Improvements in or applicable to Sewing Machines for the Purpose' of Varying the Width of the Stitch.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Aug., 1895-Accepted, 16th Nov.; 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Sewing Machines for the Purpose'
of Varying the Width of the Stitch.
I JULIUS KÖHLER of Limbach, Saxony, Sewing Machine Maker, 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 and accompanying drawings which are hereinafter referred to and form
part of the present Specification.
The object of my said invention is a device for varying the width of the stitch
as desired while sewing for the purpose of producing for example a crescent stitch
as shown in Fig. 1.
The said device consists in using along with a needle fixed in the needle bar one
or more needles so arranged in the needle bar as to permit of their lateral displace-
The
ment and the simultaneous displacement of the corresponding needle holes.
needle threads are secured by looper or shuttle threads according to the system of
machine to which my said invention may be applied.
By way of example I will describe its application to a glove stitching machine.
At the lower end of the needle bar a is a prismatic head a' (Fig. 2) to which a
sewing needle is secured in the usual manner. At the side of the head a¹ there is
a separate displaceable needle carrier b. For effecting the accurate horizontal
displacement of the needle carrier bit is provided with two bolts b¹ 6 passing
through the head a¹. Each bolt 6 has a nut in the head a¹ taking against a
spiral spring the resilience of which causes the needle carrier 6 and its needle c² to
continually tend to approach the head a' and thus to bring the needles together.
The ends of the bolts bear against a vertical plate d the lateral movement of
which determines the distance apart of the needles. The plate d can be slid to and
fro by the slide bars d' d² attached thereto and passing through the body of the
machine at the end of which they are united by a crosshead d³: The latter carries
a bowl or roller e which is caused to bear against the excentric arc by means of a
spring. The arc f forms the end of a lever f¹ f. The latter arm of which is
prolonged underneath the needle plate where it is connected by means of a link f*
with a treadle. The position of the treadle thus determines the distance apart of
the two needles c' c².
In the needle plate is a fixed needle hole g¹ (Fig. 3) for the fixed needle c while
a movable needle plate having a needle hole g² is provided for the laterally
displaceable needle c'. The needle plate g has an extension g' (at right angles to g)
which works in a dovetail slot in the plate h. An angle plate g (Fig. 2) connects
the movable needle to the plate d so that any lateral movement of the latter
produces a corresponding displacement of the needle plate.
The looper with the bottom thread travels in the plane of the two needles and
thus traverses both needle loops whatever the distance apart of the needles. The
stitch thus produced is shown in Fig. 9.
Instead of one movable needle two or more such (as
in which case the movable needle plate 9 (Fig. 7) is
needle holes g².
and c³ Fig. 2) may be used
provided with two or more
If for instance the fabric is fed in curved lines to the needles crescert stitches
wider in the middle than at the ends such as illustrated in Fig. 1 may be produced.

page_text: Should it be desired to produce a series of similar crescent stitches the roller e may
be operated by an excentric / (Fig. 4) rotated intermittently through'a pawl and
a ratchet wheel k by the needle bar lever a². The excentric may have a
handle by means of which it may be turned by hand.
If again the laterally displaceable needle or needles and the movable needle plate
are used with the fixed needle plate so formed as to have a tongue g to the right
of the needle hole gl (Fig. 7) and lying in an opening of the table and 'if the
looper thread (Fig. 8) is raised by a tool p as a loop round the edge of the cloth
and thus round the tongue 9 while the two needles c c are allowed to enter the
loop an oversewn stitch (Fig. 11) of any desired degree of variation in the width
is produced for the purpose of tedging..
This method of varying, the width of the stitch by displacement of the needles
is also applicable to shuttle sewing machines as for example Singer machines. In
Fig. 5. a is again the ehead of the needle bar a having a displaceable needle
carrier as described with reference to Fig. 2. The bolts of the latter bear.
against the plate d. carried by arms secured to the shaft m. At the upper end of:
the shaft m is a crankim connected by a link n to a second. crank'm' on the vertical
shaft m³. At the lower end of the shaft m³ is another cranklm (Fig. 6) connected
by a link m to the slide bar. m, for the purpose, of actuating, the sliding, needle.
plate g. An excentric. operated by, a, handle, or inany, other convenient
manner and lying between the arms n¹ actuates the link n and thereby the plate d.
and the needle plate g to the right or left. The shuttle slides in the plane of the
needles and takes the two, ceedle loops whatever their, distance apart and, thus:
produces the stitch illustrated.in. Fig. 10. (as, seen from below.)..
Hereinbefore I have only described the use of movable-needles on one side of
a fixed needle. In some cases however I use movable needles on both sides of the..
fixed peedle. Fig. 12.shows such an arrangement. On both sides of the ordinary,
needle bar a (which is: actuated: by a lever aand, an excentric a) I arrange two.
other needle bars q q² in such a manner as that they can approach to or recede,
from the central needle bar... In order to effect such a movement I use four
bearings (capable of lateral. movement), through which the needlebars
pass. The upper, and lower bearings have toggle levers shinged, to the toggle.
bart working in guides t... The relative positions of the toggle bart and the:
needle bars a q' 9, are shown, in plan in Fig. 13. On the toggle bar, are two
rollers which take against the periphery of an excentric. u. the rotation, of, which
produces a vertical displacement of the bart whereby, the..toggle. levers sare
caused to produce a lateral displacement of the side. needle bars qq parallel to..
the middle needle, bar a..
The up and down stroke of the side needle bars is derived from the middle bar:
by means of the cross-head .acting through the arms on the clamps. q. q..
The rotation of the excentric.u whose axis is carried by a bracket at the front
is effected by means of.the.shafts and t and the bevel wheels vol and v³.
In order to actuate the needle plates so as to correspond to the positions of the
needles I use excentrics w w on the shaft shown in plan in Fig. 14 which, owing!
to the equal size of the gearing wheels rotates at the same speed as the excentric,u.
Each excentric w w is connected by its rod to a separate needle plate g so that
the latter are automatically displaced in unison with their corresponding needles.
The sewing machine.may have either a shuttle as drawn or a.looper and instead..
of one movable needle at each side of the central one, two or more such may be.
used. The excentric u.may if desired be operated by hand by means of a handle
instead of automatically.
Various kinds of fancy stitches may be produced by the arrangement last,
described such for example as illustrated in Fig. 15. By varying the rotation of
the excentric or its shape. wedge shaped stitches such as shown in Fig. 16 which
when repeated three times side by side may be used for stitching gloves. Fig. 17,
shows another form of fancy stitch produced by the use of two movable needles on
each side of the central one.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
laim is :-
1. The hereinbefore described improvements in sewing machines for the purpose
of producing stitches of varying width substantially as set forth and shown in the
accompanying drawings.
2. In a sewing machine the combination with a fixed needle of one or more
needles and needle plates capable of lateral displacement while the machine is
working for the purpose of varying the width of the stitching substantially as
set forth.
3. In a sewing machine the combination of two or more needles whose distance
apart can be varied by lateral displacement one or more moving needle plates and
a looper or shuttle operating in the plane of the needles for securing the needle
loops substantially as set forth and shown.
Dated this 20th day of August 1895.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70 Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.