US397999A

US397999A - Chusetts

Info

Publication number: US397999A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1889-02-19
Anticipated expiration: 1906-02-19

Description

(No Model.)

S. B. & C. B. PRATT.

THREAD HOLDER FOR SPOOLS.

N0. 39'7,999. Patented Feb. 19, 1889.

UNTTE STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

SAMUEL BARKER PRATT AND CLARA BARKER PRATT, OF BOSTON, MASSA- Ol-IUSETTS.

THREAD-HOLDER FOR SPOOLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 397,999, dated February 19, 1889.

I Application filed October 12, 1888. Serial No. 287,931. (No model.)

To all whom it 72mg CON/66PM.

Be it known that we, SAMUEL BARKER PRATT and CLARA BARKER PRATT, both of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Attachment for Spools of Thread, of which the following is a specification.

Spools of thread for domestic use are apt,

especially when lying in a basket or workl box, to become more or less unwound, with the result that the thread from the different 5 spools is liable to become tangled, and much trouble and loss of thread and time ensue therefrom. Our device is intended to obviate I 5 this difficulty, to do away with any necessity for slitting or notching the spool, and to provide an end of the thread always ready for use, but at the same time to prevent the spool from becoming unwound any-farther. In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is an elevation of a spool of thread provided with our device. zontal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar section of the attachment removed. Fig. 4 is a plan of the main portion of the attachment laid flat, the elastic portion having been removed. Fig. 5 is a view of the elastic portion removed. Fig. (3 is a side viewof a modio fication.

A represents a flatstrip of thin pliable inaterialsuch as zylonite or some thin metalbroader at one end or portion and narrower at the opposite end or portion. 5 a is a hole situated near the end of the broad portion, of sufiicient size to admit the end of the narrower portion.

1) is a perforation centrally located in the strip, of a sufficient size to allow the passage of 0 the thread.

0 is a hook or catch cut and formed up from the body of the strip.

A is a hook formed by bending the end of the smaller portion of the strip back upon to expand sufficiently,

itself.

A A are guiding-lips, produced by forming up the opposite edges of the broader portion of the strip at the points shown.

E represents an ordinary spool with the Fig. 2 is a horil i i 5o thread e wound upon it in the usual manner. i

The strip A is laid around the loaded spool in the manner shown-that is, with its narrower end projecting through the hole a, and the end of the thread projecting through the perforation b. An elastic band, D, catches over the hook c and the hooked end A, extending from one to the other, as shown, between the lips A. The object of this band is to force the strip to contract as the thread is unwound from the spool. by pulling the narrow end more and more through the perforation a in the broad end.

To remove a piece of thread, the spool is laid in thehand with the end of the thread extending between two upturned fingers thereof. The thread is then pulled by the other hand, and the spool will rotate while the attachment remains stationary, and the thread be drawn through the perforation Z) until a sufficient quantity is unwound. The spool may then be thrown-into the work-bas ket without fear of more thread becoming unwound from it.- In plaein g the spool in the hand preparatory to unwinding thread there from, it should be so laid therein that as the thread is pulled the spool will rotate toward the palm of the hand. The attachment will readily follow the thread from end to end of the spool as it unwinds without any assistance.

It will be seen that in this attachment the strip is substantially flat, no groove or trough shape being necessary, as the elastic D is not obliged to extend entirely around the strip, the strip itself being provided with means for securing the opposite ends of the elastic band on opposite sides of the outer free end of the strip.

The elastic band is prevented from coming in contact with the thread, thereby producing too great friction thereupon, by means of the position of the hook c, which is sufficiently distant from the larger end to allow said strip and still allow the hooked end A to extend through the open- 5 ing a, so that the portion of the strip between the opening a and the hook c is always i11- terposed between the elastic band and the thread.

The elastic band is preferably, but not nec- Too essaril5 made in the form 01 a figure 8, as shown in Fig. 5, in order that there may be two loops in said hand, either of which may he caught over the hook c.

The modification in Fig. (1 shows the strip with the hooks c and A and perforation (L omitted, and the elastic hand cemented at its ends to an end of the strip and to a portion near the center of the strip, as shown,so that the free end of the strip underlaps, (thereby keeping the elastic from contact position by with the thread) and is held in means of loops H.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The strip A, provided with the peri'm-a-