IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING MACHINES." -A com-
munication from abroad by Messieurs Victor Febvre, Pouget and
Bonniot, of Lyons, France.
Sealed the 5th May 1876, and dated the 30th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th November 1875.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to driving any number of sewing machines from
a common source of power in such manner that each machine will be
rendered independant of the others, and may be driven at any speed
desired, or gradually or suddenly started or stopped at the will of the
operator without affecting the motion of the remainder.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
Her special license, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Melville Clark, 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 "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SEWING
MACHINES,' a communication to me from abroad by Messieurs Victor
Febvre, Pouget and Bonniot, of Lyons, France, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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 immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW, YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :—
It is well known that the ordinary treadle motion for driving sewing
machines not only subjects the operator to great fatigue, but also gives
rise to peculiar maladies after continual use. With a view to obviate
these objections it has been proposed to operate a number of sewing
machines from a single source of power, the operator simply guiding the
work, and thus avoiding all exertion and fatigue on his part; but the
great impediment to the adoption of this mode of working is that a motor
for driving a number of independent machines should have continuous
motion at a uniform speed, while on the other hand each machine to be
operated by the motor must, in order to meet the requirements of the

page_text: Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to
be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The employment, in combination with a slack belt for trans-
mitting motion from a motor shaft to a sewing machine, of a tightening
pulley or device for obtaining a variable speed of the machine, sub-
stantially as set forth.
2nd. The employment, in combination with the tightening device, of
a brake connected adjustably thereto, as described, so that both brake
and tightener may be operated by the mere pressure of the foot on the
same pedal, substantially as shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.