IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Harris, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, and John Judson, of Aston, near
Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
2
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"
66 Im.
Sealed the 24th March 1874, and dated the 23rd January 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Harris and
John Judson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 23rd January 1874.
We, JOSEPH HARRIS of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, and JOHN JUDSON, of Aston, near Birmingham, aforesaid,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows :--
Our Invention has reference to those parts of sewing machines by
which the shuttle is actuated and by which the feeding of the fabric or
material being sewn is effected, and our said Invention consists of the

page_text: combinations or arrangements of parts herein-after described for effecting
those objects.
The shuttle is driven by an excentric fixed on the shuttle shaft. The
said excentric actuates a vertical connecting rod, a clip on the upper
end of the said connecting rod embracing or being geared to the excentric
described. The lower end of the said connecting rod is jointed to the
short horizontal arm of a bell-crank lever, the long vertical arm of which
is connected by means of a connecting link with the shuttle carrier.
The feeding is effected by the shaft by which the working of the
shuttle is effected, two cams on the said shaft and near its end giving
the requisite motions to the parts. The feeder has a reciprocating sliding
motion and also a rising and falling motion at one end as usual, and is
kept to its bearings by a coiled or other spring. The end of the feeder
which has a rising and falling motion is situated immediately over one
of the cams described and receives its rising motion from the said cam
by the rotation of the shaft, the falling motion being produced by the
spring herein-before referred to, which keeps the feeder to its bearing on
the cam.
The reciprocating sliding motion of the feeder is produced by the
other cam herein-before refered to, which cam gives motion to a forked
lever or a lever whose two arms make about a right angle with one
another. One of these arms is over the cam on the shaft and the other
arm which is serrated or notched through its whole length is situated
nearly vertically. A pointed arm jointed to the feeder at its rear end
or the end most distant from the shaft engages in the notches on the
arm of the forked lever and communicates the required reciprocating
motion to the feeder by the rocking of the said lever. By causing the
point of the said arm to engage in a notch at a greater or less distanco
from the fulcrum of the forked lever the length of the feed and stitch
can be regulated.
By lengthening the arm by which motion is transmitted from the
notched lever to the feeder its end may be made to project from the
side of the machine where by means of a thumb plate and graduated
scale the length of feed and stitch can be regulated with the greatest
nicety. In this modification the form and position of the notched
lever require slight modification, but their action is essentially the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Harris and John Judson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
HARRIS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
and JOHN JUDSON, of Aston, near Birmingham, aforesaid, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Joseph Harris and John Judson, Her
special license that we, the said Joseph Harris and John Judson, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as wc, the said
Joseph Harris and John Judson, our 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 SEWING MACHINES,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Harris
and John Judson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and scals, or under the hand and
scal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said Joseph Harris and John Judson,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
-
Our Invention has reference to those parts of sewing machines by
which the shuttle is actuated, and by which the feeding of the fabric or
material being sewn is effected, and our said Invention consists of the
combinations or arrangements of parts herein-after described for effecting
those objects.

page_text: The shuttle is driven by an excentric fixed on the shuttle shaft. The
said excentric actuates a vertical connecting rod, a clip on the upper end
of the said connecting rod embracing or being geared to the excentric
described. The lower end of the said connecting rod is jointed to the
short horizontal arm of a bell-crank lever, the long vertical arm of which
is connected by means of a connecting link with the shuttle carrier.
The feeding is effected by the shaft by which the working of the
shuttle is effected, two cams on the said shaft and near its end giving
the requisite motions to the parts. The feeder has a reciprocating sliding
motion, and also a rising and falling motion at one end as usual, and is
kept to its bearings by a coiled or other spring. The end of the feeder
which has a rising and falling motion is situated immediately over one
of the cams described, and receives its rising motion from the said cam
by the rotation of the shaft, the falling motion being produced by the
spring herein-before referred to, which keeps the feeder to its bearing on
the cam.
