AN IMPROVED SEWING MACHINE
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Direks at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
February 1853. A communication.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, HENRY DIRCKS, of the Patent Agency Office, 32, Moorgate Street,
in the City of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the.
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SEWING MACHINE," communicated to
me by a foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
In the several methods, firstly, of carrying the shuttle therein em-.
ployed; secondly, of drawing the stitch by the shuttle; thirdly, of
controlling the thread during the downward motion of the needle by
means of a friction pad, making a slight pressure on the thread as, the
needle descends; fourthly; providing an adjustable arm for carrying a
friction bobbin, from which the thread is drawn by the needle; and,
fifthly, of feeding the cloth. or other material to be sewn during the
operation. I shall now proceed to give a particular description of the
several parts of the Invention, reference being made to the accom-
panying Drawings, in which the same letters indicate. like parts in
each...

page_text: Fig. 1, a front elevation of the machine. A, the frame. B, the
needle on the lower end of the carrier. C, the thread from D, the
bobbin turning on E, a stud, and held by friction to prevent its freely
turning. The thread passes through F, a guide attached to and
moving with the needle and carrier, and thence it passes through
the eye of the needle some distance above the point. An arm G,
carrying the bobbin, secured to the frame by H, a screw, so that the
bobbin can be elevated and depressed. I, and J, positions in which
the bobbin may be placed. K, a grooved or serrated wheel for feeding
the cloth or other material. L, a plate for pressing the cloth to K.
M, a sliding bar carrying L. N, a helical spring for forcing down M.
P, a lever, having a knuckle jointed to it, and turning on the hub
of K (both shown in Fig. 2). R, a cam actuating the said hub &
knuckle, and acts on T, the arm of a rock shaft, which carries V,
another arm connected by W, a link with the lever P. X, a spring
which bears on the arm P, of the lever P. The shuttle is semi-cylin-
drical, with the forward end pointed, & the back end rounded:
slides in a groove in the table of the frame, and is embraced between
the ends of a driver.
It
Fig. 2, a view of the arrangement of the feeding wheel for insuring
accuracy. K, the feeding wheel. P, and P, a bent lever, whose
fulcrum is formed by the hub of the wheel K, on which it rests, and
when in action forms a solid connection with the wheel. The hole in
the bent lever is a little oblong as at A'. The arm P', has a groove in
it, in which there is an adjustable sliding pawl. O, a spring knuckle,
and 9, the hub of the wheel.
In this machine the shuttle driver is attached to and operated by a
carriage adapted to slide in appropriate grooves in the frame; the
carriage is formed with a cam groove in which fits and runs the crank
pin of a wheel on the cam shaft. The thread, as it passes from the
loop on the needle carrier to the needle, passes under a spring pad J',
Fig. 1, attached to the frame, making a gentle pressure on it in such
manner as to cause it to press upon the thread when required, and
then to be relieved, while the needle is passing through the cloth. to.
Instead of being.
prevent the thread from being unnecessarily worn.

page_text: permanently fixed, it has an arm projecting up from it to a fulcrum,
whence it bends off at right angles for the distance of two inches,'more
or less, and thence the arm descends by another bend at right angles,
parallel with the part on the other side of the fulcrum, making it a-U
formed figure, the end opposite the pad reaching down behind the cam
wheel that moves the needle bar, by means of a cam, on the face of it
next the end of the pad lever, being so formed as to cause the pad to be
pressed against the thread and relieved at intervals. The pad is adjusted
by a block, and its action is an alternate seizing and releasing of the
thread at proper intervals. The holding of the thread by the friction pad
during the descent of the needle is necessary to insure the carrying of
the thread through the cloth in the same position relatively to the
needle, and thus insure the laying of the stitches in the same line. As the
least play in the joints of the arrangement for feeding or supplying the
material to be stitched would cause irregular work, to obtain accuracy,
be the stitches ever so fine, the feeding apparatus or wheel is to be con-
structed as described in Fig. 2. The method of carrying the shuttle
consists in operating the same by a driver between the ends of which
the shittle lies with a slight play, so that when the driver acts on the
back end of the shuttle to force it through the loop formed by the
thread on the needle there is-sufficient space between the forward endl
of the driver and the shuttle for the passage of the thread, and at the
end of this motion the shuttle remains in a state of rest for an instant,
whilst the driver receives a slight back movement to permit the
passage of the thread between the back end of the shuttle and the"
driver, when the needle draws the stitch, the drawing of which by the
shuttle is effected by giving it, after the needle has been drawn out of
the loop, a slight additional forward movement as the needle is com-
pleting its upward movement, and at the time the feed motion is given
to the cloth. The thread from the friction bobbin must pass through a..
guide connected with the needle carrier, so that as the needle rises the
thread shall be drawn tight to form the stitch. By the employment of
the friction pad sufficient resistance is presented to the thread as the
needle descends to prevent the making of slack above the cloth, and
yet not sufficient to prevent the needle from drawing the thread through

page_text: to make the loop below, and when the needle rises there is no
tendency to draw out the loop, the friction pad simply holding the
thread in place. !. By placing the bobbin on an adjustable arm, and
thence carrying a thread through a guide on the carrier, by simply
shifting, the position of the bobbin, the length of thread for forming
the loop can be either longer or shorter than the range of motion of
the needle.
Having thus described. the various parts. of the improvement, what
I especially claim is, namely:-
First, giving to the shuttle an additional forward motion after it has
been stopped to close the loop for the purpose of drawing the stitch tight;
when such additional motion is given at and in combination with the
feed motion of the cloth in the reverse direction and the final upward
motion of the needle, so that the two threads shall be drawn tight at
the same time as described..
Second, controlling the thread during the onward motion of 'the.
needle by the combination of a friction pad, to prevent the slack above
the cloth with the eye on the needle carrier for drawing back the
thread for the purposes and in the manner substantially as described.
Third, placing the bobbin from which the needle is supplied with
thread on an adjustable arm attached to. the framework, when this is.
combined with the carrying of the said thread through an eye or guide
attached to and moving with the needle carrier, whereby any desired
length of thread can be given for the formation of the loop, without
varying the range of motion of the needle as described.
Fourth, the peculiar arrangement of the cut-off friction pad con-
structed and operating as described; and,
Fifth, the construction and arrangement of the feeding apparatus as
described.