US94212A - Improvement in sewing-machines for working button-holes - Google Patents

Description

Sew/2y Fig. 2;

Witnesses.

UNITED STATES PATENT Frito EDMUND HOWARD, OF FLUSHING, AND W. H. J AOKSON, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN SEWING-MACHINES FOR WORKING BUTTON-HOLES.v

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 94,212, dated August 31, 1869.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, EDMUND HOWARD, of Flushing, New York, and W. H. JACKSON, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ot' New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing Machines; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon,

' like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

a To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use our invention, we will proceed u to describe it.'

Our invention relates to certain improve. ments on-an attachment for sewing-machines practical working of our attachment, to make some important change's in some ot" the devices composing it. These changes, with some additions, constitute ,the principal features of our present invention, which consists, mainly, in the novel construction and arrangement of a lever device for drawing the shuttlc-thread back from, and returning with it back to, the edge of the goods, as well as in the use of a spring so arranged as to control the slack of this thread, and also in the employment of a novel device for regulating the length of the stitch, and in the productionr of the stitch itself. A

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top-plan view ot' our attachment, showing it secured in place upon a sewing-machine. Fig. 2-is a top-plan view of the same with the upper plate of our attachment removed. Fig. 3is a top-plan view of the upper plate of our attachment detached. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the devices of a sewing-machine, and of ourattachment, in the act of forming the l stitch, and of the stitches when loosely formed.

Fig. 5 is vau edge or side view of our stitchregulator attached to the legof the feed-brake- Fig. 6 1s a front view of the lower part of our stitch-regulator, broken off; and Fig. 7 is a cross-section on the line w x ot' Fig. 6.

In constructing our attachment, designed to be placed upon the bed-plate or platform of a shuttle-machine of the Singer or any similar manufacture, We make two plates, A and B, the former to be attached to the shuttlecarrier, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and the latter to be placed immediately over it and attached in the position ot' the ordinary throatpiece, as shown in Fig. l. The form of these plates is shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. To vthe upper side of the plate A we attach cams a. and b', in the relative positions, and shaped as shown in Fig. 2, and so as to turn freely on their points of attachment. 1 These cams a and b are held in position by springs c, attached to the plate, as shown also in Fig. 2; and also to the same plate we attach .rigidly the cams b and k, in the relative positions and shaped asshown in the same figure. If desired,.one or both of these cams may form a part of the plate, though, preferably, we attach the cam b, and make the cam k a part of the plate. Y

The upper plate B we construct with a tang, Gr, on its rear side, for attachment to the bedplate of the machine, in the place occupied by the throat-plate, as shown in Fig. 1, and near its front side we provide` a throat hole, l, through which the needle plays, as shown -in Fig. 1. To this plate B, on its upper side, we attachthe bent lever O and the elbow-levers D and E, in the relative positions and shaped as cleanly shown in Figs. 1 and` 3, and so as to turn freely about their respective points of attachment, m, a, and o. The short arm of the lever C is operated by means of a pin, attached and projecting under it, acting against the cani b on the plate A. The long arm of the lever is curved slightly, both in its vertical and horizontal planes, so as to be parallel with that portion of the plateB which is immediately under its range of motion, and'also so that its extreme end, which is provided with an eye, may have this eye brought di'- rectlyunder thethroathole l of the plate, the

edge of the plateat this point being con structed with a lip, in which the throat-hole is located, and so arranged as to permit the eye of the lever to come directly under the throat-hole,'-as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The front end of the arm gV of the elbow-lever D enters a groove (shown in dotted lilies in Fig.`3) of the requisite length to partially limit its movement, and near its end has a hook, F, pivoted to it, curved -in both its ver` tical and horizontal planes', and provided on its outer edge and front end with a groove, to catch the thread and guide it, as will be explained hereafter. This hook F is also connected loosely to the arm f of the elbow-lever E by. 'a link, It, its point of connection being a little in front of its point of connection to the arm of the lever D, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4. The end ofthe arm d of the elbow-lever D is provided with an oblong openingor slot, which lies `or lits on a pin at-V tached to the upper side of the arm e-of the el how-lever E, as clearly shown .in Figs. 1 and .3, in such a manner as to permit the pin to move freely in the slot, the length of which Alimits the movement of the lever D, as'shown in the same figures. The arm e of the elbowlever E'has also another pin, j, on its under side, which enters and passes through anfoblong opening or slot p in ,ther plateB, and is acted on by the` cam a., pivoted to the plate` A, as shown in Fig.'1. To the under side of the plate B is attached at one end'a straight spring, q, at right angles to the length :of the plate, and so as to be under the long. armof the lever C, and to have its free end toward the throat-hole, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. l. The relative length, shape, form, position, 4and connections of these dierentv mechanical devices are shown in the drawings, and are such as to produce the different movements hereinafter described.-

