, and now of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES" to be as follows; and consists in substi-
tuting for the shuttle a thread case to carry the locking thread, said case being
so arranged relatively to the line of motion of the needle, that instead of
requiring, like the shuttle, a movement of its own to carry its thread through
the loop in the needle thread, has the loop drawn over it by the retraction
of the needle, by which means the mechanism is much simplified.
The needle, instead of being attached directly to the slider, is secured to the
lower end of a bar, pivoted at one side of the head of the needle to a light arm
attached rigidly to the slider. The upper end of the needle bar is T shaped,

page_text: & has near one end of its cross piece a small pin standing out behind it,
which, when the needle is upright, is in contact with one side of an upright
slot. When the needle is raised above the material to be sewed, and during its
entry into the material, the opposite end of the cross piece of the needle
arm is in contact with a light spring secured to the slide, and holds the pin
against the side of the slot in the slider, securing a proper degree of rigidity
for the needle arm, & serving to bring the needle bar and needle to an
upright position as it arrives near the end of its upward movement, to com-
pensate for the lateral movement which the needle and bar receive while the
needle is in the cloth, for the purpose of pushing the loop in the needle thread
over the point of the thread case. At a suitable distance below said spring is
a fixed guide piece, for holding the needle bar and needle upright during the
earlier part of their ascent or retraction from the cloth. The thread case is
placed below the work table upright, or with its length parallel with the needle,
a little in rear of and at one side of the line in which the needle works, with
its point downwards, and is confined in a recess in the thread case holder by a
spring. The thread case must be of such form as to prevent it turning in the
holder, and which would present a nearly flat surface, parallel or nearly so with
the lateral movement of the needle upon the pin. Its corners are rounded off,
and its points should be on that side nearest the needle, and slightly curved
towards the line in which the needle works. The top and bottom of the recess
of the thread case holder are made flaring, to allow the
between it and the thread case when forming the stitch.
its lower end a shoe, through an opening in which work two burred feed rollers,
secured on an arbor, which also carries a ratchet wheel, engaged by a spring
pawl, secured to the feed bar. The bar has a slot in its upper part, which fits
to a pin fixed in the slide, and it receives a downward pressure from a spring
secured to the top of the standard; it is further confined in its place by a
plate secured to the back of the slide. It receives the necessary vibrating.
motion partly from a stud on the back of the slider, working through a slot
and acting on an inclined projection on its front side, and partly from a spring
secured to one side of the slide, which returns it after the action of the stud.
The length of the feed is regulated by a stop screw in the bottom of the slide;
the
eye of the needle should be transverse to the lateral movement. Other
methods may be adopted to pass the loop over the point of the thread case
without moving the needle laterally; for instance, the point of the thread
loop to pass easily
The feed bar has at
might be made elastic, or attached by a hinge, & thus be moved slightly
without moving the whole of the thread case.
In case the loop be passed over the thread case without lateral motion

page_text: of the needle, the feed motion must be imparted while the needle is out of
the cloth. Two threads are employed; one by the needle, the other by the
thread bearer underneath the table. The stitch formed is that known as
the interlocked stitch.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London,
and now of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, in the Empire of France, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my execu-
tors, 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," a communication,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
In sewing machines constructed and operating according to this Invention,
two threads are employed to form the stitch; one of the said threads being
carried through the cloth or material to be sewed, and left protruding in the

