IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Leeming at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th December 1883.
HENRY LEEMING of Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
"
My invention relates to sewing machines, and the object of my invention is to
regulate the speed and improve the driving of such machines.
In applying my invention to a sewing machine, in place of the ordinary treadles,
I employ a pair of adjustable bicycle cranks and pedals, running in either ball, cone
or plain bearings; the cranks are supported in a forked bracket bolted or secured
in an adjustable frame, so that the bracket with the cranks and pedals can. be
raised or lowered to avoid altering the length of the driving strap.
.
On the crank shaft between the ends of the forked bracket I key or secure a
cone pulley; the driving strap passes from this cone pulley to a similar cone pulley
secured to the upper or fly wheel shaft, from which motion is communicated to
the working parts of the machine in the ordinary manner.
ก
In order to regulate the speed of the machine, I employ a strap fork on the end
of a lever, pivoted to any fixed portion of the machine; the other end of the strap
fork lever is pivoted to a rod free to be moved in bearings; this rod is notched
and held in position by a spring or catch, in such manner that the operator can
readily move it so as to guide the strap on the cone pulleys, and thus give the
quickest, or slowest or any intermediate speed to the working parts of the
machine.
To reduce friction in the cranks, pedals, driving or fly-wheel shafts, and other
shafts in a sewing machine, ball or cone bearings may be used for all or any
of such parts.
The strap fork may be dispensed with and the cones grooved so that a round
driving band can be moved from one groove to another to alter the speed of the
machine.
By the use of bicycle cranks and pedals sewing machines can be "central-
geared," which is an appreciable advantage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Henry Leeming in the Patent Office on the 5th June 1884.
HENRY LEEMING of Manchester in the County of Lancaster Engineer
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SEWING MACHINES
"
My invention relates to sewing machines and the object of my invention is to
regulate the speed, and improve the driving of such machines
In applying my invention to a sewing machine in place of the ordinary treadles
I employ a pair of adjustable bicycle cranks and pedals running in either ball
cone or plain bearings: the cranks are supported in a forked bracket bolted or
secured in an adjustable frame, so that the bracket with the cranks and pedals
can be raised, or lowered to avoid altering the length of the driving strap. On
the crank shaft between the ends of the forked bracket I key or secure a cone
pulley; the driving strap passes from this cone pulley to a similar cone pulley
secured to the upper or fly wheel shaft from which motion is communicated to
the working parts of the machine in the ordinary manner. In order to regulate
the speed of the machine I employ a strap fork on the end of a lever pivoted to
any fixed portion of the machine; the other end of the strap fork lever is
connected to a rod free to be moved in bearings; this rod is notched and held in
position by a spring or catch in such manner that the operator can readily move
it so as to guide the strap on the cone pulleys and thus give the quickest
or slowest or any intermediate speed to the working parts of the machine.
To reduce friction in the cranks pedals driving or fly wheel shafts and other
shafts in a sewing machine, ball or cone bearings may be used for all or any of
such parts. The strap fork may be dispensed with and the cones grooved, so that
a round driving band can be moved from one groove to another to alter the speed
of the machine. By the use of bicycle cranks and pedals sewing machines can be
"central geared," which is an appreciable advantage.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect I will proceed to describe the accompanying sheet of drawings reference
being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a front view and Fig. 2 is an end view partly in section, and with
one pedal removed, of a sewing machine to which my improvements are applied.
Fig. 3. shows my invention applied to a sewing machine in which the strap fork
is dispensed with and grooved pulleys are used.
In these views a is the frame of the sewing machine, and a' is a cross stay
formed with a plate a³, to which is bolted or screwed the slotted adjustable
bracket 6 the lower end of the bracket b is forked and forms bearings at 61 for
the shaft c: to the ends of the shaft c are secured slotted bicycle cranks d, which
carry the pedals e: on the shaft o and between the bearings 6¹ is fixed the cone
pulley ; the driving strap g passes over this cone pulley f to a similar cone
pulley h, fixed on the fly wheel shaft h³, from which motion is communicated by
means of a fast pulley i and band j to the working parts of the machine. In
order to regulate the speed of the machine I employ a strap fork k on the end of
a lever pivoted to the machine at kl, to the other end of the strap fork lever kis
connected a rod with a handle 1 by which it may be moved in bearings m, so
that the operator can guide the strap g on the cone pulleys f and h so as to give
the quickest or slowest or any intermediate speed to the working parts of the
machine the rod is retained in the desired position by a spring or catch which
may be conveniently held in the bearings m. To reduce friction I use adjustable
ball or cone bearings for the cranks, pedals, driving or fly-wheel shafts, and the
other shafts in the machine, but plain bearings might be used if more convenient,

page_text: The strap fork k may be dispensed with and the cone pulleys f, and h, grooved as
shown on Fig. 3, so that a round driving band could be moved from one groove to
another to alter the speed of the machine.
The operator sits in front of the machine and readily drives the shaft c and
cone pulley f when his or her feet are placed on the pedals e motion is
communicated from the cone pulley f by the strap g to the cone pulley h and fly-
wheel shaft h' and so by the fast pulley i and band j to the working parts of the
machine. The operator by moving the handle in the manner described can
readily alter the position of the strap 9 and so regulate the speed of the machine
in order to gain power or speed as required.
By the use of the bicycle cranks & and pedals e the sewing machine can be
' central-geared" as shown in the drawings and this is a considerable advantage.
Having stated the nature of my invention and described the manner of
performing the same
I declare that I claim
1. The use and application of a driving shaft supported in bearings between
which is fitted a driving pulley and having cranks with pedals secured to
either end of the shaft substantially as and for the purposes herein described
and as shown.
2. In a sewing machine the combination with the driving strap g of the cone
pulleys ƒ and h (having either plain or grooved surfaces) substantially as