IMPROVEMENTS IN EMBROIDERING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest de Pass, of Fleet Chambers, 68, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
EMBROIDERING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING MACHINES." A communication
from abroad by Daniel McLean Somers, of New York, in the United States
of America, Machinist.
Sealed the 4th June 1878, and dated the 4th December 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest De Pass at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th December 1877.
ERNEST DE PASS, of Fleet Chambers, GS, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN EMBROIDERING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING
MACHINES" A communication from abroad by Daniel McLean Somers, of New
York, in the United States of America, Machinist.
This Invention relates to that class of attachments for sewing machines which,
secured in place of the ordinary presser foot, manipulates a pattern throad, and lays
the same in an ornamental form or figure, which is secured upon the fabric by the
sewing mechanism of the sewing machine.
It consists essentially of a reciprocating thread carrier, which draws the pattern
thread over or against a stationary or moveable stop in one direction, and of a
moving guide which directs the pattern thread in another direction. The two
instrumentalities operating to pay out a quantity of pattern thread, lay the same
behind the sewing needle, hold it in position until the needle descends before it
to form the point of its attachments upon the fabric, and then to draw up the said
pattern thread until it forms an ornamental loop held fast upon the fabric by the
sewed stitch.
It further consists in mechanism for imparting the motions to the thread carrier
and moving guide, and in take-ups and tensions, and in general details of
construction.
The instrumentalities forming the improved device are all supported by a metal
framework, consisting of a shank, a hub, a presser foot, and an arm, and is attached

page_text: to the presser bar of the sewing machine by means of the hub, and takes the place
of the ordinary presser foot.
The presser foot is perforated by a work orifice, in which the sewing needle
operates, and through which the work may be inspected as the pattern is being
formed This work orifice extends through the presser-foot from the front end
thereof, and is divided about centrally by a narrow cross bar, which extends nearly
across the same, and whose end is shaped to form a stop, against which the pattern
thread is drawn. The presser foot is extended sidewise, and has formed in it a
rabbeted or grooved way, in which moves the reciprocating thread carrier, so con-
trived that its forward end forms a hook and a stripper arm. To the extended
part of the presser foot the noving thread guide, having at its extremity a guide
eye, is pivoted to the framework, but it may slide in a groove in the presser foot,
or it may be connected both to the presser foot and to the carrier.
The thread carrier and thread guide are in one arrangement actuated by a
vibrating lever pivoted to the framework and driven by a lever operated by the
movements of the needle bar, to which it is connected by a link having an
elongated slot, which embraces the needle screw (by this arrangement the vertical
reciprocations of the latter lever transmit horizontal vibrations to the former lever),
and thus provides a lost motion, that is to say, the needle may descend to pass
before the pattern thread and enter the fabric, thus carrying the sewing thread over
the pattern thread before the vibrating lover begins to move to actuate the instru-
mentalities which manipulate the said pattern thread. This lever is slotted at its
forward end to receive a pin projecting from the thread carrier, thus causing the
latter to reciprocate. This vibrating lever in the above arrangement is provided
with a second slot, which receives a pin projecting from an arm of the thread guide,
thus causing it to be vibrated in a horizontal plane.
The pattern thread passes from a spool, around a tension disc, and over a hook
attached to the framework of the device, and is then threaded through a guide
eye or hook on the vibrating lever, then through the eye of the moving thread
guide.
In order to prevent any irregularity in the pattern thread, as where worsted
and the like is used, an auxiliary take-up may be required to produce a perfect
regularity in the work. This take-up may be provided with a spring attached to
the vibrating lever, so as to overlie its guide eye or hook, and has the pattein thread
passed through its bent end; or a spring attached to the framework, so that its
hooked end shall stand between the spool and the eye of the guide, may have the
pattern thread passed through its bent end, thence under a fixed hook to the
guide eye.
A twist controller is supplied to the thread guide, and consists of a plate pivoted
thereto at its rear end. It is raised in its centre, where it is pierced with a hole
to permit the passage of the thread, and it is bent down at its forward end to bear
over the guide eye with a spring pressure. Its function is to prevent the twist
which is imparted to the pattern thread by the manipulation of it by the carrier
and thread guide, and force the same to remain in that part of the pattern thread
which is beyond the guide eye or sewed to the fabric. This controller will prevent
any accumulation of twist in the pattern thread between the thread guide and the
supply spool, which would prevent the perfect operation of the device.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Ernest Do Pass in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th June
1878.
