Sewing Machine
a machine for sewing or stitching cloth, leather, etc.
The various forms of this now well-known and almost universally used machine are all of quite recent introduction. The invention of the doublepointed needle with an eye in the center, in the year 1755, marked a distinct advance toward the invention of the sewing machine, and it was itself used in a form of machine for producing the "shoemaker's stitch." In the eye of the doublepointed needle the sewing thread was fastened, and by a pair of grippers or mechanical fingers the needle was pushed and pulled alternately from the opposite sides of two sides folds of the material to be sewed.
In 1830 Barthelemy Thimonier, a Frenchman, obtained in his native country a patent for a form of sewing machine which was for some time successfully worked, and which was in effect the parent of the single-thread machines now in use. In Thimonier's apparatus, which was constructed largely of wood, the "thread carrier was placed under the table whereon the fabric to be sewed was laid.
The needle was in the form of a crochet hook, and having a descending and ascending motion, it passed through the cloth , brought up a loop of thread, which was caught and retained by a nipple till the hooked needle brought up a second loop.
The second loop passed through loop No.
SEWING MACHINE 1, which thereupon was released and drawn tight, a chain stitch was thus formed, and the cloth being moved forward the length of a stitch, the process was repeated and continued .
Between 1832 and 1834, Walter Hunt, a New York mechanician, invented and sold several sewing machines which made a practical lock stitch. He, however , neglected to apply for a patent.
The invention of the eye-pointed needle by Newton & Archibald, patented in 1841, and applied by them to the stitching and tamboring of the back of gloves, formed the most important step in the progress of developing the sewing machine , and in no essential principle did their machine differ from the singlethread machines now in use. In 1844 an invention by John Fisher was patented jointly with James Gibbons, in which a shuttle and needle were used for producing a lock stitch, and by a different combination the patent covered the production of what subsequently was known as the Grover & Baker, or knotted stitch. Elias Howe's invention was patented in the United States by himself, and in England by William Thomas in 1846. Howe, after several years' labor and study, worked out the idea of his sewing machine without any guidance from or knowledge of what had been previously accomplished ; and he moreover secured such effective combinations of parts as made the Howe machine in reality the acknowledged parent of all the forms since introduced.
His patent-right for Great Britain was sold for $1,250 to Mr. Thomas, in whose employment Mr. Howe worked for about two years. On returning to the United States in 1849, Howe found that notwithstanding his patent right, several individuals had made, exhibited, and used sewing machines, though not a single machine had yet been made in the United States under his patent. He had, therefore, to face the task of vindicating his rights. It was not till the end of 1850 that the manufacture of his machine actually began, and it was 1854 before a decision in his favor against I. M.
Singer was obtained.
The modifications, improvements, and additions made to the sewing machine since its introduction are innumerable. are innumerable .
It has now been adapted to produce almost all kinds of stitching which can be done by the hand; and every variety of work required on garments. The leading classes of machines are: (1) Singlethread machines, (2) machines with two or more threads, and (3) overhead or glove-stitch machines.
Single-thread Machines. The stitch made by the ordinary form of single thread machine is precisely what is known SEWING MACHINE as the crochet stitch, and when the thread is broken at any point the whole work readily undoes. Ordinary single -thread machines, unless for limited applications, such as glove embroidery, are passing out of general use. It is different, however, from the Wilcox & Gibbs single-thread machine, in which a revolving double hook or looper is employed which gives each loop a twist and produces thereby the twisted chain stitch, combining a solid fastening with great elasticity and smoothness.
Two-thread Machines. - Of these machines two subdivisions may be recognized the lock stitch, and the knotted or double chain stitch, commonly called the Grover & Baker machines. Of these, the lock stitch machines are by far the most common, and for general purposes are are in almost universal use. For producing the lock stitch there are two forms of apparatus: (1) the reciprocating shuttle which carries a thread through the loop made by the needle, and (2) the lenticular spool or thread case over which loop is passed by a revolving hook. Of the first kind-shuttle machines Howe, the Singer, the Wanzer, and others are familiar forms; the second, or spool and hook appliance, is a peculiarity of the Wheeler & Wilson alone. The needle was originally fixed at the end of a vibrating arm, and, describing the arc of a circle, it required to be curved . Singer first introduced the straight needle carried by a slide, and it now is in general use. Next to the invention of the eyepointed needle the designing of an efficient feed motion was the most important improvement made in the sewing machine.
Singer introduced what is called the wheel feed, but the plan now adopted is one of the many ingenious and beautiful mechanical devices introduced by A.
B.
Wilson, of Wheeler & Wilson. It is called the four-motion feed, and consists of a serrated plate to which a forward, down, backward, and upward motion is communicated, the forward and backward motion being varied according to the length of stitch. The tension of thread in the shuttle is maintained by a small nipping spring which presses against the thread. In the Wheeler & Wilson machine the use of the shuttle is entirely avoided, and the lock stitch is formed by carrying the loop from the upper thread over and around the under thread, which is contained within a small lenticular spool, which fits snugly but but free in a recess in the side of the revolving hook. This exceedingly ingenious device, together with the fourmotion feed above alluded to, place Mr. Wilson , their inventor, in the front rank of improvers of the sewing machine. The Wheeler & SEWING MACHINE Wilson machine works with great ease and smoothness, and as the machine can be noiselessly worked at a high speed, it is a great favorite for general domestic and light manufacturing uses. The ordinary Grover & Baker machine makes a knotted or double loop chain stitch of a complex character. For general purposes it is not now in great favor, owing the 10 new constellations added to the 1 SEXTANT from end to the sack seam, drawing the thread through with it.