Fancy Stitch Machine.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 9th July, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 9th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 22nd May, 1897
Fancy Stitch Machine.
GEORGE BENSON 48 and 50 Fountain Street Belfast Handkerchief Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
I add to the Benson hemstitch machine an extra needle, needle bar, moving
head, and lever for moving said head; and I alter the form of the slotted lever.
I place a needle or piercer in the head of the machine. I attach an extra shuttle
to the shuttle rod.
By means of this mechanism I am able to produce in fabrics a fancy stitch
known as "sparring."
I, GEORGE BENSON, of 48 and 50 Fountain Street, Belfast, Ireland, Handkerchief
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
My invention has for its object, to produce in woven fabrics an ornamental or
fancy stitch, technically known as a "spar" or "spoke" stitch, by making
sundry additions and modifications to an ordinary hemstitch machine of the
Thomas type.
For this purpose I prefer to take the Benson hemstitch machine (described in
the Patent Specification No. 4767 of 1879), as being the best known and in most
general use.
The accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 to 6, represent the principal parts of a
sewing machine embodying my invention, and also a specimen of the stitch
produced by the same; Fig. 1 being a back view of the machine, Fig. 2 a sectional
plan, Fig. 3 a front view of the sewing head on a larger scale, Fig. 4 an end view
corresponding to Fig. 3. Fig. 5 represents a detail of construction, and Fig. 6
shows a specimen of the stitch produced with my machine.
On the driving shaft of the sewing machine is mounted a gear cam or grooved
disc A, serving to impart an oscillating motion to a slotted lever B in the usual
way, by means of a friction roller and pin. The lever B, sets in motion two
connecting rods C and C¹ connected with two horizontally movable slides or
heads D and D¹, of the usual type.
Each of these heads moves independently and carries a needle bar n or n', with
special bent needle, as shown in the drawing.
These needle bars are so arranged, that the back needle is not more than an
eighth of an inch behind the front one.

page_text: The two needle bars are worked up and down by the usual needle lever N, which,
for this purpose, has two longitudinal slots at its lifting end.
Two spool holders, two tension regulators, two thread guides, and one quadrant
with two holes are used for the top threads. These parts may be made as usual,
and are not shown in the drawing."
Between the moving heads D, D' and attached to the right hand needle bar,
I may place a sliding bar carrying a piercer, which bar travels up and down with the
right hand needle bar and causes the piercer to enter the woven fabric slightly in
front of the needle.
To feed the fabric, I employ a large presser foot, which is hinged to a leg F
(Fig. 3) and may be provided with a sole of indiarubber, to increase the sensitive-
ness of the feed. For coarse cloth I use steel-claws; for fine cloth, indiarubber
having a flat, cross-hatched or fluted surface, either in conjunction with springs or
alone.
The shuttle rod and carrier (not shown in the drawings) is branched and works
two shuttles, one right and one left hand, guided in two stationary shuttle-boxes
or races E and E.
From the above description and the drawings it will be seen, that the new
machine differs from the ordinary Benson hemstitch machine chiefly by having two
needles and two shuttles, instead of one, and by a corresponding modification of
the shape of the grooved disc or cam A and slotted lever B, the latter being
double-acting.
The transverse motion of the moving heads D and D', and therefore of the
needle bars carried by the same, depends on the shape of the cam A, and is
adapted to produce the stitch shown in Fig. 6 in the following manner.
The
needles start close together, as represented by Fig. 1 ; at the first stage of operation
they descend into the fabric, open while in it, and make the first stitch; at the
second stage they rise, then close, come down again and re-enter the holes; at the
third stage they open and make the second stitch on the edge of the opening; at
the fourth and last stage they rise, open wider, and make the third stitch on the
cloth itself.
These four stages of operation correspond to a special shape of the cam A,
where the four consecutive parts of the groove are designated with the letters a'
to a¹.
In Fig. 3 the needles are at their greatest distance apart, which occurs when the
friction roller mounted on the slotted lever is in the part a' of the grooved cam A.
The same motion may, however, be imparted to the slotted link by other known
types of cam, and I do not, therefore limit myself to a cam having an endless
groove in its face.
As I employ a top feed and have my two needles placed closely together, the
back needle being not more than one eighth of an inch behind the front needle,
I am able to work curves and figures and to stop at any place in the fabric. By
shifting the position of the two connecting rods C and C in slotted lever B, the
horizontal motion of each of the two needles can be varied from narrow to wide.
"
This mechanism can be used in fabrics left intact, or those with two or more of
the warp threads or weft threads drawn out by hand to produce the "spar or
"spoke" stitch.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I am aware
that fancy stitch machines working with two needles and two shuttles have been
made before, also that it has been proposed, to produce the transverse motion of
the needle bars by means of a cam and slotted lever, and I do not, therefore, claim
these features generally, but what I claim is.-
1. A hemstitching machine of the Thomas type, having two simultaneously
working vertical needles and accessories adapted to produce a spar or spoke stitch
in the manner substantially as described.

page_text: 2. In a hemstitching machine of the Thomas type, the special shape of the gear
cam A, for producing a spar or spoke stitch by means of two vertical needles,
substantially as described and shown.
Datch this sin day
Apri
597.
GEORGE BENSON,
By Fairfax & Wetter,
37 and 39, Essex Street, Strand, London, Agents.