AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Campbell McLagan, of New Bridge Street,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
SEWING MACHINES."-A communication from abroad by John Hadley
Osborn, of the Town of Guelph, in the County of Wellington, in
the Province of Ontario, Canada. Machinist.
Sealed the 29th July 1870, and dated the 15th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Campbell
M'Lagan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th March 1870.
I, JOHN CAMPBELL MCLAGAN, of New Bridge Street, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN. IM-
PROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES," (a communication from abroad by John
Hadley Osborn, of the Town of Guelph, in the County of Wellington,
in the Province of Ontario, Canada, Machinest, to be as follows (that is

page_text: machine for looping the stitch, and consists of a body piece (secured to
the shaft by means of a set screw) provided with a point working from
the said body piece through the medium of a pin or rivet and spring
within a recess or groove, whereby the point of the said hook is rendered
flexible so as to turn back by the strain of the thread and allow the
loop to slip off at each stitch.
•
The flexibility of the hook by means of a spring within a groove or
recess is claimed in connection with the rivet upon which the point
turns.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Campbell M Lagan in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CAMPBELL M°LAGAN, of New Bridge Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Campbell M°Lagan, Her special
licence that I, the said John Campbell M Lagan, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Campbell
McLagan, 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 Ireland, the Ohannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES," a communication to me from
abroad by John Hadley Osborn, of the Town of Guelph, in the County
of Wellington, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, Machinist, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Campbell McLagan,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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

page_text: 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 Campbell M°Lagan, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and the Drawings therein referred to
(that is to say):-
My Invention has reference to the construction and operation of a
flexible hook to be employed for looping the stitch in single-thread
sewing machines, to be called or known as Osborn's flexible looping hook.
s
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect I now proceed to describe the same by the
aid of the accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters
and figures thereon marked (that is to say):
Fig. 1 represents a side view of the flexible or elastic looping hook,
shewn independently of the other parts of the machine, known and in
use as the Guelph Reversible Sewing Machine; Fig. 2, a corresponding.
view thereof shewing the action of the point; Fig. 3, a sectional side
view of the same representing the position of the spring within the
recess or groove; Fig. 4, a detached view of the front; and Fig. 5,
front view of the body piece with looping point and spring removed;
and Fig. 6, a detached view of the springs.
.
In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar corre-
sponding parts.
a, a, shaft or axis upon which the looping hook works in connection
with the other parts of the machine; B, B, body of the hook secured
to the shaft aforesaid by means of the set screw C, C, as represented;
D, D, flexible point for looping the stitch, attached to the body piece
by means of the pin or rivet e, e, as shewn; F, F, reaching spring
for giving the requisite flexibility of action to the looping point;
G, G, recess, groove, or bed in which the said spring works.
".
By the above arrangement the flexible point D is caused to loop the
thread for the needle, so as to admit of the same turning freely back by
the strain of the thread aforesaid, and thereby allow the loop to slip off
as cach stitch is formed.
In conclusion to the foregoing description it may be here necessary to
note that by the employment of the flexible hook in accordance with

page_text: my said improvements an elastic seam is obtained of great strength and
durability, being less subject to rip out than the ordinary twist stitch, at
the same time will be found to wear better than that of the double-
thread machines, whilst on the other hand, the elasticity of the hook in
its unrestrained action upon the thread enables the loop to be effectually
caught without entangling or breaking when passing over seams or
other thick parts of the fabric to be sewn, or stitched, hemmed, braided,
or otherwise.
And I would further note that the general arrangement and mode of
forming and employing the said looping hook as above described may
receive such other modifications as in practice may be found necessary,
by substituting in lieu of the spring aforesaid any other system known
and in use for obtaining or giving the requisite flexibility thereto.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed
and carried into effect, I would have it clearly understood that I do not
intend to confine myself to the precise details herein-before set forth
and described, as the same may be otherwise varied without departing
from the general principle of this my said Invention, nor do I claim as
new and of my said Invention the exclusive use of the several parts
or combinations thereof herein-before described, except when the same
are employed in and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I
hereby declare to consist in the exclusive right of constructing and
employing a flexible hook in combination with single-thread sewing
machines for looping the thread for the needle in the manner and for the
purposes herein-before fully set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Campbell M°Lagan, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
J. H. OSBORN,
Guelphi,
Canada.
J. C. MºLAGAN. (L.S.)