IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES."―A
communication from abroad by Walter Davis Richards, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1862.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,.
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to increase the efficiency and simplyfy the
construction of that class of sewing machines which produce what is known'
as the shuttle stitch. To this end instead of using a shuttle, the capacity of
which to carry thread is very limited, I mount in a case carried by a bracket
arm below the table of the machine a bobbin holder of sufficent capacity to
receive a reel of thread. This bobbin holder is open at the centre to receive
the vertical needle on its descent, and it is provided with lateral A-shaped
projections for spreading the loop formed by the vertical needle, an opening

page_text: being made in the side of the supporting case to allow of these A-shaped pro-
jections standing out beyond the case. Keyed on the extremity of the driving
shaft is a disc, to which is attached a bracket. This bracket serves to carry
a segmental wire guard for preventing the entanglement of the threads. The
bracket also forms a bearing for a spindle which carries a hook for taking up
the loop of the vertical needle and passing it around the bobbin, the A-projec-
tions of the bobbin holder opening the loop that it may pass round the bobbin.
This hook is made to rock on its axis, so that it may advance and retire as
required by means of a segment rack carried by a bent lever attached to the
dise before mentioned, and bearing upon a fixed cam surrounding the driving
shaft. A small pinion on the spindle that carries the hook gearing into the
segment rack communicates an axial motion to the hook, which motion is
derived from a spring (on the disc) which constantly presses the bent lever
into contact with the cam, and the reaction of the cam when its increasing
radius is presented to the bent lever. The drawing off of the lock thread or
bobbin thread is regulated by a suitable tension spring, and the bobbin rotates
simply by the drag of the thread.
As an improved feed apparatus a rocking bar is mounted below the table,
and furnished at its extremity with a roughened surface, which is split to
allow the vertical needle to pass through it, and projects upwards through the
table, vertical and lateral reciprocating motions are given, to this feed bar by
means of cams on the driving shaft, one cam (which is bored with an oblong
centre to allow for its adjustment excentrically) being embraced by a fork
from the feed bar, and the other acting on a pendent projection of the bar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal. Patent Office on
the 11th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I; ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most: Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date, the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixtli year.
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant
unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or.

page_text: such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain. the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to bo 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
'This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
consists in providing the means whereby the use of the ordinary shuttle may
be dispensed with, and the consequent necessity of rewinding the thread
removed, while at the same time a regular shuttle stitch, alike upon both sides
of the cloth and of an elastic character, is produced. By reason of these
improvements the machine may be run much longer than heretofore without
stopping to obtain a fresh supply of thread, as an ordinary spool containing
two hundred yards can be used in it, while the ordinary shuttle will not hold
more than fifty yards. The machine is also very simple, compact, and strong,
and much less complicated than the shuttle machine, while possessing all its
advantages, much less liable to get out of repair, and its operation is less
noisy, and can be readily understood by any person of ordinary capacity.
The Invention further comprises a means for giving the requisite motions
to the feed by the use of the spring cam feeding device herein-after described,
which is much stronger, and at the same time more simple, and less liable to
get out of repair than those in ordinary use.
་་
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved
sewing machine as seen from the under side of the table; Fig. 2 is a side
elevation, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same; Fig. 4 is
a plan view of the spring feeder herein-after described; Fig. 5 is a top view
of the bobbin or spool holder; Figures 6 and 7 are side views, and Fig. 8 is
a sectional view of the same; Figures 9 and 10 are side views of the circular