The reciprocating sliding motion of the feeder is produced by the
other cam herein-before referred to, which cam gives motion to a forked
lever or a lever whose two arms make about a right angle with one
another. One of these arms is over the cam on the shaft and the other
arm which is serrated or notched through its whole length is situated
nearly vertically. A pointed arm jointed to the feeder at its rear end
or the end most distant from the shaft engages in the notches on the
arm of the forked lever and communicates the required reciprocating
motion to the feeder by the rocking of the said lever. By causing the
point of the said arm to engage in a notch at a greater or less distance
from the fulcrum of the forked lever the length of the feed and stitch
can be regulated.
By lengthening the arm by which motion is transmitted from the
notched lever to the feeder its end may be made to project from the
side of the machine, where by means of a thumb plate and graduated
scale the length of feed and stitch can be regulated with the greatest
nicety. In this modification the form and position of the notched lever
require slight modification but their action is essentially the same.
Having explained the nature of our Invention we will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in side clevation, and Figure 2 in front elevation
a portion of a shuttle sewing machine containing our improvements;
Figure 3 is a cross section of the same; and Figure 4 is a plan of the
same. The other Figures represent detached parts of the machine as
herein-after explained. The same letters of reference indicate the same
parts in the several Figures of the Drawings.
We will first describe our arrangement for working the shuttle of the
machine. a. is the shuttle shaft driven in the ordinary manner; 6 is the
shuttle carrier; and c the shuttle, the said shuttle carrier 6 having a
reciprocating motion on the guide rods d, d, as usual. The shuttle
carrier is shown detached in side elevation, end elevation, and plan in
Figure 9. The said shuttle carrier is driven by an excentric e (see
Figure 3) on the shuttle shaft a. On the said excentric is a clip f, the
lower end of the connecting rod g, on which clip is jointed at gå to the
short nearly horizontal arm /² of the bell-crank lever h, h², the said lever
turning on the centre h³. The bell-crank lever h, h³, is represented
detached in Figure 5. The long vertical arm of the said bell-crank
lever is connected by the link i with the shuttle carrier 6 (see Figure 4).
The link is shown detached in Figure 8. The said link i is jointed
at to the shuttle carrier b, its jointed end at passing between the
short fork 6 on the shuttle carrier. (see Figures 4 and 9). The bell-
crank lever 1, ², is connected to the link i by the pin on the said link
entering the hole in the head or boss * of the said lever. On the
rotation of the shaft a a reciprocating motion is communicated through
the excentric e, clip and rod f, g, bell-crank lever h, h², and link i to the
shuttle carrier ; the said shuttle carrier being guided in its motion on
the guide rods d, d, as usual.
We will now describe the mechanism by which the feeding of the
fabric or material being sewn is effected. is the feed bar working
in the slot in the box or frame of the machine, and having a recipro-
cating sliding motion and a rising and falling motion at its front end k³,
the rear slotted end k³ of the feed bar working on the fixed stud /* (sce
Figure 2). The said feed bar is represented detached in Figure 6. The
rising and falling motion of the front end k³ of the feed bar is effected
by the cam m on the shuttle shaft a (shown detached in Figure 11), the
said end of the feed bar being kept to its bearing on the cam by the
coiled spring m³ (see Figure 2). As the shaft a rotates the end k³ of the
feed bar is lifted by the cam m, and as soon as the rise of the cam ceases

page_text: to act upon the bar the descending motion of the said bar is produced
by the spring m³. The reciprocating motion of the feed bar is produced
by a second cam n on the extreme end of the shuttle shaft a; the
motion of the said cam being transmitted to the feed bar k by the
following combination of parts:-The feed mechanism is best seen in
Figures 1, 2, and 4. p, p³, is a forked or cranked lever having a rocking
motion on the centre p³. The arms p, p³, of the said lever make about
a right angle with one another as represented. The end of the horizontal
arm p³ of the said lever is under the cam n on the shaft a, and the other
vertical arm p is serrated or notched through its entire length. The
cranked lever is shown detached in Figure 10. A coiled spring p
hooked to the vertical serrated arm p keeps the horizontal arm p² to its
bearing on the cam n. Jointed to the rear end of feed bar q2 is a hori-
zontal sliding arm q (shown detached in Figure 7), the upper end of the
serrated vertical arm p of the lever p, p², bearing against the shoulder q³ on
the said horizontal arm q, the said shoulder q³ engaging with the notches
on the said arm p. The free or unjointed end of the horizontal arm is
prolonged and forked at q*, the fork working on the vertical plater, the
front of which is furnished with a graduated scale. On the outer side of
the fork q' of the arm q is a thumb plate q³ for raising and lowering the
arm on the serrated or notched arm p of the lever p, p². The said thumb
plate q³ also constitutes a pointer by means of which and the graduated
scale at the length of stitch may be regulated with great nicety.