ERNEST DE PASS, of Fleet Chambers, 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EMBROIDERING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by Daniel M°Lean Somers, of New
York, in the United States of America, Machinist.
This Invention relates to that class of mechanical attachments for sewing
machines which when secured in place of the usual presser foot manipulates a
pattern thread and lays the same upon the face of the fabric in an ornamental form
or figure, the same being interlocked by the usual sowing thread, and thereby
secured in place upon the fabric.
The Invention consists essentially of a reciprocating thread guide, which draws
the pattern thread in one direction into the path of an oscillating thread carrier,
which in its movements catches and carries the pattern thread in another direction,
and of a notched vibrating reverse thread carrier, which moving in unison with the
first-named thread carrier catches the loop of pattern thread, carrying it in a reverse
direction. These three instrumentalities operate in unison to pay out a stated
quantity of the pattern thread to lay the saine behind the sewing needle to hold it
in position until the needle descends before it to form the point of its location and
attachment upon the face of the fabric, and then to draw up the said pattern thread
until it forms an ornamental loop, which is held in place upon the fabric by the
usual stitch of sowing.
A further improvement, which is in some instances necessary to the perfect
operation of all classes of embroidery attachments for sewing machines, as well as to
the present Invention, is contained in the peculiar arrangement of the device for
carrying the thread spool, it permitting the thread to be drawn from either end
thereof without revolving the spool, thereby permitting the realization of the
tendency of the thread to twist as it is drawn off the spool, or to dispense there-
with, as the case may call for.
The Invention further consists in certain arrangements of mechanical devices for
imparting the necessary movements to the thread carriers and guide, all of which,
together with the details of construction and operation, will be herein-after fully
pointed out and described.
In the Diawings, which form an essential part of this Specification,-
Figure 1 represents a plan view of one arrangement of apparatus in which the
Invention is fully embodied, Figure 2 is a right-hand side elevation of the same.
Figures 3 and 4 are detached views of the reverse thread carrier.
And Figures 5 and 6 are views showing two modifications of the Invention.
The same letters and figures of reference indicate similar parts in all the Figures.
The several instrumentalities forming this improved embroidery attachment to
sewing machines are all supported by a metal frame, which consists of a shank 16,
a hub 15, a presser foot 14, and an arm 19, all of these parts being cast in one piece
and afterwards finished to receive the operative parts of the mechanism. This frame
is attached to the presser bar 18 of a sewing machine by means of the hub 15, and
takes the place of the usual presser foot, the hub 15 carrying a securing screw, by
means of which it is hold fast in place on the presser bar 18 of the sewing machine.
The presser foot 14 is provided with an opening 4, through which the sewing
needle operates, and it also permits the work to be inspected as the pattern is
formed upon the fabric. This opening 4 extends through the presser foot from the
front end thereof, and the various thread carners and guide pass over it in their
movements. From the right-hand side of this presser foot a frame arm & is extended
laterally for the purposes as will herein-after be fully explained.
The reciprocating thread carrier 12 is forked at its forward end, the pointed arm 5
of which is slightly raised above the plane of the face of the carrier. This carrier 12

page_text: is rigidly attached to the forward end of the reciprocating and oscillating lever 13,
which is pivoted at 22 on an arm 51, projecting from the arm 19 of the frame. The
movement of the lever 13 on its pivot of course causes the thread carrier 12 to
oscillate in the arc of a circle resting upon the face of the frame arm & in its
movements
The thread guide 2 is pivoted at the extreme end of the frame arm d, and at its
forward end is provided with a guide eye or hook 8. Centrally and longitudinally
in this thread guide 2 is formed a curved cam slot e, into which an operating pin a
enters and plays, such operating pin being at its base firmly secured to the
oscillating lever 13 and carried thereby.
The reverse thread carrier 3 is pivoted at 22 on the arm 51, which projects fiom
the arm 19 of the frame. The forward end of this carrier has a notch b which
catches the thread, as will presently be more fully set forth. The lever g, carrying
the carrier f, has an actuating arm h forked or having a slot at its forward end,
and is moved in the manner as will be herein-after explained.
