IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sickels, Merchant, of 67, Gracechurch Street,
London, England, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by W. Cleaveland Hicks, of
Boston, United States of America.
Sealed the 24th October 1861, and dated the 1st May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sickels at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st May
1861.
I, JOHN SICKELS, Merchant, of 67, Gracechurch Street, London, England,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SEWING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by W. Cleaveland
Hicks, of Boston, United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the general construction, arrangement, and com-
bination of that class of sewing machines known as shuttle or lock-stitch
machines. The needle is worked by a lever which is connected by a short
link to the needle slide, and is actuated by the usual grooved cylindrical cam.
The shuttle, which may be of the ordinary construction, is driven by a suitable
driver working between guide surfaces, and connected by a link to the free end
of a vibrating horizontal lever arm actuated by a grooved cylindrical cam
somewhat similar to the needle cam. The-feed motion is that known as the
"wheel feed," and is worked by a friction surface inside the rim of the wheel.
This friction surface is actuated by a slotted arm, which is connected with a
second slotted lever arın by means of an adjustable screw passing through the
slots of the two levers. The second lever arm is actuated by a feed cam, and
when the stitch requires to be regulated the screw is slid along the slot, so as

page_text: to have the effect of lengthening or shortening the levers, as required. The
fabric to be stitched is held down by a spring presser foot, and the requisite
tension of the needle thread is obtained by means of a straight rod or spindle
having a central and lateral perforation at one end nearest the needle, whilst
its opposite end turus freely, but with some friction, in a stud or arm projecting
from the side of the main overhanging bracket. By turning the tension rod
more or less in its support the thread will obviously become more or less
twisted round it, and consequently the tension will be regulated. The thread
from the bobbin, which rests upon a piece of cloth or other friction washer,
and is held thereon by a small weight, passes through a guide eye, and thence
through the lateral opening in the end of the tension rod, and out by the central
or axial opening, whence it proceeds through the eye of a vibrating lever arm
for taking up the slack thread at each riso of the needle, and thence passes
through another fixed guide eye on its way to the eye of the needle. This
last-mentioned lever arm is worked by the needle slide, and is retained
elevated until the descent of the slide by a pair of nipping springs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Sickels in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SICKELS, Merchant, of 67, Gracechurch Street, London, England, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Sickels, Her special license that I, the said John Sickels, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Sickels, my
executors, administrators, or 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," a com-
munication from abroad by W. Cleaveland Hicks, of Boston, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Sickels, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my band and

page_text: seal, or under the hand and seal of one of 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 I, the said John Sickels, do hereby declare thic
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 bad to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the general construction, arrangement, and
combination of that class of sewing machines known as shuttle or lock-stitch
machines. The needle is worked by a lever which is connected by a short
link to the needle slide, and is actuated by the usual grooved cylindrical cam.
The shuttle, which may be of the ordinary construction, is driven by a suitable
driver working between guide surfaces, and connected by a link to the free
end of a vibrating horizontal lever arm actuated by a grooved cylindrical cam
somewhat similar to the needle cam. The feed motion is that known as the
"wheel feed," and is worked by a friction surface inside the rim of the wheel.
This friction surface is actuated by a slotted arm, which is connected with a
second slotted lever arm by means of an adjustable screw passing through the
slots of the two levers. The second lever arm is actuated by a feed cam, and
when the stitch requires to be regulated the screw is slid along the slot, so as
to have the effect of lengthening or shortening the levers, as required. The
fabric to be stitched is held down by a spring presser foot, and the requisite
tension of the needle thread is obtained by means of a straight rod or spindle
having a central and lateral perforation at one end nearest the needle, whilst
its opposite end turns freely, but with some friction, in a stud or arm projecting
from the side of the main overhanging bracket. By turning the tension rod
more or less in its support the thread will obviously become more or less
twisted round it, and consequently the tension will be regulated. The thread
from the bobbin, which rests upon a piece of cloth or other friction washer,
and is held thereon by a small weight, passes through a guide eye, and thence
through the lateral opening in the end of the tension rod, and out by the central
or axial opening, whence it proceeds through the eye of a vibrating lever arm
for taking up the slack thread at each rise of the needle, and thence passes
through another fixed guide eye on its way to the eye of the needle. This
last-mentioned lever arm is worked by the needle slide, and is retained elevated
until the descent of the slide by a pair of nipping springs.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shal
refer to the several Figures on the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of my Drawings represents a plan of the machine
complete; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; Figures 3, 4, and 5 (or
Sheet 2) are detached details of the tension apparatus; Figure 6 is an under
side view of the feed mechanism; Figure 7 is a front view of the same; and
Figure 8 is a perspective view of a machine on a smaller scale placed upor
its table..
a is the main driving shaft, which transmits motion to the three most
important elements in the machine, namely, first, to the vertical needle
second, to the shuttle; and, third, to the rotatory feed mechanism. This shaft a
carries a fly-wheel b, and when driven by a treddle is provided with one or
more grooved pullies c of different diameters, which afford facility for driving
the machine at any desired speed, according to the nature of the work to be
produced. The shaft a is carried in two bearings a¹ and a, and has keyed on
to it the cam d, which imparts the requisite up-and-down motion to the
vertical needle e, by means of the bell-crank lever f, working on a fixed centre
at f. The longer arm of this lever is connected by a link g to the needle
slide or holder e¹, as shewn in dotted lines in Figure 2. The thread which
supplies this needle, and which is colored red in the Drawing, is obtained from
the reel or bobbin h, which is carried by the spindle h', and rests upon a
washer ² of cloth or felt; a weight h³ bearing upon the top of the bobbin
serves to press it down upon the washer, which produces a certain amount of
drag or friction, so as to prevent the too rapid or free rotation of the bobbin.
In order to impart the requisite degree of tension to this thread it is wound
round a friction spindle i by means of the button . By causing the thread to
make one or more turns round this spindle any degree of tension may be
imparted to it to suit the work to be produced. Independently of this tension,
it is essential that the thread of the needle e, after leaving the spindle i, be
permitted to slacken and tighten at each stitch; it should be slack during the
descent of the needle through the fabric, so as to form the loop or bow beneath
the same through which the shuttle is driven, and should be tight, or in a
state of partial tension, during the rising of the needle as well as during the
forward feed motion of the fabric. For the first effect no accessory mechanism
is required, but for the second, as the feed takes place partly during the
descent of the needle, and as the thread is stretched at this time, recourse is

