IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Legg and Richard Griffith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on
the 10th July 1863.
We, THOMAS LEGG, of Northampton Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Machinist, and RICHARD GRIFFITH, of Exmouth Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
It is well known that considerable difficulty exists in stitching or sewing
up the seams of tubular articles, such as boots, shoes, sleeves, and other
similar tubular articles, by any of the sewing machines at present in use, and
our Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of that class
of sewing machines wherein both needle and shuttle threads are employed,
whereby tubular articles may be as readily stitched or seamed up as any other
description of work without altering the mechanism. We would in the
outset remark, that we are aware that attempts have before been made to
overcome the difficulty by sewing up the seams of tubular articles, but owing
to the defective arrangement of the mechanical parts of such machines no
very successful results have hitherto been obtained therefrom; therefore we
make no claim to the broad principle of sewing up the seams of tubular
articles, our Invention simply consisting in improved arrangements of mecha-
nism for this purpose. The position of the shuttle box or race in our arrange-
ment of mechanism is such, that the shuttle moves to and fro in the same
direction as the work, i. e., parallel thereto (whether tubular or otherwise),
in place of transversely thereof. The arrangement and working of the other

page_text: parts of the mechanism for actuating the needle and feeding forward the
work is, by preference, in machines constructed according to our Invention,
the same or similar to corresponding parts in other machines acting on similar
principles. The bed of the machine is so constructed as to admit of the
shuttle box or race being affixed thereto at right angles to the "arm" and
apparatus for actuating the needle and propeller foot; and one part of our
Invention consists in the arrangement of apparatus for actuating the shuttle,
arranged to work in.the position above described. For this purpose, on the
end of the driving axis, and in.. a. line with the end of-the-box on which the
shuttle works, I fix a crank or cam surface, which by a connecting rod
actuates a slotted plate or frame, and by a pin or stud on a rod or arm
attached to the shuttle entering a curved or inclined slot in the plate or frame,
a to-and-fro movement is communicated to the shuttle, which is caused to
"dwell" at suitable intervals, by altering the direction of the slot at each end
thereof. On each side of the shuttle box a space or opening is left in the
table which supports the bed of the machine, so that when the seams of tubular
articles are being sewn up, they may be passed over or around the shuttle
box which projects from the back of the table, towards the front of the machine,
the parts or edges of the material to be sewn together, resting on the upper
surface of the shuttle box. When the machine is not required for sewing up
tubular articles, then the spaces on each side of the shuttle box may be
closed up by a sliding or filling piece, which by embracing the shuttle box
forms a flat surface of some extent, which serves as a table for ordinary work
the surface of which is flush with the upper surface of the shuttle box.