IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR SEWING AND STITCHING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Oram, of Lark Hill, of Bury, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
SEWING AND STITCHING."
Sealed the 6th December 1867, and dated the 21st June 1867.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Oram at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 21st June 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ORAM, of Bury, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invoution for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR SEWING AND STITCHING," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, adıministrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true
and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Oram, do hereby declare that the
following Completo Specification, under my hand and seal, 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:—

page_text: These improvements relate to the construction and conformation of certain
new paris to a sewing machine patented by Robert Wilson Morrell, the title
of which is "Improvements in Machinery for Sewing and Stitching," dated
the 23rd of March 1865, No. 819.
These improvements are of two distinct characters, the one which relates to
the feeding of the fabrics, as is represented in Fig. 1 in the accompanying
Drawing, which is adapted to quilting of certain goods wherein the batting or
filling is composed of loose flock or animal or vegetable wool, necessitating a
certain space on the feed table to lay the batting on to the lower cloth before
the upper covering is closed upon it to be quilted by the machine. In the
former Patent alluded to the batting or filling is in one continuous roll, the
cloths for bottom, top, and filling come up from their respective rollers below
and pass on towards the needles to be sewn at the same time. In the case
herein referred to the under covering is on the roller marked A, passes up on
to the platform B, leaving the whole space on the platform from C to D to
arrange and adjust the flock, wool, or any other substance for filling, when
the cloth from the roller E unrolls and is passed on towards the needles, and
is sewn, stitched, or quilted together; this constitutes the first part of my
improvements, which are so essential that the class of goods manufactured
could not be sewn in the old machine.
Another feature in such feed is that it is fed in the rear of the needles
instead of the front, as in Morrell's case.
Another important improvement in general sewing machines wherein a
crotchet hook or hooks are used for the purpose of forming what is termed a
chain stitch, being produced by the action of the needle conveying a loop
through the fabric and then receding upward a little to form that loop on the
under side of the cloth in the ordinary way; these loops are then caught by a
series of duck bill crochet hooks, which are placed on a shaft acting all at one
time by the locking movement produced by the action of certain cams. When
these needles in the Morrell machine pass through the fabric and enter the
centre of certain grooves in the top of each duck bill crochet hook they then
catch the loops of the duck "bills," which advances about one-eighth of an
inch to free the needles from the grooves in the duck bills; the cans then
move the duck bills and shaft to the left hand to liberate the duck bills from
the loops. In the present improvements instead of making a groove in the
side of the duck bill crochet hook 1 make the crochet hook in two halves,
and coming together at the point with a recess in such half, so that when the
two halves are brought together forms a central cavity to pass the needle

page_text: down through, so that instead of the sidral movement as in the former case
the crochet hook recedes and the needle slips between the two halves and is
released in a central lino with the point of the hooks.
The several Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, represent the construction of the new form
of crochet hook, and 6, 7, 8, and 9 represent the hook and needle in their
several positions while making the stitch.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a back view of the same; Fig. 4 a
side view, Fig. 5 a top view of the crochet hook. a, the body of the hook
b, the spring fastened to the side by the screw c; the top of this spring is
formed into the other half of the crochet hook, which with the spring clips
the two points together, leaving a cavity d (one half of which is in each half
of the hook) for the needle to pass down through with the loop, as shewn in
Fig. 8, and in Fig. 7 the needle is represented just entering the cavity; Fig. 9
represents the needle partially released from the duck bill crochet hook; and
Fig. 6 represents the needle fully released from between the clip points of the
hook, receding back in a straight line without the sidral motion of the duck
bill shaft to release the needle from the side of the hook, as is the case in
Morrell's machine referred to.
The two Figs. 10 and 11 represent the duck bill crochet hook in another
form, the difference being in construction, the spring & being at the back,
and moves from back to front during the releasing and passing of the needle
from between the clips, but is in every respect the same as the one described
and shewn in the several Figures, but with that exception.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would state that I do not restrict myself
to the precise details herein described and shown in the Drawing annexed as
long as the main features of my Invention are maintained; but what I claim
as new and of my Invention is,-
Firstly, the general construction and position of the feeding platform with
the relative positions of the rollers for the top and bottom cloths so as to give
room to feed the butting of flock, wool, or any other fibrous material on to the
bottom cloth which proceeds from the roller A before the top cloth is closed
on to it and the butting combined, which proceeds from the roller E, as is
fully described and shown in the Drawings.
Secondly, the peculiar conformation and arrangement of the duck bill
crochet hooks with the point in two halves, and the opening between such
halves for the needle to pass through with the loop, so that by the receding of
the duck bill in a straight line the needle is released from between the points

page_text: instead of using a sidral movement, as in the former machine of Morrell's
referred to, all of which is fully shown in the several Figures and described in
this Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Oram, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 18th day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.
HENRY ROSCOE,
witness to the signature
of Henry Oram.
HENRY ORAM. (L.S.)