Button Hole Sewing Attachements for Sewing Machines
Year: 1886

page_text: machines.
We, FRIEND WILLIAM SMITH, Jr. and SAMÚEL STUART WILLIAMSON, of 45, Wall
Street in the City of Bridgeport, County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut,
one of the United States of America, gentlemen, 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:-
Our invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in Button Hole
Sewing Attachements for Sewing Machines, but more particularly to that class of
said attachments, in which the feed bar is moved to and fro by the action of an
intermittently rotating pinion against a rack attached to or formed integral with
said bar, and has for its object to insure the continuous engagement of said rack
and pinion, and also to hold the feed bar securely while the pinion is operating
against the sides of the rack, thereby affording a positive guide for the shifting of
said bar to accomplish the barring of the button hole, and doing away with any
independent guide for the movement of the feed-bar, and with these ends in view,
our invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements
hereinafter fully described and then specifically designated by the claims.
In order that those skilled in the art to which our invention appertains may
fully understand the same, we will proceed to describe its construction and
operation, referring by letters to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this
specification in which,―
Fig. 1, is a plan view illustrating our improvement in its proper position on a
button hole sewing attachment for sewing machines.
Fig. 2, a similar view with the feed-bar removed.
Fig. 3, a central longitudinal section.
Fig. 4; a section at the line, y, y, of Fig. 2.
Fig. 5, a section at the line, x, x, of Fig. 2, and
Fig. 6, a detail section showing a rear view of the adjustable end of the rack,
and the means for securing said end in any adjustment.
Similar letters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing..
We have shown in our drawing the construction of the several parts of the
attachment precisely as they are shown in our patent No. 4271 dated April 7th,
1885, since our present improvement is especially adapted to the machine which
forms the subject of said patent and as the operation and function of these parts is
the same as in said patent we will not now enter into any detail description of
them.

page_text: A, is the wiper wheel, B, the ratchet wheel and, C, the pinion all concentrically
secured together so that their movements will be simultaneous.
,
D, is the oscillator pivoted to the bed-plate, the inner end being forked and
having pallets, a, which bear on diametrically opposite sides of the wiper wheel so
that it will be readily understood that at every intermittent revolution of the
wiper wheel, the oscillator will be caused to move to and fro about its pivotal
point.
The ratchet is revolved intermittently by means of a pawl, E, attached to a
carrier, F, which latter is actuated by the operating lever, G, as in our patent above
referred to,
In the construction shown in said patent the pinion engaged with and passed
around a vertical rack which depended from a detachable cap, and around the base
of this rack was a continuous groove within which a pin projecting concentrically
from the pinion have led, so that a guide was thus afforded which insured the
engagement of the pinion with the rack throughout the circuit of the latter.
This construction while it was perfectly practical and answered the purpose for
which it was intended, had one disadvantage, namely, the necessity of substituting
racks of different lengths for the purpose of sewing button holes of different length.
Our present improvement obviates this disadvantage and moreover greatly
simplifies the machine.
The rack, H, with which the pinion engages is formed on the edges of a longi-
tudinal opening in the feed-bar, S: one end, I, of the rack is stationary while the
other end, J, is adjustable whereby the length of the rack to be operated on may
be varied, as will be hereinafter explained.
K, is a friction lever pivoted concentrically with the oscillator and having secured
thereto at the rear thereof spring arms, L.
To the forward end of this lever is secured a flat spring, M, having downwardly
projecting lug, N, extending through perforation, O, in said lever.
P, are recesses formed within a plate, Q, attached to the bed-plate, R; the sides
of these recesses are beveled as shown at Fig. 5. The extremity of the lug, N, is
also beveled and the recesses are in the arc of the circle described by the lug from
the central or pivotal point of the lever, K, so that the lug will enter the recesses
when in alignment therewith.
The feed-bar, S, is placed over the lever, K, and between the spring arms, L, and
is pivoted to the oscillator by the screw, T, as in our aforesaid patent.
One end of the rack is stationary and the other adjustable as hereinbefore set
forth, the latter being secured in any adjustment by the action of the thumb-
nut, U, which sets the spring actuated lips, V, down between the opposite teeth in
the sides of the rack as seen at Figs. 1, 3 and 6.
The operation of our improvement is as follows:-
During the vibration and forward and backward movement of the feed-bar, the
latter is steadied by the spring arms, L, and any lost motion prevented by the
temporary rigidity of the lever, K, the obvious reason of this being that the force
exerted by the pinion against the rack is not sufficient to overcome the friction
between the spring actuated lug, N, and the recesses, P, and shift said lever so as
to show the pinion and rack out of engagement.
When the pinion commences to act on the end of the rack, enough force will be
exerted to overcome the friction between said. lug and recesses and the feed-bar
will of course be shifted to one side, that is, its vertical plane will be changed.
In other words, this shifting action will be performed against the resistency of
one of the spring arms, L, and as the latter opposes this action enough force will
be brought to bear on the lever, K, to lift the lug, N, out of one of the recesses, P,
and by the continued shifting of the feed-bar said lever will be carried along until
the pinion engages with the other side of the rack, when the said lug will fall into
the other recess; when the pinion crosses the other end of the rack the same
operation of the feed-bar and lever occurs with the same result.

