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

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Howard and David Porter Davis,
of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING
CLOTH OR OTHER MATERIAL."-A communication from Sylvester
H. Roper, of the aforesaid State of Massachusetts.
Sealed the 25th April 1854, and dated the 3rd February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Howard
and David Porter Davis at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1854.
We, EDWARD HOWARD and DAVID PORTER DAVIS, of the State of
Massachusetts, of the United States of America, do hereby declare
the nature of our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
SEWING CLOTH OR OTHER MATERIAL," which Invention has been com-
municated to us by one Sylvester H. Roper, of the State aforesaid, to
be as follows:-
1st. It consists in a groove, tube, or thread passage in combination with
a hooked needle made to draw the thread into such passage, the object

page_text: of the passage being to keep the thread from springing back, so as
to kink or knot or get entangled in the adjacent mechanism.
2nd It further consists in an improved manner of applying the
closing slide to a hooked needle, that is, by making the shank of the
needle tubular, and inserting or arranging the closing slide of the hook
opening so as to slide within the bore of the shank, whereby such
closing slide is better protected from accident or being broken than it
is when made to slide in a groove formed in the shank of the needle.
3rd. It further consists in combining with each of the hooked needles
of the machine [there being two such needles in it] two thread benders
or contrivances for bending the thread in two directions and across the
needle, and into the opening hook of the needle.
4th. It further consists in a set of lips or nippers combined with the
thread benders, and made to operate so as to seize the thread during
the formation of each stitch, and draw the stitch closely into the
cloth.
5th. It further consists in combining with the cloth presser and the
feeding apparatus a stationary knife, so applied as to separate the piece
of thread used in sewing from a roll of thread wound on a spool, and
by the action of the feeding apparatus carrying against said knife the
thread proceeding from the cloth to the spool.
It further consists in the mode of connecting two of the connecting
rods of the machine with a crank pin, viz., by projections from said
rod, and a covering tube or ferule made to encompass them and the
crank pin.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Howard and David Porter Davis in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
EDWARD HOWARD and DAVID PORTER DAVIS of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, A.D. 1854,

page_text: in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Edward Howard and
David Porter Davis, Her special license that we, the said Edward
Howard and David Porter Davis, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Howard and David
Porter Davis, our 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 Inven-
tion of "NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEWING CLOTH
OR OTHER MATERIAL" [the same being a communication to us by Sylvester
H. Roper, of the aforesaid State of Massachusetts], upon the condition
[amongst others] that we, the said Edward Howard and David Porter
Davis, by an instrument in writing under our hand and seal, 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 the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Howard and David
Porter Davis, 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 accom-
panying Drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof:
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of the machine
containing our Invention; Figure 2, is an elevation of one side of it,
or that on which the fly wheel is situated; Figure 3, is an elevation
of the other side of it; Figure 4, is a vertical central and longitu-
dinal section of it; Figure 5, is a transverse and vertical section of
it; this latter section being taken through the operating needles.
Such other Figures as may be necessary to a complete illustration
of our Invention will be herein-after referred to and described.
Our improved machine is calculated to produce either what is gene-
rally termed back stitch sewing, or that called the ordinary running

page_text: •
stitch. By back stitch sewing I mean that in which a thread, after
being carried through a piece of cloth from the front to the rear side
of said cloth, is moved backwards the length of the stitch, is next again
carried through the cloth from the rear to the front side of said cloth,
is next carried forwards double the length of the stitch or some other
suitable distance, and is next passed through the cloth from the front
to the rear side of said cloth; such operation, being repeated succes-
sively, forms what is termed back stitch sewing.
By the ordinary running stitch or stitching, I mean that in which a
thread is passed through the cloth from the front side to the rear side
of said cloth, is next moved forwards the length of the stitch, is next
carried through the cloth from its rear to its front side, is next carried
forwards the length of a stitch, and is again passed through the cloth
from the front to the rear side of the cloth, these operations being
repeated from what is frequently called the running or basting stitch.
Our machine is exhibited in the Drawings as prepared for sewing the
running stitch.
In sewing with this machine we do not make use of a continuous
thread, in the manner in which those machines do which perform chain
stitch sewing, but we employ short pieces of thread, such as a person
uses when sewing by hand with the ordinary sewing needle; such short
pieces may be successively taken, in the manner to be herein-after
described, from one continuous thread wound on a bobbin.
In the Drawings above mentioned A denotes a column or frame
for supporting the operative parts of the machine, such column having
a shelf or table B extended from it, and for the purpose of carrying
the endless belt C, on which the cloth or material to be sewed is sus-
tained during the operation of the needles therein, such cloth being
inoved by said belt with an intermittent motion, such as may be neces-
sary to enable the needles to perform their function of sewing. The
two needles used in the machine are exhibited at D and E; D being
the superior or upper, and E the inferior or lower one. A side view
of one of these needles is given in Figure 6; and a longitudinal section
of it, together with the closing slide of its hook, is represented in
Figure 7 (said Figures 6 and 7 being drawn on an enlarged scale).

