AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Starley, of the Coventry Machinists'
Company, Limited, Coventry, in the County of Warwick, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES."
Scaled the 21st October 1870, and dated the 18th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Starley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1870.
..
I, JAMES STARLEY, of the Coventry Machinists' Company, Limited,
Coventry, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of:
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the looping apparatus of
single thread machines. To this end I construct the looper of an
clbow lever which is provided at its extremity with a point or finger
set diagonally, so that it will when the lever is rocked be tangential to
the arc described. This lever at its elbow carries a pin or bowle which

page_text: enters a grooved-cam on the driving shaft, and thus a rocking motion
is imparted to the looper. As the needle after entering the cloth rises
to open its loop, the looper advances and takes up the loop, which it
holds open until the needle (after completing its ascent) has descended
and entered the open loop.; the looper now retires, and the stitch thus
formed being tightened, the looper again advances to repeat its action
on the next loop that is formed, and thus the work is performed with
precision and rapidity.
SPECIFICATION. in pursuance. of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Starley in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 18th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STARLEY, of the Coventry Machinists' Company (Limited), Coventry,
in the County of Warwick, send grecting.
..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, 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, tho said James Starley, Her special licence that I,
the said James Starley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Starley, 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. Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for " AN IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said James Starley,
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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said James. Starlev, do. hereby declare

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the looping apparatus of
single thread or chain stitch machines. To this end I construct the
looper of an elbow lever which is provided at its extremity, with a point.
or finger set diagonally, so that it will when the lever is rocked be
tangential to the are described. This lever at its elbow carries a pin
or bowle which enters a grooved cam on the driving shaft in order that
the looper may receive therefrom a rocking motion.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in side elevation a single
thread sewing machine, fitted with my improved looper, and Fig. 2
is a front clevation of the same. The cloth plate in these views is
shewn in section the better to represent the parts beneath it; Fig. 3 is
a partial plan view of the machine, the work plate being removed, and
Figures 4 and 5 are detached views which serve to explain the action
of the sewing instruments. A, A, is the framing of the machine; B, a
rock lever for working the needle bar C; D is the presser bar for holding
the cloth down on the cloth plate E; F is the cam shaft fitted with
cams G and H, the former of which serves to work the looper I, and
the latter the feed bar K. This looper I it will be seen takes the form
of an elbow lever, and it is fitted with a fulcrum pin I¹ which rocks in
a bracket bearing L made fast to the main framing A. The free end
of the lever carries the point or finger i which is intended to take hold
of the loop of the needle thread and hold it open for the needle after its
ascent to enter the loop in the act of forming the chain stitch. At the
elbow of the looper I is fitted a pin or bowle which enters the groove
of the cam G. This groove is so formed that on the rotation of the cam
it will give to the looper the rocking motion necessary for taking up and
opening out the loop of the needle thread, of holding it open while the
needle repeats it downward motion, and of retiring when the needle
has entered the loop, and of again advancing to catch a fresh loop of the
needle thread. This cam also must be so timed with respect to the
movements of the needle as to ensure its entering the loops of the
needle thread, of holding them open, and releasing them at the proper
moments. To ensure the proper action of the looper when thus operated,
its point or finger is set tangential to the are described by the looper,

page_text: and it is shaped as shown in the Drawing, so as to avoid all unnecessary
friction on the thread.
From the above description it will be understood that as the needle
after entering the cloth rises (as indicated at Fig. 2) to open its loop
the looper advances, as shewn at Fig. 3, and takes up the loop, which it
holds open, as shewn at Fig. 5, until the needle after completing its
ascent again descends and enters the open loop. The looper now retires,
and the stitch thus formed being tightened the looper again advances.
to repeat its action on the next loop that is formed, and thus the sewing
is effected with precision and rapidity.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improve-
ment in Sewing Machines," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, the looper constructed and operating as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Starley, have hereunto set my_
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JAMES STARLEY. (L.S.)