IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH, LEATHER, OR OTHER MATERIAL
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elmer Townsend, of Boston, in the State of
Massachusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH, LEATHER, OR
OTHER MATERIAL."-A communication from William Butterfield
and Edgar Mantleburt Stevens, of Boston, in the State of Massa-
chusetts.
Sealed the 18th March 1854, and dated the 10th January 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elmer Townsend
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th January 1854.
I, ELMER TOWNSEND, of Boston, of the State of Massachusetts, of the
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH, LEATHER,
OR OTHER MATERIAL, (which Invention has been communicated to me by
William Butterfield and Edgar Mantleburt Stevens, of the said State,)
to be as follows:-
I am aware that in the performance of sewing by a chain stitch sewing
machine a hook has been employed in connection with a needle, the
needle being constructed with a round hole or eye made through it near

page_text: its point, while the hook was arranged so as to stand and operate trans-
versely to the axis of the needle, the barb of the hook being formed so
as to turn and open the loop of thread in order to enable the needle
to enter it in the formation of another stitch. I therefore do not
claim as my Invention the combination of a hook and a needle, or such
an arrangement, construction, and mode of operating the same. The
needle of my Invention is formed with a notch recess hook in its side,
such as will enable it not only to have the thread laid into it by the
thread carrier, but to depress the thread through the cloth or leather,
and in the form of a loop, and discharge from it the loop after its
formation, and during the withdrawal of the needle from the cloth or
material sewed. The hook of my machine rotates or moves in a plane
passing longitudinally through or arranged longitudinally with respect
to the axis of the needle. This enables the hook to readily seize or
pass into the loop perpendicularly, or thereabouts, to the plane of the
loop; and as it draws the loop.forwards there is no twisting of the loop
necessary in order to present it to the needle; so that the latter may
enter.it.
:
14.1
This is an important advantage when a waxed thread is employed
in the needle, for if the thread is twisted not only is more power
required to draw it into the leather or material sewed, but the thread
is subjected to more wear-by-the increased strain on it. In my
machine the chaining or interlooping of the thread takes place on the
lower side of the cloth or material, thus giving the workman or atten-
dant an opportunity of constantly having in view that side or part of
the cloth or leather where the needle is made to enter it, and he is
thereby enabled to keep the cloth properly adjusted to the needle in
order to cause the line of sewing to be correctly performed in such
direction or course as he may desire.
My Invention further consists in the application of the clamp (for
holding the material to be sewed) to a separate carriage, and so as to
play or move laterally upon a pin or fulcrum arranged at or near one
end or in some other convenient part of the carriage or rack bar, the
same enabling the material to be sewed to be moved laterally or trans-
versely during its longitudinal movement under the needle.

page_text: What, therefore, I claim as my Invention is, the arrangement and
employment of a reversed hook recess made in the side of the needle,
as described in combination with the arrangement of the loop hook, so
that in order to seize the loop of the needle it shall turn or move in or
about in a plane arranged longitudinally with respect to the axis of the
needle, as specified.
I further claim the application of the clamp (for holding the material
to be sewed) to a separate carriage, and so as to play or move laterally
upon a pin or fulcrum arranged at or near one end or in some other
convenient part of the carriage or rack bar, the same enabling the
material to be sewed to be moved laterally or transversely during its
longitudinal movements under the needle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said Elmer Townsend in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ELMER TOWNSEND; of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, of the
United States of America, send greeting..
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, A.D. 1854,
in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Elmer Townsend, Her
special licence that I, the said Elmer Townsend, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I; the said Elmer Townsend, 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, usc, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, an Invention of.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH, LEATHER, OR. OTHER.
MATERIAL," [the same being a communication to me by William But-
terfield and Edgar Mantleburt Stevens, of the aforesaid State of

