US1147140A - Sewing-machine. - Google Patents

Description

A. J. BRIGGS.

SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED on. 11. 1913.-

Patented July 20, 1915.

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A. J. BRIGGS. SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17. 1913.

Patented July 20, 1915.

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ARTHUR J. BRIGGS, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE VANNETTE BOBBINLESS SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SEWING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t ted July 20, 1915',

Application filed October 17, 1913. Serial No. 795,665.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. BRIGGS, citizen of the United States, and resident of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lock-stitch sew.- ing machines of the type disclosed in Letters Patent No. 875,751, issued J an. 7, 1908, in which the under thread as well as the upper thread is taken direct from the ordinary commercial spool of sewing thread. In the machine of the aforesaid patent, a spoolcase is provided for containing the spool carrying the under thread supply, and associated therewith are means'for holding spools of different sizes within the case without undue endwise movement therein other than enough to permit of the passage of the needle-thread loop between the spool. and its engaging parts. This means comprises a movable end wall for the spool-case whichis adjustable relatively to an opposing end wall to vary the spool-receiving space therebetween, and a further means for spacing the said end walls relatively to different sizes of spools inserted into the spool-case to provide in every instance the same predeter mined thread-clearance space' between the parts. The means for so spacing the end walls of the spool case, however, is adapted to be operated manually subsequent to the insertion. of the spool into its case, and it has frequently happened that the operator through some oversight has started up the machine without operating the spacing means, with the result that the thread has been broken and delay and inconvenience thereby occasioned. To overcome such disadvantage resulting from the manual operation of the spacing means has been the main object of my present inventionand this I accomplish by the provision of means which will be automaticallyoperated to effect the desired spacing upon the starting of the machine following the insertion of a spool into its case.

Other'features of the invention not hereinbefore referred to will be hereinafter scribed and claimed.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which I have shown only so of the spacing mechanism in a position intermediate of the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2-. Figs. l and 5 are enlarged views of the spacing mechanism cams shown. in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively. Fig. 6 is an underside plan view of the parts shown in i the preceding figures and certain additional associated parts, mounted in operative position on the bed-plate of the machine. Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of Fig. l.

parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The reciprocatory spool-case and its supporting and operating means are substan- Similar reference characters indicate like i tially the same as those of theaforesaid patcut to which reference may be had.

The spool case, indicated at 2, is of substantially cylindrical form to loosely contain a correspondingly-shaped commercial spool s, and at its upper side has a sliding connection with a reciprocatory frame or plate 3 which in turn has a sliding connection with the bed-plate 1, the connection of the spool-case with the frame 3 being preferably effected by a substantially T-shaped tongue 4 on the frame engaging the spoolcase within a correspondingly-shaped groove 5, and the connection of the frame 8: with the bed-plate being effected by means of two eye-brackets 6, 6, on the frame slidablyengaging with a guide-bar 7 rigidly held to the underside of the bed-plate by a clampbar 8. These particular connections for effecting the slidable support of the spoolcase do not form part of my present inveni tion, however, and further description as to their particular cooperationwill not be necessary herein.

The'spooLcase is operated to receive reciprocating movement by means of a suitable driver which loosely engages w th the spool-case at its opposite ends. This driver comprises heel and toe portions 9 and 10 which engage respectively with the rear and front ends of the spool-case and whichare v connected by an intermediate portion 11 arranged at the under side of the spool-case. The driver as thus formed is rigidly attached' at its heel end to a frame 12 which is slidably mounted on a fixed horizontally arranged pin 13 at the under side of, the bed-plate and connected by a pitman 14 with a crank 15 on the driving shaft 16 by which a reciprocating movement is imparted to the frame 12 and attached spool-case driver.

At the front or spool-receiving end of the spool-case islocated a spool-retaining latch 17 which is here shown as being pivotally supportedwhereby it may be movable from its closed spool-retaining position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, to an open position to permit of the insertion or removal of a spool as, shown in Fig. 2.. This latch 17 may be supported in any suitable manner to permit of its described adjustment, the same as here shown being fixedly attached to the front end of a shaft 18 which is supported at its rear end in a suitable bearing 20 in the driver supporting frame 12. This latchshaft 18 is shown as being provided at its rear end with an arm 19 for-controlling in one of its positions the spacing mechanism to be presently described which regulates the space between the end walls of the spoolcase, according to the size of the spool being employed.

In order to prevent undue endwise movement of a spool within the spool-case, for

reasons hereinbefore referred to and'more fully given in the aforesaid patent, an adjustable wall 40 is located at the inner end of the spool-case, which, together with the latch 17 at the front end of the case, form the end walls of the spool-case between which the spool is adapted to be loosely held.

The said adjustable wall 40 is provided by the front end of a plate or shoe 41 which is slidably supported by the spool-driver at its rear end to be movable therewith and arranged with its said front end 40 extending about centrally into the open rear end of the spool=case through a suitable guide slot in the driver, heel 9. A spring 42 connecting spool-receiying space to any size of spool within limlts.

