IMPROVE- MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Buchanan Robertson, of Dromore, in the
County of Down, in Ireland, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.".
Sealed the 10th April 1866, and dated the 16th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Buchanan
Robertson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th October 1865.
I, JOSEPH BUCHANAN ROBERTSON, of Dromore, in the County of Down, in
5 Ireland, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-1
This Invention consists in certain new mechanical attachments fitted upon
and connected with sewing machines of a simple construction, such as that
known as the Thomas' sewing machine, dispensing with the ordinary feeding
O eccentric and the box to which the guide is screwed, and adapting the feeder
to a lateral as well as a progressive motion.
In lieu of the ordinary feeding eccentric or "cam," I place one with a
double action upon a countershaft set and kept in motion by a gearing com-

page_text: municating with the main shaft, such gearing being adapted to the required
motion of the feeders. One action of this eccentric or "cam" secures a lateral
motion by means of a crank lever and spring acting on the feeder, and the
other action secures the progressive motion of the ordinary sewing machine.
To the front of the machine I attach a moveable plate on which the cloth
or other material to be stitched is to be placed. The cloth or other material
is pierced to receive the needle by a stiletto or pick attached to and driven
by a tumbling bar or lever, which is connected with the moveable plate and
moved by a pin on the shuttle rod, or by a special eccentric or "cam." The
combined action of these attachments produces what is known as the vein or
hem stitch by making a constantly recurring series of operations consisting of
one perforation and three stitches, of which the first is a stitch in a forward
direction passing through the perforation; the second, a stitch to one side in
a line at right angles with the direction of the first stitch and catching the hem;
Ic
E
and the third a return stitch re-entering,e perforation, thus:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Buchanan Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
BUCHANAN ROBERTSON, late of Dromore, in the County of Down, but now of
Lurgan, in the County of Armagh, in Ireland, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Buchanan Robertson, Her special licence, that I, the said Joseph
. Buchanan Robertson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Buchanan Robertson, 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
.

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Buchanan Robertson, 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 per-
formed, 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 Joseph Buchanan Robertson, 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon that is to say :-
The said Invention consists in the means of producing certain stitches
commonly called and known as the French vein or hem stitch.
The hem stitch work, by which name I shall herein-after designate the
effects capable of being produced by this machinery, consists of a piece of
fabric prepared in the ordinary way folded in or down upon itself, and having
its fold firmly held by a constantly repeated or recurring series of three
stitches which at the same time produce a V-shaped opening in the single ply
of the fabric, or what is commonly called and known as the French vein or
hem stitch aforesaid. Each stitch employed may be either a single-thread
chain stitch, or a lock stitch as commonly made by a sewing machine.
The mechanism for producing the hem stitch work consists of certain
attachments fitted upon and connected with a sewing machine of a simple
construction, such as that known as the Thomas' sewing machine, dispensing,
however, with the following portions thereof, namely, the ordinary feeding
eccentric or "cam" and the box to which the guide is screwed, and adapting
the feeder to a lateral as well as a progressive motion.
I
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating the same or corresponding parts
throughout all the Figures.
The Figures in Sheet I. shew the manner of adapting these attachments to
that class of machines known as Thomas' sewing machines, preferred by the
Inventor, the capital letters indicating parts of the original machine and the
italics the attachments.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine; Figure 2 is an end elevation ;

