IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CON- NECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Notman, of Plumtree Street, in the Town and
County of the Town of Nottingham, Joiner and Builder, for the Inven
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CON-
NECTED THEREWITH."-A communication from abroad by James Clough
Cropper, of Broadway, New York.
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CON-
NECTED THEREWITH."-A communication from abroad by James Clough
Cropper, of Broadway, New York.
Sealed the 11th October 1860, and dated the 14th April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Notman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
April 1860.
I, JOHN NOTMAN, of Plumtree Street, in the Town and County of the Town
of Nottingham, Joiner and Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AMD IN THE APPA-
RATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," communicated to me from abroad by James
Clough Cropper, of Broadway, New York, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of the following arrangements of parts:-A cast-
iron bed or standard, having a piece at the right-hand end, which has a thumb
screw passed through it, by which means the machine is clamped to a board
or table. The bed is higher at the right-hand end, and is cast hollow, the
upper portion forming bearings for a short shaft, upon which is a toothed
driving wheel lying in the hollow of the casting, and a small fly-wheel outside

page_text: the driving wheel gears into a small wheel on a shaft somewhat longer than
the casting which forms its bearings. On the shaft next to the small wheel
is an excentric moving in an oblong ring, the ends lying between and pins in
the ends, working in projections on a hollow hob, which is the termination of
a rocking lever, thus producing a reciprocating motion from the revolution of
the excentric, the other end of the lever being pierced for holding a needle
secured by a set screw.
The other end of the shaft has a cranked pin and
curved cam and pin, which lies under a brass platform screwed to the left-
hand end of the casting. In the same end of the casting is secured a bracket
forming bearings, in which a traversing plate is free to slide. The plate
has two pins or centres in it, on which two pointed driving bits turn, the
pointed ends passing upwards through slits in the platform. The traversing
plate is moved to and fro by the crank pin working against a projection
under the slide, the slide being held back by a spring, the length of stitch
being regulated by a set screw. The bracket also has projections, through
which a pin is passed forming an axle, on which a hook piece is free to turn.
There is a flat side to the hook-piece, which slides in a slide piece having two
projections at the back, the slide piece and hook piece being rocked by the
cam, and moved to and fro by a pin on the cam face, moving in a recess in
the hook piece and through a hole in the slide piece, by which means the
hook is enabled to take hold of the loop formed by the partial withdrawal of
the needle, and holds it open until the needle has entered the loop, when the
hook releases the first loop and takes hold of a fresh one. On the side of the
right-hand end of the casting opposite to the rocking lever is a pressing lever,
which presses upon the material to be sewn, the material being traversed by
the driving bits before described. Upon the rocking lever above mentioned
is a thread tightening piece, having two or more holes in it, through which
the thread is passed through or from the bobbin; the tightening piece is turned
partially round by striking against a projection on the pressing lever as the
needle lever descends, and in returning to its position, it ascends by means of
an internal spring in the tightening piece. There are arms screwed to the top
of the casting, which carry a short rod upon which the thread bobbin is
placed, the thread passing one or more times round a roller, upon which a
drag is placed by a spring; a set screw is screwed to the casting.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Notman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NOTMAN, of Plumtree Street, in the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, Joiner and Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Notman, Her special licence that I, the said John Notman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Notman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," a
communication to me from abroad by James Clough Cropper, of Broadway,
New York, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Notman, 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 John Notman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of the following arrangement of parts. In this
improved machine there is a cast-iron bed or standard, having a piece at the
right-hand end, which has a thumb screw passed through it, by which means
the machine is clamped to a board or table; the bed is higher at the right-
hand end and is cast hollow, the upper portion forming bearings for a short shaft,
upon which is a toothed driving wheel lying in the hollow of the casting, and
a small fly wheel outside the driving wheel gears into a small wheel on a shaft