The thread carrier 12 is reciprocated in the arc of a circle described by the end
of lever 13 by means of the swinging of such lever on its pivot at 22.
Motion being imparted to lever 13 by means of vibrating arm 23, forked or
slotted at its forward end, into which fork or slot the arm 53 of the actuating lever
17 enters and plays, whereby the vertical reciprocations of the latter lever transmit
horizontal oscillations to the former
The thread guide 2 is moved on its pivot c on frame arm & by means of an
operating pin a, which projects upwardly fioin the oscillating lever 13, and entors
and plays in the cam slot e in the body of the thread guide 2, and as the pin a
moves to the right and left in the arc of the circle described by the lever 13, the
peculiar shape of the curved cam slot e causes the thread guide 2 to oscillate on its
pivot c. The straight part at both ends of the cam slot e permitting a stand still
at the extremes of the inovements of the actuating pin a, as will presently be fully
explained.
The reverse thread carrier 3 receives its movements as follows:-The lever g, on
the end of which the notched carrier f is mounted, is of the curved form, as shown
best in Figures 3 and 4; it is pivoted at 22 on the arm 51 of the frame, a short
arm h being a part of the lever g, extending forward, and is slotted or forked at its
extreme end, a depending lever or arm 54 entering and playing in such fork or slot
as the actuating medium.
The two thread carriers and guide are all actuated by means of a vibrating lever
17, which is operated by incans of the reciprocating movoments of the needle bar
21 of the sewing machine, to which it is connected by a link 10, whose elongated
slot 9 embraces the needle screw, and provides for a loss of motion for the purposes
which will herein-after be more fully alluded to. This lever 17 is pivoted at 52
(see Figure 2) on the arm 19, and is provided with two aims 53 and 54, arm 53
extending upwards and plying in between the forked arms i, i, of the extension
arm 23 of the lever 13, thereby communicating motion to such lever in the manner
as before set forth.
The short arm 54, which depends below the pivot point 52, enters and plays in
between the forked arms or slot of the short actuating lever h, thereby com-
municating tho proper motion thereto. The arm 19 of the framework supports a
thread spool holder and proper tension device. The tension device 33 being of the
usual frictional glass or metal discs, and controlled by the set screw 32, as is common
in all sewing machines, and is mounted on a pin or shaft which projects from the
side of the arm 19 of the frame.
The spool 37, carrying the pattern-thread, is mounted upon a rod 38, bent, as is
shown in the Drawings, so as to present the spool at an angle of about 30 degrees,
the spool being retained in place thereupon by means of a removeable plate or dise
39 which is applied to the rod 38 after the spool has been placed in position, a
guide eye 40 being provided to properly guide the thread as it is drawn from the
spool.

page_text: It is plainly apparent that the thread can thus be drawn from the spool at either
end, conducted to the tension device, and from thence to the operating devices
without revolving the spool. The nature of the twist of the commom spool thread is
such that when it is drawn from one end of the spool, or removed by revolving the
spool, the extra twist increases so fast that is liable to cause unevenness in the work,
while, if drawn from the other end of the spool in the manner herein shown, the
twist is decreased, or increase prevented, thereby insuring more perfect work.
In the case of using silk thread it is very advantageous to draw it from the
spool so as to slightly increase the twist for the reason that the embroidery
work is found to be laid much better than if the silk is drawn from the spool by
unwinding; the extra twist is obtained by reversing the spool when mounting it in
position.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The usual needle of the sewing
machine having made and fastened a stitch in the fabric is then raised to its highest
position; the fabric being fed forward by the usual feeding devices the sewing
thread will be stretched through the needle eye down to the fabric in an angular
position. The pattern thread is then taken from the tension and passed through a
guide eye or hook 50, projecting from the frame 16; it is then threaded through a
guide eye or hook 11, on the lever 13, thence through the guide eye 8 in the thread
guide 2 so as to lie before the stretched sewing thread and at a point behind the
plane in which the sewing needle reciprocates. The descent of the needle will then
operate to form a stitch and fasten the end of said pattern thread down on to the
fabric. As the needle bar descends the actuating screw in needlo bar 21 operates
the lever 17, causing the lever 13 to oscillate and operate the thread guide 2, and
in its movements to carry the pattern thread into the path of the throad carrier 12,
which, at this juncture, advances and catches the pattern thread in the notch
formed by its arms 5 and 6, the pattern thread passing up through the jaw, and
Jaying over the arm 5; the motion of the carrier is continued to the left, the reverse
carrier fin the meantime advancing in unison therewith to the right, and catches
the pattern thread below the advancing carrier 12 and in front of the sewing
needle, and by the continued movements of the two carriers, until they attain the
position as shown in Figure 1, forming an open or spread loop, triangular in shape,
as shown in the Drawing. The needle bar now completes its descent, the needle
entering the opened loop before it is cast off from the grasp of the two carriers,
which casting-off takes place the instant their reverse movements take place. The
loop of pattern thread, after being cast-off from the carriers, is taken up mound the
sewing needle by means of the take-up action of the thread guide 2 in its reverse
movement, assisted by the lever 13 with its hook 11.
