AN IMPROVED FRILLING, RUFFLING, OR GATHERING APPARATUS TO BE USED UPON A SEWING MACHINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED FRILLING, RUFFLING, OR GATHERING
APPARATUS TO BE USED UPON A SEWING MACHINE."-A communication
from abroad by Alfred Henry Cramp, of Brooklyn, New York,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th November 1871.
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 "AN IMPROVED FRILLING, RUFFLING,
OB GATHERING APPARATUS TO BE USED UPON A SEWING MACHINE," à com-
munication, to be as follows :-
The said Invention relates to a simple, convenient, and efficient
apparatus designed to be used as an attachment to a sewing machine

page_text: for frilling, ruffling, or gathering materials for ornamenting or trimming
ladies' and children's dresses and for similar purposes, which apparatus
can be readily secured on the machine when required and removed when
the said machine is to be employed for plain sewing.
The said apparatus has an elastic blade or folder, which is a flat spring
of any required width attached to a rocking frame, the latter being
operated by a cam fixed on the driving or other shaft. The said folder
is arranged with its edge just opposite the needle on the side from which
the work is fed to the same, and it is moved by the rocking frame to and
fro in the direction of the feed, thereby forming in the material the frills,
gathers, or ruffles, and presenting them to the needle to be sewn.
0
This apparatus is applicable to all sewing machines except those
which have no shaft whereon to place the cam for actuating the afore-
said rocking frame, and it may be secured to the machine in any manner
that will allow it to be readily put on and removed, and that will not
impair the efficiency of the said machine. I prefer however to provide
for its attachment by securing upon the under side of the cloth plate a
small bracket with a socket or bearing into which the journal or fulcrum
pin of the rocking frame is to be inserted.. This pin has fixed to.it an
arm extending up at the side of the cloth plate and carries the upper
part of the rocking frame, which projects horizontally over the cloth
plate and at a right angle to the arm. On the said arm is a projection
which is acted on by the cam to give motion to the apparatus.
In order that the folding blade may be adjusted to adapt the apparatus
to different kinds of work I make the upper or horizontal part of the
rocking frame in two portions, viz., a sleeve or tube which is fixed on
the arm, and a bar which is fitted into the said sleeve in such a manner
as to allow of its being turned therein, and the said sleeve is provided
with a pinching screw or other means for holding the bar securely in
any position. The folding blade is secured to the end of this bar, which
projects beyond the sleeve. For this purpose the bar has a screw clamp
that may be readily opened or closed to allow the blade to be inserted or
removed, and that will admit and secure blades of different width.
The rocking frame is moved in one direction by the cam and in the

page_text: The apparatus is provided with a regulating screw or other suitable
contrivance for varying the extent of motion of the frame, to make the
frilling or gathering more or less full as may be required.
The cam may be attached permanently to the shaft or may be secured
thereon by a screw or other contrivance which will allow of its ready
removal when the apparatus is not in use.
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 6th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the 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 Sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors; adminis-
trators, 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 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED FRILLING, RUPPLING, OR GATHERING APPARATUS TO BE
USED UPON A SEWING MACHINE," a communication to me from abroad by
Alfred Henry Cramp, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of
America, 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, 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.
.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
The said Invention relates to a simple, convenient, and efficient
apparatus for frilling, ruffling, or gathering strips of various materials
for ornamenting or trimming ladies' and children's dresses and for
similar purposes.
.
The said apparatus is useful only as an attachment to a sewing:
machine, and is therefore so constructed that it can be readily secured
upon the machine when required and removed when the said machine is
to be used for plain sewing.
The folder of my improved apparatus is a flat or nearly flat spring
made of a thin strip of steel or other suitable metal and of any required:
width. The said spring is attached to a rocking frame; the latter is
operated by a cam fixed on the shaft of the machine. The said flat
spring or folder is arranged with its edge just opposite the needle on the
side from which the work is fed to the same, and it is moved by the
rocking frame to and fro in the direction of the feed, thereby forming in
the material the frills, gathers, or ruffles, and presenting them to the
needle to be sown. This folder being itself a spring of the proper
thickness, and suitably tempered to produce the required yielding
pressure upon the strip of material placed on the cloth plate and sub-
jected to its action, effectually folds, creases, or doubles the said strip
without any additional or separate springs to impart to it the required
elastic pressure.
This apparatus is applicable to all sewing machines except those which
have no shaft whereon to place the cam for actuating the aforesaid
rocking frame, and the said apparatus may be secured to the machine
in any manner that will allow it to be readily put on and removed
without impairing the efficiency of the said machine.

page_text: Figure 3 is a rear elevation of the said apparatus secured on the
machine.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A is the cloth plate of the sewing machine, B is the needle, and B' the
needle bar; C is the shaft which drives the feed mechanism of the said
machine; a is the spring or folder, 6 is the rocking frame to which.
the said spring is attached, c is the cam whereby the said spring is
operated.
I prefer to provide for the attachment of my improved apparatus to
the machine by securing upon the under side of the cloth plate a small
bracket & with a socket or bearing &, into which the journal or fulcrum
pin b¹ of the rocking frame is to be inserted. This pin has fixed to it a
lever, one of whose arms 63 extends up at the side of the cloth plate A
and carries the bar of the rocking frame, which projects horizontally
the cloth plate A and at a right angle to the arm b³, as shewn in
Figure 2. The other arm e of the said lever is acted on by the cam c to
give the required reciprocating motion to the apparatus.
over
In order that the said spring or folder a may be adjusted to adapt the
apparatus to different kinds of work I make the horizontal bar b³ of the
rocking frame in two portions, viz., a sleeve or tubo 6* which is fixed on
the arm 63, and a holder f which is fitted into the said slceve in such a
manner as to allow of its being turned therein, and the said sleeve is
provided with a pinching or binding screw g or other means for securing
the holder fin any position in the tube 6'. The spring or folder a is
secured to this holder f, which projects beyond the sleeve as shown.
For this purpose the holder is provided with a screw clamp f¹, which
may be readily opened or closed to allow the spring a to be inserted,
adjusted, or removed, and which will admit and receive springs of
different width.
The rocking frame 6 is moved in one direction by the cam c. and in
.

page_text: The cam c may be attached permanently to the shaft C, as shewn, or
may be made in two parts and secured on the said shaft by. a screw
or other contrivance which will allow of its ready removal when the
apparatus is not in use.
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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 the above-described apparatus
constructed to be used upon a sewing machine, and having a metal
spring which is arranged to slide to and fro over the cloth plate, and-
which without any separate or additional springs folds, doubles, or
creases the material subjected to its action, and is attached to and
operated by the peculiarly constructed rocking frame, whose motion is
produced by a cam placed on the shaft of the sewing machine as herein
set, forth.
SCU, 10TH.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have. here- 1
'
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eighth undred and seventy-two.
Witness,
W. J. Lowe.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)