US3018743A

US3018743A - Attachment guiding device for sewing machines

Info

Publication number: US3018743A
Application number: US14248A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ralph E Johnson
Original assignee: Singer Co
Current assignee: Singer Co
Priority date: 1960-03-11
Filing date: 1960-03-11
Publication date: 1962-01-30
Anticipated expiration: 1979-01-30
Also published as: DE1836892U; GB910363A; CH389382A

Description

Jan. 30, 1962 R. E. JOHNSON 3,013,743

ATTACHMENT GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 11, 1960 INVENTOR. Ralph E. Johnson WITNESS fi/wm- 9W2;

Jan. 1962 R. E. JOHNSON 3,018,743

ATTACHMENT GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed March 11, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WNW"!- Fig.7

58 nmwn IN VEN TOR.

Ralph E. Johnson BY v Fig. WITNESS AT RNEY a t fiiace 3,018,743 Patented Jan. 30, 1962 3,018,743 ATTACHIVIENT GUIDING DESVICE FOR SEWING MACHINE Ralph E. Johnson, Mountainside, N.J., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N .J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 14,248 Claims. (Cl.,112--102) This invention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to an attachment gliding device employed while doing embroidery or darning work on a sewing machine having an elevated throat plate, and one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved device of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment guiding device which can easily be installed when embroidery or darningwork is to be done and which can easily be removed upon completion of the said Work.

Another object of the invention is to provide an attachment guiding device which will not only act to encircle the elevated throat plate but which will allow access to the rotary loop-taker and the bob-bin housed beneath the work supporting surface of a sewing machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means which will make it easy to slide an attachment comprising a pair of darning or embroidery hoops under the needle of a sewing machine.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations, and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a pre ferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In the drawings:

' FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a sewing machine, a darning hoop and an attachment guiding device embodying the present invention, the above parts being shown assembled to do embroidery and/ or darning,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view showing the improved attachment guiding device resting on the work supporting surface of a sewing machine and surrounding the elevated throat plate thereof,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the improved device per se,

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view'of the same device,

FIG. 5 is an elevational sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 6 is an elevational sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2, H p

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 1.

The portion of the sewing machine illustrated in the drawings comprises a bed 16 having a work supporting surface 17, a head 13, a needle bar 19 equipped with a needle 21, and a feed dog 22 carried by a feed bar 23. As more fully shown in my United States Patent No. 2,920,593, the bed 16 is provided with a throat plate 24 having a needle hole 26 and feed dog slots 27 and the throat plate 24 is positioned in an opening 28 provided with a ledge or rabbet 29. As more fully taught in the above mentioned patent, the throat plate 24 may be held in any one of three different conditions, namely, Down, Up or Unlocked. The positions of the throat plate 24 are controlled by a pair of cylindrical plungers 3-2- 32 vertically movable in cylindrical bores 3434 formed in the bed 16. Each plunger 32, at a location adjacent the the

the

to its upper end is provided with a transverse slot 36 and from the slot 36 downwardly each plunger 32 is formed with a cylindrical bore 37 designed to accommodate a plunger pin 38. The plungers 32 and the plunger pins 38 are operated by a mechanism (not shown) adapted .to raise and lower, and to lock or unlock, the throat plate 24. However, as far as the present invention is concerned, it is only necessary to know that the throat plate 24 is received in the slots 36-36 and that during an ordinary sewing operation the throat plate 24 will be .lowered to the Down position, thereby exposing and allowing the feed dogs 22 to operate through the feed dog slots 27. When the throat plate 24 is in the Down position, the upper surface of the throat plate and the plungers 32-32 will be flush with the work supporting surface 17. On the other hand, when the sewing machine is to be used for embroidering or darning, the throat plate 24 is raised to the Up position (FIGS. 5 and 6) in which position the upper surface of the throat plate 24 is raised sufiiciently to prevent the feed dog 22 from engaging the work 42. The bed 16 is also cut away to receive a conventional slide plate 43. The slide plate 43 can be moved away from the throat plate 24 and in the moved position exposes the conventional bobbin 44- carried by a rotary loop taker 46.

