IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES.
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Winter, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Sewing Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES.".
Scaled the 19th January 1869, and dated the 20th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Winter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the-
20th July 1868..
I, WILLIAM WINTER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Sewing
Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means of working the needles and shuttles:
of sewing machines, and the improvements consist in the construction,
application, and use of self-compensating levers, or levers which com--
pensate for the wear of the joints or connecting parts.
Heretofore in the working of these machines by the constant recipro-
cation of the needle bars and shuttle. drivers the joints wear away.
quickly, requiring frequent repairs.. Now to remedy this evil I form
the lever arm which connects therewith in two parts or in two prongs, .
the one having a tendency to spring off from the other.
or prongs are,, when the said levers are applied, pressed
These parts.
together, and

page_text: inserted into a slot hole formed in the needle bar, and same with respect
to the shuttle driver, so that as the holes or the levers wear the expansive
tendency of those levers will always compensate therefor, and thus not
only avoid frequent repairs but prevent the clacking sound produced
by the worn or loose fitting joints, and will also give elasticity in the
action or working of those parts of sewing machines, and thereby
diminish the liability to break off the thread.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Winter in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WINTER, of Leeds, in the County of York, Sewing Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Winter, Her special licence that I,
the said William Winter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Winter, my executors, 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 Ircland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Winter, 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that, I, the said William Winter, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: The towing statement and accompanying sheet of Drawings (that is to
say)-
This Invention relates to means of working the needles and shuttles
of sewing machines, and the improvements consist in the construction,
application, and use of self-compensating levers, or levers which com-
pensate for the wear of the joints or connecting parts.
Heretofore in the working of these machines by the constant recipro-
cation of the needle bars and shuttle drivers the joints wear away quickly,
requiring frequent repairs. Now to remedy this evil I form the lever
arm, which connects therewith in two parts or in two prongs, the one
having a tendancy to spring off from the other. These parts or prongs
are (when the said levers are applied) pressed together and inserted into
a slot hole formed in the needle bar, and the same with respect to the
shuttle driver, so that as the slot holes or the levers wear the expansive
tendancy of these levers will always compensate therefor, and thus not
only avoid frequent repairs but prevent the clacking sound produced by
woven or loose fitting joints, and will also give elasticity in the action
or working of those parts of sewing machines, and thereby diminish the
liability to breakage of the thread.
In order that this Invention may be clearly understood I herein give
reference to an accompanying Sheet of Drawings of a sewing machine
constructed in accordance therewith.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, and Fig. 2 is a plan of the
same.
The general arrangement and action of this machine is similar to
other machines in ordinary use, which being well known it is not deemed
necessary to refer to all the parts thereof.
An ordinary plate cam A, with a boss cam B, are both fixed upon
the same shaft C, and may be either cast together or attached one to
the other, or may be formed separate, but fixed on the same shaft, as
shewn more clearly at Fig. 2 of the Drawings. The cam A is placed
or arranged so as to actuate a compensating lever D which is hinged
to the arm of the machine in the usual manner, and by which recipro-
catory motion is given to the needle bar or needle carrier E. The cam B
is placed or arranged so as to actuate the compensating lever G which
is hinged under the bed of the machine, by the action of which the

page_text: shuttle H is propelled or driven. These levers act direct on the needlo
bar E and shuttle carrier or propellor I by passing through a slot hole
formed therein, thus requiring no joints,, cotters, or pins in connecting
the parts together, whereby sewing machines are very much simplyfied
in construction and rendered more efficient and durable, besides the
original cost thereof being greatly diminished..
Fig. 3 is a plan. of one of these compensating levers. constructed
according to the said Invention.. It is made in two parts and attached
together, or it may be made in one piece with a slit in it and of spring
temper, or one part having a. tendancy to spring away from the other,
yet capable of the ends of the two. parts being pressed. together when
inserted into the slot hole of the needle bar or the shuttle driver, so that
as the slot holes or the sides of the levers wear. this expansive tendancy
of the levers. will compensate for such. wear..
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and shewn by
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings how the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical operation, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details of construction or
arrangements of the parts, as various modifications may be made therein;
but what I claim as my Invention is, the construction and application
of the compensating levers D. and G. for working the needle bars. and
shuttle drivers of sewing machines, substantially as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Winter, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Eighteenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nina
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named William
Winter, in the presence of
J. W. TASKER,
Clerk to W. Tasker,
Patent Offices,
Halifax & Bradford.
W WINTER.. (D.S.)