CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jeremiah Keith, of Rhode Island, of the
United States of America, for the Invention of "CERTAIN NEW AND
USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 18th February 1876, and dated the 31st December 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Jeremiah Keith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 31st December 1875, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEREMIAH
KEITH, of Rhode Island, of the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention of " CERTAIN NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jeremiah Keith, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and scal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed in and by the following statement :-
The first part of my Invention relates to a reciprocating work feeder |
in combination with a separate presser, provided with mechanism for
raising and holding it off the work when the needle may be therein, in
order that the feeder may be moved backward underneath the work, and
the latter during such movement be sustained by the needle, all as
herein-after specified.
The second part of my Invention relates to mechanism or a com-
bination of instrumentalitics by which a sewing machine of the needle
and shuttle kind may be used, not only for the performance of plain
stitching, but also for that of "button hole" stitching as well as
" embroidering."
Plate 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a sewing machine
provided with the first part of my Invention, it being what is termed a
needle and shuttle machine, such part of my Invention being equally
applicable to various other kinds of sewing machines. In said Plate 1,
Figure 1 is a top view; Figure 2, a front elevation, and Figure 3, a
transverse section of the said machine.
In carrying out my improvement the work feeder has an intermittent
reciprocating motion or forward and backward movements only, and the
presser is to be provided with mechanism for raising and holding it off
the work when the needle may be therein, the same being so that the
feeder shall be moved backward while the work is held by the needle.
From this it will be seen that the feeder has no up-and-down motions, or
motions away from and toward the work besides its motions back and
forth, that is to say, it is not what sewing machine manufacturers term
a "four motion feeder," as it has but two motions, in consequence of
which there is less wear and friction of the parts in operation, and the
feeding mechanism is much simplified comparatively speaking.
In the above-mentioned Drawings of Plate 1, A denotes the table, and
B, the frame of the machine; C is the needle bar or carrier; D, the
presser, and E, the feeder. The said feeder is fixed to a lever F that
swings horizontally on its fulcrum a, and at its rear part bears against a
cam 6 fixed on the driving shaft G, such cam being to move the lever in

page_text: one direction, a spring d arranged between the lever and the frame
serving to move the said lever in the opposite way. To the presser
another lover e is pivoted at or near its front arm, such lever e having
its fulcrum supported by the neck 7 of the frame. A small cam or
wiper / fixed on the driving shaft serves to operate the said lever in onc
direction. A spring i connected with the lever and the frame answers
to effect a counter movement of the lover.
The mechanism for operating the needle or the shuttle being no part
of my Invention need not be described.
At the proper time, while the needle may be in the work, the presser
is to be raised up a little or off the work sufficiently to relieve it and
the feeder from the pressure of the said presser. This having been done,
and while the needle is in the work so as to hold it firmly in place, the
feeder is to be moved backward underneath the work, after which the
presser is to drop back upon the work, the needle to risc out of it and
the feeder to be advanced, so as to feed the work forward the necessary
distance for the creation of a new stitch.
Plate 2 of the Drawings represents a sewing machine of the kind
mentioned, provided with the second part of my Invention. In said
Plate 2 Figure 1 denotes a top view; Figures 2 and 3, opposite side
elevations; Figure 4, a rear end elevation; and Figure 5, a front end
view of such machine. Such other Figures as may be necessary to a
further representation of the said second part of my Invention are given
in said Plate 2, and are herein-after explained.
In the machine as shown by the said Drawings of Plate 2 the work
feeder has for feeding the work lengthwise of it a reciprocating or
forward and backward motion, without any vertical motion, and besides
it has when used for embroidery or button-hole stitching lateral or
transverse movements. The presser is provided with mechanism for
raising it and holding it off the work when the needle may be therein,
the same being for the feeder to be moved backward under the work,
while the latter may be held stationary by the needle.
In embroidering or in making the button-hole stitching the presser,
after a retreat of the feeder, drops down upon the work; the needle
next rises out of the work, and the feeder is moved laterally a short
distance and moves the work laterally such distance; next the needle
descends and passes into the work and the shuttle passes through the
:

page_text: •
loop of the needle; next the needle rises out of the work, and the
feeder is moved laterally in the opposite way to which it previously
moved laterally; in the meantime such fccder is advanced, the com-
pound motion of the feeder giving to it and the cloth an oblique
movement, the resultant of the advance and lateral movements; next
the needle descends and passes into the work, the shuttle passes
through the loop of the needle, the presser rises off the work, and
the feeder retreats. The product of their operations is the button-hole
or embroidery stitch.
In making "plain stitching" the feeder has no lateral movements,
but only an intermittent reciprocating forward and backward motion,
there being combined with the mechanism for producing this latter
motion one for effecting in conjunction with it the intermittent lateral
motions of the feeder, as herein-before stated.
In the Drawings of Plate 2 A denotes the table and B the frame
of the machine; C is the needle bar or carrier; D, the presser; and
B, the feeder. The said fceder is fixed to a lever F, which with the
feeder is shown in top view in Figure 6. Furthermore, the feeder
projects through the table top a, which has in it an opening 6 of sufficient
width and length to allow of the necessary longitudinal and lateral
movements of the feeder (see Figure 7, which is a top view of the table
top), there being projected into the opening a perforated needlo guide c,
down through which the needle passes.
Figure 8 denotes a view of the shuttle and its race and the parts
beneath the table top, the said race being shown at G, the shuttle
at H, and its driver at I. The said driver is pivoted to a con;
nection rod K, that in turn is pivoted to one side of a grooved pulley
or driving wheel L fixed on the main shaft M. Aside of the wheel L
and fixed on the said shaft M is the grooved cam N for actuating the
lever O of the needle carrier C. To the presser another lever P is
jointed, the fulcrum of the said lever being projected from the neck d
of the frame. This lever has attached to its rear arm and to the said
neck da retractive spring e.
Furthermore the lever P at or near its lower and is pivoted to the middle
of another and shorter lever Q (scc Figure 1, and also Fig. 9, which is a
a section taken through the said lever Q and its operative cams S and T
of the main and auxiliary shafts M and R. The lever is slotted, as

page_text: shown at f, and pivots on a study that projects from the reverser W and
goes through the slot f. Besides the cam S for actuating the lover or
auxiliary reverser Q, there is aside of such cam and fixed upon the
shaft M another cam B' which serves to operate the feeder lever or
move it laterally on its fulcrum, a spring a' arranged, as shown, serving
to produce counter motion of the feeder. The auxiliary shaft R has
fixed to it a gear U to engage with a pinion V fixed on the main shaft M,
the wheel having double the number of teeth that the pinion has,
whereby the shaft M, while being turned, makes two revolutions to one
of the shaft R.
The reverser W (shown in Figures 1, 2, and 4, and also in top view in
Figure 10, and in front elevation in Figure 11) is connected with tho
feeder lever F by a screw which goes through the part i¹ of the said
The reverser is also connected with
pivoted to the lover and formed as
The stud g provided with a screw
reverser and screws into the lever.
the feeder lever by a slotted latch X
shown in side view in Figure 12.
goes through the locking slot i, k, l, of the latch, and receives upon the
screw a clamp nut m. There is fixed on the auxiliary shaft Ra serics
of cams T. Y. Z. A¹.