IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR STITCHING OR SEWING BUTTON- HOLES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR STITCHING OR SEWING BUTTON-
HOLES." A communication from abroad by Thomas Samuel Ling Howard, of
the United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd December 1879.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR
STITCHING OR SEWING BUTTON-HOLES." A communication from abroad by
Thomas Samuel Ling Howard, of the United States of America.
This Invention relates to improvements in button-hole attachments for sewing
machines, and will be fully understood by reference to the accompanying Drawings
in which an attachment constructed according to the said Invention is shown
applied to a shuttle sewing machine so called, that is to say, a machine in which
two threads are used, one operated from one side of the work by a needle which is
caused to pierce the work at each stitch by suitable mechanism, and the other
operated on the other side of the work by a shuttle which carries its thread
through the loop brought through by the needle, thus making a stitch well known
to all sewing machine operators.
In the accompanying Drawings,
Figure 1 is a side elevation showing my improved attachment applied to a
shuttle sewing machine, the work-plate and parts below it being in section.
Figures 2 and 3 are detached views of the presser-foot and thread-guide.
Figures 4 and 4ª are views of the shuttle detached.
Figure 5 is an elevation partly in section of the opposite side of the machine to
that shewn in Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a section on a plane passing through the axis of the looper-bar.
Figure 7 is a like section but on a plane at right angles to that passing through
that axis in Figure 6.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of the operating cam.
Figure 10 is a top view of the frame of the attachment.

page_text: Figure 11 is a similar view shewing other parts in connection with the same.
Fig
igure 12 shows some of the parts shown in Figures 10 and 11.
Figures 13 and 13ª are views of the upper part of the frame of the attachment
detached.
Figure 14 represents the lower part of the frame of the attachment.
Figures 15, 16, and 17 are perspective views showing the stitch, and drawn to an
enlarged scale.
Figure 18 is a plan of a portion of the work-table showing the throatplate.
Figure 19 shews views of the looper detached.
Figure 20 is a front view of the attachment.
.
Figures 21, 22, and 23 are detached views drawn to an enlarged scale of the end
of a finger hereinafter described.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout tho Drawings.
A is the overhanging arm; B is the lever by which the needle-bar C is actuated;
D is the work-table in which is set the throat-plate E shewn in Figure 18; F is
the presser-foot of peculiar construction shown also in Figures 2, 3, and 5. It is
attached to the presser-foot-bar and operated in the ordinary manner; G is the
device for feeding the material to be sewn, and H is the shuttle set in the carrier
H, by which it is operated in the ordinary manner.
The main parts of this improved button bole attachment are the under thread'
catcher or looper a and a finger b with mechanism for actuating them at proper
times in such a manner that the under thread catcher shall pull the under thread
in the form of a loop above the surface of the fabric, and bring it into such
relation to the finger that the finger will carry one part of the loop over the
edge of the fabric so that the needle may pass through the loop; J is a bed-piece
provided with arms j, j, adapted to straddle the face-plate K of the sewing machine
with which the attachment is to be used. It is attached to the face plate K by
means of one of the bolts, which connect the face plate to the overhanging arm,
and its position is adjusted by means of set-screws in the arms j, j, as shown in the
Drawings. By this method of attachment the piece J is very firmly attached and
can be adjusted with great nicety.
To this bed-piece J the bed-piece L which supports the operating parts of the
mechanism for over-seaming is attached by means of a screw j', which passos
through a slot in the piece J in order that the two bed-pieces may be adjustable
one upon the other.
To prevent the two bed-pieces from turning upon the
screw as a pivot, the surfaces of the pieces J and L which are clamped together
by the screw are provided with parallel grooves and ridges, the ridges of one
piece fitting into the grooves of the other, as will be understood by reference to
the Drawings.
