IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Keats and William Stephens Clark, both of
Street. in the County of Somerset, Boot Manufacturors, for the Invention
of IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 5th May 1865, and dated the 11th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Keats and William
Stephens Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 11th November 1864.
We, JOHN KEATS and WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK, both of Street, in the
County of Somerset, Boot Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first improvement consists in employing in shuttle sewing machines a
shuttle composed of horn or india-rubber composition or other similar material,
thereby securing a great diminution of the noise consequent on the use of a
metal shuttle, as in ordinary shuttle sewing machines.
Another improvement consists in giving the requisite tension to the upper
or needle thread of sewing machines by passing it round grooves in a piece of
metal, glass, porcelain, or other suitable material of a cylindrical form, the
0.1

page_text: thread being conducted from one groove to the other by means of notches cut
in a sloping or sectional spiral direction through the ridges between the
grooves. By passing the thread round more or less of these grooves the tension
is regulated with the greatest facility without the necessity of turning a screw
or any similar arrangement. As the thread is not threaded through any hole
or passed between any pressure plates, the amount of tension is not affected
by any knots or variations in the substance of the thread.
In that description of shuttle sewing machine in which the shuttle is
curried round a circle we make the shuttle of a peculiar form, the sides or
body of the shuttle being shaped so that it shall fit any requisite carrier, and
the point being bent inwards towards the centre around which the carrier
turns, so that the point will describe a smaller circle than the body of the
shuttlo, a shoulder is thus formed at the end of the shuttle, whereby it can be
carried round the face of any disc without the usual shuttle race or bearing.
We also form the shuttle carrier with an inclined projection upon it, which is
placed in advance of the point of the shuttle; this inclined projection as it is
carried round by the rotation of the carrier takes hold of the shuttle thread
before the point of the shuttle enters the loop of the needle thread, and by
carrying the shuttle thread around with it takes up the slack of the thread as
the shuttle comes round to enter the loop of the needle thread, and thus
prevents its becoming entangled with the nose of the shuttle; the incline of
the projection is so formed as to allow the shuttle thread to fall straight and
away from the projection by the time the shuttle is passed through the loop
formed by the needle thread; by this it will be seen that it will not be
necessary to have any needle thread, stop, or guide, common to rotary hook
and stationary bobbin sewing machines, and as the play or space between the
carrier and shuttle allows the thread of the needle loop to pass freely from the
heel of the shuttle during the shuttle's rotation it is not necessary for the
shuttle to pause during its traverse, as shuttles generally are arranged to do
in shuttle sewing machines when the needle thread is being lifted from the
heel or end of the shuttle.
The propeller or instrument in sewing machines by which the work is
moved we actuate by means of a projection at the back of the needle slide
acting on a short lever arranged in such a manner that when the end nearest
to the needle slide is raised as the needle approaches its highest point the
further extremity forces the propeller forwards; and this further extremity is
so shaped that when it has done its work it presents a square surface to the
propeller, which from its position in relation to the pivot on which the lever
works prevents the propeller from returning to its former position until after

page_text: the needle has entered the material. As the needle approaches the lowest
poiut a lever actuated from the main shaft raises the spring that keeps the
propellor down on the work, which spring is so attached to the propeller asto
raise it from the work with it. The propeller in rising raises the end of the
short lever with it, and thus enables a second spring operating on the back of
the propeller to force it back to its normal position.
The needle of sewing machines we arrange to be fitted in a hole in the
bottom of the needle slide. A slot is cut nearly half way through the needle
slide near the bottom, so that the top of the slot shall be nearly level with the
top of the shaft of the needle. A V slide is fitted in this slot, having on the
centre of its inner side a projection fitting a corresponding notch on the centre
of the slot. The slot is cut of such a depth that the hole in which the shaft of
the needle is fitted is laid bare to sight. In the shaft of the needle is cut a
slight notch to correspond with the notch in the slot when the needle is in its
right position. It will be seen that when the V slide is fitted in the slot it
holds the needle firm in its true position, and is in its turn held in its place by
a wire at the end of a spring fitting through a hole through the V slide into
the needle slide.
It will be seen that this arrangement does away with the necessity of any
screws for fixing the needle, and that the needle cannot be fixed in auy but its
right position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Keats and William Stephens Clark in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 11th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Joun
KEATS and WILLIAM STEPHENS CLARK, both of Street, in the County of
Somerset, Boot Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Keats and William Stephens Clark, Her special licenco that we, the
said John Keats and William Stephens Clark, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Keats and William Stephens
Clark, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the