page_text: or H, which
Each of the
Each needle is extended from a moveable carriage G
slides vertically on a dovetailed guide, as seen at I, K.
carriages G, H, is connected to a long lever L, or L', by means of a
short connecting rod M, or M', which connecting rod is so jointed both
to the carriage and lever that when the lever is made to move in a
vertical plane, and turn on its fulcrum N, or N', the needle carriage
shall be made to play or move vertically on its dovetailed guide.
The arrangement of the two levers L, L', their fulcra N, N¹,
their connecting rods M, M', and the two needle carriages G, H, is
particularly represented in Figure 3 of the Drawings. To these two
levers two long connecting rods O, P, are respectively jointed at their
outer ends, such connecting rods at their inner ends being made to
embrace a crank pin Q, that projects from the side of a cam wheel R,
which is fixed upon the main driving shaft S, such shaft being caused
to carry a fly wheel T, and to be put in rotation by means of power
applied to a crank U, or to said shaft, in any proper manner.
In Figure 8, I have represented a sectional view taken through the
two connecting rods O, P, and the crank pin on which they work, such
section being made transversely of the axis of said crank pin. In Figure
9, I have exhibited another section of the same, such section being taken
longitudinally through the axis of the crank pin. Figure 10, represents
a front view of one of the connecting rods. Each connecting rod is
curved or hollowed out, so as to rest against and straddle the crank pin,
and it has extended from it a projection a, which is curved and made
to rest superficially against the crank pin, the arrangement of the
projections being exhibited in the Drawings. Over these two projec-
tions, and so as to enclose them and be concentric with the crank pin,
a tube or ferule is placed, it being confined in position by means of a
screw c¹, screwed into the end of the crank pin.
By so forming the connecting rods O, P, and providing them with
projections a, a, and an enclosing tube b, such two connecting rods may
be made to play on and be simultaneously moved by one crank pin.
Each needle is caused to move within a groove or tube V, or V, which
groove or tube I term the thread passage; the object of such passage
being to prevent the thread of the needle from kinking or snarling up,

page_text: or injuriously springing back towards the cloth when such thread is
released from the needle, and it performs such a function by means of
the support which it gives the thread under such circumstances. Each
needle is what is termed a hooked needle, it having a hook or barb c,
and a point d, as seen in Figures 6 and 7. Its shank e is made tubular
or hollow, and receives within it a small rod or closing slide f, whose
office is to close the opening of the hook while the barb of the needle
is being drawn through the cloth. This closing slide is forced against
the barb by a spring g, arranged on the needle slide and below the
tubular shank of the needle, and made to be supported by an arm h,
projected from the support piece i of the needle. The closing slide f
has a projection & extended from it, the spring being made to bear
against said projection. While a needle is being driven forwards into
the cloth, and immediately after its barb has passed fully through the
cloth, the projection is carried into contact with a stationary stud l
or m, situated as seen in Figure 4, and made to project into the thread
passage or groove. This stud serves to arrest the forward movement of the
closing slide in the needle, the needle continuing to move forward; such
operation causes the hook of the needle to be opened for the reception
of the thread. After the thread has been laid in the opening of the
hook of the needle, the needle is drawn backwards through the cloth,
the barb of the needle closing upon the slide f, so as not only to prevent
said barb from catching in the cloth, but to ensure the draft of the
thread through the cloth.
We next come to a description of the mechanism by which the the
thread is bent horizontally, laid into the opening of the needle, and
drawn closely into the cloth; and I would here take occasion to remark
that such an apparatus or mechanism is applied to operate with each
needle, that which belongs to the lower needle being arranged above
the table B, while that which operates in connection with the upper
needle is disposed underneath said table B. The two devices used for
bending a portion of the thread into a horizontal position or into angles
with respect to the rest of the thread are seen at n, o; a rear view of
them on an enlarged scale, and as applied to the bar W, in which the
thread passage is formed, being exhibited in Figure 11. Figure 12,

