US981125A - Device for threading needles. - Google Patents

Description

, M. SCHOENPELD. DEVICE FOR THREADING NEEDLES. AliPLIOATION rum) 423.4. 1910 981,125. I Patented Jm10,1911.

MORRIS SGI-IOENFELD, 0F RORSGI-IACH, SWITZERLAND.

DEVICE FOR THREADING NEEDLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

Application filed April 4, 1910. Serial No. 553,164.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mourns SoHonNrnLD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Rorschach, in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Threading Needles, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a device for threading needles, and is especially adapted for use on embroidering machines where there are hundreds of needles requiring threading from time to time.

The device is a very simple one and is adapted to present or hold the thread in proximity to the eye of the needle and to carry the end of the thread through the eye of the needle by means of a current of air, whereby complicated mechanical contrivances are avoided and with them their infirmities.

The .present device is very simple and inexpensive, as well as efficient and will work almost instantaneously and there are no complicated parts to get out of order. Aside from the device for producing the air current there are but one or two mechanical moving elements, and they are free from liability of derangement.

The elements which operate upon the thread and needle consists of a holder or saddle for presenting the free end of the thread in close proximity to the eye of the needle and when so presented it is adapted to project a current of air in such a relation to the thread and needle eye as to force the thread through the needle eye by means of the air current, thereby avoiding complicated mechanical elements of fine construction.

The greatest field of usefulness for my device is in threading needles on embroidering machines where there are many hundreds of needles to be threaded from time to time and I will therefore describe my invention as applied to such use, though the same may be advantageously used in other ways without departing from the scope of my invention.

In embroidering machines of the large well known type the needles, several hundred, are arranged in longitudinal, superimposed rows, upon longitudinal needle bars, and while it is possible to provide a threader for each individual needle I consider such practice an unnecessarily cumbersome one and I therefore prefer to provide a set of threaders arranged at intervals along the machine which will be more or less portable, whereby a single threader will serve for threading a larger number of needles. The operator can present the threader to the needle and after threading the needle, withdraw it therefrom for use on another needle. In this way I can arrange several threaders along the machine at convenient intervals and supply the air current therefor from a common source.

The broad object of my invention is to provide a holder or saddle for holding the end of the thread near the eye of the needle and then by an air current force the thread through the needle eye; and in the broad spirit of my invention it is possible to force the thread through the needle eye either by a suction action or a blowin action, but I prefer the former and I will therefore describe the same, but at the same time I do not limit my invention thereby, but intend to cover the broadly equivalent blowing action.

In the drawings forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the part of the device which acts directly upon the thread and needle, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a needle and saddle, showin the device as it is used to thread the needle, Fig. 8 is a section through the saddle and needle, showing the alinement of the needle eye and air passage, Fig. t is a side elevation of the needle and saddle showing the application of the invention, Fig. 5 shows, diagrammatically, the distribution of my improvements on an embroidering machine of the large type, and Fig. 6 is a cross section of a needle and a saddle, showing my invention in a preferred form.

In Fig. 5 I have shown one way of dis tributing the threaders along the machine, whereby several may be used to thread the needles of the entire machine. I have employed my invention in connection with a suction device rather than a blower, and without intending to exclude the latter from the scope of my invention, I will describe it as used with a suction device. I have shown a device 1, suitably located where the suction therefrom may act through the distributing pipes 2, 3. These latter are arranged longitudinally of the machine, one

pipe for each row of needles, and connected I -ers as are in actualuse.

the couplings 1, to which the various threading devices are connected. The pipes 2, 3, and couplings 4 are of ordinary form, having internal bores communicating to form continuous channels and the number of couplings on each pipe will depend upon the length of the machine and will be changed to suit the particular requirements of each machine. The suction pump 1, may be of ordinary construction and is used for the purpose of creating a suction or partial vacuum in the various connected pipes and the details of the pump are not, therefore shown herein.

The threading devices are connected to the couplings 4 on the supply pipes 2, 3, by means of flexible connections 5, whereby they are more or less portable, so that each threader may be used on a number of needles. The threader herein shown, reference being had first to Figs. 1 to 4:, consists of a tube 6, having an internal bore 7, which communicates with the bore of the flexible connection 5 and thereby through the pipe 2 or 3 with the pump. This tube 6, is preferably cast with an angularly disposed piston casing 8, having a bore 9 at right angles -to and communicating with, the reduced portion 10 of the bore of the tube. In the piston casing I have provided a piston 11, which has a cap 12, on one end which limits the movement of the piston in one direction; and on the other end is provided a screw 13, between the head of which and the tube lies a spring 14; which tends to retain the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, when the piston shuts off the passage of air through the tube. There is a circumferential groove 15 in the piston which alines with the bore 10 of the tube when the piston is depressed, whereby the air will be free to pass the piston. The piston serves as a valve, by which the threader is made operative. By making the valve normally closed on each threader, the threads may be separately c011- trolled and all the force of the pump concentrated on only such threader or thread- I have provided a curved tube 16, which forms a continuation of the tube 6, and it is preferably of smaller diameter. It is to this tube 16 that I have applied what I have called a saddle, that is, the device by which the thread end is guided to the needle eye, while the air current is; projecting the thread through the needle eye. The saddle which I have herein shown forms and which opens on one side 20 for the purpose of placing the thread and of permitting the saddle to be placed over the needle to straddle the latter as shown in Figs. 2 to 4.