page_text: head or drum, with hooks, springs, spring arm, cam, rack, and pinion, to be
hereafter described; Fig. 11 is a section of the spring cam feeding device;
Fig. 12 is a view of a cam for operating the book.
The table of the machine is shewn at A, to which is bolted the standard or
goose-neck B; below the table is mounted the driving shaft C, from which
motion is communicated to the vibrating lever C¹ (which rocks on a fulcrum
carried by the standard B) by a pulley D and connecting rod E, furnished
with a ball-and-socket joint F (see Figures 2 and 3). The driving shaft C
. revolves in bracket bearings G, G', and is provided with a circular head or
drum at its front end, which is secured to it by a tapering bearing a and
screw b, as seen in Fig. 3. Attached to the rear side of this circular head H,
(Fig. 10,) is a spring arm I, terminating in a segmental rack j. This spring
arm I is connected to a stud 3 on the inner side of tho circular head H
(Fig. 9) by a screw d, which passes through the head II and screws into the
arm.I, thus attaching the stud to the arm I very securely. A plate spring e
is screwed to the inner side of the head H, and presses against the corner or
projection c¹¹ of the stud c³, thus pressing the arm I towards the centre of the
head H and against the cam J, which is attached to the bearing G¹ of the
machine. The circular head H is also provided with a hook K and a
guider L. The book K is attached to one end of a short rod or shaft a²,
which passes through the periphery of the head H, and to the rear end of this
rod or shaft is keyed a pinion i, Fig. 2 and Fig. 10,) which engages with the
segmental rack j. In Figures 1, 2, and 3, M represents a drum or case
made to contain the bobbin holder Q. This drum or case is connected to the
table A by an arm O and stud P, so that it may be turned or withdrawn from
under the table that the empty spool may be taken out and a new or full one
substituted. Qis the bobbin or spool holder lying loosely within the case M, and
constructed to contain the spool of thread (Fig. 8,) and with two or more holes
in its periphery f,f, (Fig. 7) for the thread to pass through, thus causing
the friction or tension required for the under thread. Upon the bobbin
holder Q are two projections or spreaders (g, g, Figures 5 and 6,) there being
a corresponding opening in the front of the drum or case M for the purpose
of opening out the loop, as herein-after described. Fig. 11 represents the
cam feeding device, also represented in Fig. 8; 6₁ is a metallic cylinder or
collar securely attached to the driving shaft C, and provided with a shoulder
or cam c³, against which bears the projection d', Fig. 3, attached to the spring
feeder e¹; as therefore the cam c. revolves with the driving shaft, the roughened
feeder f¹ is pressed up against the cloth or material to be sewn, and lowered
down again as the cam turns down. Encircling the hollow cylinder & is another
.

page_text: cam g', having a slot h', which allows of its receiving a slight lateral move-
ment upon the collar 6. Between the inner surface of the cam g' and the
outer periphery of the collar b¹ is a coiled spring i, which presses the cam in
one direction from the collar, while its corresponding movement is regulated
by the screw, so that the cam can be shortened or lengthened by the
turning of the screw j¹. This cam g' is made to connect directly with the
spring feeder e¹ by means of the fork or clamp k¹, the feeder will therefore
receive a backward and forward movement by the rotation of the cam g' at
the same time that it is moved up and down by the cam c². The length of
this backward and forward movement, and consequently of the stitch, is
regulated by the screw j'. The operation of the machine is as follows:-Tho
cloth being fed up under the needle by the feeder f', operated as described,
the vertical needle as descends with the thread, and in returning makes a loop
in the usual manner; the circular head H revolving at the same time brings
round the hook K at the proper time, which takes the loop formed by the
vertical needle and carries it down in contact with the spreaders upon the
bobbin holder, by which the loop is divided or spread, so that the thread is
carried by the hook partly around the bobbin holder; at this time, by means of
the spring arm I, the cam J, and the rack.j, the pinion i, which is attached
to the hook K by the shaft a², is made to revolve, causing a backward move-
ment of the hook and allowing the thread to slip off from it, leaving the loop
hanging below the bobbin holder. By the time the next revolution of the
hook takes place (performing, of course, the same operation with the next
loop or stitch) the former loop will have been drawn tightly up, enclosing and
carrying with it the thread from the bobbin, and thus perfecting the stitch.
In this machine a great advantage is derived from the fact that on account of
the diameter of the head or drum II the hook K must move much faster than
the needle a³, and thus the loop will be taken up quickly and with increased
certainty, so that the dropping or losing of a stitch is almost impossible. Tho
guard L on the circular head H is intended to keep the thread from coming
in contact with the needle in its descent or with other working parts of the
machine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Sewing Machines," as communicated to me from abroad, and explained tho
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim,―
First, the bobbin or spool holder, constructed as above described, and the
means above described for taking up and releasing the loop formed by the
needle.

page_text: Secondly, the means above described for communicating the requisite
reciprocating motion to the feeder.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.s.)