page_text: 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 we, the said John Keats
and William Stephens Clark, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us or them, 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 John Koats, on behalf of myself and the
said William Stephens Clark,do hereby declare the nature of the said Invertion,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statemont thereof, that is to say:―
The first improvement consists in employing in shuttle sewing machines a
shuttle composed of horn, or other similar material, such, for instance, as the
hoofs of animals, thereby securing a greater diminution of the noise consequent
on the use of a metal shuttle, as in ordinary shuttle sewing machines. For
this purpose we prefer to hollow out a piece of softened horn or hoof by means
of gouges or cutters approximately to the shape required, and theu mould it
in a suitable die heated to such a point as to give the substauce a smooth
surface inside and out; the die must not, however, be heated to such an
extent as to scorch or burn the horn or hoof. The outside surface is then
filed and scoured to remove all extraneous matter. After this it should lay
in a warm dry room for six mouths, or until such time as it has attained the
requisite hard consistency to form bearings for the shuttle bobbin to run in,
and totake the outside surface polish to enable it to pass freely through the
loop formed by the needle.
Three different forms of shuttles are shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the
Drawings hereunto annexed; but shuttles of different forms may be made
from horn or similar material, as herein described.
In each of the shuttles shown in the Drawings the shuttle is fitted to
receive a bobbia by a hole being drilled into one of its ends, into which a
spiral spring is inserted, the spring having a steel or other bearing for the
bobbin at its outer end, as is shewn at a in these Figures. To keep the
spring in its place the last coil is made rather larger than the others, and
pointed, and being inserted before the shuttle has contracted in hardening, a
described above, is held perfectly fast; the bearing for the other end of each

page_text: bobbin is formed by a small hole being bored in the horn by means of a small
drill. The hole in which the spring is inserted is also bored by a small drill;
tho drills employed are carried at the end of an arm which can enter into
the hollow of the shuttle, the axis of the drill having upon it a small pinion
by which it can be driven. Holes b, b, are made in the sides of the shuttles,
through which the shuttle thread is to be passed, so that the tension of the
shuttle thread may be varied, as is usual, by passing it through a greater or
less number of the holes.
Another improvement consists in giving the requisite tension to the upper
or needle thread of sewing machines by passing it round grooves in a piece
of metal, glass, porcelain, or other suitable material of a cylindrical form, the
thread being conducted from ore groove to the other by means of notches cut
in a sloping or spiral direction through the ridges between the grooves. By
passing the thread round more or less of these grooves the tension is regulated
with the greatest facility without the necessity of turning a screw, or any
similar arrangement. As the thread is not threaded through any hole, or
passed between any pressure plates, the amount of tension is not affected by
any knots or variations in the substance of the thread. Such an arrange-
ment for giving the requisite tension to the needle thread is shewn at c,
Figuro 5, the piece of glass, earthenware, or suitable material is there shown
to be of a conical form, as it is preferred that it should be, and around it
are formed a number of grooves, as above stated, for the thread to lie in ;
notches are also formed through the ridges, so that the thread may pass from
one groove to another. The thread as it comes from the reel is wound
around more or less of the grooves in the piece c, according to the amount of
tension required, and is then-led away to the needle.
.
In that description of shuttle sewing machine in which the shuttle is
carried round in a circle we make the shuttle of a peculiar form, the sides or
body of the shuttle being shaped so that it shall fit any requisite carrier, and
the point being bent inwards towards the centre, around which the carrier
turns, so that the point will describe a smaller circle than the body of the
shuttle; a shoulder is thus formed at the nose of the shuttle, whereby the
shuttle can be carried round the face of any disc without the usual shuttle
race or bearing.
We also form the shuttle carrier with an inclined projection upon it, which
is placed in advance of the point of the shuttle; this inclined projection as it
is carried round by the rotation of the carrier takes hold of the shuttle thread
before the point of the shuttle enters the loop of the needle thread, and by
carrying the shuttle thread around with it takes up the slack of the shuttle

page_text: thread as the shuttle comes round to enter the loop of the needle thread, and
thus prevents its becoming entanglod with the nose of the shuttle; the incline
of the projection is so formed as to allow the shuttle thread to fall straightand
away from the projection by the time the shuttle is passed through the loop
formed by the needle thread; by this it will be seen that it will not be
necessary to have any needle thread, stop, or guide, common to rotary hook
and stationary bobbin sewing machines.
A shuttle with the point bent inwards in the manuer above described is
shewn separately at Figures 1, and also at Figure 4, which showsan end view
of a portion of a shuttle sewing machine in which the shuttle is carried
round continuously in a circle; a side view, partly in section, of the same
machine is shown at Figure 5. The shuttle lies in a carrier d, hollowed out,
so that the back of the shuttle may fit loosely in it, and the endway motion
which the shuttle is allowed to have in its holder is limited by the back of the
shuttle coming against the back of the carrier, or the curved nose of the
shuttle striking against the front of the carrier; the sides of the shuttle are
thus prevented from becoming jammed or wedged into the carrier, as it
frequently does if shuttles of the ordinary form are employed. The face of
the shuttle works against a flat surface plate e, a portion of which is capable
of being turned downwards on hinges, as shown, so as readily to be able to
withdraw the shuttle, or insert it into its place in the carrier. The shuttle
carrier projects out from the face of a disc carried at the end of the axis g;
this axis in the machine shown in these Figures is the main axis of the
machine, and from it the other parts of the machine derive their respective
motions in any ordinary manner. When the axis y rotates the shuttle is
carried round with it in a circle, and at each rotation it is passed through a
loop of the needle thread, formed as is usual by the needle making a slight
ascent after it has descended to its lowest point. As the shuttle after passing
through the loop of the needle thread continues to rotate, it passes to its
lowest point and draws the stitch tight when the thread is at right angles to
the work, and when the needle at tho same time by reaching its highest point
is also tightening the needle thread. In order that the shuttle may pass
freely through the loop of the needle thread, the needle thread before it is
passed through the eye of the needle is passed around two pins or guides h,h.
and also through an eye on the spring k, as is shown at Figures 4, 5, 6; 7,
and 8. At the time that the shuttle commences to pass through the loop of
the needle thread the eye on the spring k is moved towards the pins / by a
projection on the slide that carries the needle coming against an incline ou
the spring; all, tension is thus removed from the needle thread, and the

