IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Turner, of the City of Hamilton,
Canada, at present residing at the Charing Cross Hotel, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by George Webster and
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Turner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th September 1873.
I, ALEXANDER TURNER, of the City of Hamilton, Canada, at present
residing at the Charing Cross Hotel, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows :-
-

page_text: shaft which is situated at the upper part of the machine and lies within
a hollow horizontal arm, carried by a hollow standard from the bed plate,
shall give motion to the various parts of the machine in the following
manner :-The driving shaft has upon it at its rear end a fly and driving
wheel, and at its front end a disc and crank pin. This disc and pin lie
within an oblong rectangular chamber cast at the end of the hollow arm.
Screwed to the front of this chamber is a plate in which is a vertical slot
to receive the bar or slide which carries the needle. On this bar is fixed
a grooved cam, into which the crank pin before-mentioned is received,
and by this means the requisite up-and-down motions are given to the
needle when the shaft is rotated. The shuttle carrier has a horizontal
to-and-fro motion given to it, and works in a horizontal slot formed in a
standard which projects upwards from the front end of the bed plate.
The back of the shuttle carrier is connected by a link to an arm on a
shaft, which is parallel with the driving shaft and is just above the bed
plate. On the rear end of the shaft is another arm which by a link is
connected to a crank pin on the driving wheel. The crank is of shorter
radius than the arm, so that a to-and-fro rocking motion is given to
the lower shaft and a to-and-fro motion so imparted to the shuttle carrier.
To the top of the standard which supports the shuttle carrier is fixed
the table or plate upon which the work is to rest.
In order to give motion to the serrated feed plate by which the work
is fed forwards the driving shaft has upon it a small cam to act upon
the upper end of a vertical lever contained within the hollow standard
of the frame. The lower end of the lever is coupled by a link to one
end of a horizontal lever, the apposite end of which lies within a recess
in the bar by which the serrated feed plate is carried, and gives a hori-
zontal to-and-fro motion to this bar.
The requisite rising and falling motions are given to the feed plate by
a stud on the shuttle carrier acting upon the under side of the bar. The
horizontal forward movement of the feed plate is given to it by the cam
before mentioned, and it is drawn back as usual by a spring. This spring
also serves to draw downwards the serrated feed plate after it has been
raised.
HELL

page_text: mentioned can be held away from the cam which acts upon it. The
presser foot by which the work is held down is carried by a circular stem
received into a vertical hole drilled to receive it in the same plate as that
which carries the needle slide. The stem does not rise up to the top of
the plate, but its upper end is pressed upon by the end of a rod pressed
downwards by a spring contained in a recess in the plate. On the
circular stem of the presser foot is a boss flattened on two opposite sides.
This boss lies within a recess in the plate. When the presser foot is
down a flat side of the boss lies against a flat side of the recess, and the
foot is retained from turning, but if the presser foot is lifted the boss
comes within an enlargement of the recess, and the stem can then be
turned round, by which the foot is not only retained in its raised position,
but it is also moved out of the way of the needle so that the work may
readily be adjusted and the needle threaded.
To obtain the requisite tension on the shuttle thread in place of
leading it through numerous holes in the upper side of the shuttle it is
led through holes in a flat spring which lies within the shuttle just below
its upper side. One end of this spring lies over the axis of the bobbin
and retains the bobbin in place; the other end of the spring is pin
jointed to the shuttle so that the spring can be turned outwards upon
this pin joint. The bobbin will then be released and a fresh bobbin may
be put in its place, and its thread can readily be threaded through the
eyes or holes in the spring. The thread is afterwards led through a
single eye or hole in the top of the shuttle and the spring then turned
inwards into its place, and the shuttle is ready for use.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Alexander Turner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
0 TURNER, of the City of Hamilton, Canada, at present residing at the
Charing Cross Hotel, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Turner, Her special license
that I, the said Alexander Turner, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Turner, 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by George
Webster and John Webster, both of the City of Hamilton, Canada, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Turner, 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 performed, 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 Alexander Turner, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention consists firstly in the improvement of the feed
mechanism, as herein-after described and pointed out in the claims.
In the Drawing Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2 is an end view
with parts broken away; Figure 3 is a top view with parts broken away;
Figure 4 is a cross section through line x, x, of Figure 3; Figure 5 is a
perspective view of the shuttle.
A represents the needle of the sewing machine; B, the needle bar;
C, the needle shaft; D, the crank balance wheel; and E, the rod that
connects with the shuttle shaft F, having the cranks f, f¹; G is the
shuttle; G¹, its carrier; and G², its race; H is the feed bar placed under
the cloth plate, and held loosely in position on an adjustable cam I
under the head of screw K, and by a wire spring K¹. It is operated
from the needle shaft C by a cam c, pivoted rod c¹, rod c²; and lever L.

page_text: The feed bar H has a bevel piece h, which is adjustable downward on
one end by a screw to enable it to take up wear, and is acted-on by a
friction roller of the projection g¹ on shuttle carrier, which raises it at
every motion forward.. At the other end it has an open slot h³, which
receives the screw h². M is a screw which passes through the arm N
and against the rod c', so that by turning it inward or outward the stitch
may be shortened or lengthened. The shuttle carrier G¹ slides in a
horizontal race G2, which is solid with the frame O, and is operated by a
link f² and crank arm f¹ on the shaft F. It is an object to govern the
tension of the thread without putting it through so many holes in the
shuttle and to dispense entirely with the spiral spring usually employed
at the pointed end of the shuttle.
On the inside of the shuttle is placed a metallic bar provided with one
or two holes bent at 9³, and which may be elastic or otherwise. On the
opposite side is a screw 9' which passes through the side of the shuttle
and presses against the bent end of bar. The thread from the bobbin
passes through an open slot in the side of the shuttle, then through a
hole in the spring bar, and thence out through a hole in the shuttle, as
clarly illustrated in Figure 5 of the Drawing. The thread in passing
from bar to shuttle keeps the bar down to its proper position so that the
tension of the thread can be always regulated by the small adjusting
screw g¹. The usual method of threading through a number of holes in
the shuttle is thus avoided, while the tension of the thread from the
bobbin is the same whether the bobbin is more or less full, and there is
no spiral spring to be continually getting out of order.
Having thus described my Invention, I would have it understood that
what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,―
1. A cam c on needle shaft, a pivot lever c¹, a rod c², and a lever L,
combined with the feed bar in a sewing machine, as and for the purpose
described.
2. The combination with mechanism c, c³, c³, and lever L that moves
the feed bar H of the screw M, applied through the arm N and to the
pivot c' to regulate the extent of movement of said bar as set forth.
3. The combination with the feed bar H of the subjacent adjustable
cam I, as described, for regulating the vertical position of the feed bar.

page_text: 4. The combination of the spring bar g regulated by the screw gʻ
with the shuttle G, as shewn in Figure 5, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Turner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, 5
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred & seventy-
four.
ALEX³. TURNER. (L.S.)