IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES. WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ALSO INVOLVE OR COMPRISE A NEW MODE OF MANIPULATING THE THREADS OF THE NEEDLE AND SHUTTLE IN FORMING THE LOCK STITCH."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Earle Harry Smith. Mechanical Engineer, of
Sherwood, in the County of Hudson, State of New Jersey, in the
United States of America for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES. WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ALSO INVOLVE OR COMPRISE A NEW
MODE OF MANIPULATING THE THREADS OF THE NEEDLE AND SHUTTLE IN
FORMING THE LOCK STITCH."'
SEWING MACHINES. WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ALSO INVOLVE OR COMPRISE A NEW
MODE OF MANIPULATING THE THREADS OF THE NEEDLE AND SHUTTLE IN
FORMING THE LOCK STITCH."
Sealed the 8th September 1865, and dated the 25th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
left by the said Earle Harry Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th March 1865.
I, EARLE HARRY SMITH, Mechanical Engineer, of Sherwood, in the County
of Hudson, State of New Jersey, in the United States of America, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES. WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ALSO INVOLVE OR COMPRISE A NEW MODE OF
MANIPULATING THE THREADS OF THE NEEDLE AND SHUTTLE IN FORMING THE
LOCK STITCH,'" to be as follows: -
For the purpose of reciprocating the needle I make use of a crank or
excentric, and to actuate the shuttle, which is also reciprocating, I employ
a crank and vibrating lever in combination. I have the actuating mechanism
of the needle and shuttle arranged in such a manner that the reciprocations
of the parts of each shall be the reverse of those of the other, thereby
neutralizing the tendency to vibration. I also have the said mechanism so
arranged that at each upward draught upon the needle thread the shuttle.
Price 8d.1

page_text: thread shall be slackened (by the return motion of the shuttle or otherwise)
sufficiently to allow a loop of the needle thread to be drawn above the cloth,
such loop being afterwards drawn down and into the cloth by the movement
of the shuttle. The shuttle race and the bearing for the driving shaft I have
cast in one piece, to which piece is also attached the feeding bar; the latter
is carried up and forward by a cam, and down and back by a spring. The
cam that works the feed bar, and the excentric that moves the needle, are
cast in one piece with, and on opposite sides of the driving pulley. To the
excentric I attach a disc carrying the crank pin that drives the shuttle through
the agency of the vibrating lever; said lever oscillates on a pin fixed in a
langer pendant from the shuttle race.
In connection with crank mechanism actuating the needle and shuttle, I
employ a cylindrical shuttle. My said shuttle is constructed so as to receive the
bobbin at the side. I also combine with it a curved wire to render the
tension more equable. As a means of producing and varying the tension of
the shuttle thread, I have a tension bar pivoted at one end inside the shuttle,
so that it may he swung oni to alter the tension, and at other times remaining
in the shuttle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Earle Harry Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EARLE
HARRY SMITH, Mechanical Engineer, of Sherwood, in the County of Hudson,
State of New Jersey, in the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, er heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Earle Harry Smith, Her special license that I,
the said Earle Harry Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Earle Harry Smith, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ALSO
INVOLVE OR COMPRISE A NEW MODE OF MANIPULATING THE THREADS OF THE NEEDLE

page_text: ND SHUTTLE IN FORMING THE 'LOCK STITCH,"" upon the condition (amongst
others) that I. the said Earle Harry Smith. by an instrument in writing
nder my hand and seal, 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
aid Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Earle Harry Smith, do hereby declare
he nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per:
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the.
etters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Fig. is a side elevation:
"
2 shows the shuttle race detached:
"
3 shows the shuttle race and part of the driving mechanism in section:
"
4 shows the manipulation of threads in forming the stitch:
"
5 shows the shuttle and tension bar:
"
6 shows the drawing of the thread from the bobbin;
7 is a section of the shuttle.
"
:
A is the bed and frame of the machine: B is the shuttle race, and is set
in the bed and secured therein; said race has a hanger B' cast therewith
having a hub B. The hub and the end of the hanger receive respectively
the shaft C and the fulcrum pin D. The latter is firmly fixed by a nut D';
E is the feed bar, and is also secured to the said hanger by a screw G passing
through a slot in said bar; the upper end has points to take hold of the
cloth, and the bar receives an up-and-down and back-and-forth motion from
the eccentric acting on the lower end thereof in combination with a spring V.
On the shaft C is fixed the driving pulley H, having cast upon side thereof a
small eccentric 1, which gives the vertical motion to the feed bar, and the
perimeter of the eccentric has a cam shape to give the lateral motion; the
bar therefore moves up and down and oscillates on the screw G. On the other
side of the pulley, also cast in one piece therewith, is a larger eccentric K,
for operating the needle arm 1, which it does through the agency of the
strap J. Upon the face of the eccentric K is a plate or disk M carrying a
crank pin N. which runs in a groove or slot in the lever O; this lever is set
and oscillates on the fulcrum pin D, and the upper end of said lever is con-
nected with the shuttle driver Q by means of a link, or any suitable device. The
plate M is attached to the eccentric K by screws, which pass through slots in
said plate, so as to permit the adjustment of the crank pin N. relatively with