An attachment guiding device embodying the present invention and designated by the numeral 51 is best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and comprises a fiat, preferably plastic, ring having an open central portion especially designed to fit around the outer edges of the combined throat plate 24 and the plungers 3232 to, in eifect, provide a filletlike member which blends the lower level of the worksupporting surface 17 into the higher level of the upper surface of the raised throat plate 24. To this end, the device 51 has an inner semi-circular wall or edge 52, and an inner semi-oval wall or edge 53. The ends of the two

edges

52 and 53 are joined by part-circular walls or edges 54-54. The height of the walls or

edges

52, 53 and 54 are substantially equal to difference in elevation between the work-supporting surface 17 and the upper surface of the throat plate 24. As best seen in FIG. 2, the

inner edges

52 and 53 engage outer edges of the throat plate 24, whereas the part-circular edges 5454 engage outer edges of the plungers 3232. A pair of depressed lugs (FIG. 6) 5656 project inwardly from the semi-oval edge 53. These lugs 56-56 enter a seen at 59 in FIGS. 5 and 6. The outer edge 58 has a cutout 61, which, as best seen in FIG. 2, allows access to the rotary loop taker 46 and the bobbin 44 carried thereby. The bottom surface of the device 51 (FIG. 4) rests on the work supporting surface 17 and is channelled as shown at 62 and 63 and thereby allows the slide plate 43 to extend under it until the inner irregular end 66 of the slide plate 43 presses against a registering curved shoulder 67 (FIG. 4) depending from the device 51.

In operation, the attachment guiding device 51 functions in the following manner. When it becomes desirable to embroider or darn, the throat plate 24 is raised to the Up position shown in FIG. 5 and the slide plate 43 is pulled outwardly from the solid line position shown in FIG. 2 to the dash-dash position shown in the same figure. Then the device 51 is placed in the position shown in dash-dash lines in FIG. 2. In this position the part of the device between the semi-oval edge 53 and the outer edge 58 and the cutout 61 rests on the work supporting surface 17 and on top of the slide plate 43. Also the lugs 56-56 will be poised (FIG. 7) ready to enter the recess 57. The part of the attachment guiding device located between the semi-circular edge 52 and the outer edge 58 will rest on top of the raised throat plate 24 and the raised plungers 3232. Then the device 51 is pushed forward until the lugs 5656 enter (FIG. 8) the recess 57. This causes that part of the device between the semicircular edge 52 and the edge 58 to slip off the top of the throat plate 24 to assume a position on the work supporting surface 17, this position being shown in solid lines in FIG. 2. Then the slide plate 43 is pushed from the dash-dash line position of FIG. 2 to the solid line position of the same figure. This causes the end 66 of the slide plate 43 to engage the shoulder 67 and forces the lugs 5656 into the recess 57. With the attachment guiding device 51 in position surrounding the throat plate 24, the sewing machine is well suited to do embroidery and/ or darning, in which operations the work 42 is usually held by an attachment having a pair of conventional hoops 72. The device 51 prevents the work 42 and the hoops 72 from catching on the edges of the raised throat plate 24 or on the raised plungers 32-32. Also the curved top surface 59 of the device 51 makes it easy to slide the hoops 72 into position under the needle 21. When the sewing machine is to be used for straight stitching, the slide plate 43 is withdrawn and the operators finger is placed in the small finger notch 68 formed on the outer edge 58 of the device 51, and the portion of the device between the

edges

52 and 58 is lifted clear of the throat plate 51. This permits the lugs 56-56 to be withdrawn from the recess 57 and allows complete removal of the attachment guiding device. Thereafter the throat plate 51 is lowered to the Down position and the slide plate 43 pushed into its closed position.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what I claim herein is:

1. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having a work supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surface of said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface, said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having a fiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, an inner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference in elevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface of said throat plate, and a top surface meeting with the top edge of said inner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surface at the outer edge of said annular member.

2. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having a work supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surface of said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface, said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having a flat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, an inner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference in elevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface of said throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said inner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the fiat bottom surface at the outer edge of said annular member, and a lug protruding inwardly from said inner wall.

3. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having a work supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surface of said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface, said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having a fiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said Worksupporting surface, an inner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference in elevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface of said throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said inner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the fiat bottom surface at the outer edge of said annular member, and a pair of spaced lugs protruding inwardly from said inner wall.

4. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having a work supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surface of said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface, said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having a fiat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work-supporting surface, an inner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference in elevation between said work supporting surface and the upper surface of said throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said inner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surface at the outer edge of said annular member, and a shoulder depending from the bottom surface of said device.

5. An attachment guiding device for use with a sewing machine having a work supporting surface and throatplate mounted with the upper surface of said throat plate above the level of said work-supporting surface, said attachment guiding device comprising an annular member having a flat bottom surface adapted to rest on said work supporting surface, an inner wall having a height substantially equal to the difference in elevation between said work-supporting surface and the upper surface of said throat plate, a top surface meeting with the top edge of said inner wall and curved downwardly to merge with the flat bottom surface at the outer edge of said annular member, and said inner wall comprising a semi-circular wall, a semi-oval wall and a two-part circular wall joining the ends of said semi-circular wall to the ends of said semioval wall.

Enos Apr. 22, 1952 Johnson Jan. 12, 1960