page_text: bad to the following arrangement:-The thread is passed through the eye of
a rod, which oscillates or works upon the fixed centre pin l, and is actuated
by the needle holder e¹ and projecting arm, through the opening in which
the end of the rod 7 passes. It therefore follows that during the ascent of the
holder e¹ the rod is also elevated and brought between the two blade springs
,, which retain it in its elevated position until the descent of the needle
holdere has brought the upper end of the oblong opening or slot on the
arm down upon the rod 1, so as to force it from between the nipping springs
,, thereby imparting to the thread the necessary slackness for the formation
of the loop. Figure 2 represents this mechanism whilst the thread is in a
distended state, and Figure 3 whilst in a slack condition. The stationary
pin serves as a stop for limiting the ascent of the rod 7. The second cam m,
carried on the main shaft, serves to transmit motion to the shuttle through
the action of the horizontal bell-crank lever u (Figure 1), working on a fixed
stud centre at n¹. The longer arm of this lever actuates the shuttle driver by.
means of the link u², this driver travelling to and fro along the race o, which
is covered over by the moveable plates o¹ and o. The third and last cam p,.
also fixed on the shaft a, gives motion to the feed mechanism for propelling.
forward the cloth or fabric, which is held between the presser foot q, having a
smooth under surface and the roughened periphery of the feeding wheel r..
The cam p is provided on its face with an eccentric groove, in which works,
the roller p', carried by the end of the stud p³ in the lever p³. This lever
works on the fixed centre p', and, like the needle and shuttle, makes two
movements to and fro at each revolution of its cam, and consequently imparts
an intermittant motion to the feeding wheel in the direction of the movement
of the cloth, each movement taking place just at the moment that the needle,.
in rising, has left the cloth. The lever p³ carries a small pin, which is engaged
also with the lever r, turning freely on the boss of the feed wheel r. It
therefore follows that the lever r moves with the lever p³, and actuates at the
same time the arm, the squared end of which is inserted into a friction
block fitted into an annular groove made in the face or side of the feed
wheel. This block is made in two parts, and has a square aperture made in it,
in which is inserted the squared end of the arm. A spring 7 presses upon
the under side of the block for the purpose of returning it to its original posi-
tion again after it has been depressed. 'When the outer end of the arm is.
depressed the turning of its opposite square end tends to expand or open out
the two halves of the block, and so wedges them firmly in the groove, whilst
the continued downward movement of the arm and block draws round the
feed wheel, imparting a slight rotatory motion thereto in the direction of the

page_text: arrow, Figure 7. The spring 75 now forces back the block to its original
position ready for a fresh stroke, but without moving the feed wheel, as the
block during this operation is not expanded by the action of the squared end
of the arm³, therefore it moves freely within its groove. In order to regulate
the amount of motion of the feed wheel made at each downward stroke of the
arm 7³, or, in other words, to regulate the length of the stitches, it is simply
requisite to slide the screw pin 7 in one direction or the other, as the case
may be, along the slots in the levers r¹ and p³; when the screw is adjusted
nearer to the centre of the feed wheel the stitch will be lengthened, and vice
versa. u is an arm which is secured at v to the under side of the bed plate,
and bears near its lower end upon the smooth rim of the feed wheel, whereby
such wheel is steadied or controlled in its rotation by the friction so obtained.
The presser foot q is held down upon the edge of the feed wheel by the action
of the blade spring s, the pressure of which may be regulated by the adjusting
screw s¹; t is an angular cam mounted upon the end of the spring s, by turning
which the presser foot is raised or lowered as desired. Figure 8 is a per-
spective view shewing the mode of mounting these machines on their tables.
The machine x is permanently secured to the plate x', which is hinged to the
table or support, and under this table or support is fitted a box y, which com-
pletely encloses the underneath mechanism of the machine, and prevents all
chance of the fabrics or garments passing through the machine being injured
by the oil or grease dropping from the working parts.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the samé is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the general construction,
arrangement, and combination of mechanism for sewing or stitching fabrics, as
herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sickels, have to this my Specifica-
tion hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN SICKELS. (L.S.)