page_text: Massachusetts,] upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Elmer Townsend, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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, or Office
of Her Majesty's Commissioners of Patents, within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of said Letters Patent.
• NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Elmer Townsend, 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 Specification, and the accompanying Drawings, letters,
figures, and references thereof:
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of my improved
sewing machine; Figure 2, is an under side view of it; Figure 3, is a
vertical central and longitudinal section of it; Figure 4, is an end view
of it. Such other Figures as may be necessary to a full and complete
description of it will be herein-after referred to and described.
In the said Drawings A represents the main table or frame of the
machine having a curved arm or goose neck B extended upward and
over the same, such being for the purpose of sustaining the needle and
the thread carrier, and portions of the machinery by which they are
operated. C is the main driving shaft of the machine, while D is
a secondary shaft, both of which are supported and made to revolve in
suitable bearings, as seen at E, E, and F, F, in Figures 2 and 3 of the
Drawings; the said main shaft having a fly wheel shaft G fixed upon
one end of it.
My machine produces what is termed the chain stitch sewing, the
same being effected in part by a needle constructed and made to
operate in a peculiar manner. The said needle is exhibited at H in
Figure 3, wherein it is shewn in edge view, it being represented in
side view in Figure 5, in top view in Figure 6, and in cross section
in Figures 7, 8, and 9. The latter Figure denotes a section of it taken
just above its point. Figure 8 is a section taken through the grooves
of its sides; Figure 7 is a section of its shank. The said needle is
fixed in the lower end of a carrier or slide I, that is supported and-

page_text: made to work vertically in the arm B, and is moved upwards and
downwards by a rocker lever K that plays upon a fulcrum L, and is
worked by a grooved cam M fixed on the driving shaft C. The, groove
of the periphery of the cam being represented at N, in Figure 10, as
developed upon a plane surface. The groove N of the cylindric cam
M is so made, that during one entire revolution of the cam it not
only causes the needle to be raised and lowered twice, but to remain
stationary for a short time while the needle is elevated to its highest
position, the same being in order to allow the thread carrier O time to
lay the thread P into the recess of the needle.
. Instead of making the needle with a hook in the usual manner in
which those are made that draw the stitch through the cloth, I construct
it with a notch or recess a, which may be termed a reversed hook; the
object of which in part is to receive the thread P, and force it down
through the cloth during the descent of the needle. In connection with
the needle so made, I employ a hook R, that is affixed to one end of
a revolving shaft S, and is arranged below the upper surface or bed of
the table on which the cloth or material is supported while being sewed.
The position of this hook is represented in Figures 11 and 12, it
being exhibited in the former Figure as depressed to its lowest position;
while in the latter it is shewn as raised to its highest position. This
hook works close to or against the needle, and so as to seize the loop
of thread formed by the needle, and to hold said loop in a proper
position for the needle to pass down through it when such needle next
descends. This hook is worked in one direction by means of a cam T,
[the shape of which is given in Figure 11,] made to operate against
an arm U, that projects from the shaft S, and carries a friction roller V,
that rests on the periphery of the cam. Said hook is moved in the
opposite direction or downwards by means of a spring W, applied to
a projection on the main frame, as seen in the Drawings in Figure 11.
By the above-mentioned method of constructing the needle, and the
employment of the hook R, we are enabled to perform chain stitch
sewing, with the finished or plain line of sewing on the upper side of
the cloth, and under the inspection of the eye of the attendant while
the machine is in operation. The interlooping of the stitches takes

page_text: place on the under side of the cloth, their representation on this side
when thus interlooped being that of a chain of stitches. The sewing
as it appears on the upper side of the cloth is termed the finished
stitch or line of sewing. The thread carrier 0 before mentioned
consists of a bent lever working on a fulcrum X, and jointed to one
end of a connecting rod Y, whose other end is jointed to the upper
arm of an upright lever Z, that turns upon a fulcrum b, and at its
lower end is jointed to a side c, arranged as seen in Figure 3. From
this slide a projection d'is made to enter the groove of the periphery
of a came; such cam and groove being represented as developed on a
plane surface as seen in Figure 13. The cam e is fixed upon the
driving shaft C, and during its rotation it effects the movements of the
thread carrier necessary to lay the thread in the notch a of the needle.
The contrivance for holding the material to be sewed, and moving it
along under the needle not only longitudinally but laterally, will now
be described. A top view of the holding clamp of said contrivance is
exhibited in Figure 14, and a longitudinal section of it in Figure 15.
In this particular instance it is exhibited in the shape proper to enable
it to hold the two pieces of leather which constitute the leg of a boot,
this clamp being adapted to the sewing of the side seams thereof.
This clamp is composed of two bars g, h, the upper of which (h) is to
be forced towards the lower by means of clamping screws or suitable
contrivances, as seen, at i and k, so that when the leather or material
is placed between the two bars g, h, it may be held in place by forcing
the bar h down upon it and towards the bar g. The bar g is made
to turn horizontally on a fulcrum 1, arranged near one end or any other
convenient part of it, and projecting up from a long tooth rack m,
which is moved longitudinally by a geer wheel n, fixed on a stationary
This
shaft o, extended from a strut p, as seen in Figures 2 and 3.
geer wheel engages with a pinion r, fixed upon the horizontal shaft D.
On the said shaft D there is a ratchet wheels, as seen in Figures 2, 3,
4, and 16. The latter exhibits a side view of the ratchet wheel, a
rocker lever t, a pawl or click u, its spring v, and the cam w, by which
the rocker lever is operated. The said cam w is placed upon the
shaft C, and it works against a roller or pin a, extended from the side

