AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Yeomans, of Astwood Bank
near Redditch, in the County of Worcester, Needle Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING
MACHINE NEEDLES."
Sealed the 18th May 1872, and dated the 22nd December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry
Yeomans at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd December 1871.
I, WILLIAM HENRY YEOMANS, of Astwood Bank, near Redditch, in
the County of Worcester, Needle Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES," to be as follows:-
In ordinary sewing machine needles a single eye is made near the
point end of the needle. During the formation of the loop from the
thread on one side of the needle for the fixing or locking thread to pass
through, the thread on the opposite side of the needle has a tendency to
rise out of its groove and to form a second loop.

page_text: The object of my Invention is to remedy this defect, and my said
Invention consists in making one, two, or more eyes in the stems or
bodies of sewing machine needles in addition to the ordinary eye at the
point end of the needles. I prefer to make two additional eyes, but
as before stated one or more than two additional eyes may be used.
The said additional eye or eyes is or are situated midway between the
shoulder and point of the needle. When two or more additional eyes
are used they are placed near together. When two additional eyes are
used in the stem of the needle the thread is passed through the needle
in the following manner :-The thread from the reel is first passed
through the top eye down the groove on one side of the needle, then
through the middle eye and down the groove on the opposite side of the
needle, and finally through the ordinary eye at the point end of the
needle. By this means the thread at one side of the needle is secured
near the middle of the stem by the supplementary eyes instead of being
loose as usual, and the said thread has no tendency to rise out of the
groove in the needle. On the formation of the loop on one side of the
needle the thread on the other side of the needle is confined in its groove,
and a loop is thereby only formed at one side of the needle instead of a
loop on either side the needle, as is commonly the case when ordinary
sewing machine needles are used.
Besides preventing the formation of an additional loop my Invention
has the advantage of giving great regularity to the sewing when the
sewing machine is worked quickly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Yeomans in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY YEOMANS, of Astwood Bank, near Redditch, in the County of
Worcester, Needle Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Yeomans, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Henry Yeomans, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry
3 Yeomans, my 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Yeomans,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Yeomans, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
In the ordinary sewing machine needles a single eye is made near the
point end of the needle. During the formation of the loop from the
thread on one side of the needle for the fixing or locking thread to pass
through the thread on the opposite side has a tendency to rise out of
its groove and to form a second loop.
The object of my Invention is to remedy this defect, and my said
Invention consists in making one, two, or more eyes in the stems or
bodies of sewing machine needles in addition to the ordinary eye at the
point end of the needles. I prefer to make two additional eyes, but as
before stated one or more than two additional eyes may be used. The
said additional eye or eyes is or are situated midway between the
shoulder and point of the needle. When two or more additional eyes
are used they are placed near together. When two additional eyes are
used in the stem of the needle the thread is passed through the needle
in the following manner:-The thread from the reel is first passed
through the top eye down the groove on one side of the needle, then

page_text: through the middle eye and down the groove on the opposite side of the
needle, and finally through the ordinary eye at the point end of the
needle. By this means the thread at one side of the needle is secured
near the middle of the stem by the supplementary eyes instead of being
loose as usual, and the said thread has no tendency to rise out of the
groove in the needle. On the formation of the loop on one side of the
needle the thread on the other side of the needle is confined in its
groove, and a loop is thereby only formed at one side of the needle
instead of a loop on either side the needle, as is commonly the case
when ordinary sewing machine needles are used.
Besides preventing the formation of an additional loop my Invention
has the advantage of giving great regularity to the sewing when the
sewing machine is worked quickly.
The accompanying Drawing represents a sewing machine needle
constructed according to my Invention, the said needle being drawn to
a large scale. Figure 1 being an elevation of one side of the needle;
Figure 2 an elevation of the opposite side; and Figure 3 a vertical
section of the same.
In the said Figures 1, 2, and 3, a is the stem of the needle, b is the
ordinary eye at the point end of the needle, and c, d, are the additional
eyes situated midway between the shoulder a² and the point of the
needle, e is the ordinary groove in one side of the needle, ƒ is an
additional groove in the opposite side of the needle into which the
additional eyes c, d, open. The manner in which the thread g is passed
through the several eyes in the needle is illustrated in Figure 3, that
is to say, the thread g from the reel first passes through the top eye c
down the groove through the second eye d, down the groove e, and
finally through the ordinary eye b and down its groove at the point end
of the needle. The manner in which the thread g is secured near the
middle of the stem a by the supplementary eyes c, d, will be seen by
an examination of Figure 3. It will also be seen by an examination
of Figure 3 that while the said thread g has perfect freedom of motion
to be fed forward through the eyes of the needle yet the said thread
has no tendency to rise out of the long groove e on one side of the
needle.
In the Drawing the thread g is represented outside the groove e in

page_text: use the said thread lies in and fills up the said groove. The loop in
sewing is made from the end g² of the thread on one side of the needle,
and by its passage through the eyes c, d, the thread g is confined in the
groove e at the other side of the needle between the eyes d and b, and
the said thread at the groove side e cannot be formed into a loop.
Instead of the two supplementary eyes c, d, one eye only may be
used, or more than two eyes may be used, but in practice I find that
two supplementary eyes, as represented in the Drawing, answer very
satisfactorily.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in sewing
machine needles herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, making in the stems or bodies of the
said needles one or more eyes in addition to the ordinary eye at the
point end of the needle, for the purpose of confining the thread on one
side of the needle in its groove during the formation of the loop on the
opposite side of the needle, and thereby preventing the formation of a
second loop, and also giving great regularity to the sewing when the
sewing machine is worked quickly.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Yeomans, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
WILLIAM HENRY YEOMANS. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOSEPH MORRIS YEOMANS,
Astwood Bank,
Redditch.