US PATENTS IN 1856
DESCRIPTIONS AND CLAIMS OF SEVERAL AMERICAN PATENTS ISSUED IN THE YEAR 1856
This list of patents is far than be complete, further researches will be done, including patents for Needles and Knitting Machines.
Number of applications for patents during the year ...................... 4.960
Patents issued during the year ...................................................... 2.502
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JANUARY 1856
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US 14.022 Phineas L. Slayton
Sewing Machine
This machine is intended to sew and embroider cloth and also to work button-holes.
Claim. What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by letters patent, is:
1st. The horizontal motion of the needle and shuttle-box combined, at any required distance from the cloth.
2d. The combination of mechanism by which the pattern receives motion and operates to control the movements of the needle and shuttle, consisting of the worm wheel L and screw, or their equivalents, of which the screw or their first mover is furnished with arms Z1 Z1 operated upon by a lever O1 on a shaft S1 which receives a continuous rotary motion, substantially as herein described.
3d. Though I do not claim a circular shuttle-box, or raceway and revolving shuttle, I claim furnishing the revolving shuttle with a revolving bobbin or ball F, containing the thread and spool N, by which the twist of the thread remains unchanged, or their equivalents.
4th. I claim the manner of connecting the fly F with the feeding hook H as it is operated upon by the thread as the shuttle passes through the loop to prevent missing stitches.
5th. The feeding apparatus attached to the revolving turn-table F and otherwise arranged and combined, substantially as herein described.
January 1, 1856
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US 14.141 John O'Neil
Sewing Machine
The nature of this improvement will be understood from the claim and engravings. The inventor says: I do not claim a feed bar, or one divided into a number of points; nor do I claim a roughened surface of any kind, but I claim, the broad chisel-edged piece e, which takes hold of several of the warp or weft threads, and thus feeds along the material without piercing or penetrating the cloth, when such edge is of sufficient width to catch or hold several threads of the fabric being sewed, substantially as set forth.
January 22, 1856
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FEBRUARY 1856
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US 14.207 Alfred Swingle
Machinery for Sewing Cloth, Leather and other Material
Assignor to Elmer Townsend
The improvement also serves to prevent the wax from being scraped from the thread, as takes place when a waxed thread is carried and pressed between two flat surfaces. The inventor says: I do not claim a tension apparatus composed of a spring bearing against a fixed surface or another spring, the thread being drawn between the two; but I do claim as a tension apparatus, the combination of a rotary grooved roller M and a pressure roller O, operating by means of a spring S, or its equivalent, essentially as specified; the same when a wax thread is used, producing advantages substantially as herein before stated.
February 5, 1856
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US 14.283 Seth P. Chapin
Sewing Guide
The inventor says: I do not claim a device invented by S. C. Blodgett, for cording umbrella covers, in the use of which the edge of the cloth in a partially turned state is guided into a slot, and a turn over the cord completed by passing under the presser. I claim the method of forming hems on the edge of flexible materials by means of folding guides made to turn the edge 180° or more, substantially as described and in combination with guides, substantially as described, I also claim the employment of a spring F, or analogous device:
1st. To hold and to guide a piece of cloth by an edge or plait.
2d. To cause the cloth to follow the guides, placed between it and the needle, with certainty.
3d. To keep the cloth on a stretch while the stitch is being drawn.
February 19, 1856
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US 14.322 James S. McCurdy
Binding Guide
Claim. The centre piece in combination with the plates A and B, arranged and operating substantially as set forth; for the purpose of adjusting the binder for the use of binding of different widths, and applying the same with unequal lap to the material bound.
February 26, 1856
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US 14.324 T. J. W. Robertson
Sewing Machine
Claim.The looper b, constructed, applied and operated substantially in the manner set forth.
February 26, 1856
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MARCH 1856
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US 14.393 Henry R. David
Sewing Machine
Claim. The method herein described and shown of leading the thread to avoid wear or derangement thereto, by combining with the slide D, in the before mentioned patent of David M. Smith, US 7.296 of April 16, 1850 and on which this is an improvement, the needle F constructed with the two eyes and the groove to act in the manner and for the purposes specified.
March 11, 1856
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US 14.433 William C. Watson
Sewing Machine
My invention consists, principally, of the following improvements: first, in a spring pressure plate located beneath the table in line with and so as to spring against the needle on the side opposite to the bobbin of the shuttle, the use of which is to prevent the formation of the loop on that side of the needle and thereby escape the shuttle; secondly, in the arrangement of the tension-clamp through which the thread passes to stop the feed and thereby take up the slack of the stitch.
Assignor to Ira W. Gregory
March 11, 1856
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US 14.475 Isaac Merritt Singer
Sewing Machine
Claim. The method, substantially as herein described, of distending or gathering up the cloth or other substance where the needle operates upon it, to form the seam by combining in a sewing machine two distinct feeding wheels, or their equivalents, moving with a differential motion substantially as described.
March 18, 1856
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MAY 1856
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US 14.864 J. H. Gould
Husking-Thimble
Claim. The device herein shown, resembling the end of a human finger and formed by providing a thimble A, very similar in construction to a sewing thimble and welding or otherwise forming an artificial finger-nail B on the upper side of its forward extremity.
May 13, 1856
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US 14.956 William O. Grover
Case for Sewing Machine
The nature of this invention will be understood from the claim and the engraving.
Claim. Arranging a box or case for a sewing machine, so that, when open, the box shall constitute the bed for the machine to be operated upon and hanging the machine thereto to facilitate oiling, cleansing and repairs, without removing it from the box and the peculiar adaptation of the handle F, so that it may be pushed out when required to drive the machine and when returned within the box shall serve to prevent motion of the parts whilst the machine is being transported.
May 27, 1856
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JUNE 1856
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US 15.020 Isaac Merritt Singer
Sewing Machines for Binding Hats
Claim. The method of turning the hat by the action of the spring, or its equivalent, in combination with the feed-motion acting on the rim and the gauge against which the edge of the rim bears. I also claim the mode of regulating the tension of the binding and smoothing out the plaits and kinks by passing it around the several folds of a spring.
June 3, 1856
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JULY 1856
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US 15.396 Alfred Swingle
Sewing Machine
Assignor to Elmer Townsend
Claim. The employment of a hook in connexion with the looping needle and arranging said hook so that it shall pass into the cloth or material from the same side of it on which the looping needle works or is situated.
July 22, 1856
Reissue US RE 410 November 4, 1856
Elmer Townsend Assignee of Alfred Swingle
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US 15.402 Burritt C. Boyes
Folding-Guides of Sewing Machine
Claim. I do not confine myself to the precise shape of the metal plate B, as shown, to the precise arrangement of the guard b b1 in respect to the plate, or to the number of helical or slit rings shown. Nor do I claim a device for which a patent was granted to Seth P. Chapin and in which hems are formed on the edges of flexible materials, by means of folding-guides made to turn the edge 180 deg. or more. But I claim the employment of one or more helical or slit rings for the purpose of forming on the edges of fabrics single or double hems, or for forming plaits in the middle of fabrics previous to the said hems or plaits being submitted to the action of the needle and thread of sewing machines.
July 22, 1856
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US 15.404 E. S. Woodford
Machine for Sewing Pins upon Paper or any other Material
Claim. The roller or separator marked B, made of India-rubber or other elastic substance. Also the turn-table, marked C, for receiving and changing the pin from one place or position to another, or their mechanical equivalents. Also, the combination of one or a series of conductors for supplying pins in any desirable position and a sewing machine of any suitable adaptability for sewing pins upon paper or any other material; but I do not make claim to either of these elements of the combination by itself.
July 22, 1856
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AUGUST 1856
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US 15.469 Sherburn C. Blodgett
Sewing Machine
The nature of this invention will be understood by reference to the claims and engravings. Claim:
1st. The arrangement of the crimping notch g, in the shuttle, for the purpose of drawing the slack thread from the needle and thus preventing the loop of thread from being taken up a second time, as above described.
2d. The employment of a series ot pawls or drivers around the circumference of a discoidal or circular shuttle, whereby the driving force is applied equally or nearly so, through a considerable arc of the circumference of such shuttle.
3d. The mode of driving the disk shuttle at its circumference, by means of a hollow pulley or sleeve B revolving around a fixed shaft or axis C.
4th. The mode of giving motion to the needle arm E and the feed rollers, by direct connexion with the same sleeve B, or revolving shaft, to which the drawers d are attached, which drive the disk shuttle, substantially as described.
5th. The arrangement of the cams C C1 and lever k1 for operating the slide k, in combination with the cam e and arm H', for operating the pressure pad, in the manner and for the purpose as herein before described.
Antedated February 5, 1856 August 5, 1856
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US 15.470 Joseph Bond Jr.
Sewing Machine
Claim:
1st. The driving of the spool case G, by placing the latter on a stationary spool case holder, within a cylindrical driver, having any convenient number of internal teeth, the driver being situated eccentrically with the holder, so that the internal teeth of the former may catch into the recesses in the edge of the spool case and cause the same to revolve, at the same time leaving a space between the holder and the driver on the side opposite to that where the teeth act on the spool case, for the play of the needle and its thread.
2d. The hooked lever L, in combination with the cam n, on the driver E, arranged and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
August 5, 1856
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Sewing Machine
Assignor to himself and F. A. Houghton
The inventor says: I do not claim the feed motion described and although eccentric shuttle throwers have been used before, I cannot find that the pivoted swinging ellipse or a thrower has been so combined with a cam which operates it as to get a quicker motion of the shuttle when the cam operates near the point and is throwing the shuttle forward through the loop than when it is drawing it back. I claim:
1st. The combination of a swinging ellipse, as a shuttle thrower hung on a pivot, with a cam on the driving or other rotating shaft, so operating with said swinging ellipse as that when the cam is bearing upon it near its pivot it shall move the shuttle faster or through a larger space in the same time than when it is bearing upon the other parts, for the several purposes set forth.
2d. I claim the combination of the rocker shaft and its arm K K and connecting rod with the grooved cam, operating together for giving the required motions to the feeding plate, substantially as described.
3d. I claim the means employed for varying the length of the feed motion and consequently the length of the stitch, at pleasure, the same consisting of a screw shaft working in the vertical hollow shaft that moves the rocker shaft and raising or lowering a loose collar to which the connecting rod p p is attached.
August 26, 1856
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SEPTEMBER 1856
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US 15.695 Charles R. Gardner
Sewing Machine
The nature of this invention will be understood by reference to the claims and engravings.
Claim.
1st. The sharp pointed needle having a flexible beard, as described, for sewing in woven, felled, or other close fabrics, in the manner set forth.
2d. The adjustable slide C, so arranged as to close the beard of any sized needle that may be used in the machine.
3d. Also the guide G, consisting of the thread channel C1 and the needle passage with the side thereof either slightly inclined, as described, or provided at the top with the inclined groove J and so operating that the feed motion given to the cloth shall carry the thread in proper position to be caught by the hook or beard of the needle, as described.
4th. Also the folding plate E or its mechanical equivalent for the purpose specified. I do not claim running several folds or corrugations on the needle at the same time, as is done in machines for sewing with a running stitch. Nor do I claim sewing along parallel with the fold, as is done in hemming, binding, and forming welts, where the length of the stitch is parallel with the fold. I claim sewing with a machine through one fold or corrugation of the material at a time, the cloth being fed along at right angles, or nearly so, to the line of the fold, substantially as described.
September 9, 1856
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NOVEMBER 1856
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US 16.026 S. H. Roper
Sewing Machine
A detailed description of this invention would take up too much space to be given here; the principal features of it will be understood by reference to the claim and engravings. Claim.
1st. A thread guide which guides the thread into the eye of the needle by means of the projection y and the thread holder m, forming a thread clamp and griping and holding the thread between them while the thread guide with its clamp revolves until the thread is wrapped partly round it and stretched across the aperture therein and then also by means of the thread guide with the thread thus held moving laterally, until in this manner and by means of these rotary and lateral motions the thread is effectually guided into the eye of the needle.
2d. The working of eyelet holes in cloth or other material by means of a rotary feed motion combined with the slotted tube v and two needles, all substantially as described.
November 4, 1856
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US 16.030 Isaac Merritt Singer
Sewing Machine
The nature of this invention will be understood by reference to the claims and engravings. The inventor says: I do not wish to be understood as limiting my claim of invention to the precise form and construction of parts, as these may be varied without changing the principle of my invention.
I claim operating the needle to give it the required reciprocating motions, substantially such as described, by a crank-pin or roller on a rotating shaft, acting in a cam groove, substantially such as described, whereby the required motions are imparted to the needle with much less extent of motion of the crank- pin or roller in the cam groove and consequently less friction, than if the cam groove were on the shaft and the pin or roller on the needle-carrier, as described.
I also claim projecting the operative part of the surface of the feeding apparatus through the surface of the table, substantially as described, so that such feeding surface may act on a portion of the under surface of the material to give the required feeding motion to space the stitches, while the other portions of the said material slide on the table which answers the purpose of stripping the said material from the feeding surface, and to cover and protect the mechanism which operates the feeder, as set forth.
I also claim imparting the feeding motion to the feeder, to present the material to be sewed to the action of the needle for spacing the stitches, by griping the periphery thereof, or any equivalent therefor, by a griping lever, substantially as described, in contradistinction to the action of the pawl or hand, catching on to ratchet teeth, whereby the extent of the feeding motion may be adjusted and varied to any degree, instead of being restricted by the size of ratchet teeth and whereby also I avoid the wear and liability to derangement incident to the use of a ratchet motion, as set forth. Lastly, I claim in combination with the feeder attaching the presser for controlling the material to be sewed and holding it to the surface of the feeder to a slide or equivalent therefor, substantially as described, so that the plane of its under surface shall always bear the same relations to the plane of the table in a line at, or nearly at, right angles to the line of the seam, whether the material to be sewed be thick or thin and for the purpose set forth.
November 4, 1856
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US 16.120 A. F. Johnson
Improvement in Stitches for Sewing Machine
The thread is carried in a loop form by the needle, both in passing up through the cloth and down through the same, while the shuttle carries the thread in a single strand through the cloth, thereby tying or knotting the thread, as represented in the engraving and in such a manner that it cannot possibly be drawn out. Claim. Making a stitch of a single thread by throwing a shuttle and thread through a loop formed from the shuttle thread, as described, thereby tying or knotting each stitch, for the purpose of uniting pieces of cloth or other material to be sewed.
November 25, 1856
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US 16.136 William C. Watson
Sewing Machine
My invention consists in an improvement in the method of constructing and operating the hook which takes up the loops formed beneath the table in single-thread sewing machines. There has always been great uncertainty in the operation of that part of a single-thread sewing machine which is to take off the loop and retain it until the needle shall have passed through in the succeeding stitch and almost all of the various plans (such as hooks, loopers, &c.) proposed have been designed to remedy that uncertainty.
Assignor to Watson, Wooster & Knight
November 25, 1856
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DECEMBER 1856
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US 16.234 James E. A. Gibbs
Sewing Machine
I claim:
1st. Feeding up the thread to the needle by connecting the needle-thread with the cloth-feed motion, or by giving the needle-thread an independent feed motion, so that there shall be sufficient thread and no more, at each stitch fed into the needle to form the stitch, thereby causing the needle to draw the shuttle thread into the cloth and never above it, for the purpose of insuring the meeting of the loops or locks within the body of the cloth.
2d. I do not claim straight clamp feeders for the purpose of feeding the cloth, as they are not new, but I claim fastening the cloth upon a slotted table, moving with a rectilinear motion by means of a slotted curved spring, the slots in both spring and table corresponding with each other and holding the cloth on both sides of the seam.
December 16, 1856
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US 16.237 Lewis Jennings
Sewing Machine
The principal features of this invention will be understood by reference to the claims and engravings; a detailed description thereof would take up too much space to be given here.
The inventor says: I do not claim the belaying double-looped stitch, described in the patent of W. H. Johnson, US 10.597 dated March 7, 1854. I claim:
1st. The formation of the seam from a single thread by passing each loop, after it has passed through the cloth, or material to be sewed, through its immediate successor and round the second one which succeeds it, by means of a needle and a "thumb and finger", operating substantially as described.
2d. The combination of the arm F to which the thumb and finger b c are attached, the pivot f, the slotted arm i, the fixed pin j and the lever G, or its equivalent, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
December 16, 1856
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US 16.281 William R. Landfear
Sewing Machine
The inventor says: I do not claim the forming of the seam by means of the needle and shuttle, or the feeding of the cloth by the needle. I claim first, the manner of regulating the length of stitch by raising and lowering the fulcrum J, thereby changing the relative lengths of the two arms of the lever G, as described. I claim the manner of combining the shuttle-guide K with the crank E and fulcrum N, for the purpose of giving the shuttle a downward motion when the stitch is tightened, in the manner set forth.
December 23, 1856
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US 16.315 Albert F. Johnson & F. A. Houghton
Sewing Machine
The inventors say: We do not make any claim now to the manner of vibrating the needle-arm by means of an eccentric stud working in the slotted arm. But we claim the described arrangement of parts of a spring power mechanism, when combined with a sewing machine and located in a box forming the pedestal of said machine. We also claim the device by which the machinery is made self-regulating as to speed, consisting of the lever U and brakes in combination with the fan-wheel a1 attached to the loose collar c1, in the manner described and operating as set forth.
December 23, 1856
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US 16.321 Jerome B. Woodruff
Sewing Machine
The nature of this invention will be understood by reference to the claims and engravings. The inventor says: I claim:
1st. The construction of a feed-bar g sliding in a dovetail or slotted guide and moved by a lever E, connected with the feed-bar g by a swivel joint, or its equivalent, so as always to move the feed-bar g in a plane with the material being sewed, the feed-bar g being moved back the distance required for the length of the stitch while the needle is in the material and when the needle is withdrawn is moved forward, carrying the material therewith.
2d. The arrangement of a series of pins r through which the needle thread is laced, for the purpose of giving a uniformity of tension without affecting its twist, or their equivalent.
3d. I am aware that needle-bars have been made to vibrate in the arc of a circle, which I do not claim. But I claim a balanced needle-bar for sewing machines when constructed in the form of a segment of a circle operating the shuttle-driver by one end direct and carrying the needle by ihe other end, when the whole of said bar F forms the arc of a circle, of which the point of suspension is the centre, as described.
4th. A slotted shuttle-driver P, the same being operated direct from the needle-bar and so arranged that the shuttle may pass through the loop of the needle thread in its proper time, gradually decreasing its speed and stopping at or about the same time with the needle, as described, or its equivalent.
5th. I do not claim carrying the shuttle back and forth by two pins, one at the heel and one at the point, independent of a shuttle-carrier; for this has been done by Messrs. Blodgett & Lerow and patented to them. I claim carrying the shuttle back and forth by a single pin o, as described.
December 23, 1856
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US REISSUED IN 1856
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US RE 343 Thomas J. W. Robertson
Feed Motion for Sewing Machines
January 15, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 345 Allen B. Wilson
Sewing Machine
January 22, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 346 Allen B. Wilson
Sewing Machine
January 22, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 352 James J. Greenough
Improvement in Machines for Sewing or Stitching Straight Seams
Assignor to Isaac M. Singer & Edward Clark
February 12, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 355 William H. Johnson
Sewing Machine
February 26, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 363 Sidney Stevens Turner
Sewing Machine
Assignor to Elmer Townsend
March 25, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 378 Humphrey M. Glines
Machine for Winding or Filling the Needles with Twine which are used in making Weavers' Harness, Nets, Seines, &c.
Assignor, by Mesne Assignments, to P. Bennet, J. Kendrick & L. A. Cook
July 15, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US RE 409 Stephen K. Baldwin
Improvement in the machine for cutting Shoe Pegs
November 4, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
Extended July 8, 1856
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US RE 410 Alfred Swingle
Sewing Machine
Elmer Townsend Assignee of Alfred Swingle
November 4, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
US 15.396 July 22, 1856
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US RE 414 Allen B. Wilson
Sewing Machine
December 9, 1856
Specification forming part of Letters Patent
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US PATENTS IN ...
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1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849
1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869
1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
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Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1856