page_text: 2
of the rocker levert, which, is placed upon the shaft D, and rocks
freely, thereon. This lever is disposed by the side of the ratchet
wheels, and carries an impelling pawl or click u, whose impelling arm
is. kept..in .contact with the periphery of the wheels by a spring,,v.
During the rotation of the cam w, it twice depresses,the,.leyer-t, and
thereby. produces an intermittent partial rotation of the ratchet 's... This
gives motion to the shaft D, which, by means of the pinion conveys
rotary motion to the geer n. A counter movement of the lever t.may
be produced by a spring y suitably applied. to it.and some part, of
the framework, while the extent. of this movement may be regulated
by a screw made. to.abut against some suitable part, of the. frame,.
said
stop screw. being-screwed through the. lever as seen in. Figure 16..
By means of the feeding clamp, thus made and operated, the work or
material to be sewed may not only be moved. longitudinally in the line
of sewing, but either towards or away from the needle, or under.it
laterally, so as to enable a workman to produce a curved or irregular
line of sewing, he laying hold of the clamp and guiding it laterally
while it is moved longitudinally by the rack m. The hole in the bed'
or cloth rest, and through which the needle plays, is seen at a¹, in
Figure 2.
I am aware that in the performance of sewing by a chain stitch
sewing machine a hook has been employed in connection with a needle,
the needle being constructed with a thread hole made through it near its
point, while the hook was arranged so as to stand and operate trans-
versely to the axis of the needle, the barb of the hook being formed.
so as to turn and open the loop of thread in order to enable the
needle to enter it in the formation of another stitch. I therefore do
not claim the combination of a hook and a needle, or such an arrange-
ment, construction, and mode of operating the same. The needle in
my machine is formed with a notch or recess hook in its side, such as
will enable it not only to leave the thread laid into it by a thread
carrier, but to depress the thread through the cloth and in the form of
a loop, and discharge from it the loop after its formation and during
the withdrawal of the needle from the material sewed. The hook of
my machine rotates or moves in a plane passing longitudinally through

page_text: or parallel to the axis of the needle.. This enables the hook to readily
seize or pass into the loop perpendicularly or thereabouts to the plane
of the loop, and as it draws the loop forwards there is no twisting of
the loop necessary in order to present it to the needle, so that the latter
may enter it. This is an important advantage when a waxed thread is
employed in the needle, for if the thread is twisted not only is more
force required to draw it into the leather or material sewed, but the
thread is subjected to more wear by the increased strain on it. In my
machine the chaining or interlooping of the thread takes place on the
lower side of the cloth or material, thus giving the workman or
attendant an opportunity of having constantly in view that side or part
of the cloth or leather where the needle is made to enter it. He is
thereby enabled to keep the cloth properly adjusted to the needle in.
order to cause the line of sewing to be correctly performed in such:
direction or course as he may desire.
What I claim as my Invention is, the arrangement and employment
of a reversed hook recess a, made in the side of the needle as described,.
in combination with the arrangement of the hook, so that in order to
seize the loop of the needle it shall turn or move in or about in a plane,
arranged longitudinally with respect to the axis of the needle as speci-
fied. I also claim the application of the clamp [for holding the material
to be sewed] to a separate carriage or rack bar m, and so as to play
or move laterally upon a pin or fulcrum 1, arranged at or near one
end or in some other convenient part of the carriage or rack bar, the
same enabling the material to be sewed to be moved laterally or
transversely during its longitudinal movements under the needle as
specified.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this
Fourteenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and
ELMER TOWNSEND. (L.S.)
ELMER TOWNSEND. (L.S.)