IMPROVEMENTS IN KNOT- STITCH SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lewis Hope, of No. 4, Bishopsgate Churchyard, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNOT-
STITCH SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 11th January 1861, and dated the 14th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lewis Hope at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th July
1860.
I, LEWIS HOPE, of No. 4, Bishopsgate Churchyard, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNOT-STITCH SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to double-threaded sewing machines in which a
"knot-stitch" is produced, each stitch being fastened off by a knot.
The machine consists of the usual table, pressure arm, revolving shaft,
needle lever and bar, has the ordinary means of advancing the fabric, and is
driven in the usual manner; the improved apparatus tends immediately to.
produce the stitch.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The thread from the upper
bobbin passes through the eye of the needle, and is carried upwards and
downwards through the fabric, receiving after each downward movement a
twist or revolution round the lower spool, by means of a hook attached to the
vertical spindle, on which the lower spool rotates freely. The twist is tightened

page_text: where the thread from the lower spool comes through the fabric, and there
forms the knot, which prevents the stitch from unraveling. Each stitch is
thus fastened off before the next is made.
The improvements are, 1st, a link-motion connecting the excentric rod with
the hook spindle, so as to give the hook a reciprocating circular motion. A
crank or other equivalent contrivance may be used instead of an excentric.
The hook takes the thread from the back of the needle, and carries it nearly
round the lower spool; the tension upon the upper thread brings it entirely
round, and enables it to form the knot. The hook is not a peculiarity of this
Invention.
2nd, the thread of the lower spool is preserved at the proper tension by
passing through an aperture in a fixed part of the spool. The lower spool is
horizontal, and carries the underneath thread.
3rd, the centre of the lower spool on which the thread is wound is loose;
by this arrangement, combined with the fixing of the end of the thread, and
its passing through the tension aperture, the spool is conveniently wound with
thread.
4th, a motion given to the upper bobbin to counteract the twisting of the
thread round itself. The thread of the upper bobbin in being passed round
the under spool has a twist imparted to it by means of a tappet or cam on the
driving shaft; sufficient rotary motion is given to the thread at right angles to
the bobbin axis to entirely counteract the twisting of the thread round itself.
It is preferred to raise the pressure bar by means of a small lever working on
a horizontal axis at the side, the arm of the lever projecting over the work
only when a change of fabric of of direction of stitch has to be made. The
machine is made to have great solidity of construction by using a single arm
to support the pressure bar and the lever carrying the needle, the said lever
being supported on both sides. The thread from the upper bobbin having to
pass completely round the under spool each time a stitch is made, a spring
attached to the needle lever and working a thread lever is used to pull up the
spare thread quickly after the stitch is completed, and is so arranged as to
keep a constant and equable tension on the thread. To work the needle lever
it is preferred to use a roller carried by a face plate on the shaft that rolls
within the curved end of the needle lever.
My Invention consists of the use of any of the above described improve-
ments in any double thread knot-stitch sewing machine, either singly or in
combination.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lewis Hope in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEWIS
HOPE, of No. 4, Bishopsgate Churchyard, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Lewis Hope, Her special licence that I, the said Lewis Hope, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lewis
Hope, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNOT-STITCH
SEWING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Lewis Hope, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Lewis Hope, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My improvements relate to double-threaded sewing machines in which a
"knot-stitch" is produced, each stitch being fastened off by a knot.
The machine consists of the usual table, pressure arın, revolving shaft.
needle lever and bar, has the ordinary means of advancing the fabric, and is
driven in the usual manner; the improved apparatus tends immediately to
produce the stitch.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The thread from the upper
bobbin passes through the eye of the needle, and is carried upwards and
downwards through the fabric, receiving after each downward movement a
'

page_text: twist or revolution round the lower spool, by means of a hook attached to the
vertical spindle on which the lower spool rotates freely. The twist is tightened
where the thread from the lower spool comes through the fabric, and there
forms the knot, which prevents the stitch from unraveling. Each stitch is
thus fastened off before the next is made.
My knot-stitch machine has the following arrangements:-First, a link-motion
connecting the excentric rod with the hook spindle, so as to give the hook a
reciprocating circular motion. A crank or other equivalent contrivance may
be used instead of an excentric. The hook takes the thread from the back of
the needle, and carries it nearly round the lower spool, the tension upon the
upper thread brings it entirely round, and enables it to form the knot. The
book is not a peculiarity of this Invention.
Second, the thread of the lower spool is preserved at the proper tension by
passing through an aperture in a fixed part of the spool. The lower spool is
horizontal, and carries the underneath thread.
Third, the centre of the lower spool on which the thread is wound is loose;
by this arrangement, combined with the fixing of the end of the thread, and
its passing through the tension aperture, the spool is conveniently wound
with thread.
Fourth, a motion is given to the upper bobbin to counteract the twisting of s
the thread round itself. The thread of the upper bobbin in being passed
round the under spool has a twist imparted to it by means of a tappet or cam
on the driving shaft; sufficient rotary motion is given to the thread at right
angles to the bobbin axis to entirely counteract the twisting of the thread
round itself. It is preferred to raise the pressure bar by means of a small
lever working on a horizontal axis at the side, the arm of the lever projecting
over the work only when a change of fabric or of direction of stitch has to be
made. The machine is made to have great solidity of construction by using a
single arm to support the pressure bar and the lever carrying the needle, the
said lever being supported on both sides. The thread from the upper bobbin
having to pass completely round the under spool each time a stitch is made, a
spring attached to the needle lever and working a thread lever is used to pull
up the spare thread quickly after the stitch is completed, and is so arranged as
to keep a constant and equable tension on the thread. To work the needle
lever it is preferred to use a roller carried by a face plate on the shaft that
rolls within the curved end of the needle lever.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood the following description
of the annexed Drawings is given.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine, partly in section, showing the

