IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Mercantile Clerk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES.'
Sealed the 25th September 1869, and dated the 9th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th July 1869.
I, THOMAS JAMES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Mer-
cantile Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements are applicable more especially to sewing machines
of the Wheeler and Wilson class referred to in the Specification of
A. E. L. Bellford, No. 251, 1852, and dated 6 October, and relate to the
mechanism for feeding the fabric being sewn, and its advantages are
diminution of noise, reduction of friction, and a consequent saving of
power and certainly in the length of the stitch. It consists in applying
a variable or adjustable double action cam for giving a positive to-and-
fro motion for feeding the fabric being sewn, not giving the forward

page_text: movement for feeding positively and the back movement by a spring,
but both movements positively by a double acting cam. I prefer to
make this cam like a disc, so hinged or arranged that more or less
obliquity can be given to it in relation to its axis by an adjusting screw
or other means, the greater the obliquity and the longer the stitch.
The cam is secured upon the end of the driving spindle, and acts upon
one or two pins fixed or made adjustable in the feed bar.
-
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas James in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Mercantile Clerk,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas James, Her special license
that I, the said Thomas James, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas James, 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
James, by an instrument in writing under my 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 within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas James, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and

page_text: by the following statement and the accompanying Drawings (that is
to say)-
My improvements are applicable more especially to sewing machines
of the Wheeler and Wilson class, and relate to the mechanism for
feeding the fabric being sewn, and its advantages are diminution of
noise, reduction of friction, and a consequent saving of power and
certainty in the length of the stitch. It consists in applying a variable
or adjustable double action cam for giving a positive to-and-fro motion
for feeding the fabric being sewn, not giving the forward movement for
feeding positively and the back movement by a spring, but both move-
ments positively by a double acting cam. I prefer to make this cam
like a disc or ring so hinged or arranged that more or less obliquity can
be given to it in relation to its axis by an adjusting screw or other
means, the greater the obliquity and the longer the stitch. The cam is
secured upon the end of the driving spindle and acts upon one or two
pins or studs fixed or made adjustable in the feed bar.
Figure 1 is a view of a portion of a machine of the Wheeler and
Wilson class, being partly a section taken parallel to the driving spindle
and showing the application of my improvements; Figure 2 is a plan
view of the under side of the feeding bar detached; Figure 3 is a section
of the cam detached; Figure 4 a view of one side, Figure 5 a view of
the other side of the cam; Figure 6 is a side view of a grooved cam
and index mechanism for regulating it; and Figure 7 an end view of
the same.
A, the frame part of the machine; b, the driving pulley; c, the
rotating hook spindle; d, the rotating hook; e, the spool retainer; f, the
connecting rod which transmits movement to the needle arm; g, the
cloth plate; h, the feed bar slide; i, the feed bar jointed to the slide;
j, the cam which gives the lifting movement to the feed bar. The
above named are all ordinary parts.
My improvements consist in applying a variable double-acting cam
to give the backward and forward movements to the feeding bar or
slide, as shewn in Figure 1, this cam acting between two pins or studs
fixed in the feed bar or feed slide bar (h). This cam is formed by a
part k secured upon the shaft or spindle (c) by a screw (1). To the
part (k) a disc m is jointed to turn upon a pin (n); and on the opposite side
of the part k a screw p with a milled head is fitted, which screw has a

page_text: "neck" in it, which fits a narrow radial slot in the disc m, so that the
screw p can turn and take the disc m as it moves endways with it, so
as to give more or less obliquity to the disc or cam, and thus vary the
length of the feeding movement. The studs or parts 9 acted upon by
the cam may be made excentric, as shown, so as to be turned upon the
screws r, by which they are secured to the feeding slide (h) to adjust
them to the edges of the cam. These studs may be made of metal,
wood, or leather, or other suitable material. The cam may be made with
curved edges, as shewn in peculiar dotted line in Figure 3, the studs or
parts q being in this case cylindrical. The cam may also be made with
a groove or pathway in its edge to act upon one pin or stud, and may be
regulated to vary the stitch by a lever, which also forms an index
showing the relative length of the stitch, as illustrated by Figures 6 and 7.
A boss (k) is secured upon the shaft c by a screw (l), and to this boss
the grooved cam m is hinged on the joint n, the other side of the cam
being connected by a jointed link (8) with a sliding boss (t). The path
or groove of the cam acts upon a small piece of hard wood (q) about
half an inch long, secured upon a stud (r), upon which it can swivel
slightly. A thin spring lever (u) is jointed to the cloth plate at (u'), and
is caused to press tightly against the under side of the plate (g), so that
an edge formed upon the lever will act against flutes formed on the
under side of the cloth plate, this arrangement being for the purpose of
holding the lever (u) to prevent it from being moved by the action of
the feeding cam, with which the lever is connected by a stud v rivetted
in it, that carries a piece of hard wood, which enters the groove in the
boss part (t). The upper side of the lever u has a pointer upon it which
passes through a slot w near the edge of the cloth plate, which is marked
with an index to show the relative length of the stitch. By moving
the lever u the boss is slided endways, and thus the cam m has greater
or less obliquity imparted to it.
My improvements are most conveniently applied to machines where
the feed bar is above. and parallel to the driving spindle or shaft, but
they are applicable to other machines, even where the feed is in a
direction at a right angle to the driving shaft, and may be applied by
causing the cam to act upon studs in the end of a slide or lever, and by
transmitting the movement of the lever to the feed bar, such lever or
levers being of the bell crank or other order, according to the position of
the feed bar.

page_text: I have now particularly described the nature of my Invention, and
the mode of carrying it into effect, and claim as my Invention,
Firstly. A variable double-acting feeding cam for sewing machines,
substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated by the
Drawings.
Secondly. The combination and arrangement of a variable double-
acting feeding cam, with the feed bar of sewing machines, as herein-
before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
Thirdly. The combination of a variable double-acting feeding cam
with mechanism for regulating it, which shows the relative length of
the stitch, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by
Figures 6 and 7 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
THOMAS JAMES. (L.S.)