To apply and operate this attachment to' and with the sewing-machines mentioned, we first remove from them the throatpiece,and' then connectv thel under plate A to the shut- 'cle-carrier H by means of a screw, and .over

the plate A we placethe plate B, fastening it* to the bed-plate of the machine by'means'of a screw, which passes-throughsthe. tang Gr, which lies in the `same seat aoccupied bythe throat-piece when it is'on the machine, these plates having been first providedwiththe mechanical devices described. The upper or needle thread is adjusted in the usnalmanner. The lower or shuttle thread, comingvfrom the bobbin, is passed under the spring q, and then-through the eye inthe en d of the arm of the lever C, if the lever is thrown'back,r as shown in Fig. l.l The cloth on` which.A the stitch is to he worked, whether'on itsedgezor in a button-hole, is then adjusted, yand the proper tension given to the threadsfbythe The machine is thenoper'-l usual devices.

ated. l

The needle descends, carrying its thread, through the loop of which-the shuttle passes,

in the usual way, and as the shuttle returnsthe devices take the position-clearly shown in Fig. 1. This position is taken almost immediately after it commences its return, and, as it contiuue's'its return, the hookFcatches the lower or shuttle thread in the groove on its end and carries it forward over *the throat l, the longV arm of the lever C quickly following it, and takinga position with its eye directly under the throat. At the same instantthe arms fand g ot'theelbow-levers D and E move a short distance inthe direction of the forward lineof the shuttle, carrying the -hook f with them, which, by this motion, spreads o'r opens the thread into a loop, gets out of the way of the'needle, and lreturns-to its former position. As it returns the needle goes through the loop thus formed, and on through .the throat in the plate and the eye in the end of the lever G, carrying-itsvthread with it, through the loop of which the shuttle again passes. Then, as the needle'ascends, and as soon as it rises from the throat, the arm of the lever C draws ther stitch tight, and draws ,the upper or needle.

thread `both fromabove and below the edge ot' the-cloth, and forms the purl ofthe thread in a line onI the edge.

whenfdrawn` tightly together by the armfof .the lever, must make the stitch as described.

In operating the machine with our attachmeut we .have found it necessary oftentimes, -a-nd especially in formingthe stitches around the inner ends of -button-holes against which the eyeof the button bears, to have the feed- ,v regulator so present the edge of the curve of the :button-holeV that the stitches about this curve will be'uniform with the rest of the work. To dothis -it is necessary that the feed graduallymove more vrapidly -as the stitches are worked-from the beginning of the curve to its.

v highest point, andin like manner move slower as it passes from this point to the straight edgel of the button-hole. The reason for this is that,

. unles'sitwere done, the stitchesaboutthe curve would lnot be at uniform distances.' To accomplish this we attach to the leglof the bra-ke or-feeding device a stitch-regulator, or device' for regulating the feed, as desired, and soar-y rangev-it that the operatorA can increase -or diminish therapidity of the feed at the same time,and.without interfering with his. general management of the work.

This device is shownin Figs. 5, 6, andv 7 and consists of a spring, J, with av yoke, fr, at-

tachedV loosely to its upper-end, which yoke lstraddles and `is secured to the arm I of the usualfrock-shaft. The lower end-of the spring is connected by rode-with the usual legfor clutching the feed-wheel. This springris fiat, andFig.-5 shows-an edge view. Itslowerend is provided with awedge-shaped piece, T, having acurved oblong slot or opening, s, below which projects a handle, K, as shown in Fig. 6, which presents a front view. The material forming this -slotis made wedge-shaped longi- The stitch thus made vis shown in Fig. 4, and closely resembles the lhand made button'- hole` stitch.

tudinally, as clearly shown in section in Fig. 7 the smaller end being at t, land the larger at u. The slot s, in attaching the spring to the leg of the bra-ke, is slipped on the rod c, connecting the leg of the brake to the brake itself of the machine, and 'over it are placed the thumb-nuts L, ordinarily used to regulate the length of the rod c, and through it the feed and length of stitch.

Instead of using these thumb-nuts, we use our stitch-regulator. We have found from eX- perience that the thumb-nut cannot be manipulated with suiicient ease and rapidity to regulate the feed as desired for turning the curve in the button-hole; but by'means of our device the rod 'u is gradually lengthened or shortened by simply swinging or turning our stitchregulator backward 'or forward, the wedge'- shaped piece T and the action of the spring accomplishing this result.

Having thus described the improvements constituting oui` invention, what we claim is- 1. The lever C, arranged to carry the shut-A tlc-thread and draw the loops of .the needlethread to the edge of' the cloth and lock them there, substantially as described.

2; The vibrating hook F, in combination Wit the elbow'levers D and E, constructed and Var-l ranged to operate as described, whereby the hook is made to carry the shuttle-thread up over the edge of the fabric, to engage with the needle-thread, and then move out of the Way of the needle, as set forth.

3. In combination with the lever C and the hook F, with its operating-levers, we claim the plate A, provided with its cams a, b, b', and k, for operating the levers O, D, and'E, with hook F, substantially as herein described.

4. The pivoted wedge-shaped piece T,:in vcombination with the rocking arm I,.for varying the vextent o't' the feed-motion, substantially'as herein described.

EDMUN D HOWARD. W. H. JACKSON.

Witnesses H. B. MUNN, W. C. DODGE.

Images