To insert a spool into the spool-case, the latch 17 constituting the front end wall of the spool-ease is -swung laterally aside to open the spool-case, after which a spool is inserted into the case and moved against the pressure of the yielding wall 40 until it is sufliciently far inserted to permit closing of the end wall latch 17. When a spool is thus inserted into its case, however, it is held with its ends in engagement with the opposite end walls 40 and 17 of the spool-case, while it is desirable that suflicient space be provided between the spool and the adjacent end walls of the case to permit of the ready passage of the needle-thread loop therebetween without undue friction on the thread. For this reason a suitable means is provided that is operative subsequent to the entry of a spool into the case for moving the adjustable wall 40 a predetermined distance in a direction to increase the spool-receiving space between it and the opposite end wall whereby the desired thread clearance space between said walls and the spool will be provided. The means for so moving the adjustable wall 40 may be any suitable for the purpose. In the present case said means are as follows: The arm 45 of the shoe 41 is formed at its under side with a toothed or serrated surface 46. surface and adapted for engagement therewith is a detent 47 which has a pivotal sliding connection with the driver frame 12- by means of a pin 48 on the latter engaging the detent within a horizontally ranging slot 49 therein, whereby two movements of the operative end of the detent at substantially right angles to one another are permitted, viz: a movement toward and from the serrated surface of the arm 45 and another movement parallel with said arm; the latter movement of the detent when in engagement with said arm being effective to cause longitudinal movement of the shoe 41. As a means for operating this detent, the detent is provided with an extension in the form of a sleeve or yoke 50 having an internal cam 51, and engaging with this cam is a cooperating cam 52 having a hub 53 pivotally mounted in the frame 12 and rigidly connected by a screw 54 with an operating lever arm 55 having a hooked toe 56 extending into the path of movement of the arm 19 hereinbefore referred to. r

Assuming now that a spool has been inserted into the case and the spacing mechanism not yet operated, the detent 47 will be disengaged from the arm 45 of the shoe 41 as shown in Fig. 2 and the front end wall of said shoe will be in contact with the spool under the action of the spring 42. To now retract the shoe for the purpose of providing the desired thread-clearance space, the lever arm 55 will be moved angularly by a means to be presently described from the position shown in Fig. 2 to thatshown in Fig. 1, and during such movement rotate the cam 52 and cause the salientportions 5 2 Below such serrated I and 52 thereof to successively engage with corresponding salient portions 51 and 51 of the cam 51 to thereby first raisethe detent 47 from its position of disengagement with the shoe arm 45 as shown in Fig. 2 to a position of engagement with said arm as shown in Fig. 3, and thereafter move the detent horizontally on its pivot support 48 from the position-"shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 1., whereby the engaged shoe will be correspondingly moved to provide the desired thread-clearance space as shown in said Fig. 1. The lever arm 55, in accordance with my present invention, is adapted to be automatically operated in the manner just described upon the starting of the machine. Any suitable operating means may be provided to accomplish this. The means provided in the present case are as follows: Adjacent the rear side of the machine at the underside of the bed-plate is a fixed vertically-arranged screw or stud on which is mountedan'oscillatory frame 61 carrying the usual loop-spreader 62 and derivingmotion from a crank 63 on the driving shaft through the medium of suitable link connections Get and 65. On one side of this oscillatory frame 61'is formed an arm 66 which is arranged to engage with the lever arm 55 when the spool-case approachesthe limit'of its rearwardthrow following the starting of the machine, as shown in Fig. 6, and move said lever from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 1, whereby the necessary thread-clearance space is provided.

In lieu of this oscillatory arm 66 as a stop device for contacting with and shifting the lever arm 55, a stationary stop device might be effectivelyused, although I have found in practicethat the contact between the parts as here employed takes place with less shock and noise than in the case where a stationary stop isemployed.

As a means for holding the lever arm 55 and associated detent 17 in either of thetwo extreme positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that is, a position with the detent holding the shoe in retracted position as in Fig. 1, and a position with thedetent released from the shoe as in Fig.2, a lever 68 is pivoted to the driver frame by a screw 69 and is yieldingly held by aspring 70 in position with a tooth 71 thereon engaging with one or the other of two notches 72 and 73 formed in a peripheralportion of the lever arm adjacentits axis, as shown in said Figs. 1 and 2. When the lever 55 is tripped by contact with thestop device 66in the manner described, the movement imparted thereto by said stop device will preferably be just suflicient to initially enter the tooth 71 into the tapering notch 73 whereby the finalseating of the tooth into the notch under the action of the spring 70 will eifect such additional movement to the lever as will free it from contact with the stop device during the further operation of the machine. 1

When it is desired to remove the spool from its case for any reason, the latch 17 is swung laterally to open position as shown in Fig. 2, which movement rocks its supporting shaft 18 and causes the crank arm 19 at the rear end thereof to engage the lever arm 55 and operate the same to efiect through the action of the cams 51 and 52 a release of the detent 47 from engagement with the shoe arm 15, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby said shoe will be projected forward under the action of thespring 12 to eject the, spool from the case. In effecting such release of the detent 17 from engagement with the shoe arm under the action of the cams 51 and 52, the salient portions 52 and 52 of the cam 52 firstmove from engagement with the coiiperating salient po-rtions of the cam 51, following which the salient portion 52 of the cam 52 engages with the salient portion 51 of the cam 51 and thereby forces the detent downwardly to its releasing position.

