US115857A - Improvement in button-hole-stitching machines - Google Patents

Description

n. w. e. HUMPHRE-Y,

improvement in Button Hole Stitching-Machines.

510.115,857. l Patenedjune13,l871.

nasse UNITED STATES DANIEL W. GP. HMPHREY, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T() HIMSELF AND EUGENE HUMPHREY, OF SAME PLACE.

lMPROVEMENT IN BUTTON-HOLE-STITCHING MCHlNES.

Spccication'forming part of 'LettersA Patent No. 115,857, dated June 13, 187i.

I, DANIEL W. G. HUMPHREY, of Chelsea, in the county ci' Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Button-Hole-Stitching Maeliines,.of which the following isa specification:

My present invention is an .improvement upon the machine patented by me October 7, 1862; and consists in a new device for feeding or moving along the clamp which holds the work to be stitched, and thus spacing the stitches regularly on the edges oi' the buttonhole. y

In my former invention I used a single feedwheel, lying horizontally in a recess in the-table under the slotted plate on which the clamp moved, and operated the clamp, in some-respects, similar tomy present mode. That dey vice is very restricted in its range of work, and

a change of feed-wheels is necessary to adapt the machine to iine, medium, and coarse stitching.

It is necessary, in stitching the round part l or eye ofthe button-hole, to turn the clamp faster than itis moved when stitchin g the sides ofthe hole, in order not to take a disproportionate number of stitches in the eye of the button-hole. This accelerated movement, of the clamp is accomplished in my former invention by a mechanism which is operated by a groove in the underside of the feed-wheel, and increases the throw of the lever which, turns the' wheel, and causes the ratchet on said lever to take more or less teeth 'at a throw, and thus to turn the wheel faster when stitching around the eye than when stitching the sides of the button-hole. This device is complicated, and liable to derangement in practical use, and is also restricted in its adjustment and harsh in its operation.

My present invention is a more simple and less expensive mode of attaining the desired result, and enlarges the range ofthe machine for practical work. f

The following is a description of the parts and operation of my improvement,` reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 represents my `new feeding device in working position in its recess in the table of the machine, and is drawn half-size.

A and B are cams, having spiral grooves s s.

R is a toothed rin g, having on one side a swinging arm, a, (more fully shown in Figs: 4 and 5,) which is riveted to its underside, and projects upthrough the ring at the point a; this ring turns upon the hub h, which is part of the bed or table of the machine. The hub h has a recess in one side at c, to allow said swinging arm or follower a to pass the clamp- Vpin after moving it around to that point, as

hereinafter described.

The cam B is the reverse of cam A, and both have gears on their under sides'oi' the same diameter as the ring R, and which work in the teeth of said ring. The plate on which the clamp that holds the work to be stitched is moved, and which, when vin working position, is screwed down to the table and covers said cams and ring, is not shown in Fig. l; but the dotted lines o o o indicate the slot in said plate through which the clamp-pin projects down into the grooves in said cams.

- Fig. 2 is a vertical section, cut down through the center of the cams A and B and ring it, and through the clamp and plate'over the saine whenthe several parts are all in proper working position.

p is the clamp-pin, in its hollow post 5 1,the base of the clamp; and b, the button on the plate m, on which the base of the clamp moves, and through which the upper needle descends and ascends in stitching the button-hole. o r are the shafts of the feed-cams A and B. r is a ratchet-wheel on the shaft of cam A; e, a ratchet attached to the reciprocating lever w for moying said wheel. Any suitable mechanism, whether a ratchet-wheel or friction-wheel, may be employed here for turning the feedcamS, and the throw of said cams may be restrained, if necessary, by the application of friction in any convenient manner.

Fig. 3 represents a section of the plate m, with the base of the clamp d in position ready to swing around the plate-button b to stitch the eye of the button-hole.

The. practical operation oi' the described parts is as follows: After placing the clamp upon the plate, with its aperture w, Fig. 3, over the 'plate-button b, and pushing its edges under the anges of said button until the pin p will go down through the slot o in the plate andv into the groove s in the cam A, Fig. l, then a regular reciprocating movement is given to lever w, Fig. 2, which, through the ratchet e and wheel Jr, imparts an intermittent rotary mot-ion to cam A, and, through the gear g un der said cam, to the ring R, and through the ring R to the cam B, in the direction indicat` ed by the arrows, Fig. l 5 and, at the same time, the clamp carrying the work to be stitched is moved forward by'the spiral groove s working against its pin p, and is guided by the slot o in the plate m, and the button b, and thus the ring R, as shown in Fig. l, when the follower' a on said ring immediately acts against said pin and carries it through the circular part of the slot in said plate in one-half a revolution of said cams and ring, thus spacing the stitches around the eyeof the button-hole uniformly and in the proportion of oneto live on the sides. Now, when the clamp-pin comes in contact, after swinging around the eye, with the side of the slot in the plate over cam B, the follower a retreats into the recess of the hub h at c and passes said pin, while the outer point of the groove s in calnB passes under and around said pin and regularly feeds it toward the center of said cam, and thus spaces the stitches on the remaining side of the buttonhole and completes the same.

By the use of separate feed-wheels or cams for spacing the stitches on the sides of the button-hole, and working, as shown, in conjunction with an intermediate ring for spacing the stitches around theeye, any desired proportion of stitches around the eye maybe provided for by varying the form of the spiral grooves in the feed-cams, so that the clamp-pin shall be made to travel the length of the side of the button-hole and be delivered onto the ring to turn the eye in a` greater or .lesser number of revolutions of the cams tothe half-revolution ofthe ring, and when the proper proportion of stitches is thus established between the eye and sides of the button-hole, the machine is adapted, Without change of wheels, to stitch from the iinest to the coarsest work, as a Va riation of the spacing of i the stitches on the side of the button-hole, which may be effected as easily as a change ofl length of stitch in a common sewing-machine, will produce a proportionate variationv in the spacing of the stitches about the eye ofthe buttonhole. The spacing of the stitches, both on the sides and eye of the hole, is accomplishedby thislimprovement in a more simple and reliable manner, and without varying the uniform movement of the feed-cams while stitching the button-hole.

l ,claim as my invention- The two separate feed-cams for spacing the stitches on the sides of the butto11hole,in combination with an intermediate ring for spacing the stitches around the eyeof the buttonhole, substantially as described.

. DANIEL W. G. HUMPHREY.

Witnesses:

E. F. HALL, EBEN HU'rcirNsoN.

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