Jime 28, 1955 v 5 J MACZUGA ETAL 2,711,704

SEAM GUIDE' FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed May 15, 1952 INVENTORS. SHIRLEY J. MACZUGA & WALTER S. MACZUGA ATTORA/EX United States Patent SEAM GUIDE FOR SEWING MACHINES Shirley J. Maczuga and Walter S. Maczuga, Hazel Park, Mich.

Application May 15, 1952, Serial No. 287,934

2 Claims. (Cl. 112-153) This invention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to an improved seam guide thereof.

The need for an inexpensive and practical seam guide for sewing machines has been well appreciated in the art and numerous guides for enabling a sewing machine operator to produce a seam of uniform width have been devised. While many of such guides are now on the market and sold as optional attachments, many of such guides are very complicated in their construction, are manufactured by machining operations and therefore are expensive. Others are cumbersome, heavy, or difficult to use.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved seam guide for sewing machines whereby the above difficulties and disadvantages are overcome and largely eliminated, and the seam guide produced is simple, inexpensive and easy to use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved seam guide which can be attached to a presser foot of a sewing machine and which is made by stamping operations from sheet material, such as sheet metal, but nevertheless rests firmly and rigidly on the table of the machine.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved seam guide which can be manufactured in its substantial entirety of a standard design for virtually all makes of ,sewing machines, with a small piece attachable to the presser foot of a machine being made separately and secured to the main body of the guide in manufacturing thereof, whereby seam guides for virtually all makes of sewing machines may be manufactured with substantially the same dies and other tools.

It is an added object of the present invention to provide an improved seam guide which is simple in construction, dependable in operation and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will I be apparent from the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. l is a perspective view showing a seam guide embodying the present invention and attached to the presser foot of one well known make of sewing machine.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the section plane passing through the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the seam guide of Fig. 1, shown separately.

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of a seam guide similar in its construction to the guide of Fig. 1 but having secured thereto an adapter piece whereby it can be attached to a sewing machine of another well known make.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and ter- 2,711,704 Patented June 28, 1955 minology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In accordance with the invention we provide a seam guide made by stamping operations from sheet metal and having a body provided with a flange at its outer end adapted to support said body firmly and rigidly on the table of the machine when the presser foot is lowered. The body of the guide is provided with two slots and is adapted to receive a slide movable underneath the main body. The slide has formed thereon a seam guide bar adapted to support the middle of the guide at the machine table. By virtue of such a construction the guide is rigidly supported at three points. Means are provided to guide the slide within the body and to secure it thereon at any desired distance from the seam line. A graduated scale is provided on the body to indicate the width of the scam in any position of the slide.

In the drawings there is shown, by way of example, a seam guide embodying the present invention. Referring specifically to the drawings, the seam guide illustrated therein comprises a body 10 made from sheet metal by stamping operations and provided at its far end with a flange 11 adapted to rest on the table 12' of the machine and support the body 10 at the same height as its near end is supported on the presser foot 13. The entire body is made as a single piece, but the portion thereof connected to the presser foot 13 is made as a separate piece or adapter 14 secured to the body 10 in any suitable manner such as with the aid of a rivet 15.

The adapter piece is made to suit the design of the presser foot of the particular make of sewing machine for secure connection thereto, and therefore its design may vary accordingly.

In manufacturing, the main body portion 10 is made identical from the same dies for virtually all makes of sewing machines, but separate dies or other tools are used for manufacturing the adapter pieces of various designs. By virtue of such an expedient a single seam guide is made useable for virtually all makes of sewing machines by securing a special adapter piece thereto. Thus, the cost of manufacturing of the guide is greatly reduced.

It can be easily appreciated that connecting the adapter piece to the main body portion with a rivet may be made in any store by hammering the rivet down, and therefore a store may have in stock only standard guides and various adapters, and attach the required adapter at the time the guide is purchased. Thus, stocking the wrong types of guides is prevented.

The body 10 is provided with two slots 20 and 21 running in the attached position of the guide perpendicularly to the line of the seam designated in Fig. 1 by the numeral 22.

The slide is of one-piece construction and has a seam guiding bar 23, a support portion 24, and a guiding lug 25 formed thereon. In the attached position of the slide, the guide bar 23 extends parallel to the seam line, while the guide lug 25 slides in the slot 21. An adjustment screw 26 having a knurled head and a threaded shank engaging the slide at a tapped hole is provided and is used for securing the slide adjustable in any desired position along the slot 20. A graduated scale 27 is provided on the body 10 to show the distance of the guide bar from the seam line 22 and therefore the width of the seam.

The height of the guide bar 23 is made substantially the same as that of the flange 11, and therefore in the attached position of the guide its body 10 is supported at three points, namely, at the presser foot, at the guide bar 23, and flange 11, ensuring secure and rigid construction even if the guide is made of a relatively thin material. 1

We prefer to make the guide in such a manner that it is connected to the presser foot between the presser foot bar and the needle 16, it is in. front of the presser foot. However, for certain makes of sewing machines it may be desirable to connect the guide in the back of the presser foot. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 4 wherein the special adapter piece 30 is attached to fit over the presser foot 31, which is, in turn connected to the presser foot bar 32 with the aid of a screw 33. In its other respects the guide of Fig. 4 is virtually identical to the guide of Figs. 13', and therefore the same numerals are applied to their similar parts.

By virtue of the construction disclosed above, the ob,- jects of the present invention and numerous additional advantages are attained.

We claim:

l. A seam guide for a sewing machine having a table surface and a presser foot, said guide comprising a stamped one-piece sheet metal body having a left-hand end and a right-hand end, an adapter piece secured to the left-hand end of said body for attaching the guide to the presser foot of a sewing machine of a predetermined make, with the right-hand end of said, body being bent downwardly to form a flange adapted to rest firmly on the table surface of the machine when the presser foot with the guide attached thereto is lowered, and a separable slide having a seam-guiding bar disposed wholly underneath said body and extending parallel to a seam line, an elongated guiding lug provided on said slide, said body being free of attachment to the table surface and provided with two parallel slots running in the attached position of the guide transversely to the seam line, said lug being slidable in one of said slots and a knurled head screw adapted to engage the slide with its shank :passing through the other slot and engaging the body with its head, said screw constituting the sole means for adjustably connecting the slide to the guide body along said slots in a desired operative position.

2. The construction defined in claim 1 and including a scale provided on the body along the front edge thereof and showing distance of the guide bar from the seam line in any of the adjusted positions of said guide.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 408,258 Pearsall Aug. 6, 1889 675,785 Moller June 4, 1901 689,924 Sloan Dec. 31, 1901 723,121 Ammerman Mar. 17, 1903 766,509 Mitchell et a1 Aug. 2, 1904 895,494 ODonnell Aug. 11, 1908 971,562 Richolson Oct. 4, 1910