As a means for holding the latch '17 in closed position, a spring'75 is interposed between a head 76 on the rear end of the latch supporting rock-shaft 18 and the adjacent bearing 20 for imparting endwise movement to said shaft and causing a projection 77 on the head 76 to snap into a corresponding recess (not shown) in the driver frame when the latch is moved to its closed position. As a convenient means for facilitating the entry of a spool into the spool-case and its removal therefrom, a pan or receptacle 21 is located at the under side of the bed-plate in a position opposite the usual slide-plate opening therein and with an open end substantially coincident with the front end of the spool-case, whereby a spool may either be dropped into said receptacle through the slide-plate opening and from thence slid into the spool-case, or else be received into said receptacle from the spoolcase and from thence withdrawn through the slideplate opening, in this way making easy and convenient the operation of entering the spool into the case or removing it therefrom. The construction and use of this pan 21 is more fully set forth in another application of mine bearing Serial Number '7 95,666, and filed of even date herewith.

What I claim is 1. In a sewing machine and in combination, a spool-case having adjustable spacing means for determining the spool-receiving space therein, means automatically operative upon the starting of the machine for adjusting said spacing means, and means for holding said spacing means in adjusted position.

2. In a sewing machine and in combination, a spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other, means automatically operative upon the starting of the machine for adjusting the position of said movable wall, and means for holding said. movable wall in adjusted position.

3. In a sewing machine and in combination, a reciprocatory spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other, means automatically operative upon the starting of the machine for adjusting the position of said movable wall, and means for holding said movable Wall in adjusted position. v a

4. In a sewing machine and in combination, a reciprocatory spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other in a direction to vary the spool-receiving space therebetween, means movable with the spool-case for adjusting the position of its said movable end wall relatively to the opposing wall, means for automatically operating said end wall adjusting means upon the starting of the machine, and means for holding said movable 'wal in adjusted position.

5. In a sewing machine and in combination, a reciprocatory spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other in a direction to vary the spoolreceiving space therebetween, means movmeans upon the starting of the machine, and

means for holding said movable wall in adjusted position. v

v 6. In a sewing machine and in combination, a reciprocatory spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other in a direction to vary the spool-receiving space therebetween, means movable with the spool-case for adjusting the position of its said movable end wall relatively to the opposing wall, an oscillatory device for engaging with and automatically operating said end-wall adjusting means upon the starting of the machine, and means for holding said movable wall in adjusted position.

7. In a sewing machine and in combination, a reciprocatory spool-case having end walls one of which is movable relatively to the other in a direction to vary the spoolreceiving space therebetween. and means movable with the spool-case for adjusting the position of its said movable end wall relatively to the opposing wall, said means including an operating lever, a stop device for engaging with and operating said lever upon the starting of the machine, said means for holding said movable wall in adjusted position.

tory stop device for engaging with and opcrating said lever upon the starting of the machine. V

'9. In a sewing machine and in combination, a spool-case having end walls one of which serves as a spool-retaining latch and.

is movable to and from spool-retainingposition and the other of which is springpressed in a direction to eject a spool from the case when the spool is released'by its latch, means for holding said ejector wall in retracted position against the pressure of its actuating spring, and operative connections between the latch and said ejector whereby upon the movement of the .latch to spoolreleasing position the ejector holding means will be operated to release the ejector.

10. In a sewing machine and in combination, a spool-case having end walls one of which serves as a spool-retaining latch and is movable to and from spool retaining position and the other of which is'spring-pressed in a direction to eject a spool from the case when the spool is released by its latch, a reciprocatory driver carrying said spool-case, means carried by said driver for holding said ejector wall in. retracted position against the pressure of its actuating spring, and operative connections between the-latch and said ejector whereby upon the movement of the latch to spool-releasing position the ejector holding means will be operated to release the ejector. I

11. In a sewing machine and in combination, a spool-case having end walls one of which serves as a spool-retaining latch and is movable to and from spool-retaining posi- 7 tion and the other of which is spring-pressed in a directionto eject a spool from the case when the spool is released by. its latch,

movement of the latch to spool-releasing position the ejector holding means Will be operated to release the ejector.

Signed at Syracuse, in the county of 15 Onondaga, and State of New York, this 14th day of October A. D. 1913.

ARTHUR J. BRIGGS.

Witnesses:

E. S. BOYNTON, GEO. C. PIERCE.

7 Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

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