page_text: form of a loop, in which the other thread is received. The stitch formed is
that known as the interlocked stitch, and is the same as that formed in sewing
machines heretofore used by the operations of the needle and shuttle, the
needle in those machines carrying the first thread through the cloth or material
and forming the loop, and the shuttle, by a movement of its own, carrying the
other thread, which may be termed the locking thread, through the loop.
This Invention consists chiefly in substituting for the shuttle a thread case
to carry the locking thread, said case being so arranged relatively to the line
of motion of the needle, that instead of requiring, like the shuttle, a move-
ment of its own to carry its thread through the loop in the needle thread, has
the loop drawn over it by the retraction of the needle, by which means the
mechanism of the machine is much simplified. The Invention further consists
in certain arrangements and modes of operating the several parts of the
machine for the purpose of facilitating the above result.
The accompanying Drawing exhibits a sewing machine in which my
Invention is carried out; Fig. 1 being a side view; Fig. 2, a front view;
and Fig. 3, a top view of the machine complete; Figs. 4 & 5, front views of
the principal parts in different positions; Fig. 6, a front view of the needle
bar detached from the machine; Fig. 7, a front view of the feed bar; Fig. 8,
a vertical section, in the line a, y, of Fig. 1, showing a back view of the feed
motion; Fig. 9, a top view of the thread case and its holder; Fig. 10, a
perspective view of the thread case with its holder, in section; Fig. 11, a
longitudinal section of the thread case; and Fig. 12, an end view of the same
with its cap removed to show the interior. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the several Figs.
A is the bed plate of the machine, having cast with or otherwise secured
to it the raised horizontal work table B, and the crane-formed standard C,
which carries the needle slide D. The above parts are intended to be
of such size and weight that the whole machine may be placed upon a
common table. E is the needle arm, working on a pin a at the top of
the standard C, and having connected to its front end by a link the
needle slider F, which works vertically in the slide D, its back end being
furnished with a roller to work in a cam groove c, c, c, in a wheel W,
which turns on a pivot at the back of the standard C, the revolution
of which wheel sets all the parts of the machine in operation. is the needle,
which, instead of being attached directly to the slider F, as in other machines,
is secured to the lower end of a light bar e, which is pivoted at one side
of the head of the needle by a pin f to a light arm g, which is attached
rigidly to the slider F. The upper end of the needle bar e is T shaped,

page_text: and carries near one end of its cross piece a small pin h, which stands out
behind it. This pin h when the needle is upright is in contact with one side
of an upright slot i, i, which extends the greater part of the length of the
needle slider. When the needle is raised above the cloth or material placed
on the table B to be sewed, and during its entry into the said cloth or material,
the opposite end of the cross piece of the needle arm to that which carries the
pin h is in contact with a light spring j, which is secured to the slide D. This
spring holds the pin h against the side of the slot i, i, in the slider F, and
maintains a proper degree of rigidity for the needle arm while the needle is
entering the cloth, and also serves to bring the needle bar and needle to an
upright position as it arrives near the end of its upward movement, this being
rendered necessary by a lateral movement which the needle and bar receive
upon the pin
while the needle is in the cloth, for the purpose of pushing the
loop in the needle thread over the point of the thread case G. At a suitable
distance below the spring ; there is a fixed guide piece k, secured to the slide
D, for holding the needle bar and needle upright during the carlier part of
their ascent or retraction from the cloth or material.
a
The thread case G resembles in its general external appearance a single
pointed shuttle. It is placed immediately below the work table B upright, or
with its length parallel with the needle, a little in rear of and at one side of
the line in which the needle works in passing through the cloth or material,
with its point downwards, being confined by spring m in a recess in the front
of a small block of metal E, which may be termed the thread case holder,
and which is secured by screws n, n, to the front of the bed plate of the
machine. The thread case should be, preferably, of triangular form in its
transverse section, but may be square or of other form, which would prevent
it turning in the holder H, and which would present a flat or nearly flat sur-
face, parallel or nearly so with the lateral movement of the needle upon the
pin f. Its corners are rounded off, and its point should be on that side or
angle nearest the needle, and slightly curved towards the line in which the
needle works in passing through the cloth. It has a cavity within it, which is
as large as possible, in order to receive the greatest quantity of thread, which
is inserted in the form of a coil or cop by removing a cap o from the top. The
coil of thread is shown in Figs. 11 & 12 in blue color. The thread has a
proper drag given to it to produce the requisite tension by passing back and
forth through holes P, P, in the cap before making its exit at the eye g. The
top and bottom of the recess of the thread case holder H, which receive the
thread case, are made flaring, in order to allow the loop to pass easily between
it and the thread. case. That portion of the work table above the thread case

page_text: is made movable, for the purpose of readily taking the thread case from its
holder to re-fill it. I is the feed bar, which has at its lower end a shoe r,
through an opening in the sole of which work two burred feed rollers s, s,
which are secured on an arbor t, fitted in bearings in the said shoe. The
same arbor t carries a ratchet wheel u, which is engaged by a spring pawl v,
secured to the feed bar, and is thereby prevented being turned by the frac-
tion of the feed rollers on the cloth while they move from the needle, but
allowed to turn when the said rollers move towards the needle. The bar
has a slot 15 in its upper part, which fits to a fixed pin w, screwed into the
slide D, and it receives a downward pressure from a spring J, secured to
the top of the standard C. It is further confined in its place by a plate K,
secured by screws to the back of the slide D.
It receives the necessary
stud Z, on the back of the
vibrating motion to feed the cloth partly from a
slider F, which works through a slot in the back of the slide D, and acts
on an inclined projection 13 on its front side, and partly from a spring L,
secured to one side of the slide D, the spring being for the purpose of return-
ing it after the action of the stud Z. The length of the feed is regulated
by a stop screw 14, working in the bottom of the slide D. The feed takes
place during the action of the spring L. The needle thread, represented in
red color, is supplied from a spool M at one side of the slide D, and the eye of
the needle is so placed that the thread enters it in the front, or in other words,
the eye should be transverse to the lateral movement.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-To commence, the cloth or
material to be sewed is adjusted upon the work table in the usual manner, and
the end of the thread from the thread case G should be held by the hand
of the operator at starting. The needle slider F is set in motion by the
revolution of the wheel W, produced either by turning it directly by hand, or
by a treadle or other means.
The descent of the needle slider with the needle
bar e carries the needle down straight through the cloth until its
eye arrives
some distance below the point of the thread case, as shown in Fig. 4, when it
commences to rise again, in doing which it forms the loop, in the same manner
as the needle of other sewing machines, in that part of the thread which is
behind it. During the latter part of the descent of the needle, the feed bar
has been moved sideways by the action of the stud Z, but when the needle has
risen with its eye a little above the point of the thread case, the feed bar is
returned by the spring L, and the feed takes place, the cross piece of the
needle bar having by that time risen above the guide piece k. The feed move-
ment of the cloth gives the needle a lateral movement to about the extent
shown in Fig. 5, and by that means carries the loop over the point of the

page_text: thread case. The continued ascent or retraction of the needle draws the loop
entirely over the thread case, the spring m allowing the latter to yield for the
loop to pass between it and the holder H. The loop is drawn tight and the
stitch completed by the termination of the ascent of the needle, as in other
sewing machines. The needle in ascending gradually approaches a vertical
position, but is brought positively vertical or perpendicular to the work table
in order to be ready for a new stitch by the cross piece of the bar e coming in
contact with the spring j as soon as it leaves the cloth, and forcing the pin h up
against the side of the slot i, i, in the slider. A similar operation to that just
described takes place during every ascent and descent of the needle, and thus
the formation of the seam is proceeded with.
There are various methods by which the loop of the needle thread may be
caused to pass the point of the thread case without moving the needle laterally.
One method would be by employing some simple contrivance for seizing the
thread and drawing it over the aforesaid point; another would be to give
the point of the thread case a slight movement, to enable it to enter the loop;
or the point of the thread case might be made elastic, or attached by a hinge,
and the said point alone moved without moving the whole of the thread case.
Either of the above methods of making the loop receive the point of the thread
case is equivalent to that represented in the Drawings, and herein-before fully
described, as the stationary character of the thread case as compared with a
shuttle, which is carried entirely through the loop, is preserved, and the
principal distinctive characteristic of this Invention, to wit, drawing the loop of
the needle thread over the locking thread, instead of carrying the locking
thread through the loop, remains the same. In case the loop is passed over
the thread case without vibration or lateral motion of the needle, the feed
motion must be imparted while the needle is out of the cloth.
I claim, 1st, forming an interlocked stitch, such as has been herein-before
described, by causing the needle to pass its thread over a thread case G in
which the other thread is contained, in any manner substantially as herein-
before fully set forth.
2nd, the combination of the thread case G, thread case holder H, and
spring m, when so arranged as to permit the passage of the needle thread
entirely around the thread case, in the manner substantially as herein-before
described.
3rd, the combination of the needle slider F, the needle bar e, spring j, and
guide piece k, substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose of allowing the
needle to move laterally to pass the loop over the point of the thread case, and
of keeping it perpendicular to the work table when necessary.

page_text: 4th, giving the feed movement to the cloth or material being sewed while
the needle is therein, for the purpose of giving the needle a lateral motion
to pass the loop over the point of the thread case, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have a
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 4th day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)