page_text: is a front view (on an enlarged scale) of such thread benders, and
mechanism immediately adjacent thereto; Figure 13, is a top view of
the hook bender n; Figure 14, is a top view of the eye bender o;
Figure 15, is a rear view of the hook bender n; and Figure 16, is a
rear view of the eye bender o. These benders are levers formed as
seen in the Drawings, and made to play together on a common
stationary fulcrum p, as do the blades of a pair of scissors, their two
upper arms being connected together by a spring 2, whose ends are
respectively attached to the arms, such spring operating to draw the
two arms towards one another, and thereby to move the thread benders
in directions opposite to those in which they are moved by the action of
the lever 1. The front arm of said lever, an end view of which is given
in Figure 17, extends between the benders n, o, and just below their
fulcrum p. The fulcrum of the lever is supported by a post or projec-
tion s, while the rear armt of the lever is made to extend backwards
and within the path of a cam u, fixed on the inner side of a cam wheel
R, the said cam being as represented in Figure 18, which is a view of
the inner side of the cam wheel R.
The office of this cam is to move the lever at a proper time, so
as to cause its front arm to move downwards, and separate the lower
arms of the benders, which while being so separated mutually strike
against the thread and bend it so that the part of the thread extending
from one bender to the other shall stand horizontally or thereabouts,
or at right angles or nearly so, with respect to the path of the needle.
After the cam has performed this function the front arm of the lever *
will be moved in an opposite direction by means of a spring v, and into
notches or curved recesses u, a, made in the benders n, o, and so as to
cause the lower arms of the benders to approach and cross one another.
The bender n is formed with a small hook y, while the bender o has
an elongated eye extended from it, and for the purpose of keeping
the thread always in a proper position with respect to the benders, such
thread being made to work through such eye. There is also a small
projection, lip, or nipper a, extended from the lower arm of the bender o,.
and made to operate in connection with a spring nipper 62, affixed to the
side of the bar W. During the movement of the bender o towards the

page_text: thread it carries the nipper a against the thread, and so as to force
the thread against the part or jaw of the spring nipper b², such opera-
tion being performed somewhat previous to the completion of those
movements of the thread benders necessary to the completion of the
bending of the thread. Now while the thread is thus held between the
nippers the needle catches it, and during its descent it draws the thread
of the hook y; and the nippers still holding the thread, it, during the
further descent of the needle, will be drawn through the nippers, and
with friction sufficient to cause the stitch taken to be drawn closely into
the cloth or material to be sewed. The thread so held by the benders
is next to be moved back in order that it may be laid into the hook
opening of the needle; and in order to accomplish this the benders
must be moved backwards, such a movement of them being effected by
means of a small cam c, affixed to the lever 1, and made to work
against a curved or inclined surface or part of the bender o, there being
a small spring g applied so applied to the benders as to move them in an
opposite direction, while the front arm of the lever is being elevated.
The benders beneath the table are seen at n', o¹; their operating lever
is seen at ¹, such lever being actuated or moved in one direction by
the cam u, and in the opposite one by a spring v. The spring nipper b
of the lower benders is seen in Figure 5. In the Drawings h² repre-
sents a bobbin for carrying the thread, which bobbin is made to
rotate on a spindle 2, projected from the bar W. A friction washer
m², and screw nut n², are applied to the spindle, and made to operate
against the bobbin in order to prevent too much freedom of rotation.
In applying a thread from the bobbin to the machine it is drawn down
into a notch p formed in the end of a projection or arm q² applied
to the bar W. From this notch the thread is extended horizontally
by the side of the needle, and under and around the hook y of the
hender n, such thread being made to rest against a small shoulder 2*,
formed on the bender and under its hook. The thread then lays against
the needle, so that when the needle is drawn downwards the thread will
slip into the opening of the hook, and be cought in and by the needle.
When the needle is drawn through the cloth it carries the thread with
it in a doubled state, and if the thread drawn through the cloth by the