The looper and finger receive their motions from the cam M, the latter
being provided with grooves on its inner side cach of which receives a pin ; one
of these pins 67 projects from the lever b' of the finger b, and the other pin as
from the stock a¹ of the looper a. These grooves are so formed in relation to
the axis of the cam M as to give the necessary motions to the looper and finger
when the cam oscillates on its axis. This cam is shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9;
Figure 8 being a section on the line x, x, of Figure 7; and Figure 9, a section on
the line y, y, of Figure 7. The groove m (shown in Figures 7 and 9) to control
the movement of the looper-carrier is much deeper than the groove m³ to control
the movement of the finger lever. The finger lever groove m³ is provided with a
latch m² controlled by a spring m³ in a manner well understood (see Figures 7
and 8), so that it will be kept ordinarily in the position shown in Figure 7ª, and
can only be opened in one direction.
The cam M is actuated by the needle-lever B by means of the connecting rod M³,
and this connecting rod is secured to the needle-lever by the clamp M³, which is
accurately adjusted to the needle-lever when the attachment is first applied. The
connecting rod is best made adjustable as shown. When the attachment is to be
removed one end of the rod M is disconnected from the clamp Mª³.

page_text: The looper-bar a and its bearings are shown in detail in Figures 6 and 7 It is
provided with a broad slide a² which moves in ways in the pieco L.
As the sewing needle descends the looper-bar al is moved downward by the
cain M, carrying the looper a through the throat in the throat-plato E on the
bed D, and with its elongated eye directly under the point of the sewing-needle,
which continues its descent (the looper remaining stationary) and passes through
the eye of the looper. The under thread is then carried by the shuttle through the
loop of the needle-thread, and the needle rises thus pulling the under thread into
the eye of the looper, that it is to say, it will pull it in at the first stitch, for at overy
continuous stitch afterwards the under thread passes from the fabric through the
eyo of the looper to the shuttle, as is seen in the enlarged diagrams 15, 10, and 17,
in which the loop of under thread is clearly shown as it is while the operation is in
progress. As the needle rises after its point leaves the oye of the looper a, the
latter is rotracted carrying with it a loop of the under thread. The looper a passes
obliquely through the throat of the machine (the throat-plate E having a throat in
it to receive both the sewing needle, and the looper a being substituted for the
ordinary throat plate) just over and so as to clear the shuttle and to or under the
rim of the feed-device.
The looper a is guided by a guard d which is secured to its bar a, which bar
can be raised and lowered in a slot d³ in the bed-plate L by means of a pin d³, as
will be understood from the Drawings. In practice it is kept from rising by a
spring which acts on the bar, and against the force of which the bar must be raisod.
The end of this guard enters a depression in the throat-plate which holds it
securely in place. This guard d also prevents the loopers striking against the edge
of the cloth in working button-holes.
The lever 6' of the finger b is pivotted to the bed-piece L at b³, and the finger b
is pivotted to this lever at 6, as shown in the Drawings. The finger b can be
turned up out of the way on its pivot b³, and this pivot also enables it to movo
side wise as it moves backward and forward. Its motions side wise are caused by
the spring b and the cam 65. As the finger b moves forward to carry one thread
of the loop held by the looper to the needle, it would strike the needle unless it
were moved side wise, and would not carry its thread around the needle properly
unless it moved back again sidewise after its point has passed the needle,
consequently the cam 65 is so formed as to cause the finger to move side wise
against its spring 64, as it moves forward far enough for its point to clear the
sewing needle, and to be moved sidewise by its spring b', after its point has passed
the sewing-needle, thus carrying its point well around and back of the sewing-
needle, and making it certain that the sewing-needle shall pass through the loop of
the under thread. The point or end of the finger b is so shaped that as it moves
back on its pivot b' it will cause the thread which lies in front of the looper to
enter the fork of the finger with certainty.
The cam should be adjustable, and to this end it is so mounted in a socket in
the bed piece that it can be moved endwise, it being held in place by a set-screw
as shown in the Drawings.
As soon as the looper a reaches its highest point the cam M which actuates the
lever b throws the said lever forward slightly, thus throwing the finger b slightly
backward, and causing it to take the forward thread of the loop in the looper in its
fork. The lever b' is then thrown backward by its cam M which causes the finger
b to move forward carrying its thread with it. As it moves forward the cam b³
and spring because it to move on its pivot b³ and its end thus clears the sewing
needle and gets around and behind it. While the finger b is in this position the
sewing needle descends until its point enters the fabric through the loop of the
under thread held open by the finger b and the looper a; as soon as the point of
the sewing needle is in the fabric, the cam M actuates the lever b¹ so as to throw
the finger b back to its original position where it remains until the looper a rises
again with another loop of the needle-thread when it is again thrown slightly
backward and then forward as before.

