An Improved Instrument to Facilitate Threading Needles by Hand.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 9th June, 1896-Accepted, 25th July, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Instrument to Facilitate Threading Needles by
Hand.
I, GEORGE COLLEDGE, residing at "The Oaks," 270 Loop Street, Pieter-
maritzburg, Colony of Natal, Watchmaker, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to enable nee lles to be thre ided with facility even
by persons with short or weak sight and without liability to straining the eyes.
For this purpose my instrument is constructed with a body which may be of oblong
form in which there is a hole for insertion of the needle to be threaded and a
spring device adapted to grip and hold the needle in position for threading, which
spring device can be by a suitable knob moved and held out of the path of the
needle whilst the needle is being inserted into the instrument for the purpose of
being threaded, or having been threaded is being withdrawn from the instrument.
In order to thread a needle the spring device is moved back by means of the.
knob, the needle 18 inserted eye end first through the hole already mentioned,
then the sping device is released and the cotton or thread is inserted through a
guiding hole formed for the purpose in the body of the instrument so that the
thread passes through the instrument and through the needle; after the needle
has been threaded the spring device is pressed clear of it and the threaded needle
withdrawn.
Dated the 7th day of October 1908
An Improved Instrument to Facilitate Threading Needles by
Hand.
I, GEORGE COLLEDGE, residing at "The Oaks," 270 Loop Street, Pieter-
maritzburg, Colony of Natal, Watchmaker, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to enable needles to be threaded with facility
even by persons with short or weak sight and without liability to straining
the eyes.
For this purpose my instrument is constructed with a body which may be of
oblong form in which there is a hole for insertion of the needle to be threaded and
a spring device adapted to grip and hold the needle in position for threading,
which spring device can be by a suitable knob moved and held out of the path.
of the needle whilst the needle is being inserted into the instrument for the

page_text: HOW
the instrument.
Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings are respectively fiont, plan,
side and rear views showing, to an enlarged scale, an instrument constructed
according sto this invention.
Fig. 5 is a section on the line of Fig 1;
Fig 6is a front view of the instrument with the front plate removed; and
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are cential longitudinal sections of the instrument, the two
latter figures showing the mode of using it.
Fig. 10 shows the instrument to a smaller seale and provided with a handle.
1 is the body, constructed of metal or other suitablo material; 2 is the hole
therein, for insertion of the needle 2* (Fig. 9) to be threaded.
31s the spring
device, which consists of a spring blade arranged within a chamber formed in the
body 1 by providing the latter with a removable front plate 1 of channel form in
cross Boction (Fig. 5). The sping device is fixed at one end, as by a screw 3*, to
the body of the instrument, and is made at its other end (it may be by stamping)
with a small trumpet shaped hollow projection 3b having its axis at right angles to
the hole 2, and the free end of which is flattened on two opposite sides (Fig. 5) so
that it can enter the eye of a needle (Fig. 9) passed eye end foremost through the
hole 2, and hold the needle in the right position for threading. 2b is a recess to
receive the inner end of the needle. The projection 3b, whilst suitable for holding
in position needles of different sizes, within moderate limits, will, by the elasticity
of the spring device 3, slightly turn the needle and bung its eye exactly in line
with the hole through the hollow projection, if it be not already in line, and
will then hold the needle at the top and bottom of the needle eye, leaving the
central or widest part of the eye clear for the passage of the thread or cotton with
which it is to be threaded.
The knob 4 is carried by a stem that works freely through the body 1 and bears
at its inner end against the spring device 3, the said inner end being enlarged to
prevent the knob becoming detached from the body. Thiough the body 1, and in
line with the hollow projection 3 is a guiding holo 5, the front end of which is
located in the front plate 1, which is preferably made of some white or light
material, for example ivory or bone, or substitutes therefor, in order that the
guiding hole 5 therein may be readily distinguished.
The instrument may be formed with a hole 7 (Fig. 1) to enable it to be suspended
from a belt, or be provided with a handle 8 (Fig. 10).
In order to thread a needle, the spring dovice 3 is moved back by means of the
knob 4 (Fig. 8), the ucedle 2 15 inserted eyo end first through the hole 2, then
the spring device is released and the cotton or thread 6 18 inserted through the
front end of the guiding hole 5, wheuce it passes through the hollow projection 3º,
the eye of the needle 2, and out through the opposite end of the guiding hole 5
after the needle has been thus threaded, the spring device 3 18 pressed clear of
at (Fig. 8) and the threaded needle withdrawn.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner it is to be canied into practical effect I declare
that I do not claim broadly the use in an instrument to facilitate threading
needles by hand of a spring device constructed with a hole in it through which
thread can be passed and guided to the eye of a needle held by such spring device,
but what I do claim is.-
1. An instrument to facilitate threading needles by hand, comprising a body
such as 1 in which there is a hole for insertion of a ucedle to be threaded, and also
a guiding hole for cotton or thread, a spring device such as 3 arranged within the
said body, and adapted to grip and hold the needle in position for threading
whilst at the same time providing for the free passage of the cotton or thread into
and through the eye of needle and through the instrument, and a knob whereby
the said spring device can be moved and held out of the path of a needle whilst it

page_text: is being inserted into the instrument for the purpose of being threaded, or
having been threaded is being withdrawn from the instrument, all substantially as
described.
2. My improved instrument as described and shewn for the purpose mentioned.
Dated the 0th dân ng Lun 1000
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chaitered Patent Agent.