US50297A - Improvement in sewing-machines - Google Patents

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UNITED STATES' artnr @ritieni FRANCIS DrBALLOU, 0F ABINGTN, ASSIGNOR T@ ALFRED B. ELY, UF NEWIN, MASSACHUSETTS.

BMPRVEMENT EN SEWlNGI-NWACHENS.

Specification forming part of Letters-Patent No. ttth, dated October 3, i865.

To all whom it 'may concern:

15e it known that I, FRANCIS D. BALLOU, of Ahingtomin the countyof Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Presser-Foot for Sewing-Machines; andIdo hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and accurate description of the construction and operation ot' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in whicht Figure l is a view in. elevation of one side vofthe machine. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.V

To cause the descent of the eye of the needle in sewing-machines always to the lsame point,

v to permit the shuttle or hook to enter its loop and let the needle have its proper upward throw to draw the stitch and permit the feed to operate, it has hitherto been found necessary to use a varying hand adjustment when sewingmaterials of varying thickness; and it is the object of myinvention to insure the descent ot the eye of theneedle always to the same point in sewing materials of varying thickness and automatically change the distance of its upward throw; and to this end my invention consists in the employment of a presser-foot which, in accommodating itself to the varying thickness of materials to be sewed, shall change the fulcruin of the needle-lever automatically, so as to vary its upstroke to suit the varying thickness of material 'and always leave its downstroke the same, that the loop ot' the needle-thread may always receive the shuttle or looper at the same point to secure uniform stitching, while the varying ascent of the needle shall draw each stitch with equal force lwhen sewing materials of varying thickness under a continuous and uniform feed. l

lll-pontile horizontal table A, of the usual form for sewing machines, I place y a xed standard, I3, to support and guide the needle bar C and the steek D ot' the presser-foot E, both of which can slide vertically through proporly-placed mortises covered by the plates 1 and 2. Thene'edle-bar receives its vertical reciprocating motion from the lever F, which is actuated by the crank G, to which it is con` nected by the rod or pitman H, the crank 4being rotated either by a driving-heit or the handle g.

In this example ot' the application of my incient distance to permit the needle-lever F to vibrate in the slot; hutl by no means desire to be limited to such. arrangement.

The lever F has a central longitudinal slot, J, that permits it a free longitudinal motion on its fulcrum K, and this fulcrum K moves 'forward' and hack in the inclined slots or grooves L in the standards M and N, the slots I and L and the fulcrum K being shown in dotted lines in Fig. l.

rllhe stock D of the presser-foot is attached atits lower end by a loose slot and pin to the short arm ofthe crank-lever 0, so as to permit the lever to vibrate, and the leveris supported by and vibrates on a pin in the short standard or step I. Thelong arm ofthe lever isattaohed by straps Q and Q to the fulcruni K, with which they have a rigid connection; but the straps have a free movement on the pin p, by which they are connected to the upper end, of

-the long arm of lever 0.

A spring of any kind may he attached to the long arm of the lever 0 to keep it in its normal position, and this spring may he adjustable to regulate the degree of force with which the presser-foot is kept upon the material to be sewed. In the drawings I have shown a simple elastic hand, S, though, of course,a spring of any form may heused.

The operation is as follows: The material of varying thickness, being placed under thepresserfoot and regularly fed, will vary the height of the presser-foot above the taloleas,t`or example, in sewing the sole of a shoe onto the upper-and every change of position in the presser-foot through-the lever O and straps Q and Q' moves the fulcrum K in the inclined slot L in the standards M and N, and also changes the position of the fulcruin K in the slot I of the needle-lever F, and this change in the position of the fulcrum K causes the needle-leverF to give the needle-har C a greater or less elevation without causing the slightest variation in the point to which the eye of the needle uniformly descends, but varying the l rising motion alone, and thus gives automativention the presser-bar is slotted for a suflically the necessary pull. on the needle-thread and the proper time for the feed to operate properly without-the possibility of the shuttle or looper missing a stitch, however numerous the Variations of thiolrnessof the material being sewed may be7 and without the least interruption to the regular continuing of the sewu g.

My invention is of easy adaptationto other uses; 4but in this connection I only claim itwhen applied to a sewing-machine Nor do I limit myself` to this mechanism alone, for my invention maybe rendered useful in various changes of mechanical adaptations.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,'isv 2 l. Automatically controlling the throw of the needle, in sewing' vmaterials of varying thickness, by the pressenfoot, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of a needle-lever with a presser-foot, substantially in the manner andy for the purpose set forth.

' FRANCIS D. BALLOU.

Witnesses: l 4

W. M. PARKER,- FRA'NoIs L. CLARKE.

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