IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING NEEDLES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th November 1868.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING NEEDLES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to enable the needle to be threaded
with facility and dispatch without requiring the thread to be passed
endwise into and through the eye of the needle.
The improvement consists in constructing the eye with a lateral
opening and an elastic hook and an inelastic head at the root of such

page_text: New
hook, or with the same and an inelastic abutment.
forms the greater portion of one side of the eye, and below it is a notch
or opening cut on the incline, so that the point or end of the hook is
bevilled and lapped on the part or abutment below it, which abutment
completes the notched side of the eye. The head of the needle being
made inelastic when pressed against by the thimble of a seamstress while
in the act of forcing the needle into a piece of cloth or other material it
will resist the pressure and prevent any inward springing of the elastic
hook. In some cases the abutment for the hook is intended to be
elastic as a straight spring for the purpose of enabling a thread to be
readily drawn out of the needle laterally and between the ends of the
two springs. In threading the needle it is only necessary to stretch the
thread across the spring hook, pull the thread toward the needle, and
slip the thread down on and beyond the end of the spring hook; the
hook being sprung back from the abutment will allow the thread to pass
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 2
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 NEEDLES," being a communication
to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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
5 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to the improvement of that class of needles
which admit of being threaded with facility and dispatch without
requiring the thread to be passed endwise into and through the eye of
the needle.
The nature of the improvement consists in constructing the eye with
a lateral opening and an elastic hook and an inelastic head at the root of
o such hook, or with the same and an inelastic abutment arranged together
in manner as represented in the accompanying Drawing, wherein
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are side views of needles of common forms
provided with the Invention.
Fig. 8 exhibits the mode in which one of the improved needles is
5 held in one hand and threaded by a thread B¹ looped around the index
finger of the other hand of the person using the needle.
In the first place the eye or eye part of the needle is composed of an
elastic hook and a notch below such hook and in continuation of the
opening of the hook, the point or end of the hook being bevilled and
10 lapped on the part or abutment below it or extended into the notch in
the manner as shewn at A in the accompanying Drawing, in which
denotes the eye; b, the elastic part or spring of the hook B; c, th
inelastic abutment against which the bevilled end of the part 6 bear
It will be observed that at the upper end of the eye, and joined with th
elastic hook b, there is an inelastic head from which the hook b spring
The object of making the head inelastic is that when pressed against b
the thimble of a seamstress while in the act of forcing the needle into
piece of cloth or other material it will so resist the pressure as effectuall

page_text: to prevent any inward springing of the hook 6. In Fig. 7 the part shewn
at c is intended to be elastic as a straight spring for the purpose of
enabling a thread to be readily drawn out of the needle laterally and
between the ends of the two springs b, c.
from what it is in the remaining Figures, which represent it as made
In Figures 3 and 4 the eye is exhibited as formed somewhat differently!
quite long with parallel sides and rounded ends. In threading the
needle it is only necessary to stretch the thread across the tongue or
spring hook b, pull the thread toward the needle, and slip the thread
down on and beyond the end of the spring hook or tongue b; the hook
I will be sprung back from the abutment c and will allow the thread to
pass into the eye. In this needle the loop of the thread rests against the
base of the hook or top of the eye while the needle may be in the act of
drawing the thread into a piece of cloth or other material, and con-
sequently there is no chance for the spring to give way under the
draught or pressure of the thread and let the thread out of the
eye.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in Sewing Needles, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, 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 I claim, the improved needle, made substantially as described
and represented, that is, with an opening leading out of one side rather
than one end of the eye, and also with an inelastic head at the upper end
of the eye, and with an elastic hook, and either an elastic or inelastic
abutment, constructed and arranged together substantially in manner
and so as to form the eye, as herein-before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (../