IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EMBROIDERING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wood, of Ardwick, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
EMBROIDERING."
Sealed the 27th February 1874, and dated the 15th September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1873.
I, JOHN WOOD, of Ardwick, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR EMBROIDERING," to be as follows:-
This Invention is designed for the purpose of forming a line of
embroidery or satin stitch (either straight, waved, or otherwise),
at some distance from the edge of the fabric, and consists principally in
the employment of two eye pointed needles placed at a distance apart
corresponding with the width of the desired stripe, each having a
separate thread-and-forming. an ordinary.stitch in combination with a

page_text: thread carrier or guide which carries the embroidery thread from side to
side by an alternate circular movement, and lays it alternately behind
the point of each needle just before the descent of the latter, and then
carries it round the front to the back of the other needle, and so on
alternately. By these means the embroidery thread is carried backwards
and forwards on the face of the fabric and is firmly secured or stitched
to the fabric by the binding threads at each side.
The binding thread may be caused to form a chain or other single
thread stitch on the back of the fabric, or a lock stitch by the use of a
shuttle and another thread, the kind of stitch made or the mechanism
by which it is produced forming no part of this Invention, excepting
that the mechanism must be double and act alternately on each needle.
.
The two eye pointed binding needles may both be fixed in one needle
bar, provided that one is shorter than the other, so that the longer one
shall enter the fabric first, and the embroidery thread can be brought by
the carrier in front of that and pass under the point of the shorter one
before that in turn enters the cloth, but I prefer that the needles shall
have separate needle bars working alternately, being actuated by two
excentrics, crank pins, or cams placed in opposite positions on the same
shaft, and so arranged that at the time they are both at the centre of
their stroke both poinsts shall be clear of the fabric, and the "feed" or
advancing of the fabric must take place at this movement.
The embroidery thread carrier or guide may be in the form of a long
finger or lever working just above the fabric, and having a combined
sliding and vibrating motion given to it, but I prefer to attach this
guide to a collar encircling the needle bars, and having an alternate
circular motion given to it from any convenient part of the mechanism,
such for instance as a stud or pin in one of the needle bars working in a
spiral slot in the collar, or by any other known means for producing an
alternate circular motion such as will carry the thread round the front
of the binding needle that is through the fabric, and beneath the joint of
the other needle, and leave it between this second needle and its binding
thread in time for the descent of the second needle, then round the front
of this needle and under the point of the first, and so on alternately.
The embroidery stitch may be produced on the under side of the fabric
(instead of or in addition to that upon the upper side), if desired, by
employing a shuttle beneath the work plate, carrying the embroidery

page_text: thread from side to side and passing through the loops of the binding.
threads, in which case the work plate of the machine must be made with
a tongue over which the stitch is made, and off which it can slide as the
fabric is fed forwards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Wood in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Wood, of Ardwick, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Wood, Her special license that I,
the said John Wood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Wood, 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 APPARATUS FOR
EMBROIDERING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Wood, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing.
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Wood, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):—
This Invention is designed for the purpose of forming a line of:
embroidery or satin stitch (either straight, waved, or otherwise), at some
:

page_text: distance from the edge of the fabric, and consists principally in the
employment of two eye pointed needles placed at a distance apart corre-
sponding with the width of the desired stripe (each having a separate
thread and forming an ordinary stitch) in combination with a thread.
carrier or guide which carries the embroidery thread from side to side by
an alternate circular movement and lays it alternately behind the point
of each needle just before the descent of the latter, and then carries it
round the front to the back of the other needle, and so on alternately.
By these means the embroidery thread is carried backwards and forwards
on the face of the fabric, and is firmly secured or stitched to the fabric
by the binding threads at each side.
The binding thread may be caused to form a chain or other, single
thread stitch on the back of the fabric, or a lock stitch by the use of a
shuttle and another thread, the kind of stitch made or the mechanism
by which it is proȧaced forming no part of this Invention, excepting that
the sewing mechanism must be double.
The two eye pointed binding needles may be both fixed in one needle
bar provided that one is shorter than the other, so that the longer one
shall enter the fabric first and the embroidery thread can be brought by
the carrier in front of that and pass under the point of the shorter one
before that in turn enters the cloth, or the needles may have separate
needle bars working alternately, being actuated by two excentrics, crank
pins, or cams, placed in opposite positions on the same shaft, and so
arranged that at the time they are both at the centre of their stroke
both points shall be clear of the fabric, and the "feed" or advancing of
the fabric must take place at this movement.
The embroidery thread carrier or guide may be in the form of a long
finger or lever working just above the fabric, and having a combined
sliding and vibrating motion given to it, but I prefer to give to it an
alternate circular motion such as will vary the thread round the front of
the binding needle that is through the fabric, and beneath the point of
the other needle and leave it between this second needle and its binding
thread in time for the descent of the second needle, then round the front
of this needle and under the point of the first, and so on alternately.
Another arrangement which I have found in practice to be simple
and efficacious is to have two needles of equal lengths both fixed in one
needle bar and working simultaneously in combination with a thread