page_text: needle is of a length less than the extent of motion of the needle the
thread will be entirely drawn out of the needle. During the draft on
the thread by the needle, and at a proper time, the benders of the other
needle are put in motion, so as to bend the thread and prepare it to be
received by the other needle and again drawn through the cloth.
Thus the operation of sewing is carried on by the two needles operating
alternately, and as the sewing is carried on the thread which extends
from the cloth into the notch p² will be carried against a small knife or
cutting edges, affixed to the cloth presser t², and will be separated or
cut by such knife. The movement of the feeding belt and cloth carries
the said portion of the thread against the said knife. Thus it will be
seen that although in the operation of sewing by our machine we use
short pieces of thread, each of them is successively taken in the manner
above described from a long thread wound on a bobbin. The cloth
presser t is forced downwards by means of a spring u, arranged on
the shank of a lifter v², and made to bear against a projection w²
through which said lifter slides. Said cloth presser carries a small
friction roller a", that rests on the upper surface of the cloth, and holds
said cloth down to or upon the endless feeding belt C, while the belt is
in movement.
The next portion of the machinery to be described is that by which
the endless feeding belt is operated. The said feeding belt is sup-
ported by two rollers or cylinders b³, p", arranged on opposite sides
of the table B, the upper portion of the belt resting on the table.
A ratchet wheel is fixed on the axle of the roller 63, and receives
an impelling pawl d, which is arranged underneath the table B,
as seen in Figure 19, which represents an under side view of said
table. Said impelling pawl is jointed to one arm of a bent lever e³,
which plays upon a fulcrum f, and has its other arm resting against
the periphery of the cam R; said cam being intended and properly
formed for operating the lever so as to cause the pawl to turn the
ratchet cat such times and to such extent as may be necessary to give
motion to the endless feeding belt, in order to insure proper movements
of the cloth. The impelling pawl is drawn backward by the action of
a spring, the backward movement of the front arm of the lever e³,

page_text: being regulated by a stop screw f'. By means of a slide rod ³, pro-
vided with a bent or inclined surface, as seen at k, k³, arranged as seen
in the Drawings, the impelling pawl d³ may be thrown out of action
upon the ratchet wheel whenever necessary. This is effected by pressing
inwards the slide ", by applying the hand to a knob 73 (fixed upon its
front end), and pressing said slide inwards so as to carry its inclined
plane or cam k, l, against the under side of the pawl d.
Figure 20, is a bottom view, and Figure 21, a side view of the hook
bender n Figure 22, is a side view of the eye bender o; and Figure
23, is a side view of the end of the lever, shewing the cam c².
Having thus described our improved sewing machine, what we claim
therein as of our Invention is as follows:-We claim the groove, tube,
or thread passage V or V, in combination with a needle made to
operate a thread, essentially as described, said passage being for the
purpose of supporting the thread, and preventing it from kinking or
injurious springing back or towards the cloth immediately after the
release of the thread from the needle, as described.
We do not claim the Invention or employment of a slide or an equi-
valent contrivance to close down on the barb and over the opening of
the hook of a needle; nor do we claim the application of such closing
slide to a hook needle in such manner that said slide shall play or move
in a groove made in the side of the needle. But what we do claim is, our
improved mode of applying the closing slide to the needle; that is, the
making the shank of the needle tubular, and inserting the closing slide
within the same, whereby such closing slide is better protected from
accident or being broken by catching in the cloth or thread or other-
wise broken, as it is liable to be when made to run in a groove formed
in the side of the needle.
And in combination together and used with a hook needle, we claim
the two thread benders n, o, as made to operate on the thread, and lay
it in the opening of the needle, substantially as specified; and in com-
bination with the thread benders we claim the lip or nipper a², and
the spring nipper 63, the same being for the purpose of seizing the
thread and drawing it closely into the cloth, in manner substantially as
specified.

page_text: And we also claim the stationary knife s², in combination with the
endless feeding belt and the cloth presser t², and in connection with the
spool or an equivalent device for holding the thread, the said knife
being made to operate substantially as above specified.
We also claim the above described improved mode of connecting
the connecting rods O, P, to one crank pin Q, viz., by the projections
a, a, from the rod, and the covering tube or ferule b, the same being
substantially as specified.
In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals.