IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR UNITING FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Franz Boecke, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING OR UNITING
FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 17th April 1863, and dated the 28th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Franz Boecke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
November 1862.
I, FRANZ BOECKE, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
OR UNITING FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon what are commonly
known as the Wheeler and Wilson and the "British" sewing machines,, but
they are also applicable to other sewing machines of the same character.
According to this Invention it is proposed to construct the bobbin or under
thread case with a raised conical or rounded boss or projection in the centre,
on that side next which the needle works, a corresponding recess being made
in the back of the hook when adapted to the Wheeler and Wilson machine to
receive the projection on the inner side of the bobbin or thread case. By the
aid of a thread case fitted or formed with this projection a twisted chain stitch
having a second thread passing through the loops may be produced in the
Wheeler and Wilson or in the "British" sewing machine, or in any other

page_text: working on the same principle; or if desired the second or under thread may
be dispensed with, in which case the machine will produce the twisted chain
stitch from a single thread. The object of the projection in the side of the
bobbin or thread case is to hold back one side of the loop of the needle
thread until the point of the needle has passed down in front of it, so that on
the thread slipping over the projection the loop will be round the needle, and
consequently round the thread carried by the needle, thus forming the chain
stitch. The operation is precisely the same when a second thread is used. In
some cases an outer projecting rim is formed on the same side of the thread case,
as the projecting boss, and concentric therewith, whereby the boss may be made
smaller as the thread is partially held back by first catching on the edge of the
projecting rim, and then slipping off on to the central boss or projection.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Franz Boecke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANZ
BOECKE, of Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Franz Boecke, Her special license that I, the said Franz
Boecke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Franz Boecke, my executors, administrators, or 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 OR UNITING FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Franz Boecke,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Franz Boecke, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to certain improvements upon what are commonly
known as the Wheeler and Wilson and the "British" sewing machines, but
they are also applicable to other sewing machines of the same character, or
where the driving shaft is similarly placed.
According to this Invention it is proposed to construct the bobbin or under
thread case or shuttle of the Wheeler and Wilson or the "British sewing
machine" with a raised conical or rounded boss or projection in the centre, on
that side next which the needle works, a corresponding recess being made in
the back of the hook when adapted to the Wheeler and Wilson machine to
receive the projection on the inner side of the bobbin, thread case, or shuttle.
By the aid of a thread case or shuttle fitted or formed, with this projection a
twisted chain stitch having a second thread passing through the loops may be
produced in the Wheeler and Wilson or in the "British" sewing machine, or
in any other working on the same principle; or if desired, the second or under
thread may be dispensed with, in which case the machine will produce the
twisted chain stitch from a single thread. The object of the projection in the
side of the bobbin thread case or shuttle is to hold each one side of the loop
of the needle thread until the point of the needle has passed down in front of
it, so that on the thread slipping over the projection the loop will be round the
needle, and consequently round the thread carried by the needle, thus forming
the chain stitch. The operation is precisely the same when a second thread is
used. In some cases an outer projecting rim is formed on the same side of
the thread case as the projecting boss and concentric therewith, whereby the
boss may be made smaller as the thread is partially held back by first catching
on the edge of the projecting rim, and then slipping off on to the central boss
or projection.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings represents a front elevation
of the Wheeler and Wilson rotating hook, with my improved bobbin thread
ase or shuttle adapted thereto; Figure 2 is a corresponding longitudinal
ertical section of the same; and Figure 3 is a detail section of the bobbin

page_text: thread case or shuttle detached and provided with a slightly modified form of
central projection.
A is the rotating hook, into the central recess of which is placed in the
ordinary manner my improved shuttle B. A projecting boss C is fitted to the
centre of this shuttle at the back thereof, or that side next which the needle D
operates. The sides of this projecting boss C may be either curved, as shewn
in Figure 2, or made straight and slightly inclined or tapering, and combined
or not with an outer projecting rim c, c, as in Figure 3. In all cases, however;
an additional recess E is formed in the centre of the hook to admit the boss or
projection C, and have sufficient clearance for the free passage of the loop of
the needle thread.
Figure 1 shews one side of the loop held back by the pressure of the boss C
until the needle has descended in front of it, immediately after which the
tension or pull on the thread will cause the loop to slip over and pass the
boss C, leaving the thread round the stem of the needle. If no under thread
be used, the stitch produced will be a twisted chain stitch similar to that shown
by the Diagram Figure 4; but if a second or locking thread be employed,
such thread will be carried through each loop of the chain, the resulting stitchi
being a locked chain stitch, as shewn in Figure 5. By having an extra shuttle
of the construction herein-before described, or by making the boss or projection
removable at pleasure, one machine may be made to produce either an ordinary
lock stitch (by using a second thread in the ordinary discoidal shuttle or by
removing the part C), a twisted chain stitch from a single thread, or a twisted'
chain stitch having a second thread through the loops. The same thread case
or shuttle is equally applicable to the British sewing machine without neces-
sitating any alteration in the general construction of the working parts. If
desired, the revolving hook and my improved thread case or shuttle may be
combined with any other type of sewing machine in which the driving shaft
is suitably situated, as, for example, in the Willcox and Gibbs' machine.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried'
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
1st, the application and use to and in the discoidal bobbins, thread cases, or
shuttles of sewing machines of a central boss or rim, substantially in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
2nd, the combination of a rotating hook or looper of any suitable form with
a discoidal shuttle or thread case having. a central raised boss, projection, or

page_text: rim formed on one side thereof, substantially in the manner and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Franz Boecke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
FRANZ BOECKE. (L.S.)