IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Shakespear, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, and George Illston, of Birmingham,
aforesaid, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 13th February 1874, and dated the 15th September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Shakespear
and George Illston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th September 1873.
We, THOMAS SHAKESPEAR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and GEORGE ILLSTON, of Birmingham aforesaid, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention has reference to sewing machines, in which a shuttle
is employed in the formation of the stitch, and consists of the improve-
ments herein-after described in the feed mechanism of the said shuttle
sewing machines.

page_text: In constructing the feed mechanism according to our Invention we
dispense with the excentric on the shaft by which the shuttle carrier is
worked, and by which excentric the feed bar is usually worked; and
instead of the said excentric we fix at the same place on the same shaft
a toothed wheel, which gears with a second toothed wheel having the
same number of teeth. The axis of the second toothed wheel crosses
the end of the frame in which the shuttle works, and which carries the
cloth plate. This axis projects through a vertical plate at the front side
of the frame carrying the cloth plate, the said projecting part of the axis
being excentric to the axis proper, and forming an excentric pin. The
said excentric pin engages in a slot in a bar sliding against the face of
the said vertical plate. The rear end of the said bar is forked, and the
fork embraces and slides on a pin screwed into the said vertical plate.
The serrated feed bar is carried by the forked end of the sliding bar
described. Between the pin on which the fork of the sliding bar works
and the base of the fork is a spring by which the sliding bar is urged
forward in the direction of the feed. The return motion of the sliding
bar carrying the feed bar is effected by the excentric pin described acting
upon the end of the slot in the sliding bar, in which slot the said pin
engages, as already described, the said excentric pin also giving a rising
and falling motion to that end of the bar on which it acts. The length
of the feed is adjusted by means of a cam or excentric bearing against
the end of the sliding bar. By altering the position of the said cam or
excentric on its axis the length of feed may be regulated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent 2
filed by the said Thomas Shakespear and George Illston in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd March 1874.
r:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
SHAKESPEAR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, and GEORGE ILLSTON, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer, 3
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-

page_text: being excentric to the axis proper, and forming an excentric pin. The
said excentric pin engages in a slot in a bar sliding against the face of
the said vertical plate. The rear end of the said bar is forked, and the
fork embraces and slides on a pin screwed into the said vertical plate.
The serrated feed bar is carried by the forked end of the sliding bar
described. Between the pin on which the fork of the sliding bar works
and the base of the fork is a spring by which the return motion of the
sliding bar is effected. The sliding bar carrying the feed bar is urged
forward in the direction of the feed by the excentric pin described
acting upon the end of the slot in the sliding bar, in which slot the said 1
pin engages, as already described, the said excentric pin also giving a
rising and falling motion to that end of the bar on which it acts. The
length of the feed is adjusted by means of a cam or excentric bearing
against the end of the sliding bar. By altering the position of the said
cam or excentric on its axis the length of the feed may be regulated.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying
Drawing the manner in which our Invention is carried into effect.
1
Figure 1 represents a front elevation, and Figure 2, a plan (the cloth
plate being removed) of a portion of a shuttle sewing machine con-
taining our improvements; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the 2
same taken on the line a, a, Figure 2; and Figures 4, 5, and 6 are
parts of the machine as herein-after described. The same letters indi-
cate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
6 is the shuttle box frame of the machine on which the cloth plate is
fixed; c is the driving shaft carrying the crank plate d, by means of 2
which the shuttle carrier e is worked, a crank pin f on the said plate d
engaging in a vertical slot in the back of the said shuttle carrier as usual;
g
is the guide rod of the shuttle carrier. On the shaft c is a toothed
wheel h, which gears with a second toothed wheel i having the same
number of teeth, the said second toothed wheel being fixed on the shaft 3
or axis k. This shaft or axis k is shown separately in Figure 4. At
the vertical side 6 of the shuttle box frame b is a sliding bar / working
against the face of the said side 62, one end of the said bar 7 also having
a rising and falling motion given to it, as herein-after explained. The
rear end of the sliding bar / carries the serrated feed bar m. The said 3
rear end of the sliding bar is forked at 18, and the fork embraces and
slides upon the fixed screw pin n screwed into the vertical side 6° of the

page_text: :
ร
shuttle box frame. The front end of the sliding bar has a slot p in it,
in which slot the excentric pin ³ formed on the projecting end of the
axis works. Between the cross pin n, on which the fork 1³ of the
sliding bar works, and the base of the said fork is a coiled spring q
(best seen in the horizontal section of the rear end of the sliding bar,
Figure 6), by which the return motion of the said sliding bar is effected.
The advance or feed motion of the sliding bar / in the direction of the
arrow is effected by the excentric pin ² acting upon the end of the
slot p in the said sliding bar, the said excentric pin k³ also, giving a
rising and falling motion to that end of the bar on which it acts. At
the front end of the sliding bar 7 is a cam or excentric turning on the
pin or centres for adjusting the length of the feed or for throwing the
sliding bar out of action. By lifting the handle of the cam or excentric r
into the position represented in Figure 1 the said cam or excentric
pushes the sliding bar back out of action, and the excentric pin k² can
only give a rising and falling motion to the said bar. By depressing
the handle of the cam or excentric r, as illustrated in Figure 5, it allows
the sliding bar to be pressed forward by the spring q, and the acting
end of the slot p is now within the 'range of action of the excentric
pin ; and on the rotation of the said excentric pin a longitudinal, as
well as a rising and falling motion, is given to the sliding bar 1. By
altering the position of the cam or excentric on its axis the stroke
of the sliding bar / may be controlled, and the length of feed
regulated.
When the machine is driven motion is transmitted from the shaft c
through the toothed gearing h, i, to the axis k, and by means of the
excentric pin on the end of the said axis working in the slot p in the
sliding bar combined with the operation of the spring a the required
longitudinal motion and rising and falling motion to work the serrated
feed bar m are effected, that is to say, on the serrated feed bar m
coming to the end of its advance or feeding stroke the rotation of the
excentric pin k³ first depresses the bar 7, and withdraws the serrated feed
bar m from the cloth. The action of the spring 9 now gives the return
stroke to the sliding bar and feed bar m, after which the excentric
pink lifts the sliding bar / to cause its feed bar m to grip the cloth
when the feed is effected by the advance of the sliding bar 7 by the
action of the excentric pin ¨³ on the said bar.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in

page_text: .
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we
do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and illus-
trated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of
our Invention; but we claim as our Invention, the construction and com-
bination of the parts of the feed mechanism of shuttle sewing machines
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, connecting the serrated feed bar to the bar marked / in
the Drawing, situated and working at the front of the shuttle box frame,
the said bar having a sliding motion, and its front end a rising and
falling motion given to it, the said bar / being constructed and worked
from the shaft by which the shuttle carrier is worked, substantially
in the manner described and illustrated.
'
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Shakespear and George
Illston, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second
Witness,
RICHARD SĶERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
THOMAS SHAKESPEAR. (L.S.)
GEORGE ILLSTON. . (L.S.)