IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR SEWING AND EMBROIDERING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Whitaker, of Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
MACHINERY FOR SEWING AND EMBROIDERING."
31141
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Whitaker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
May 1857.
I, FREDERIC WHITAKER, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF MACHINERY FOR SEWING AND EMBROIDERING," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention consists in the application to sewing
machines of the mechanical arrangement or instrument, or a modification
thereof, used in the manufacture of looped fabrics, and known as the "needle
or hook and presser," in combination with an eye-pointed needle, for producing
various descriptions of sewing or of tambouring.
This arrangement of "needle or hook and presser" is used in all cases
below the work or fabric to be stitched or tamboured, and is particularly
applicable to the formation of the tambour stitch. For this purpose the eye-
pointed needle carries a loop of thread through the fabric or work, this loop is
caught by the aforesaid instrument (which moves parallel with the line of

page_text: sewing), and retained until the next descent of the eye-pointed needle, which,
instead of passing the second loop through the first in the act of descending,
as heretofore, is caused to complete its descent before the second loop is passed
or drawn through the previous one; the result is the production of the ordinary
tambour stitch.
The second part of this Invention consists in so arranging the said instru-
ment in combination with two eye-pointed needles, both working from the
upper side of the fabric or work, and each carrying a thread for the purpose
of producing a double row of stitching, the under side of which will have the
appearance of beautifull embroidery.
In this arrangement the two eye-pointed needles descend together, forming
at once two loops below the fabric; the instrument passes through both loops
at right angles to the line of sewing, and by its reaction draws one loop
through the other, and retains it until the next descent of the eye-pointed
needles, when it again passes through the two loops and draws one through
the other and also through the loop previously retained; the same operation
being repeated at every descent of the needles.
The first part of this Invention is also applicable to the formation of a seam
with two threads, one above and the other below the fabric or work to be
stitched.
The instrument in this case also moves in a line at right angles to the line
of sewing; the eye-pointed needle passes through the material as before,
carrying a loop of thread, which is caught by the instrument, together with a
loop of the lower thread, both of which are retained by it until the next
descent of the eye-pointed needle; the instrument now advances, still retaining
the two previous loops, and catching the second loop of the eye-pointed needle
and another loop of the under thread; it now recedes and draws both loops
through the two previously formed, thereby making a very fast stitch.
And, thirdly, in so timing the motion of the instrument, that it shall not
require any apparatus above the fabric for taking up the slack formed by the
descent of the needle. The instrument is caused to recede not only so far as
to draw the last loop tight, but also to draw the slack formed by the descent
of the needle below the fabric, and more, by its reverse movement to again
give out the slack thread the moment the eye-pointed needle has reached the
surface of the fabric; by this means no portion of the thread passes through
the eye of the needle more than once.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederic Whitaker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1857.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
WHITAKER, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 15th day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederic Whitaker, Her special license that I, the said Frederic Whitaker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic
Whitaker, my exécutors, 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 the Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF MACHINERY FOR SEWING AND EMROIDERING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frederic Whitaker, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and.
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Frederic Whitaker, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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:-
As previously described in my Provisional Specification, this Invention con-
sists chiefly in the application to sewing machines of the mechanical arrange-
ment, or a modification thereof, used in the manufacture of looped fabrics, and
known as the "needle (or hook) and presser," in combination with an eye-
pointed needle, for the production of various descriptions of sewing or of
tambour work.
In order the better to explain this combination, reference is made to the
annexed Drawings and descriptions thereof..
As sewing machines are now so well known, it will not be necessary to
describe that which has been so often repeated, and as any of the existing

page_text: forms of machine may be used in connection with this arrangement, I will
confine myself to those parts the application of which is new.
As was before stated; the novelty. consists in the combination of an eye-
pointed needle with a hook and presser. Fig. 1 shows the form of the hook ;
the point of the spring a on the under side of the hook is made to enter (when
pressed) a cavity in the shank of the hook. The hook is caused to reciprocate
in a line in the direction of its length, and in doing so the bent part of the
spring of the hook comes in contact with a small fixed stud or roller, which
thus constitutes the presser.
Fig. 2 shows the hook in its position in the machine. The shank of the
hook is inserted in the end of the lever (B), the centre of which is at (C); this
lever has a rocking motion given to it by a cam, so timed that when the eye-
pointed needle has descended with its thread, and in again ascending formed
a loop, the point of the hook will enter that loop, the needle will rise, and the
hook will continue its motion forward until the point of the spring of the hook
has crossed the path of the needle, when it instantly returns, bringing with it
the loop, as shown in Fig. 3. In the meantime the material has been moved
forward the length of a stitch, the needle again descends, and the point of the
hook now advances, in order to supply the slack thread to the now descending
needle; the hook here remains for a short time in the position shown in
Fig. 4, until the needle has formed another loop; the hook enters this second
loop, still retaining the previous one, as shown in Fig. 5; but in its return
movement the point of the spring (a) comes into contact with the stud or
roller (d), and is depressed into the cavity in the shank of the hook (see
Fig. 6), so that loop No. 1 slips over the point of the spring of the hook, and
consequently over the second loop, or loop No. 2, as in Figs. 7 & 8, or loop
No. 2 may be said to be drawn through loop No. 1; thus the ordinary
tambour stitch is formed. From what has now been stated, it will be readily
seen that in order to form a double row of stitching, it will only be necessary
to attach another eye-pointed needle to the needle carrier at the desired
distance apart, so that two needles and two seperate threads descend together
and form two 'loops, through which the point of the hook passes. It was
before mentioned that in this case the hook should be made to reciprocate in
a line at right angles with the line of sewing, and of course parallel with the
line of the two needles. After the hook has passed through the two loops, and
the needles have risen, the loops will appear on the hook, as shown in Fig. 5;
on the backward movement of the hook, the spring (a) of the hook 'will, as
before, come in contact with the stud or roller (d), and cause loop No. 1,
Fig. 6, to be passed over loop No. 2, loop No. 2 still being retained until the
1,

page_text: next descent of the needles, when the same operation will be repeated. The
hook may be combined with the needle in another manner; it may be formed
with a sharp point, and fixed in the machine in the place of the needle, and
made to descend through the material until the point of the spring has reached
below the surface of the material so that a thread can be laid
across the hook by a suitable thread carrier; when the hook is
withdrawn, it brings up the thread in the form of a loop, the
material is advanced, and the hook again descends through this
loop and through the material, and catching another loop brings
it through the first loop, and so on; the presser in this case is the hole in the
plate of the machine through which the hook passes.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it may be carried into effect, what I desire to claim is, the within
described combination or arrangement of parts, and the application thereof to
machines for sewing or embroidering.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Whitaker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 12th day of November 1857.
FRED WHITAKER. (L.S.)