page_text: Figure 3 is a plan; and Figure 4 is a side view of the shuttle box, showing
the position of the stiletto or pick.
A is the main or driving shaft of the machine; B is the driving pulley;
C is the feeder; D is the progressive feed lever; E is the feed lift lever, and
F is the shuttle box. a is a spur pinion fixed on the main or driving shaft,
and 6 a spur wheel fixed on a countershaft c and gearing into the pinion a;
c, the countershaft, carries the two cams, next described, which regulate the
movement of the fabric, namely, d, an eccentric cam fixed on the counter-
shaft c, which, acting on the lever E, lifts the feeder at each forward stitch by
means of elastic bands as in the ordinary machine; and e, a disc cam on the
countershaft c, which, acting on the screw g, moves the crank f, and thereby
causes the plate h to move in one direction laterally, and also acting on the
progressive feed lever D, causes the feeder C to move forward in the ordinary
way; f, the crank, turns on a pin fixed into the bed plate of the machine.
One arm of the crank acts on the plate h, the other carries the feed screw g,
which is moved by the disc cam e; g is a major screw which passes through
a minor screw in the end of the crank so as to bear on the disc cam e; this
screw carries a jamb nut to secure it in the position it may require to be
adjusted to for feeding or regulating the motion of the plate and the
feeder C; h, the plate, is flush with the table of the machine, and has a
lateral motion in one direction communicated to it by the crank f. To this
plate is attached a thin cross plate h¹ which carries the fabric, and is slotted
as shewn to admit of the free action of the needle at any position of the
plate; is a rod on which the plate moves, carrying a coil spring i at one end.
The rod is supported at one end by a bracket m, and at the other is let into
the framing of the machine. The plate is cut to admit the shuttle box F;
s is a bent rod or arm connecting the feeder C with the plate h that they may
move together; v is a small lever at the side of the shuttle box, and having its
fulcrum in the edge of the bracket w which supports the plate; it has a
stiletto or pick at one end, and is moved by y a pin in the shuttle rod causing
the stiletto to rise and pierce the cloth.
I shall now describe the actions of these attachments, premising, however,
that in practice it is not necessary to commence with the stitch first described,
although the fabric is in this description supposed to be in the ordinary position
for sewing down a fold or hem.
The disc came which is fitted upon and rotates with the countershaft c is
so cut or formed at one part as to act upon the crank f, thereby drawing in
towards it (the cam) the plate h, which is connected with the crank by a pin
at the point and the feeder C which is connected with the plate by the fixed

page_text: arm s, the leg or feed bar being reduced in size to admit of this motion; this
movement carries the fabric in a lateral direction under the needle, which is
then driven into the shire in the single ply close to the edge of the fold of the
fabric, effecting the first stitch of the series of three herein-before mentioned.
While the plate and feeder are kept in the position already described the
second stitch is effected in the shire along the edge of the fold by the eccentric
cam d acting upon the lever E, and causing it to lift the feeder, which is driven
back by a spring and then carried forward by another part of the disc cam e in
the ordinary way. The spring i at the extremity of the rod k forces the plate
back to the position it occupied before the disc cam e had commenced to
operate, carrying the fold under the needle, which again penetrates it, making
A recur-
the third stitch and completing the series herein-before mentioned.
rence of the series of three stitches herein-before described, the first stitch of
each series penetrating the shire at the point at which the second stitch of the
previous series was completed, and the thread being drawn sufficiently tight
to separate the shire, produces the hem stitch work aforesaid. The action of
the stiletto or pick has been sufficiently described in the reference to Figure 4
on Sheet I.; its use is to perforate the fabric, but it may be dispensed with as
not absolutely essential to the production of the hem stitch work aforesaid.
The use of the lever for any other lever may be dispensed with, and the
countershaft c may be placed at the side of instead of above the main shaft A,
as shewn in the Figures on Sheet II. The disc cam e is thus brought
between the main shaft and the plate h, to which is attached a feed screw,
whereby the cam is made to act directly upon the plate itself. In this con-
struction the operations of the cam and spring are the reverse of those herein-
before described, the cam forcing the plate in the opposite direction, that is,
away from it, and effecting the third stitch, namely, in upon the fold, while
the spring restores the plate to its original position and effects the first
stitch, namely, into the shire at the point at which the second stitch was'
finished. The plate may also be dispensed with, the feeder alone being
moved. I prefer, however, to use the crank and mechanism, first herein-
before described, because it enables me to adjust and regulate the extent of
the lateral motion with greater accuracy.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not claim
as of my Invention or the exclusive use of the several parts of the sewing
machine herein-before described and referred to, except when the same are
used in and for the purpose of my said improvements, which I hereby declare
to consist in constructing a sewing machine in which the movement of the

page_text: feeder or of the feeder and plate in a lateral as well as a progressive direction
is effected by a countershaft set and kept in action by the main shaft, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Buchanan Robertson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOSEPH B. ROBERTSON. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed in the
presence of
HUGH HYNDMAN,
Belfast,
Solicitor and Patent Agent.