IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1873.-A communication from abroad by William
Penn Brock, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of
America.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," a
communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in peculiar mechanism for operating and
controlling a bar carrying two or more needles, and rotating or not, as
required, for the purpose of forming ornamental stitches, or for sewing
two or more lines of stitches at one operation, with the upper threads
interlocked by a single thread from below.
Also in mechanism for automatically controlling the feed in forming
angular stitching.

page_text: Also in mechanism for controming the reed by hand.
for adjusting the angle of the stitches.
Anu in mechanis
By means of a straight feather on the needle bar, a cylinder operated
by a pin working in a cam groove in the said cylinder, and a loose sleeve
rotating thereon, I produce one complete rotary motion of the bar in one
direction during one upward and downward movement of the needle
arm, and a similar motion in reverse order during the next upward and
downward movements of the needle arm, making thereby certain
peculiar ornamental stitches. When the rotary motion of the bar is not
desired, the pin is withdrawn from the cam groove the feather is
brought in line with its guiding groove, and a set screw (fitted in the
collar at the end of the vibrating needle arm) is made fast against the
needle bar, whereby the latter will reciprocate vertically without rotation
as in ordinary sewing machines. In this condition I am enabled to sew
two lines of stitches, and the upper threads will be interlocked by a
single thread from below.
The take-up mechanism consists of an upper angular arm hinged to a
stationary bracket or arm; to the shorter limb of the latter is pivoted by
a pin and slot a lower arm, which also is pivoted to the aforesaid
stationary bracket, and has a cam slot extending in the direction of its
length. The long limb of the upper arm has one or more thread guides
at its outer end. A pin on the needle 'arm working in a slot in the
aforesaid lower arm communicates motion to the upper arm, so that the
slack of the thread may be readily taken up in a reliable, quiet, and easy
movement.
The mechanism for controlling the feed in forming angular stitching
is as follows:-To the end of the driving shaft is attached a shell secured
in place by a set screw passing through its front end, and screwing into
the centre of the driving shaft; this shell also has a longitudinal sliding
movement on the shaft but turns with it. The said shell has on its surface
teeth of various lengths gearing into a wheel with a downwardly
projecting toothed rim. Above the wheel is a cam and an arm both
having a common axis with the wheel. To the inner end of this arm is
attached a sliding piece, which bears against the cam by a suitably
arranged spring. The sliding piece has a pin at the end opposite to the
cam, giving motion to an oscillating feed-bar guide. When the arm
moves on its axis in one direction, it moves the pin of the sliding picce
further from the axis of the oscillating feed-bar guide, decreasing the

page_text: angle of the said guide, and by turning the arm in the other direction
the angle is increased. The feed-bar has the well known forward,
backward, and vertical motions, but by means of the oscillating guide
just mentioned, it receives lateral motion.
A variety of changes in the appearance of the sewing may be made by
merely throwing a greater or less number of teeth on the shell into gear
with the downward toothed rim; each change made requires a different
number of revolutions of the main shaft to give a half revolution of the
wheel; each change consequently gives a different number of stitches to
the angles of sewing.
An arm shaped like a bell crank is pivoted at its centre to the under
side of the bed plate. One end of the arm is jointed to the sliding piece
previously mentioned, a thumbscrew passes into the bed plate through
the other end of the arm to secure the arm in position. The shell is
moved back or out until all of its teeth clear the teeth of the downward
projecting wheel, which then ceases to operate, when by means of this
bell-crank arm any inclination may be given to the feed-bar guide at
pleasure, or if straight sewing is required the guide may be placed in the
proper position, and held securely by means of the said thumbscrew.
•
By removing either of the needles the machine can be used as a
regular lock-stitch machine for manufacturing or family use, and in
either case the automatic feed controller, from the regularity and
precision of its operation, will be found extremely useful in the saving of
time and labour, and in the beauty and correctness of the work. In the
formation of a single row of plain stitches, the operation of the needle
and shuttle is similar to that of the machines technically known as the
transverse shuttle sewing machines, the stitch formed being the well
known "lock-stitch," and the shuttle being driven by an oscillating arm
operated by a cam on the driving shaft.
In all of the stitching where both needles are used, the shuttle passes
through the loops from both needles at the same time or at each forward
movement of the shuttle, and the stitches so formed are elastic lock-
stitches, combining the strength and durability of the regular lock-stitch
with the clasticity of the common chain stitch.