IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hobert Henry Bishop, of Leicester Street, Leicester
Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SEWING MACHINES."
Sealed the 16th October 1861, and dated the 2nd July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hobert Henry Bishop at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1861.
I, HOBERT HENRY BISHOP, of Leicester Street, Leicester Square, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines, and tho
same consists in a peculiar combination of mechanical parts for giving motion
to the needle. For these purposes in order to give the requisite up-and-down
motion to the bar on the end of which the needle is fixed, such bar at its
upper end is pin-jointed to a slide, which is guided correctly in its motion by
moving between fixed guiding surfaces. To the upper end of the slide one
end of a connecting rod is attached by a pin joint, the other end of such
connecting rod being attached to a crank or arm formed or fixed on one end
of a rocking shaft which has its bearings carried by the fixed arm of the sewing

page_text: machine. At the other end of the rocking shaft is another crank or arm,
which by a connecting rod is connected to a crank on the driving shaft of the
machine. In order to cause the work to move a distance between the
succeeding stitches there is another rocking shaft used which turns in suitable
bearings, also carried by the fixed arm of the sewing machine. At one end
of this rocking shaft an arm is fixed, the end of which is in contact with
or is otherwise actuated by a suitable cam in such manner as to cause the
shaft to rock slightly at the time the needle is in the fabric or fabrics, in
order that by another arm fixed at the other end of the rocking shaft it may
cause the needle bar and the needle to assume an inclined position in regard
to the slide, to which, as before mentioned, it is connected by a pin joint.
By these means the work is moved a distance each time the needle descends
into it, so that when the needle has been withdrawn by the movement of
the slide actuated by its rocking shaft, and the needle has been caused by the
rocking shaft and cam again to assume a vertical position, the needle will
when it next descends into the work pass through it at a distance from the
point where it previously passed into the work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hobert Henry Bishop in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HOBERT
HENRY BISHOP, of Leicester Street, Leicester Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hobert Henry Bishop, Her special licence that I, the said Hobert
Henry Bishop, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Hobert Henry Bishop, 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," upon the 'condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Hobert Henry Bishop, my executors or administrators, by

page_text: 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Hobert Henry Bishop, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in sewing machines, and the
same consists in a peculiar combination of mechanical parts for giving motion
to the needle. For these purposes in order to give the requisite up-and-down
motion to the bar, on the end of which the needle is fixed, such bar at its
upper end is pin-jointed to a slide, which is guided correctly in its motion by
moving between fixed guiding surfaces. To the upper end of the slide one
end of a connecting rod is attached by a pin joint, the other end of such
connecting rod being attached to a crank or arm formed or fixed on one end
of a rocking shaft which has its bearings carried by the fixed arm of the
sewing machine. At the other end of the rocking shaft is another crank or
arm, which by a connecting rod is connected to a crank on the driving shaft.
of the machine. In order to cause the work to move a distance between the.
succeeding stitches there is another rocking shaft used which turns in suitablė-
bearings, also carried by the fixed arm of the sewing machine. At one end?
of this rocking shaft an arm is fixed, the end of which is in contact with or-
otherwise actuated by a suitable cam in such manner as to cause the shaft
to rock slightly at the time the needle is in the fabric or fabrics, in order
that by another arm fixed at the other end of the rocking shaft it may cause
the needle bar and the needle to assume an inclined position in regard to the
slide, to which, as before mentioned, it is connected by a pin joint. By these:
means the work is moved a distance each time the needle descends into it,.
so that when the needle has been withdrawn by the movement of the slide.
actuated by its rocking shaft, and the needle has been caused by the rocking
shaft and cam again to assume a vertical position, the needle will when it
next descends into the work pass through it at a distance from the point
where it previously passed into the work.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view; Figures 2 and 3 are end views, and Figure.4
is an under side view of a sewing machine constructed according to my
Invention.
a, a, is the frame of the machine; b. is a slide capable of moving up and
down vertically in fixed guides carried by the frame; c is the needle bar, it
carries the needle c¹ and is attached to the piece 6 by a screw d; the same
screw also connects the parts b and c to the connecting rod e, the other end
of which is pin-jointed to the arm f, mounted at one end of the rocking
shaft g, carried in bearings fixed to the frame; at the other end of the
shaft g is another arm h, connected by the connecting rod i to the crank pin j,
carried by the main axis k, which is driven by a line passing round the
pulley ; in this manner the needle bar has an up-and-down motion com-
municated to it as is required to produce the stitches. The lateral motion
to feed the work forward is given to the needle in the following manner:-
m is a cam on the axis k; against it the arm n, fixed on the rocking shaft o,
is made to bear constantly by means of the spiral spring p, the shaft o is
carried in bearings and fixed to the frame a, and by means of the cam m
receives a rocking motion as the axis k rotates; q is another arm fixed on
the rocking shaft o, it carries at its lower end a fork r, which embraces the
needle bar c; the fork r is capable of rotating in the arm 7 to allow it to
conform to the inclination to which the needle bar c may be thrown. The
cam m (which is shown separately at Figure 5) is so mounted on the axis
that it may begin to act to incline the needle bar and needle just before
they have been drawn down to their lowest position by the crank j, so that
it may be able to produce its full effect by the time the needle in returning
has reached the position it occupied when the lateral motion commenced.
The parts are so turned in order that the side strain on the needle may be
borne by the upper part thereof which is close up to the needle bar; s is a
presser which bears on the fabric and holds the same still except when it
is overcome by the lateral or feeding motion of the needle when the fabric
is drawn forward beneath it. The presser is capable of sliding vertically in
guides carried by the frame, and it is pressed downwards constantly by the
spiral spring s¹ which bears against the top guide of the frame and also upon
the collar s, which is capable of being shifted up and down on the presser
and secured there by a set screw; in this manner the pressure on the work
may be adjusted as may be required. The amonnt of the feed, that is to say,
the length of the stitch, can be regulated by means of the eccentric t, which

page_text: by its handle may be set to stop the arm n where required, so as to give any
desired amount of rock to the shaft o. The other parts of the machine are
of ordinary construction or nearly so, consequently they require but little
description; u, are a pair of cones for holding the bobbin of thread for
the upper needle between them, they slide on a wire and are pressed together
by a spring; the upper cone can be locked on the wire in any required position
by a set screw; the thread passes through a guide u¹ and an eye in the
spring u to the needle c¹; the spring u2 is to take up the slack in the thread
when the needle rises; v are cones and other parts similar to those marked u,
they carry the bobbin of the underneath curved needle w; this needle is
mounted on an axis w¹, and is actuated by a cam on the main axis together
with a spring; is the opener or instrument for opening the loop of the
upper needle, it is actuated by a cam on the end of the main axis and by a
spring.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
method herein-described of actuating the needle bar.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hobert Henry Bishop, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
H. H. BISHOP. (L.S.)