page_text: somewhat longer than the casting which forms its bearings on the shaft next
to the small wheel is an excentric moving in an oblong ring, the ends lying
between, and pins in the ends working in projections on a hollow hob, which is
the termination of a rocking lever, thus producing a reciprocating motion from
the revolution of the excentric, the other end of the lever being pierced for
holding a needle secured by a set screw. The other end of the shaft has a
cranked pin, and a curved cam and pin, which lies under a brass platform
screwed to the left-hand end of the casting. In the same end of the casting
is secured a bracket forming bearings, in which a traversing plate is free
to slide; the plate has two pins or centres in it, on which two pointed driving
bits turn, the pointed ends passing upwards through slits in the platform. The
traversing plate is moved to and fro by the crank pin working against a pro-
jection under the slide, the slide being held back by a spring; the length of
the stitch is regulated by a set screw. The bracket also has projections,
through which a pin is passed forming an axle, on which a hook piece is free
to turn. There is a flat side to the hook piece, which slides in a slide piece
having two projections at the back, the slide piece and hook piece being
rocked by the cam, and moved to and fro by a pin on the cam face moving in
a recess in the hook piece, and through a hole in the slide piece, by which
means the hook is enabled to take hold of the loop formed by the partial with-
drawal of the needle, and holds it open until the needle has entered the loop,
when the hook releases the first loop and takes hold of a fresh one. On the
side of the right-hand end of the casting opposite to the rocking lever is a
pressing lever, which presses upon the material to be sewn; the material
being traversed by the driving bits before described. Upon the rocking lever
before mentioned is a thread tightening piece having two or more holes in it,
through which the thread is passed through or from the bobbin, the tightening
piece is turned partially round by striking against a projection on the pressing
lever as the needle lever descends, and in returning to its position it ascends,
the slackness of the thread being taken up by means of an internal spring in
the tightening piece. There are arms screwed to the top of the casting which
carry a short rod, upon which the thread bobbin is placed, the thread passing
one or more times round a roller upon which a drag is placed by a spring; a
set screw is screwed to the casting.
I now proceed to explain the said Invention more particularly, and the
mode of carrying the same into effect with reference to the accompanying
Drawings. The arrangement consists of the following parts:-
Figure 1 is a side view of the machine; A is a cast-iron bed or standard
having a piece A' at the right-hand end, which has a thumbscrew passed

page_text: through it, by which the machine is clamped to a board or table. The bed
is higher at the right-hand end and is cast hollow, the upper portion forming
bearings for a short shaft B, which is caused to revolve by a fly wheel B¹
secured to one end outside the casting. On the shaft is secured a toothed
wheel Cinside the hollow casting, which wheel gears into a smaller one C³, on
the end of a shaft G, somewhat longer than the casting which forms its bear-
ings;
both these wheels are shown in their relative positions at Figure 2. On
the shaft G, next to the small wheel, is an excentric D, an end view of which
is shewn at Figure 2. This excentric moves in a ring D¹; the ends of this
ring lie between projections on a hollow hob, which forms the termination of
a rocking lever E, in which said projections pins in the ends of the ring work;
the lever E is held by the points of two screws E¹, one in each side of the
casting, the arm of the figure at the other end of the lever terminates in a
needle holder, the needle being held secured by a set screw.
The lever E and
ring D' are shown more fully at Figure 5, which is a side view, and Figure 6
an end view. Thus, by the revolving of the excentric D, an up-and-down
motion is given to the figure end of the lever E. On the upper side of the
lever E is a piece E, held to the lever by a screw, as seen at Figure 6; this
piece is for the purpose of taking up the slack thread when the needle is
withdrawn from the fabric to be stitched; it is shown in Figure 1 in the
position it takes as forced by a spring inside when the needle is withdrawn,
it being turned partly round until it lies nearly in a line with the lever when
the needle is at its lowest point by the right-hand point striking against the
tail of the serpent, which is the form given to the end of the lever F, which
presses down the work to be stitched. The end of the lever F, which lies in
the hollow of the cast bed, works upon a pin F¹ which is passed through it
and through both sides of the casting; the lever terminates below the point F¹
with a small pin standing at right angles to the lever; on the pin is placed
a spring, which, pressing against the inside of the casting and the end of the
lever, firmly presses the opposite end of the lever on the platform, except
when raised by turning the head of the lifting piece F2, the pin end of which
is held in the casting by a screw, that portion of the pin which passes
through the lever F having a projection on one side, which is forced upon the
side of the hole in the lever, thereby causing it to be raised when the projec-
tion is raised to the side opposite to that shewn at Figure 3. At the end of
the cast bed, opposite to the fly wheel, is a brass platform C', which slides in
two grooves in the cast bed, and is held in its place by a pin passed through
a stud cast on the under side of the platform, the stud passing between an
arm A cast on the end of the bed plate. There is a stud A' also cast on the