The action of the said feed machanism is as follows:-On the rotation
of the shaft a the cam m on the said shaft acts upon the fore end k² of
the feed bar k, and raises the said bar at that end and causes its serrated
part to grip the fabric or material to be fed. At the same time the
cam n acts upon the horizontal arm p³ of the cranked rocking lever p, p³,
depressing the said arm p², and advancing the vertical arm p in the
direction of the feed. The said arm p in its rocking motion acts on the
shoulder q of the horizontal arm q, and advances the said arm in the
same direction, and the latter operates the feed bar k to which it is
jointed. The horizontal motion of the feed bar in the direction of the
feed is thereby effected. On the cams m, n, ceasing to act upon their
respective parts tho return sliding motion is given to the feed bar k, and
the descending motion to the front end of the said feed bar by the
spring m³. The required reciprocating and rising and falling motions
are thus given to the feed bar.

page_text: In order to regulate the length of the feed and stitch it is only
necessary to adjust, the horizontal arm q on the serrated arm p of the
rocking lever to a greater or less distance from the centre of the said
rocking lever by pulling down or lifting the said arm q by the thumb
plate q, the exact length of stitch being adjusted by the thumb plate qº,
which constitutes the pointer being brought to the required position
on the graduated scale at r.
For the purpose of holding the arm q firmly in its adjusted position a
spring contained in a box u, as shown in Figure 12, is fitted in the
fork end q of the said arm q, and made to bear against the side of the
slot in the graduated plate r in which the fork works.
Although we have represented our improved feed mechanism in com-
bination with mechanism for working tho shuttlo carrier, yet the said
feed mechanism and shuttle mechanism may be used independently of
each other, and our improved feed mechanism may be applied to sewing
machines other than shuttle sewing machines. And although we prefer
to combine with the arm by which the feed motion is transmitted from
the rocking lever p, p³, to the feed bar the indicating arrangement repre-
sented, yet the said indicating arrangement may be omitted.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that wo
do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and illus-
trated as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of our Invention, but we claim as our Invention of improvements in
sewing machines,-
First. The combination of parts herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, for working the shuttle carriers of
shuttle sewing machines, that is to say, the combination of the
excentric e on the shuttle shaft, clip, and rod e, f, cranked lever h, h³, and
link i, substantially as described and illustrated.
Secondly. The construction and combination of parts of the feed
mechanism of sewing machines, herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, the construction and com-
bination of the parts of the cam m and spring m² for giving the rising
and falling motion to the fore end of the feed bar, and the construction
and combination of the cam n, rocking lever p, p², and connecting arm q,
and springs m³, p', for giving the reciprocating sliding motion to the said
feed bar, substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: Thirdly. Making the vertical arm p of the rocking lever p, p³, serrated
or notched, and constructing the connecting arm q of the feed bar and
causing it to engage with the said serrated arm p, substantially as
described and illustrated, and the use of the said parts in conjunction
with the indicating arrangement represented, whereby the adjustment
of the length of the feed and stitch may be regulated with the greatest
nicety.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Harris and John Judson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of July,
in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
HENRY SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOSEPH HARRIS. (L.S.)
JOHN JUDSON. (L.S.)