It will be understood that the size of the sewing needle will thus be the incans
of governing the size of the embroidery loop; if the loop or figure is to be small,
small pattern thread and sewing needle must be used, and vice versa if they are to
be larger
The peculiar movements of the thread guidos, carriers and vibrating lever moving
them, and so turned and arranged that they have full control of the pattern thread,
paying it out in quantity so exact that all slack is taken up by the guide and
lever 13, and drawn closely but not too tightly about the needle, this is important
in order that the laid work shall be perfectly uniform, otherwise the loops made.
would vary, destroying the symmetrical precision desired in this class of
ornamentation.
Various modifications of the instrumentalities herein-before described may be
used, although the movements are substantially the same and tend to produce
precisely the same results. In Figure 5, the thread guide 2 is bifurcated, the long
arm 69 carrying at its extreme the guide eye 8, and is pivoted on a stud 70,
projecting from the frame arm d, the short actuating arm 71 projecting from its
pivot point 70 forward to and between the arins 72 and 73 of the oscillating
lover 13, and are operated thereby, the arm 71 playing in between the arms 72
and 73 of the vibrating lever 13. As such lever retires, arm 72 strikes the arm 71,

page_text: throwing the long arm forward until the guide eye 8 therein is in the path of the
thread carrier 12, in which position it stands until the lever 13 moves in the
opposite direction, when its arm 73 strikes the lever 71, which action at once retires the
thread guide to its first position, the space in betwen the arm 72 and 73 allowing a
certain amount of stand still to the thread guide 2 while the thread carrier 12 locks
its thread with the reverse carrier; during this period the triangular open loop is
formed, and entered, and secured, by the sewing needle.
The thread carrier 12 is curved in form, and is rigidly attached by means of
arms 72 and 73 to the forward end of the oscillating lever 13, which is pivoted
A curved race way
at 22 in the same manner as in the previously described case.
is cut into the upper face of the frame arm d, and when the lever 13 is secured on its
pivot the carrier 12 rests and travels in this race way, its curve being on the arc of
the circle described by the end of the lever 13. The reverse thread carrier is
constructed, mounted, and actuated in precisely the same manner as that shown
and described in the first instance
In the modification as shown in Figure 6 the thread carrier 12 is inserted and
reciprocates in a straight race way. It is provided with two short arms 80 and 81,
which project upwardly a sufficient height so that the end of the lever 13 (which in
this modification is perfectly straight) may enter and play in between them, and
thereby impart a reciprocating motion to the carrier. The thread guide 2 is also
substantially of the same form as that described in the case of the modification
illustrated in Figure 5, its short actuating arm also passing in between the
operating arms 80 and 81, which control the movements of the carrier 12
The reverse thread carrier in this instance is also of the same general form and
construction as described in the first arrangement. The actuating mediums in all
of the various modifications are the same, and the results as produced in the finished
work precisely the same in all cases.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First. The general arrangement and combination of parts constituting the
improved embroidering attachment for sewing machines as herein described, and
substantially as shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The modified arrangement of embroidering attachment for sewing
machines as herein described, and substantially as illustrated in Figure of the
accompanying Drawings.
Third. The modified arrangement of embroidering attachment for sewing
machine as herein described, and substantially as shown in Figure 6 of the
annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest de Pass, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year One thousand oight hundred and
seventy-eight.