page_text: .
bed, in the upper part of which, and in two places in the upper part of the
stud A, portions are cut out for the traversing frame H to slide in; there is
a projecting piece H¹ cast on the under side of the frame, against which the
crank G3, which is on the end of the shaft G, strikes to force the fabric
forward for a fresh stitch, it being moved by the four points of the pieces H2,
which are hinged to the traversing piece H by two pins; the piece H is
pulled back again by a spring hooked upon a projecting piece on it and on
the stud A4, through which a set screw is passed, by which the length of the
stitch is regulated. These parts are fully shewn at Figure 7, which is a view
of the under side of the platform, etc. The end of the shaft G is enlarged
next the crank and forms a disc, the surface of which lies in an oblique
direction, and in which a pin is inserted as seen more fully in Figure 8, the
dotted lines representing the crank. The use of the pin, which is placed
excentrically with the centre of the shaft G, is for the purpose of giving a
sliding motion to the looper book, Figure 9, as it alternately strikes the sides
of the hole in the same. Figure 10 is a spring plate placed between the
Jooper hook and the bed, Figure 11, which is turned up a little at the two
sides, as shown, for the spring and looper hook piece to slide on; on the back
of the bed are two projections, shown by the dotted lines. These projections
rest upon the disc above named, the disc as it revolves causing the bed,
spring, and looper hook to have a rocking motion from left to right and from
right to left, as well as the horizontal sliding motion.
To stitch with the machine the bobbin of thread is placed upon a spindle
held by the two figures next the fly wheel, one of which holds a bent wire
guide through which the thread is passed from the bobbin to and twice round
the small drum F3; a drag is also placed upon the thread by a spring pressing
upon the drum, the pressure being regulated by the screw held in the hand of
the other figure; from the drum the thread is passed through the piece E², to
take up the slack of the thread, as before described; from the piece E³ the
thread is passed through the hand of the figure carrying the needle to and
through the eye of the needle. When the thread has pierced the fabric and
has been partly withdrawn, the looper hook will take hold of the loop so
formed and retain it until the return of the needle, when the hook will loose
the loop by moving back; it will again come forward for another loop as
made by the needle again rising, the traverser moving the fabric the length of
a stitch between the rising and falling of the needle, thus producing what is
called a loop or tambour stitch.
Another kind o stitch is produced by the machine by placing a bobbin of
thread between the ends of the spring support A5, under the platform, and

page_text: taking the end of the thread and passing it round the back of the looper and
through the hole in the same, the thread lying in the groove of the looper at
the back; when the hook thus threaded passes into the loop of the needle
thread, the needle as it again descends will pass through the loop of its own
thread and the loop of the hook thread, thus producing a double loop or
looped lock stitch, and thereby rendering the stitching less liable to be
undone.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim as the said improve-
ments in sewing machines and in the apparatus connected therewith, is, the
arrangement and combination of parts as herein-before described and exempli-
fied in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Notman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness.
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Agent,
Nottingham.
JOHN NOTMAN. (L.S.)