page_text: guide, having an alternate circular motion which lays the embroidery
thread behind both needles just before their descent; first from left to
right, and then back from right, and so on alternately.
The embroidery stitch may be produced on the under side of the
fabric (instead of or in addition to that upon the upper side), if desired,
by employing a shuttle beneath the work plate, carrying the embroidery
thread from side to side and passing through the loops of the binding
threads, in which case the work plate of the machine must be made pro-
vided with a tongue over which the stitch is made, and off which it can
slide as the fabric is fed forwards.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that
the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures
and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a vertical
section; and Fig. 3, a horizontal section of an embroidering machine
made according to my Invention, the modification herein illustrated
being the last above described, which I consider the most simple arrange-
ment of the machine.
The sewing machine to which my improvements are shown as applied
is one of the "Wilcock & Gibbs" type, but on a larger scale, and all
the ordinary sewing parts of the machine, such as the arm, needle bar,
presser foot and bar, tension, friction feed, feeder and looper, are all the
same as usual, excepting that the needle bar a, a, is arranged to hold
and work two needles b, 61, at any given distance apart (according to
the width of the stripe of satin stitch required), and a second or left
handed looper c¹ is provided for acting with the additional needle b¹,
being driven at the same speed as the ordinary right handed looper c by
means of the spur gearing d, d; and as there are two sewing threads
there are of course also a separate bobbin and friction pad for each
thread. So far the machine is an ordinary sewing machine but adapted
so as to make two parallel rows of stitching at (say) about three-eighths
of an inch apart, and all that is required to produce the stripe of
embroidery or satin stitch is to cause a thread guide to lay the

page_text: embroidery thread behind the needles alternately backwards and forwards
so that as they descend they stitch the said thread down on to the fabric,
the distance apart of the two sewing needles determining the width of
the stripe of embroidery or satin stitch they produced.
e, e, is the embroidery thread guide which is attached to the boss or
to the axis of the spur pinion f, f, which is carried by the fixed frame at
the back of the needle bar or slide a, a, (see also detached views) (Figs. 4
and 5), and has an alternate circular motion given to it by means of a
toothed rack g, g, at one end of a lever h, h, gearing with the carrier
pinion i, i. The lever h, h, has its fulcrum at k, k, and its other end is
connected to the vertical arm of the bell-crank lever 1, 1, the other arm
of which is provided with a slot in which works a bowl m carried by a
revolving crank or plate n. This plate n is fixed on a stud, on the other
end of which is keyed a spur wheel o, o, which receives its motion
through a carrier pinion p, p, from a pinion q, q, keyed on the shaft r, r.
The wheel o, o, has twice as many teeth as the pinion q, q, and hence as
it revolves only once for twice of the shaft r, r, it will be evident that
the thread carrier will move to the right during one revolution of the
machine (i.e., one simultaneous stitch of both needles), and to the left
during the next revolution, and so on alternately, cach movement laying
the embroidery thread behind both needles; first to the right and then
to the left so as to form a stripe of embroidery or satin stitch of the
width required. The embroidery thread must be so arranged as to run
freely off a bobbin or spool, so that as the thread guide e, e, lays it
backwards and forwards it will not pull upon the stitches of the sewing
threads.
The presser foots, s, is formed with a tongue s¹ (see detached view
Fig. 6), and as the thread guide e, e, works to and fro above it
whilst the needles 6, 61, pass through it, the strip of embroidery is
formed over this tongue, and as the cloth or fabric is fed forwards it
slips off the tongue down through the curved slot t, t, and passes with
the cloth or fabric under the heel of the foot s, s.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention the combination with a sewing machine (pro-
vided with two eye pointed needles, and adapted to make two parallel

page_text: lines of stitches) of thread carrier or guide which carries the embroidery
thread from side to side by an alternate circular or equivalent movement
and lays it behind the said needles (either both together or alternately)
just before the descent of the latter, so that the said embroidery thread
is stitched down to the fabric by both needles, and forms a line (either
straight, waved, or otherwise) of satin stitch or embroidery of a width
corresponding with the width apart of the two needles without confining
myself to any particular form of sewing machine employed, nor to the
precise arrangement of mechanism shown and described for giving the
requisite motion to the thread guide.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
5 Witnessed by
JOHN HUGHES,
Clerk to George Davies, C.E.,
Patent Office,
Manchester.
JOHN WOOD. (L.S.)