Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Nov., 1886.
Complete Left, 21st July, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 23rd Aug., 1887.
THOMAS SHAKESPEAR of The Royal Machine Manufacturing Company Limited Small
Heath Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to a method of reducing the number of parts required
in making what is known as a "lock stitch" Sewing Machine; the method whereby
I accomplish this is as follows,
The Lever by which the Shuttle, the needle cam, & the feed movements are
actuated is composed of one-piece, which swings upon two pivots or centres at the
back of Machine, this Lever is driven by a cam wheel connected with a driving
handle.
The accompanying drawings will explain the general arrangement of my invention.
Fig. 1. shows side elevation and Fig. 2 shows front elevation. The letters on each
drawing refer to the same parts.-A is a ring having two arms A¹ & A³ & swinging
upon the two centre pins G-the upper arm A' giving the required motion to the
needle bar E, the lower arm A carries the shuttle & gives movement to the feed
lever D by means of pin H. B. is the hand wheel on which is fixed a faced cam, by
turning this wheel the cam comes into contact with rollers C³ & C° fixed to ring
of lever A giving the required motion to the arms A', & A². The Feed Movement
is obtained by means of slide F, working in slotted guides, the forward motion being
given by lever D. Fig. 2. traversing the lower edge of feed slide F until it reaches
inclined part K lifting teeth of feed slide F which is propelled by lever D striking
a small lug or projection L, when lever D Fig. 2 returns & strikes regulator, I,
& brings feed slide F to its original position.

page_text: Improvement in Sewing Machines.
I THOMAS SHAKESPEAR of The Royal Machine Manufacturing Company, Limited,
Small Heath Birmingham Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My improvements have for their object principally to reduce the number of parts
required for working the mechanism of sewing machines of the kind known as Lock
stitch sewing machines, that is, for operating the shuttle the needle cam and the feed
movement. This I effect by the use of a lever or swinging piece having a horizontal
motion upon two vertical pivots or centres at the back of the machine, the said lever
or swinging piece being driven or operated by a cam or cam wheel connected with
the driving handle. The said lever or swinging piece consists of a vertical ring,
or a nearly vertical upright, having at its upper and lower parts horizontal arms, the
upper arm operating the needle cam and the lower arm operating the shuttle, the feed
movement being also taken from the said lower arm as herein after particularly
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
my
Figure 1 represents in side elevation; Figure 2 in front elevation and Figure 3
in plan a lock stitch sewing machine containing the essential parts of
In Figures 1 and 2 the principal actuating lever or swinging piece is represented
invention.
in its middle position and in Figure 3 moved in one direction from its middle position
and in dotted lines moved in the opposite direction.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1. 2 and 3.
The lever or swinging piece from which the several parts of the machine are
actuated consists of the vertical ring A and the two horizontal parallel arms A¹ and A*
situated at right angles to the said ring. The said lever or swinging piece A, A', A² has
inotion horizontally upon the vertical pivots or centres G, G. The lever or swinging
piece A, A' A² is worked by the hand wheel B' turning on the centre at B². The
hand wheel B' has a three rise cam B on its face which cam operates upon the
swinging lever through the cross arms E³, E' at the back of the ring part A.
The ends of the cross arnis E³, E³ carry anti friction rollers C, (upon which the
rises of the cam B directly act. The upper arm A' of the swinging lever gives
the required reciprocating vertical motion to the needle bar E, a roller E on the end
of the said arm A' working in the cam E on the needle bar E. When the arın A¹
is moved from the middle position represented in Figure 1 to that represented in
Figure 3, its roller traversing the upper half of the cam E³ depresses the
needle bar E and when the arm A³ is moved into the position indicated in dotted
lines in Figure 3 its roller traversing the lower half of the cam E³ raises the needle
bar E. The lower arm A' of the swinging lever or piece A, A', A' has at its front
end the shuttle carrier A the shuttle in the said carrier A being guided in its
traversing motion by a slot in it taking upon a rib on the base of the machine
or by other equivalent arrangement. The movement of the said lower arm A' through
the same angle as the upper arm A¹ shown in Figure 3 gives the required reciprocating
and slightly curvilinear motion to the shuttle.

