IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: which is placed a little to one side. By these means a peculiar varying motion
is imparted to the needle, making it pause whilst the shuttle is being passed.
through the loop. By a link from the crank of the first-motion spindle a
rocking motion is given to a spindle which throws the shuttle and also actuates
the feed, the feed being effected by means of a friction piece applied to the rim
of the feed wheel. The lever carrying this friction piece is acted upon by a cam
on the rocking spindle, the position of the cam being adjusted by means of a
screw acting in concert with a spring to give more or less feed movement
at each stroke as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph McCrossan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MCCROSSAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain; Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph McCrossan, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph McCrossan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
McCrossan, 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 Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES," a communication to me the said Joseph McCrossan from abroad
by George Juengst, residing at New York, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Joseph McCrossan, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent:
NOW KNOW YE, that'I, the said Joseph McCrossan, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph McCrossan, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by George
Juengst, residing at New York.
Scaled the 19th. March 1861, and dated the 26th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph M Crossan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
September 1860.
I, JOSEPH MCCROSSAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," communicated to me from abroad by
George Juengst, residing at New York, to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the class of sewing machines.
using a straight needle with a shuttle and feed wheel, such improvements
comprising a means of giving motion to the needle, with special regard to
the formation and condition of the loop. of the needle's thread; also means for
taking up and tightening the thread, and means for actuating and regulating
the feed.
The needle bar is worked from a rotating crank or eccentric pin through a
short link or connecting rod, to which rod is fixed the take-up finger or guide.
The spindle or boss of the pin working the needle bar is itself actuated by
means of cranks or eccentric pins and a link from the first motion spindle

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying.
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to improvements in the class of sewing machines.
using a straight needle with a shuttle and feed wheel, such improvements.
comprising a means of giving motion to the needle with special regard to the.
formation and condition of the loop of the needle's thread; also means for
taking up and tightening the thread, and means for actuating and regulating
the feed. The needle bar is worked from a rotating crank or eccentric pin-
through a short link or connecting rod, to which rod is fixed the take-up.
finger or guide. The spindle or boss of the pin working the needle bar is
itself actuated by means of cranks or eccentric pins, and a link from the first
motion spindle which is placed a little to one side. By these means a peculiar
varying motion is imparted to the needle, making it pause whilst the shuttle is
being passed through the loop. By a link from the crank of the first motion.
spindle a rocking motion is given to a spindle, which throws the shuttle and
also actuates the feed, the feed being effected by means of a friction piece
applied to the rim of the feed wheel. The lever carrying this friction piece is
acted upon by a cam on the rocking spindle, the position of the cam being
adjusted by means of a screw acting in concert with a spring to give more or
less feed movement at each stroke as required.
And in order that the said Invention may be properly understood and
carried into effect, there is hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
representing a sewing machine as fitted with a modification of the improve-
ments, Figure 1 being a side elevation, with the side plates of the table and
hollow arm removed, and Figure 2 being a front elevation, with the front plate
of the table removed. The same reference letters mark the same or like
parts in both Figures, but parts of the machine which are not new will not be
referred to, further than is necessary to explain the present improvements.
The needle,bar A is worked by a connecting rod B jointed on a crank or
eccentric pin C, carried by a horizontal spindle D supported in the arm E.
The take-up or finger F for tightening the thread is fixed to and partakes of
the motion of the connecting rod B, the thread passing through an eye in its
end, and through a fixed guide G. The horizontal spindle has fast on its
inner end a crank or eccentric pin H, connected by a link I to a similar pin J
on the first motion spindle K, which last may be driven from a treadle and
wheel below or otherwise. The axes of the two spindles D and K are a little
out of line, the respective crank pins H and J being of different radii; and
the arrangements of these parts is such as, with a uniform speed of the first

page_text: motion spindle K, to impart a varying motion to the spindle D. The ultimate
motions imparted to the needle and to the take-up finger are peculiarly
suitable for the sewing action, and are susceptible of modification by very
simple adjustments of the relative positions of the parts. In the Drawings the
parts are represented as adjusted for turning the first motion spindle in the
direction causing the link. I to act by pulling, but with a modified adjustment
the link I may be made to push. According to a further modification the first
motion shaft K may be extended to the front end of the arm E, and in this
case the crank pin H will be centred on a stud disposed out of the line of the
shaft K..
. For the purpose of working the shuttle and feed motions beneath the table
I, there is jointed upon the crank pin J of the first motion shaft K a con-
necting rod M, the lower end of which is jointed to a lever N on the, lower
horizontal spindle O, to which spindle an oscillating motion is imparted in
consequence of the lever N being of considerably longer radius than the crank
pin J. The spindle O has fast on it near its front end a lever P, which, by
means of the link Q, works the shuttle frame in the ordinary way. Close to
the lever P there is loose on the spindle O. a kind of cam R, shaped by cutting
a flat portion from a cylindrical boss, and this cam acts on a small antifriction
roller carried by the end of a lever S, thereby effecting the feed. The lever S
is jointed on an arm T loose on the stud. U, which also carries the feed wheel
V, which last is made with a roughened rim projecting through a slot slightly
above the table surface to shift the cloth being sewed. The feed wheel V is
further formed with a rim projecting from its front face, and there is applied
to the inside of this rim a friction piece W (made with three or more curved
faces, which may be turned to be used in succession as each face becomes
worn). This friction piece W is carried by the end of the lever S, and a
spring X is also applied to the same end of the lever in a position in which its
tension tends to lift the friction piece W inwards from the face of the feed
wheel rim and in a backward direction. This action of the spring X takes
place on what may be termed the back movement of the cam R, when the
flat part is under the other end of the lever S, and the friction piece W, does
not then move the feed wheel V.. On the forward movement of the cam R,
however, it causes the lever S to force the friction piece firmly against the
feed wheel rim, so as by means of it to turn the feed wheel a slight distance.
As the movement of the spindle O carrying the cam is reciprocatory and
limited, the amount of feed is varied by adjusting the cam so as to allow the
friction piece to move backwards a greater or less distance. And for the
purpose of effecting this adjustment of the cam R, it is formed with two lugs,

page_text: one, Y, for the attachment of a spring Z, connected to the lever P, and the
other, a, to receive the point of a screw b, tapped into a lug on the lever P.
It follows from this arrangement that by turning the screw 6 the cam's position
may be adjusted relatively to the lever P, the spring Z always keeping the
cam up to the screw, and this adjustment determines the rate of feed, as
explained.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state that
the Inventor does not restrict himself to the precise details herein described or
delineated, and that he does not claim to have invented every separate detail
herein described or delineated, but that what is considered to be novel and
original, and is claimed as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the working of the needle bars and take-up fingers of sewing machines
by means of spindles or shafts, cranks and links, disposed and operating sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
Second, the fixing of the take-up finger on the connecting rod working the
needle bar, so as to have the motion of the connecting rod, and so as, in com-
bination with stationary guides, to control the thread, substantially as herein-
before described.
Third, the regulating of the feed by means of a screw acting in combination
with a spring on the feeding cam, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph McCrossan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
JOSEPH MCCROSSAN. (L.s.)
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.