page_text: the eccentric K, for the purpose of "timing" the needle and shuttle. S is the
shuttle carrier or cradle, and is attached to the driver Q in the usual manner.
By the arrangement of parts shown in Fig. 3 all the primary actuating
devices for all the motions of the machine are brought into a compact group,
and they with the other operating or moving devices (except the needle arm)
are attached to one and the same piece of casting. thereby ensuring the per-
manence of the relative position of all those parts of the working machinery
that require to be fixed and unalterable, and it also simplifies the process of
manufacture and reduces the cost. The eccentric K and crank pin N are so
placed relatively that the motion of the lever O is always the reverse of that
of the eccentric strap J: and this feature has the effect of neutralizing those
vibrations of the machine necessarily attendant on a high speed of recipro-
cating motions, the result is the machine does not so readily become deranged,
and the wear is materially diminished.
The shuttle is shown in Figs. 2, 5, 6, and 7. I make the shuttle cylindrical
in form, except the upper inside corner. which is made square to afford a
sufficient space for the insertion and removal of the bobbin at the side. To
cause the thread to draw off at right angles (or nearly so) with the bobbin, I
provide a curved thread guide 1, and to give room therefor and for the thread
T form a slit 2 in the lower side of the shuttle. The result is that when the
thread is drawing from the ends of the bobbin, as seen in Fig. 6. the angle of
the thread guide, with the axis of the bobbin at the ends, causes the thread to
draw almost as straightly as from the center. As a means of producing and
varying the tension. I apply to the shuttle a tension bar, which is pivotted at
one end, so that it may be swung away from the shuttle to adjust the tension,
at other times remaining in the shuttle; said tension bar is shown with two
holes, one about the mid-length of the bobbin, and one about the mid-length
of the shuttle: between these holes the thread is wound around the bar more
or less according to the degree of tension required.
As will be observed the needle has the ordinary uniform motion derived
from an eccentric or crank, and the motion of the shuttle as produced by the
crank pin and slotted lever uniformly corresponds at opposite ends of the
stroke, but when the crank pin is passing through the lower half of its circuit
the movement of the lever is faster than at other times, and the position of
the shuttle is such with respect to the motions of the crank pin and lever that
the forward movement of the shuttle takes place when the crank pin is
passing nearest the fulcrum D.
In Fig. the position of the parts show the shuttle (dotted) as having
just completed its forward or advance movement. This combination of an

page_text: eccentric to move the needle, and a crank and lever to move the shuttle white
producing motions approximately uniform differs from other crank motion
machines in that the inherent alternating action of the needle and shuttle is
provided for, while the dwell or retardation of the motion of the needle is
avoided; yet the sewing is accomplished simply by the needle and shuttle, and
without any special or unusual assistant devices.
In the above description, such matters as the tension of the needle thread,
the take-up, which controls the slack between the needle's eye and the cloth
&c., are omitted, inasmuch as those common to other shuttle machines may
be employed.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
First, the combination of an eccentric or crank to actuate the needle with
a crank and lever to actuate the shuttle employed, substantially as specified.
Second, the mode of manipulating the threads of the needle and shuttle,
essentially as herein set forth, when the latter are actuated by cranks or
eccentrics, substantially as described.
Third, the arrangement and combination of paris specified, whereby such
parts and the motions thereof act as a counterbalance to each other, for the
purpose and substantially as specified.
Fourth, in combination with a needle and shuttle operated by cranks or
eccentrics, I claim constructing the shuttle of a cylindrical form.
Fifth, in combination with a cylindrical shuttle, 1 claim inserting the
bobbin from the side.
Sixth, I claim the tension bar and curved thread guide in the shuttle, as and
for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, the said Earle Ilarry Smith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, A.D. One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
Witnesses,
JONATHAN MARSHALL,
New York City, N. Y., U. S. A.
WHEELER FANNING CLARKE,
New York City.
EARLE HARRY SMITH. (L.S.)