Patent ID: 7441508

Claim:
A mattress edge sewing machine including a frame with a material supporting surface, a drive shaft revolubly mounted about a fixed axis in said frame, a sewing station defined by sewing instrumentalities including a needle carried by a needle bar mounted in said frame for generally vertical reciprocatory movements along a fixed axis and a looper reciprocally mounted for cooperative movements with said needle to form a series of chain stitches, and a feeding mechanism for pulling material along a generally horizontal direction through said sewing station, with said feeding mechanism including a lower positively driven feed roller mounted on said frame for rotation about a fixed axis arranged below said material supporting surface, an upper positively driven feed roller mounted for rotation about an axis in a manner permitting said upper feed roller to be shifted relative to said lower feed roller between a first position, wherein said upper and lower feed rollers are arranged in operable combination relative to each other to pull material along a generally horizontal direction through said sewing station, and a second position, wherein said upper and lower feed rollers are separated from operable engagement relative to each other and wherein said upper and lower feed rollers are continually biased toward each other and are mounted on said sewing machine such that a distance less than 0.8625 inches, measured in the direction of material advancement, separates the centerline of said upper and said lower feed rollers from the centerline of said needle bar.