page_text: working parts; Fig. 2 is a view of the machine as seen from underneath;
Fig. 3 is a view (from the bottom) of the link motion, by which the hook
catching hold of the upper thread from behind is worked; Fig. 4 is a top view
of the lower spool and hook, also of the feed motion, the upper plate being
removed; Fig. 5 is a side view of the cloth presser; Fig. 6, three views of
the lower spool. a, plan; b, side view; c, section. Fig. 7 is a side view of
the upper bobbin mounted on a carriage with a vertical spindle, so as to be
acted upon at its projecting part p by a disc d on the driving shaft, or by any
mechanical equivalent. Fig. 8 shows the stitch, the red being the upper, the
blue the lower thread. The needle bar n has the usual up-and-down motion
conveyed to it at suitable times by a disc and roller on the driving shaft. The
upper thread is thus made to perforate the fabric upwards and downwards,
being moved a distance equal to one stitch (by the ordinary feed motion f) just
before it enters the fabric from above, and whilst it is underneath the cloth,
being passed round the lower thread by a hook h (see Figs. 1 and 4), which
receives a to-and-fro rotary motion from a series of links 11, 12, 13, actuated at
the proper time by a crank on the driving shaft working a connecting rod, as
shown in the Drawings. As this hook takes the upper thread from the back,
and as the tension on it completes its passage round the lower spool, it twists
it half round the lower thread, and thus fastens off each stitch as it is made.
The end of the link 13 joined to l¹ works in a guide g;, 1 is made so that it
can pass freely over the centre on which l' works, and thus allows of the hook
attached to the centre of 13 (which is concentric with and below the lower
spool) to be turned round more than three-quarters of a revolution, and back
again for every up-and-down motion of the needle lever n; during its backward
motion the hook does not take hold of the thread, but slides past it.
The lower spool is represented in Fig. 6; it has an aperture for the exit
of the thread in its upper case, and a lug also with a hole in it for the thread;
these combined serve as the tension arrangement for the lower thread, which
would otherwise be forcibly drawn through the fabric by the loop of the upper
thread.
Another peculiarity in the lower spool is, that its centre is loose from its
upper case; this facilitates the winding it with thread; it also prevents the
tendency of the thread to twist or untwist, and renders the tension independent
of the weight of the spool, thus facilitating the action of the machine in sewing,
and securing its equable motion. The motion for counteracting the twisting
of the upper thread is fully represented by Fig. 7.
In Fig. 1 the spring and thread lever are fully shown, the spring & being

page_text: attached to the needle lever n, and the thread levert to the fixed arm that
carries the pressure bar.
Having set forth the nature of my said Invention, and the best method that
I am aware of to carry it out in a useful and practical manner, it must bo
distinctly understood that although I have necessarily described all the parts
of a sewing machine, and many items have been set forth in detail, they have
only been so mentioned to display the more fully my method of carrying out
my Invention, and have not been put forward as claims; it must also be
distinctly understood that many other ways of construction and configurations
may be substituted for those set forth in this Specification; but what I claim
as new and of my Invention is as follows:-
First, the method of communicating the necessary reciprocating rotary
motion to the hook h by means of the links 11, 1, 13, whether they are of the
.shape shown, or of any other, so long as the principle of what is known in
mechanics as a "link motion" is retained.
Second, the method of producing the tension of the lower thread by passing
it through an aperture and a lug in the loose upper casing of the lower spool.
Third, making the lower spool with a loose centre, for the purposes hercin-
before described.
Fourth, the method of pulling up the spare thread of the upper bobbin by
the spring s attached to the needle lever n, combined with the thread lever t,
substantially as described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lewis Hope, have bereunto set my band
and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
said Lewis Hope in the presence of
JAMES FLUKER, Solicitor,
Symond's Inn.
LEWIS HOPE. (L.S.)