IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
"
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES."
-A communication from abroad by John James Thompson, of
the City and State of New York, United States of America,
Olergyman.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th May 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHMENTS FOR
SEWING MACHINES," a communication, to be as follows:-
One object of this Invention is to provide apparatus for sewing
machines which may be attached in lieu of the ordinary presser foot and

page_text: used either for plain sewing or for ruffing or gathering by a simple
manipulation of the parts, and which may be used to vary the degree or
extent of the ruffing or gathering in any way desired without stopping
the motion of the needle and its adjuncts.
The said Invention consists in a presser foot constructed with a 5
horizontal slot so arranged that in the operation of sewing a number of
thicknesses of cloth a portion of such number may be passed over the
presser foot from the excessive strain or labour that would otherwise
devolve upon the same. The said Invention further comprises a novel
combination of an adjustable presser plate with a peculiarly slotted 1
presser foot, and the combination of an actuating cam or eccentric and
lever with the slotted stem of the presser plate combined, as above set
forth, with the presser foot of special or peculiar construction.
The said Invention has also the further object of providing a sewing
machine attachment of the class mentioned, which being combined with 1
a cording device, may be used for cording either upon a plain or a
ruffled seam.
The said Invention, in addition to the features above
enumerated, comprising the combination of the presser foot with a
"corder," whereby the results last above mentioned are secured.
The presser foot is formed with a shank, whereby it may be attached 2
to the machine in place of the ordinary presser foot, and a screw is
provided for tightening the presser foot in its place. The foot is formed
at its junction with the shank with a slot provided in a horizontal plane.
Below this slot and extending laterally is a vertical slot. In the lateral
surface of the shank nearest to the laterally extending foot is a vertical 2
dovetail groove, in which slides the correspondingly shaped stem of the
presser plate.
In the said stem is a slot, into which is fitted an eccentric attached to
an operating lever, both lever and cccentric having their pivot in
common upon a pin screwed into the contiguous side of the socket, the 3
head holding the eccentric and lever in place in the proper relation to
the stem and shank. The presser plate has a hole or orifice above and
coincident with the outermost end of the vertical slot upon the foot, and
through this orifice and the coincident part of the slot passes the needle
of the machine during the operation of the same.
When preferred the presser plate may be adjusted by means of a
screw, or by any equivalent mechanism producing the roquisite change
3

page_text: of position in the presser plate with reference to the foot. When
desired, moreover, the presser plate may be attached to the foot at the
rear edge thereof instead of at one end, as herein-before described; it
may also, when preferred, be made of spring metal fast at one end or
edge, and brought down to the requisite relation to the presser foot by
an adjusting screw.
When it is desired to use the device for cording either upon a plain or
a ruffled or gathered seam the foot should be formed with a shank, upon
whose outer end is provided a fold or coil of sheet metal, through which
the edge of the fabric to be corded is to be drawn during the passage of
the fabric to the needle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of tho Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings; London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Hor reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, givo
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES," a communication
to me from abroad by John James Thompson, of the City and State of
New York, United States of America, Clergyman, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,

page_text: 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
One object of this Invention is to provide apparatus for sewing
machines which may be attached in lieu of the ordinary presser foot
and used either for plain sewing or for ruffling or gathering by a simple
manipulation of the parts, and which may be used to vary the degree
or extent of the ruffling or gathering in any way desired without ]
stopping the motion of the needle and its adjuncts.
The said Invention consists in a presser foot constructed 'with a
horizontal slot so arranged that in the operation of sewing a number of
thicknesses of cloth a portion of such number may be passed over the
presser foot from the excessive strain or labour that would otherwise?
devolve upon the same. The said Invention further comprises a novel
combination of an adjustable presser plate with a peculiarly slotted
presser foot, and the combination of an actuating cam or eccentric and
lever, with the slotted stem of the presser plate combined, as above set
forth, with the presser foot of special or peculiar construction.
The said Invention has also the further object of providing a sewing
machine attachment of the class mentioned, which, being combined
with a cording device, may be used for cording either upon a plain or a
ruffled seam. The said Invention, in addition to the features above
enumerated, comprising the combination of the presser foot with a
corder, whereby the results last above mentioned are secured.