page_text: The slack of the loop of under thread is taken up by a spring attached to one
of the inner walls of the shuttle. This spring has an eye at its free end through
which the under thread is led and it is put under tension as the looper and finger
enlarge the loop of under thread; and its reaction takes up all the slack of that
loop. The operation of this spring will be most clearly seen at the first backward
movement of the finger, in order that the fork may take the loop, when one side
of the end of the finger presses one thread of the loop sidewise, and the spring
straightens it, thus bringing it directly in the fork of the finger, and at the main
backward movement of the finger as it drops its thread the spring pulls the loop
closely around the needle. This spring in the shuttle is marked S. In Figure 4 it
is shown contracted, and in Figure 4 distended.
The presser-foot F consists of a roller-presser and a foot arranged at one side
thereof just at the rear of the throat or needle-hole to hold down the edge being
stitched, while the roller assists in enabling the material to be easily moved without
displacing the thicknesses where there is more than one; and with this roller and
foot a "bar" thread guide is used to deliver a bar thread in proper position to be
sewed to the material.
To the presser-foot bar is attached an arm 1 on which I have placed suitable
eyes 2, 3, 4 and a tubular thread guide 5 for guiding and presenting the bar thread
properly; there is also attached to this arm the pressure-roll G and presser-foot 7;
the journal of the presser-roll G is a screw or stud made fast to the arm 1 and the
butt of the presser-foot 7 passes through a hole in the arm 1 and is held by a set
screw as shown in the Drawings, so that the height of the working surface of the
foot 7 may be adjusted to suit different thicknesses of goods or different thicknesses
of purl (that is to say, when finer or coarser threads are used, or when the bar
thread is on the top or on the edge of the fabric). In order to adjust with nicety
the position of the bar thread (for in certain classes of button-holes it should be on
the surface or top of the goods and in other button-holes, chiefly leather work, on
the edge) the thread guide 5 is also made adjustable by passing its tang through a
hole in the end of arm 1, and holding it by a set screw.
The presser-roll 6 acts as a presser-foot, but if used alone the edge of the goods
would be doubled over the edge of the roll, making bad work; this doubling of the
goods is prevented by the pressor-foot 7, which should always touch lightly on the
goods.
The construction of the looper a as will be understood by reference to Figure 19
(in which three views of it are shown) is such that the loop may be held open wide
enough to ensure the catching of the shuttle thread by the finger b at the proper
time and the lower end of the eye is grooved as shown in order to ensure the
passage of the needle through the eye. To ensure that steadiness and extreme
accuracy of movement which the parts should have the bearings and m³ for the
bolt Mare made very wide as will be seen and the slides of the looper bar and the
ways in which it slides are also made very wide. This is an important feature of
the said Invention as without these wide bearings the working parts will in a few
days get so out of adjustment as to make the machine worthless.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that I claim,-
First. The improved button-hole attachment consisting of the bed-pieces J, L,
the looper and its bar, the finger, the lever b', the guard and the cam M, the piece
L being provided with ways in which moves the slide of the looper-bar and the
said cam being provided with wide bearings and with grooves for giving to the
looper and finger their proper motions as shown in the Drawings for the purposes
specified.
Second. The bed-piece J shaped as shown in the Drawings and adapted to be
combined with the face-plate of a sewing-machine by means of the connecting bolt
and the clamping arms and their set-screws, as above set forth and for the purposes
specified.

page_text: Third. The looper having its lower edge bevelled and grooved as described, and
for the purposes set forth.
Fourth. In combination the looper, the looper-bar, the cam M, the finger, the
finger-lever b', the cam 65, the guard, the bar and the throat-plate with a throat
adapted to receive both the looper and needle, and having a depression for the end
of the guard, all arranged together and adapted for use with a neodle and shuttle
substantially as herein described.
Fifth. The improved presser-device comprising the combined roller presser-foot
and stationary presser-foot as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.