Below, the saddle has an opening 21.

The operation of the device is very sim- .trolling the operation thereof.

ple. The pump is adapted to keep up a suction or partial vacuum in the system of pipes and tubes, any suitable starting and stopping device being provided for con- There will be no circuit so long as the valves of the threaders are all closed. If the operator desires to thread a needle he or she takes whichever threader is most convenient to the needle and places the end of the particular thread across the bottom of the saddle by dropping it through the opening 20 into the channel 18, when the thread will lie across the opening 21. The saddle is then placed over the needle as shown in Figs. 2 to 4-, when it will straddle the needle, with the eye 22 in line with the bore of the saddle and also the opening 21, opposite. The position at this moment is shown in Fig. 2. The operator then depresses the piston, whereupon the alinement of the groove 15 with the bore of the tube will permit air to pass. A suction will thus be created across the eye of the needle, which will be suflicient to force the end of the thread through the needle eye and up the saddle tube. The threader is then removed from the needle which is then ready to stitch. The amount of thread passed through the needle will depend upon how far the thread is drawn over the saddle, which will depend upon the individual practice.

As a tight connection between the saddle and the needle secures the best results. and as there is apt to be wear in the needle channel of the saddle I have shown my invention carried to a higher development in Fig. 6 to secure the best results. Herein the saddle is modified to the extent of providing a hinged cap 23, for the saddle which swings transversely from the hinge 2 1. This cap is so shaped as to partially surround the needle 19 and is provided with the aperture 21, the same as the previous form. A spring 25 on the saddle presses the cap 23, whereby the needle will be clamped against the end 26 of the saddle, which curves to conform to the needle. This close fitting will force the air to take through the aperture 21, and the needle eye, and will take up any difference caused by wear of the. parts by the needles.

It will be apparent that the present device is very simple and there are no small mechanical elements to get out of order.

lVhile I have shown my invention in the preferred form I do not wish to be limited in the scope of my invention to such form as many changes may be made within the broad scope of my invention.

It is possible to use a blow pump instead of a suction pump by simply changing the relative positions of the parts and I therefore consider the same within the scope and spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention What I claim is;

1. A device of the character described, comprising a saddle on Which the thread is adapted to be laid, and an element having an air passage, said device being adapted to be presented to a needle in such a Way that the thread on the saddle will lie across the needle eye and so that the said air passage Will cause a current of air to pass through the needle eye, carrying the thread therewith, and means for causing an air current in said air passage.

2. A device of the class described provided with an air passage and a thread holding portion, said device being adapted to be presented to a needle in such a Way that the thread Will be presented on one side of the needle eye by the thread holding portion and the said air passage Will be presented on the opposite side of the needle eye and means for causing a suction in said air passage, whereby the thread will be drawn through the needle eye.

3. A device of the class described, comprising a tube having an air passage, and a saddle adapted to be presented below the needle eye and to support the thread opposite the eye of the needle, a side opening for the passage of the thread into the saddle, the air passage of said tube being adapted to create an air current on the side of the needle eye opposite that to which the thread is presented and means for creating an air current in said passage.

4;. A device of the class described, comprising a tube having an air passage, and a saddle adapted to present a thread to the needle eye, an opening for the passage of the thread into the saddle, said saddle having an opening opposite the air passage of the tube and means for creating an air current in the tube.

5. A device of the class described, embodying a tube having an air passage adapted to be presented to the eye of a needle, and a movable saddle adapted to press a needle against the tube, and to hold a thread in juxtaposition to the needle eye, means for pressing the saddle and means for creating an air current in said tube to force the thread through the needle eye.

bodying a tube having an air passage adapted to be presented to the eye of a needle, a saddle hinged to the tube, a spring adapted to press the saddle to clamp a needle between the saddle and tube, said saddle having an aperture opposite the air passage of the tube and means for creating an air current in the tube.

7. In a device of the class described, a distributing pipe adapted for the rows of embroidering devices of an embroidering machine, flexible tubes connected With said supply pipe and communicating With the interior thereof, means for creating an air pressure in the supply pipe and tubes and needle threading devices on the flexible tubes comprising means for supporting a thread in such relation to the eye of the needle as to cause the thread to be forced through the eye by the air pressure in the flexible tubes.

8. In a device of the character described the combination of a distributing pipe, a flexible tube connected With said supply pipe and communicating With the interior thereof, means for creating an air pressure in the supply pipe and tube and a portable needle threader on said tube embodying means for supporting a thread in such relation to the eye of the needle as to cause the thread to be forced through the eye of the needle by the air pressure in said tube and a portable valve carried in proximity to the needle threader and adapted to control the air pressure in the tube.

9. A device of the class described comprising a portable tube having an air passage, a saddle adapted to present a thread to the eye of the needle in a position to be affected by an air current in sald tube, means for creating an air current in the tube, a plunger for closing the air passage in the tube, held normally closed by a spring and adapted to be manually operated to open the air passage in the tube to permit of the air current passing therethrough.

Signed at the city of St. Gall, in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, this 24th day of March, 1910.

MORRIS SCI-IOENFELD.

In the presence of FRIEDR. STEINER, OSCAR Loan.

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