page_text: W, W, are stops which arrest the movement of the lever, K, so that the latter
cannot be forced beyond the points at which the lug engages with the recesses.
It will be readily understood from the foregoing description that our present
improvement renders our button hole sewing attachment far more simple in that
we have dispensed with the "vertically depending rack "shown in our aforesaid
patent and far more effective and serviceable, since we are able to sew any length
of button hole without adding or taking away any of the parts.
Also our present improvement presents one advantage that has never before
been exhibited in automatic machines of this description, namely, that in case the
thread is broken or a stitch skipped, or for any other obvious reason, the rack may
be shifted by hand, so that the pinion will be out of engagement, and then moved
longitudinally back and forth at the will of the operator. It is immaterial that the
pivotal point of the lever, K, be identical with the pivotal point of the oscillator,
but both these points should be in the same vertical plane with the center of the
feed-bar. We do not wish to be limited to the exact shape of the lever, K, or the
specific mechanism for locking said lever in position, since we can make the lever
of any suitable shape and attach thereto any desirable mechanism which will lock
the lever during the time when the pinion is operating against the sides of the
rack, and permit the shifting of the lever when the pinion is acting against the
ends of the rack.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is,-
1. In a Button Hole Sewing Attachment for Sewing Machines the feed-bar
adapted to be vibrated and having formed therein a double longitudinal rack pro-
vided with cross racks, in combination with a pinion adapted to engage with said
longitudinal and cross racks and means controlled directly by the action of the
pinion against the cross racks for preventing the disengagement of the pinion and
rack through the circuit of the latter, substantially as set forth.
2. In a button hole sewing attachment for sewing machines, the feed-bar adapted
to be vibrated and having therein a continuous rack in combination with a pinion
engaging with said rack whereby the feeding movements of the bar are accomplished,
and a pivoted lever provided with spring arms which embrace the feed-bar and
having a frictional bearing sufficient to overcome the force exerted laterally by the
pinion against the sides of the rack, said lever adapted to be shifted by the action
of the pinion against the ends of the rack substantially as set forth.
3. In a button hole sewing attachment for sewing machines, the combination
with the feed-bar, having therein a continuous rack and actuated by an inter-
mittently revolving pinion meshing with said rack, of a pivoted lever having spring
arms which embrace the feed-bar, said lever adapted to be shifted by the feed-bar
when the pinion acts against the ends of the racks, substantially as set forth.
4. In combination with the feed-bar having therein longitudinal racks, H, and
cross racks, I, J, and intermittently revolving pinion adapted to engage with said
racks the pivoted lever, K, having spring arms, L, which embrace the feed bar, flat
spring, M, secured to the forward end of the lever and having downwardly pro-
jecting lug, N, extending through perforation, O, in said lever, and recesses, P,
formed within plate, Q, attached to the bed plate, R, substantially as shown and
described.