page_text: The feed movement is obtained from the motion of the lower arm A³ of the
swinging lever or piece by the following combination of parts; F is a slide at
the front of the machine working in guides at F, F' and under the arm A' is
a horizontal lever D turning on the centre D' and operated by a pin H on the said
arm A taking into a slot H' in the said lever D. The front arm of the lever D
projects under the bottom edge of the foed slide F and the lifting and feed motion is
given to the said slide F by the said front end of the lever D. That is to say the arm
of the lever D first traverses the lower inclined edge K of the feed slide F and lifts
the teeth of the said slide and the latter is then moved forward by the striking of the
lever D against the projection L (see Figure 2). When the arm of the lever D
makes its return stroko it strikes the short arm or heel of the regulator I on the said
feed slide and brings the feed slide to its normal or original position.
Figure represents in side elevation; Figure 5 in plan and Figure 6 in front
elevation a lock stitch sewing machine in which some of the parts constituting
my invention are modified.
In this modified machine, a box or groove cam B on the hand wheel B' is employed
for working the mechanism and the ring A (Figures 1, 2 and 3) of the swinging
lever or piece is replaced by a nearly straight upright A turning on the pivots
or centres G, G. The said nearly straight upright A of the swinging lever or piece
carries the upper and lower arms A', A² for operating the needle bar E, shuttle
carrier A and the feed movement. The pivotted upright carrier A carries a short
arm A and the latter a pin A' which works in the groove in the cam B. The feed
slide F operated through the arm A³ and lever D is the same as that first described
and corresponding parts are marked with the same letters of reference but the
regulator lever I Figure 2 for the lever D to strike against in its back motion
is replaced by the regulator screw 1².
As there is not sufficient pause or period of rest in machines constructed according
to my invention to provide for the taking up of the slack of the thread and putting
the required tension on the thread during the rising of the needle special inechanism
is necessary for this purpose and I have reprosented in Figures 4 and 6 take up
mechanism which I have found to answer well in practice. Figure 7 represents the
take up mechanism drawn to a larger scale than in Figures 4 and 6.
To the needle bar E and partaking of the same motion, a sliding quadrant arm m is
fixed and jointed to the said sliding arin m is a rocking lever n turning on the centre n².
This lever I will call the take up or tension thread lever. In the extreme end of the
sliding quadrant arm m is a pair of slots and holes and p and in the edges of
the extreme end of the take up or tension lever na neck or depression is made. On
the bottom of the sliding arm m is a stop m³ for limiting the motion in one direction
of the take up lever_n. The said take up lever n carries a loop 9 having an incline
upon it and on the fixed frame of the machine is a stud r for the incline on the loop g
to strike against and for the said loop to engage with as herein after described. The
thread from the reel passes over the guide pulleys (see Figure 6) and through
It then passes
a guiding eye into the top slot p in the sliding quadrant arm m.
round the neck or depression in the end of the take up lever n from thence to
the lower slot p² in the sliding arm m and finally to the needle.
As the needle bar E rises it carries the sliding arm m with it thereby taking up and
putting the required tension on the thread. As tension is put on the thread it turns
the tension lever n on its centre n which takes the position indicated in dotted lines
in Figure 6, thus paying out portion of the thread between the slots p, p² and the end
0 of the tension lever n. The tension lever n having made nearly its full forward stroke
it is maintained in that position on the further rising of the needle bar by the loop
on the said lever n engaging with the fixed stud r, the said loop 9 being guided
upon the said stud by the incline on it striking the said stud. The needle bar having
nearly reached the end of its upward stroke, the loop q escapes from the stud r and
5 on the descent of the needle bar the tension or take up lever n returns to its normal
position against the stop m².
On the descent of the needle and when it has nearly approached the needle plato

page_text: the take up lever n has reached its normal position thus holding the thread until the
shuttle has well entered the loop of the thread when the take up lever yields and
allows a sufficient quantity of thread to be paid out for the free passage of the
shuttle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and
the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as my
invention ;-
First Actuating the shuttle, the needle bar and the feed movement of lock stitch
sewing machines by means of a lever or swinging piece A, A', A moving horizontally
upon pivots or centres, the said lever or swinging piece being constructed and
combined with the other parts of the machine and operating substantially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly The construction and combination of the feed slide F and operating
lever D and parts connected with them for giving the feed movement to the machine,
the operating lever D of the feed movement being worked from the lower arm A¹
of the principal lever or swinging piece A, A', A' substantially as herein before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly-The combination with the swinging lever or swinging piece A, A¹, A² of
the machine of the take up mechanism herein before described and illustrated in
Figures 4, 6 and 7 of the accompanying Drawings.
Dated this Eighteenth day of July 1887.