page_text: Figure 4 is a side view coincident with Figure 2, but with the
actuating eccentric and lever detached.
Figure 5 is a detached view of said eccentric and lever.
Figure 6 is a rear view, and Figure 7 is a vertical section of the said
apparatus.
Figure 8 shows a modification of the device represented in the Figures
above enumerated.
Figure 9 is a side view of this device combined with a corder.
Figure 10 is a side view of the same taken from a point of view opposite
that of Figure 9, and Figure 11 is a plan of the same.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A is the presser foot formed with the shank B, whereby it may be
attached to the machine in place of the ordinary presser foot. e is the
screw for tightening the presser foot A in its place. The foot A has at
its junction with the shank B a slot 6 provided in a horizontal plane.
Below this slot, and extending laterally, say two-thirds the lateral
length of the foot A aforesaid, is a vertical slot c. In that lateral
surface of the shank B nearest to the laterally extending foot A is a
vertical dovetail groove in which slides the correspondingly shaped stem
d of the presser plate C, this latter being parallel with and above the
foot A, and consequently at right angles to the stem d aforesaid.
In the said stem is a slot g, the form of which is shown in Figure 4,
and into which is fitted the eccentric D attached to the operating lever
F, both lever and eccentric having their pivot in common upon the
pin e, screwed into the contiguous side of the socket B, the head a¹
holding the eccentric and lever in place in the proper relation to the
stem d and shank B. Tho presser plate C has a hole or orifice ƒ above
and coincident with the outermost end of the vortical slot c upon the
foot A, and through this orifice f and the coincident part of the slot c
passes the needle of the machine during the use and operation of the
same. The attachment thus constructed being applied to a 'sewing
machine in lieu of the ordinary foot, as herein-before set forth, the one
edge or fabric of the seam is passed underneath the foot A and the other
edge or fabric of said seam is passed above the said foot between the
same and the presser plate C. If it be desired to sew a plain seam
merely the lever F is turned to cause the eccentric D to lift the presser
plate so that it does not bear upon the edge or fabric immediately

page_text: underneath the same, whereupon the feed of the machine carries the
two lapped edges or fabrics one above the other below the foot A,
forward together; they are sewn in the ordinary manner, the seam
finally passing from the device through the horizontal slot when it is
desired to form a ruffle or gather on or in the seam, the motion of the
lever, and consequently of the eccentric, is reversed, and the presser
plate is brought down with greater or less force and pressure, and is
retained thereat by the action of the cam after the lever is released from
the touch of the operator. This pressure of the presser plate upon the
fabric or edge between it and the foot A retards its movement to the
needle working through the orifice f, as herein-before explained, the
fabric or layer between the foot A being meanwhile moved at normal
speed by the feed motion of the machine. As a consequence each
stitch of the lowermost fabric is more or less ruffled, gathered, or
corrugated, and a ruffled or gathered scam of the lower fabric is formed
upon the straight or strained upper one, the extent or degree of the
gathering depending upon the relative pressure upon the upper fabric as
compared with the normal drag or draw upon the lower one, which is of
course directly dependent upon the movement given to the presser plate
as herein-before set forth. Of course the lever may be worked without
stopping the machine to give greater or less pressure to the presser
plate, and consequently any degree of ruffling or gathering may be
given to any portion of the seam as the latter passes along, and one or
more thicknesses of fabric may be used in the edge or layer above or
below the foot A, as may be desired, or in both when preferred. And
whatever proportion of the total number of layers may in any given
case be passed over the presser foot instead of below the same the strain
thrown upon the said foot is diminished in like proportion and this
division of the layers of the seam may be availed of either in plain
sewing or in the formation of a ruffled or gathered seam.
-
When preferred the presser plate may be adjusted by means of a
screw a*, as shewn in Figure 8, or by any equivalent mechanism
producing the requisite change of position in the presser plate with
reference to the foot A. When desired, moreover, the presser plate may
be attached to the foot at the rear edge thereof instead of at one end, as
herein-before described; it may also, when preferred, be made of spring
metal, fast at one end or edge, and brought down to the requisite
relation to the presser foot by an adjusting screw,

page_text: When it is desired to use the device for cording, either upon a plain
or a ruffled or gathered seam, the foot A should be formed with a shank,
upon the outer end of which is provided a fold or coil r of sheet metal,
through which the edge of the fabric to be corded is to be drawn during
the
The
of the fabric to the needle, as herein-before explained.
passage
cord meanwhile passing into the folded edge of the fabric through the
fixed loop r¹. As the essential character of this corder, so far as my
present Invention is concerned, lies in its novel combination with the
presser foot, no specific or detailed description of its precise form and
construction is here required.
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 understood that I claim,—
First. The presser foot A constructed with the horizontal slot b, as
3 above described and for the purposo set forth.
Second. The combination of the adjustable presser plate C with the
foot A constructed with the slot b, as above described and for the
purpose set forth.
Third. The actuating eccentric D and lever F, in combination with
the slot 9 in the stem d of the presser plate C or equivalent devices
provided in connection with the foot A, as above described and for the
purpose set forth.
Fourth. The presser foot constructed with a corder attached to or
formed in one therewith, as above described and for the purpose set
forth.
In witness whereof I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November,
Witness,
HY. J. NOONE.
WN. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)