US140285A - Improvement in rufflers for sewing-machines - Google Patents

Description

' 2 Sheets--Shee1 I.

w. H. LEWITT'. Ruiflers fur Sewing-Machines. No. 140,285.

Patented June 24,1873.

HWTURZ WITNESSES I 90w 49m WzZm-M 2Sheets--Sheet2 W. H. LEWITT. Ruiflers for Sewing-Machines. No. 140,235, Patentedlune24,l873.

'WITNES 3 ES: s wgaw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. LEWITT, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO THOMAS M. OOOHRANE, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RUFFLERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,285, dated June 24, 1873; application filed October 5, 1872.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. LEWITT, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a certain Improvement in Rufflin g Attachments for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification My improvement relates to a rufliing attachment, which consists of two portions, one of which is attached to the presser-foot and rises and falls therewith. The other portion is wholly disconnected from the upper works of the machine, and is attached to the common shuttle-race cover. This latter portion is actuated by the shuttledriver slide.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side view of the front shuttle-race cover and the parts attached thereto; and Fig. 3 is a top view of the same. Fig. 4 is a side view of the gather-catch and shoe; and Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, a top and a bottom view of the same. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a modification, in which the gather-catch instead of being connected to the presser-foot is attached to the free end of a spring-bar, whose other end is attached to the cloth-plate of the machine, the end of the bar being depressed by the presser-foot and rising by the elasticity of the bar.

A is the cloth-plate. B is the front shuttlerace cover, on whose upper side is a sliding plate, 0, having two slots, 0, to receive screws D, by which the plate is guided and held in position. Attached to the sliding plate 0 is a spring plate or gatherer, E, whose forward end is preferably serrated to enable its engagement and firm hold of the fabric to be gathered. e is a notch or recess in the end of the gatherer E, to allow the passage of the needle f when the gatherer is in its forward position. The sliding plate 0 receives motion, from the shuttle-driver slide-G, through a lever, H, havin g its fulcrum at h, on the cover-plate B, and working in a slot, b, in the same plate. The upper end of the lever H has a slot, I, to receive a pin, 6, extending from the edge of the sliding plate 0, and furnishing the means by which the lever acts on the plate. The lower end 9 of the lever is in the course of the shuttle-driver slide G, and at every movement of the slide toward the operator the end g of the lever is carried with it, and the sliding plate 0 carried in an opposite direction. On the return of the slide G, the spring K acts on the lever, and restores it to the position shown clearly in Fig. 2, thereby retracting the gatherer E, which by the movement caused by the shuttle-driver slide had been advanced beneath the presser-foot. When the gatherer E is thrust forward it gathers the edge of the ruffle-strip, and as it is retracted the gather is retained by the spring-catch L, which is attached to the bottom of the presser-foot L by the shoe M. This shoe has an aperture, m, for the passage of the needle, and the spring gather-catch a recess, 1, for the same purpose. 0 is the ordinary feed-plate of the machine. P is a compound guide, which is attached to the plate G, and has a folder for the under piece of cloth, and a guide for the ruffle-strip and upper piece of cloth.

' The size of the gathers is regulated by limiting the retrograde movement of the sliding plate 0, and this is done by means of a levercam, R, which is pivoted on a thumb-screw, r, by which it is held to any desired position. The sliding plate 0 is carried forward (from the operator) with each backward movement of the shuttle-driver slide G, to a certain point, and when released the sliding plate is drawn backward (by the spring K) until its heel reaches the regulating-cam R, by which the stroke is limited. S is a small screw, which fills marginal screw'threaded recesses s in the edges of the cover-plate B and cloth-plate A, to hold the former in position.

With the use of my ruffler, a ruffle can be inserted at any desired distance from the edge of the goods, because there is no part connecting the presser-foot with the cloth-plate or feed devices, so that a quantity of the goods may pass beneath the needle-lever and arm without impediment. When sewing aruffle onto single cloth the ruffle-strip is passed through one of the folds of the guide P and above the gatherer, and the cloth to which the ruffleis to be attached passed beneath the presser-foot and under the ruffle-strip, and the strip is gathered by the gatherer, while the cloth remains unrufliied. When the ruffle is attached at a distance from the edge ot the goods the guide P is not used for such goods; but a separate gage may be used for the edge of the cloth, as shown in Fig. 7. In the modification shown in Fig. 7, the gather-catch L is attached to the end of a spring-bar, M, secured to the cloth-plate at the other end. The catch is depressed by the presser-foot, and raised,when the pressure of the foot is removed, by the elasticity of the spring-bar.

Ihave shown my attachment as applied to the Howe sewing-machine; but it is adapted to shuttle machines in general, and may by slight modification be arranged for other classes of machines.

I claim as new and of my invention- 1. The gatherer E, sliding plate 0, lever H, and shuttle-driver slide G, arranged and operating as and for the purpose specified.

2. The gatherer E, sliding plate 0, lever H, and spring K, when arranged and operated by the shuttle-driver slide G, as described.

3. The combination of the spring-catch L attached to the presser-foot and the gatherer E, when secured to the cloth-plate and operated from beneath, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of the spring-catch I, gatherer E, sliding plate 0, lever H, driverslide Gr, spring K, and cover-plate B, all arranged substantially as and for the purposes described.

WILLIAM H. LEWITT.

Witnesses:

SAML. KNIGHT, JOHN C. WATKINS.

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