Improvements in Sewing Machines.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 18th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
We MORRIS LACHMAN, Gentleman, and EDWARD KOHLER, Engineer, both of 64
Fore Street in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows: :-
In the specification of Letters Patent granted to the present applicants dated 29th.
April 1887, No. 6295, a rotary looper is described and shown as adapted to a sewing
machine of the Wheeler and Wilson type.
It has been found that when the machine is driven at a high speed, the nose of this
rotary looper is liable to catch the preceding loop as well as the new loop, and break
the thread; or the old loop may be dragged across the new loop, and close it up or
alter its position, thereby causing the looper to miss a stitch. It has also been
necessary to change the take-up when producing a chain stitch on the Wheeler and
Wilson lock-stitch machine.
Now the object of the present invention is to obviate these inconveniences by causing
the preceding loop to be thrown out of the path of the looper.
In carrying out our invention, we employ a looper with a bridge piece, as in the
Wheeler and Wilson looper, which obviates the necessity for a change in the take-up,
and we add to the looper a forked tail piece, as in the specification of patent before
mentioned. The forked tail of the looper has its near prong shortened to permit of
the old loop being drawn from the prong gently immediately after the descent of the
needle through the opened loop, and the rear prong is lengthened so as to complete the
circle or ring, and is tapered off to a point. The outer end of this prong is bent
slightly downwards, so that its point is below and out of the plane of the nose of the
looper. The loop, after slipping off the near prong, will be caught by the lengthened
rear prong; will be held at full stretch, and will be drawn out of the plane of the nose
of the looper.
Fitted to the periphery of the driver, so that it will enter between the planes of the
nose and the rear prong of the looper, is a projection or staple, which stands in position
diagonally across the plane of the looper, leaving a passage for the thread between the
staple or projection and the nose on one side, and the staple and rear prong of the
looper on the other side. The previous loop, as the rear prong of the tail of the looper
is being drawn through it, has a rearward inclination, and as the driver brings the
projection or staple against this inclined loop, it will be lifted up above the advancing
nose of the looper, thus removing the possibility of the previous loop interfering with
proper formation of a new loop by the needle, or of its being caught by the nose of
the looper.
the
Dated this 18th day of December 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sewing Machines.
We MORRIS LACHMAN, Gentleman, and EDWARD KOHLER, Engineer, both of 64
Fore Street in the City of London, 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 :-
In the specification of Letters Patent granted to the present applicants, dated 29th
April 1887, No. 6295, a rotary looper is described and shown as adapted to a sewing
machine of the Wheeler and Wilson type.

page_text: It has been found that when the machine is driven at a high speed, the nose of this
rotary looper is liable to catch the loop just released from the forked tail of the looper,
as well as the new loop, and when this occurs, it results in a breaking of the thread, or
the old loop may be dragged across the new loop, and close it up, or alter its position,
thereby causing the looper to miss a stitch. It has also been necessary to change the
take-up when producing a chain stitch on the Wheeler and Wilson lock-stitch
machine.
These difficulties have prevented the attainment of so high a degree of speed in this
class of machines, as is desirable, and as otherwise would be practicable.
Now the object of the present invention is to obviate these defects in the operation
of the machine, by providing means for positively holding the loop upon the forked
tail of the looper until it has been pierced by the needle, and in providing means for
positively removing the loop delivered from the tail of the looper, out of the path of
the nose of the looper, so as to prevent the possibility of its being taken thereby.
The improvements constituting the present invention may be readily applied, by
slight modifications, to several of the sewing machines now on the market, but they
are more particularly applicable to the well known "Wheeler and Wilson," and they
are therefore illustrated, in the present case, as applied to a machine of that type.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a front view of the looper detached from the other parts of the machine.
Fig.
2 is an edge view of the same.
Fig. 3 is a side view of the driver of a Wheeler and Wilson machine.
Figs. 3a, 3 b, and 3 c, illustrate the construction and operation of the looper-retaining
ring, and the device carried by the ring which operates to retain the loop upon the
forked tail of the looper, until after it has been pierced by the needle, Fig. 3 a being
an edge view of the ring detached, and Figs. 36 and 3 c being a front and edge view of
the ring in position upon the race.
Fig. 4 is an end view of the well known Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine,
provided with a looper according to the present invention.
Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are diagrams, showing the looper, driver, and needle, in different
positions which they take during the formation of a stitch.
Figs. 8 and 9 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2, showing the bridge piece omitted
from the looper, which will be the case when the looper is not intended to be used
interchangeably with a hook and bobbin carrier.
A is the face plate of the head of the machine; B the needle-bar, and B₁ the needle;"
C the presser-bar, with foot (1;3 D the table, with throat plate D¹; E the looper,
which works vertically in the race F; F¹ the looper-retaining ring, which is secured
to the race by screws F; and G the driver, mounted on the end of a shaft placed
longitudinally of the machine under the table, and suitably driven. H is the ordinary
Wheeler and Wilson take-up, and H¹ the tension device, all of which parts above
mentioned, with the exception of the looper and certain additions to the driver and
looper-retaining ring, are of the ordinary Wheeler and Wilson construction.
The looper E is of annular form, and is provided with shoulders 2, 3, to receive the
driver in substantially the same manner that the hook receives the driver in the
Wheeler and Wilson machine. The nose 4 of the looper is pointed, and of substan-
tially the common form, to take the loop from the needle as the looper is revolved by
the driver. The tail of the looper is forked, the outer prong 5 terminating at some
distance from the nose, while the inner prong 6 is extended to a point slightly beyond
the nose 4. The prong 6 will preferably be parallel with the inner face of the looper,
as indicated by full lines in Fig. 2, but it may project or curve inward, as indicated by
dotted lines in said Figure, for a purpose which will be hereinafter explained. The
driver G is of the ordinary Wheeler and Wilson form, it being provided with
shoulders 7, 8, which act against the shoulders 2, 3 of the looper.
In operating this class of machines at high speeds, difficulty has been encountered,
owing to the tendency of the loop to slip off the forked tail of the looper, before being
pierced by the needle. If this tendency is overcome by increasing the length of the
prongs of the tail of the looper, so as to retain the loop for a longer time relatively

page_text: to the movements of the needle, then difficulty has been experienced in preventing
the loop which has just been pierced by the needle, from being taken by the nose of
the looper, thus deranging the operation of the machine. To avoid the first difficulty,
we have made the outer prong of the looper comparatively short, as before explained,
so that the loop will be retained in a distended condition upon the fork but a short
time, and to prevent the loop from slipping off the short prong of the fork before it has
been pierced by the needle, we provide a retaining plate g, which is supported upon
the looper-retaining ring F¹, or in any other convenient manner, and projects inward,
so as to overlap, and lie in close proximity to the short prong of the tail of the looper,
as the latter passes beneath it. By this means, the forward edge of the retaining
plate g, which is inclined, as will be observed, acts to positively retain the loop upon
the fork of the looper in a distended condition, until the end of the short prong of the
fork has passed the forward end of the plate, and the parts of the looper are so timed
with relation to the needle, that this does not take place until the needle has descended
sufficiently to pierce the loop. Even when the fork of the looper is constructed in
this manner, and the retaining plate is provided, there is liability, in rapid operation,
that the loop delivered from the tail of the looper will remain in position to be
caught by the advancing nose. To partially guard against this, the inner prong 6
of the looper is continued so as to extend slightly past the nose 4, thereby holding
the loop to one side of the path of the nose. If the prong 6 is curved inward, as
indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, it is alone sufficient, in many cases, to prevent the
loop delivered from the looper from being caught by the nose of the looper. But in
most cases it is preferable to supplement the extended inner prong of the looper with
a deflector G', projecting from, and carried by the driver, and so placed as to occupy
a slightly oblique position between the nose and the longer prong of the tail of the
looper, extending forward beyond the nose considerably; as indicated in the drawing.
By this means the loop which is held by the longer prong of the tail of the looper is,
as it is approached by the nose of the looper, acted upon by the deflector, and is raised
and moved laterally out of the path of the nose of the looper, so as to permit the latter
to pass without danger of passing through it. It will thus be seen that the loop upon
the looper is under positive control until the next loop has been taken by the nose of
the looper.
A very brief statement of the operation of the mechanisin thus far described will be
sufficient. Referring to Figs. 5, 36, and 3c, the parts are seen in the position they
occupy as the needle is descending, and just as it has pierced the loop held in a
distended condition upon the forked tail of the looper by the retaining plate g.
Directly after the needle has pierced the loop, the rear end of the short prong of the
tail of the looper passes beyond the plate, and the loop at once slips off said but
prong,
is still retained by the longer prong, as shown in Figs. 6. Just before the nose of
the looper arrives at the needle, and in position to take the needle loop, the deflector G¹
acts upon the loop, to move it inward and upward, and hold it out of the path
of the nose, as shown in said Figs. 6, so as to prevent all danger of its being taken
thereby, and immediately after the needle loop has been taken by the nose of the
looper, the previous loop passes off the longer prong of the tail of the looper, and so
the operation is repeated.
Where the invention is applied to a machine such, for example, as the Wheeler
and Wilson type, as shown in the present case, and it is desired that the machine
should be used interchangeably as a lock-stitch or chain stitch machine, it is desirable
that the looper should be provided with a bridge E¹, which will act, as shown in
Fig. 7, to draw through the needle an amount of thread equal, or substantially
equal, to the amount drawn through the needle by the hook, or other similar
device, when the machine is used in forming the chain-stitch. This is desirable,
as by this means the machine can be used interchangeably without any necessity
of changing or adjusting the take-up mechanism. Where, however, the invention
is applied to a machine which it is not desired to use interchangeably as a lock
stitch or chain stitch machine, the bridge may be omitted, as indicated in Figs. 8
and 9, the looper in other respects remaining the same as already described.

page_text: drawn through the needle
a consequence, the take-up
By the omission of the bridge, the amount of thread
by the looper is reduced to the minimum, and, as
mechanism can be correspondingly modified, which is highly advantageous.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The combination with the needle and the rotating looper, having a forked
tail, consisting of a long prong and a short prong, of a stationary retaining plate g,
projecting over the path of the tail of the looper, to retain the loop thereon,
substantially as described.
2. The loose rotating looper, having a forked tail, one prong of which terminates
in advance of the nose of the looper, and the other prong of which is extended
past the nose of the looper, substantially as described.
3. The combination with the needle, of the loose rotating looper having a forked
tail, one prong of which terminates in advance of the nose of the looper, and the other
prong of which is extended past the nose of the nose of the looper; a driver for the
looper, and a deflector carried by the driver and arranged just in advance of the nose
of the looper, and acting to remove the previous loop from the path of said nose,
substantially as described.
4. The loose annular looper, having a pointed nose and a forked tail, and having a
bridge piece (E¹) extending across it from side to side, substantially as described.
Dated this 17th day of September 1889.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicants.