KMr.ltolliKKIXO AND SEWING-MACHINES. 



EMBROIDERING AND SEWING-MACS I 



HI 



character of the eeohriartiol embroidery, for which there hu more 

 recently been to large a demand." 



SmtniJerimg NaMma. Although riubn-idcry hu, until within a 

 tew year., beeo a purely handicraft employment, chiefly cultivated by 

 female, m a tasteful ud elegant occupation or amusement, it ha* also 

 turned the character of a manufacture, a most ingenious machine for 

 executing it having bam invented by M. Heilmann, of Miihlhausen. 

 Thi* AniM contrivance, which enable* a female to embroider any 

 design with 80 or 140 needle* aa accurately and expeditioualy ax she 

 formerly could with one, require* the labour of one grown person to 

 Huperintend the work, and of two children to change the needle* when 

 their thread* are u*ed, and to watch continually for any irragnlaritiei 

 of action which may need attention. The chief ports of the machine 

 may briefly be described a* follow* : The needle*, which ore pointed at 

 both end*, ami have their eye* in the middle, BO that they need not bo 

 tamed round between each time of panung through the web, are passed 

 backward* and forward* by the action of email pincers, of which there 

 are two pair to each needle, one on each side of the web, each pair 

 being alternately employed in pushing and pulling the needle through 

 the web. Aa soon a* the needles hare pawed completely through in 

 either direction, a kind of carriage or framing, which carrion the series 

 of pincers by which they have been drawn through, begins to move 

 along a railway BO a* to draw the needles to the full length of their 

 thread* ; after which the carriage returns to its original position, and 

 it* pincers put the needle* again through the web, to be received on 

 the opposite side by the other set of pincers, which then retire with 

 them in like manner. So far as the action of this part of the machine 

 can affect the matter, the needle* would continually pass through the 

 name holes in the web; but to enable them to pass through it at 

 different points in succession, according to the pattern required, the 

 web itself, which is placed vertically in a frame furnished with rollers 

 on which it can be wrapped as on the roller of a loom, is caused to 

 assume a different position after each passage of the needles. This is 

 done by connecting the frame with a kind of pantograph, the point or 

 tracer of which can be moved at pleasure over every portion of a 

 drawing or pattern, which represents, on a greatly enlarged scale, the 

 flower or device to be embroidered. The operator brings the point of 

 the pantograph successively to every point of the pattern device at 

 which it is desired to plant a stitch ; and by this means so moves the 

 web-frame that the corresponding point of every flower, or place where 

 a flower is to be worked, upon it, is brought opposite to the point of 

 one of the needles. The mechanism by which the pincers are worked 

 i- then brought into action by means of handles and pedals, by which 

 every needle of the series U put through the web, and drawn until its 

 thread is brought home ; after which the needles return to then- 

 original position, while by the working of the pantograph another point, 

 or rather series of points, of the web is brought opposite to them ready 

 for the return stitch. By such means every needle of the series pro- 

 duce* a distinct and separate copy, on a small scale, of the pattern, the 

 arrangement of the stitches being precisely according to the movements 

 of the pantograph. 



This very ingenious machine was sold by M. Heilmann to Messrs. 

 Kochlin, f Muhlhauaen, who patented it in England. All the English 

 right* were afterward* purchased by Mr. H. HouluWorth, the eminent 

 bilk-manufacturer of Manchester ; he greatly improved the machine, and 

 made an arrangement with Messrs. Schwabe for the joint use of the 

 patent. Ju its present and most improved form, the machine consists 

 ementally of four parta an embroidering frame, on which the cloth to 

 be embroidered is stretched ; a pantograph attached to the frame ; a 

 aerie* of needle* and pincers ; and mechanism for passing and re-passing 

 the thread through the fabric. The cloth is stretched vertically. The 

 drxign u sketched on stout paper or on tin-plate, usually six times the 

 size of the work to be done. The pantograph conveys the design, as 

 it were, from the drawing to the cloth. The length of all the stitches 

 U arranged to a definite scale ; a hole is punched in the paper at each 

 end of every stitch ; the pointer of the pantograph is moved back- 

 wards and forward* over the system of holes, thrusting into each hole 

 in turn ; and with each movement the needles are drawn backwards 

 and forwards though the cloth. The action of the needle*, although 

 improved like everything else belonging to the machine, may be under- 

 stood from the description given in the last paragraph. Some of the 

 machine* are Urge enough to employ six persons; some are snmll 

 enough to be worked by one. Very little hand-work is necessary in 

 finishing embroidery worked by these machines. There are certain 

 limit*, beyond which, machine-embroidery ia not so useful as that 

 effected by hand ; but it has this merit, that the embroidering is 

 equally good on both side* of the cloth. Mr. Houldsworth has 

 invented a mode of embroidering in curves ; he stretches the fabric on 

 efawtic crow-piece* ; screws it up so a* to draw the threads into a 

 curved line ; embroider* in a ttral'jlit line ; loosens the screws ; and 

 allow* the cloth in resume it* original position the rows <>i cm 

 broidery Btitche* then appear in curved line* instead of straight. In 

 producing a chintz-like effect, many colours are used in many needles. 

 Another mode of producing variegated effect* is to dye the silk thread 

 differently at different part* of it* length. 



Attention ha* been drawn by Mr. Wallia to two circumstances 

 affecting in an important degree the use of embroidering machines ; 

 namely, their limited scope for elaborate work ; and their influence on 



artwtie deiigu. On the first point he say : " In variety of effect the 

 embroidering machine can never compete with hand-embroidery ; 

 and although, a* in the dree* embroidered for her Majesty by the late 

 Mr. Louis Schwabe of Manchester, the effects of the original drawing 

 are given in all their variety, this has only been effected at a great 

 sacrifice of all the economical power* of the machine. When Mr. 

 Schwabe first showed me this specimen in 1844, he said, ' I am written 

 to, and asked if my 'machine would execute the design ? I replied, 

 that any design which her Majesty wished executed should be pro- 

 duced by it. When the drawing came, I saw the mistake 1 had 

 made ; but resolved, cost what it might, that the work should be done 

 and there it i*.' A* an illustration of what can be done by the 

 embroidering machine, the example i* interesting ; but u an illustra- 

 tion of it* economical use, or its superiority over hand-embroidei y. it 

 is worthless." On the other point, Mr. Wallis remark* : "Silk at 

 a pound is too costly to be wasted ; therefore, it is desirable that each 

 needleful should do it* work, and that no fragment* should remain to 

 be cut away at a loss. Hence patterns have to be designed to the 

 needleful. If a pattern, however excellent in the abstract it may be, 

 consumed one needleful of 36 inches out of two needleful* of 42 

 inches each, it would be considered anything but sound economy in 

 machine-embroidering to execute it, a* 8 (6 ?) inches would be lost for 

 each needle employed a waste, upon any extent of production, 

 which would astonish those who are not in the habit of thinking 

 about mere fragment* in the materials of manufacture. It will at 

 once be seen from this fact, that the design for machine 

 must ever be somewhat peculiar, and to a certain extent limited in 

 range of form ; and that all the most successful certainly Un- 

 economical are made almost in the presence of the machine by which 

 they are to be executed, and for the most part under no ln>h.-r inspi 

 ration than that of a species of artistic measure-table : such as 'two 

 needlefuls make one flower ; three flowers make one repent ; twenty 

 repeats make one border ; four borders make one table-cover decora- 

 tion.' One can thus tell, almost to an inch, certainly to a yard, how 

 much silk will be consumed in a given operation." 



Seining Machina. We must now pay attention to those machines 

 which perform the operations of sewing and stitching, instead of that 

 of embroidery. 



It is evident, on a slight consideration, that the principle of these 

 machines is nearly identical, however dissimilar may appear the mode 

 of working. In both, there are needles threaded with cotton, silk, or 

 other material ; and in both, the needles pass to and fro, from one 

 surface to the other of the piece of cloth, leaving tightened convolu- 

 tions of thread to mark their passage. The two chief points of 

 difference are, that the needles are more fixed in position in the sewing 

 than in the embroidering machines; and that the object in view is 

 rather to fasten and strengthen than to decorate. To describe the 

 numerous patented sewing-machines in detail would be both tedious 

 and unnecessary ; a few words relating to Newton and Wilson's Bou- 

 doir Sewing-Machine will suffice, as giving one particular type of a 

 large class. This machine is constructed chiefly for domestic sewing, 

 and for light manufactures. It is mounted on a portable table ; under 

 the table is a treadle acting on a small friction-wheel, which driven 

 two small levers, one above and one below the bottom of the machine. 

 The upper lever oil "'.'/ needle, and at the same time feeds 



the machine with its work, carries it forward, and regulates the length 

 of the stitches. The under lever carries a /<,/,</./ HU-I//I; lor com- 

 pleting and securing the stitch on the under side of the cloth. This 

 looping needle, or looper, is a hook, which takes hold of the loop of 

 thread after it has been passed through by the piercing needle, and 

 retains it till this last-named needle, passing again through the cloth, 

 enters this loop and leaves another, drawing the first loop tight in its 

 receding motion. The stitch thus made is what embroiderers call the 

 tambour-stitch. Instead of this a different stitch is formed, by using a 

 looper which has a hook with a longer point, with an eye formed to 

 carry a second thread ; the needle and this looper, by alternately inter- 

 cepting the threads they respectively carry, form an interlaced or 

 rliaiu-ttitrJi on the under side of the piece of cloth ; while both together 

 form a tafk-aitck on the upper surface. This machine can turn down, 

 fold, hem, and lay on and fix binding, as well as perform Dewing and 

 stitching. 



A few figures were given in the 'Mechanics' Magazine,' about the 

 middle of the year 1859, showing to how astonishing a degree tin- 11^- 

 of sewing-machines has extended. The following appeared as the 

 result of inquiries made in England, and in the United State* : 



No. of patent! granted 

 Manufacturers .... 

 Kind- of cwinR-machine . 

 Kinds of look-stitch nindii.; 

 Machines sold weekly 



1'ricrn ...... 



Lowest price* for lock-stitch machine 

 Whole No. in nil ... 



Great 



Britain. 

 200 



.1 



IIHI 

 M. to .ID/. 



ll/. 

 10,000 



United 



State*. 



300 



25 



30 



10 



1900 



i/. to so;. 



107. 

 100,000 



Some of the English patents (dated before 18.12) do not extend to 

 Scotland or Ireland, and American Bewing-machines are largely em- 