page_text: shuttle is able to pass freely through its loop; but to this arrangement for
relieving the needle thread from tension we make no claim.
When applying an arrangement such as is above described to a sewing
machine of that description in which an axis is placed above the surface on
which the work rests, then we prefer to control the movements of the spring
k by means of a small lever o acted on by a cam p on the axis, as is shown at
Figures 8 and 9; to this arrangement, however, we make no claim. I is the
inclined projection above mentioned, which is placed in front of the shuttle.
The projection is carried by the disc f, and as by the rotation of the disc the
shuttle is being brought round to pass through the loop of the needle thread,
the inclined portion of the projection comes against the portion of the
shuttle thread that is between the shuttle and the work, and for a time carries
this portion of the shuttle thread around with it, as is shown at Figure 4, and
so takes up the slack of the shuttle thread as the shuttle comes round toenter
the loop of the needle thread. When the shuttle has entered the loop the
thread slips over the incline, and afterwards slips off the end of the piece 1.
The back of the projection / is caused to pass close to the back of the needle
until after the shuttle has entered its loop, and by passing close to the back of
the needle prevents the loop from projecting on the wrong side of the needle,
and thus removes one great cause of the slipping of stitches common to
shuttle sewing machines.
The propeller or instrument in sewing machines by which the work is
moved we actuate by means of a projection at the back of the needle slide
acting on a short lever arranged in such a manner that when the end nearost
to the needle slide is raised as the needle approaches its highest point, the
further extremity forces the propeller forwards, and this further extremity is
so shaped that when it has done its work it presents a square surface to the
propeller, which from its position in relation to the pivot on which the lever
works prevents the propeller from returning to its former position until after
the needle has entered the material. As the needle approaches the lowest.
point a lever or rod actuated from the main shaft raises the spring that keeps
the propeller down on the work, which spring is so attached to the propeller
as to raise it from the work with it. The propeller in rising raises the end
of the short lever with it, and thus enables a second spring operating on the
back of the propeller to force it back to its normal position. A propeller
constructed in this manner is shewn at Figures 6 and 7, Figure 6 being an
end view and Figure 7 a side view of a portion of a sewing machine of that
class in which there is a rotating axis above the table or surface on which the
work to be sewn rests. a is the propeller, the upper portion of which is

page_text: capable of sliding in a slot in the frame 6* as is usual. The upper part of
the propeller a* is connected to the end of a spring c*, which tends constantly
to press
down the propeller; d* is the small lever for giving to the propeller
the requisite motion for moving forward the work that is being sewn; this
lever turns on a centre at e*; f* is a small projection at the back of the
needle slide for acting on the lever; as the needle moves towards its highest
point the projection f* comes against the lever and moves. it into the position
in which it is shewn in the Drawings, and when in this position the further
extremity of the lever presents a square surface to the propeller, and so
prevents the propeller from being pressed back to its former, position by the
spring *. As soon as the needle has formed its loop the propeller is raised
off the work by the cam *, on the axis i* acting upon the lower end of a
rod, the upper end of the rod then raises the spring c*, and with it also
the propeller, when the propeller so rises it causes the lever * to turn on its
centre until the lever is brought into such a position that the spring 9" can
press the propeller back to its normal position, and the propeller is then
pressed down on to the work by the spring c*, so that it may be again ready
to move forward the work.
When we apply a propeller actuated as above described by a small lever acted
on by a projection on the needle slide to that class of sewing machines in which
one axis only placed below the surface on which the work rests is employed,
then we modify the above-described arrangement by causing the propeller to
be raised off the work at the requisite time by'alever * in the manner shewn
at Figures 4 and 5; the propeller in this is constantly pressed downwards by
a spring mix, and the lever 1x is acted on by a cam on the main shaft to cause
it to raise the propeller at the proper time.
The needle of sewing machines we arrange to be fitted in a hole in the
bottom of the needle slide. A slot is cut nearly half way through the needle
slide near the bottom, so that the top of the slot shall be nearly level with the
top of the shaft of the needle. A V slide is fitted in this slot, having on the'
centre of its inner side a projection fitting a corresponding notch on the centre
of the slot, The slot is cut of such adepth that the hole in which the shaft of
the needle is fitted is laid bare to sight. In the shaft of the needle is cut a
slight notch to correspond with the slotwhen the needle isin its right position.
It will be seen that when the V slide is fitted in the slot it holds the needle firm
in its true position, and is in its turn held in its place by a spring catch as
is shewn at Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7; the needle in these Figures being shewn
to be held in the manuer above described.
It will be seen that this arrangement does away with the necessity of any

page_text: screws for fixing the needle, and that the needle cannot be fixed in any but
its right position.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Keats, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN KEATS. (L.s.)