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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
SI B0€)ii W0ML 
How Sewing is Done by Machinery. 
We are happy to be able to present our readers 
with some illustrations which, with the accom¬ 
panying descriptions, will answer the question ■ 
“ How can a Machine make Stitches 1” We are 
aware that it is not a 1 ittle difficult t<»describe the in¬ 
side works of a Sewing Machine, without havingthe 
Machine itself and the reader directly before us, 
but we will do the best we can with the aid of 
some engravings for which we think our friends 
will give us a little credit, when we tell them that 
the drawings below are principally of our own de¬ 
signing. We preferred doing the work ourselves, 
to letting the manufacturers do it, for we feared 
the whole matter would be so familiar to them 
that they would not appreciate the minute details 
necessary to make the subject plain to the unskill¬ 
ful reader. 
We commence with the stitch made by the 
Wheeler & Wilson Machine, as that appears to be 
the simplest, and most easily illustrated. Fig. 1, 
exhibits two pieces of cloth, c, placed together and 
partly sewed. A little examination will show that 
the upper thread e, e, e, is crossed in the center of 
‘.he cloth by the lower thread z, z , z —in other 
words the two threads cross each other and are 
hus locked together. This was essentially the 
lock stitch ’ invented, and patented in 1846, by Mr. 
Howe (to whom we are indebted for the first prac¬ 
tical application of machinery to common sewi ng ; 
and are glad that, unlike most inventors, he is reap¬ 
ing a rich reward, for though he makes no ma¬ 
chines himself, yet the principal manufacturers of 
the successful Sewing Machines all pay him a li¬ 
cense fee on each machine sold. So those ladies 
who buy them will have the satisfaction of know¬ 
ing that some of the purchase money at least goes 
to the inventor himself.) 
Fig. 2, is designed to illustrate how this stitch 
might be made by hand. 
Here the needle, h, carrying the upper thread)U 
thrust down through the cloth (the eye foremost) 
and partly drawn up again, thus forming a sraal 
loop of the upper thread. Through the loop thus 
made, a needle carrying the lower thread, z, is pass¬ 
ed (We are apparently sewing with the blunt end 
of the needle, but in practice we 'nay suppose the 
eye of the needle to be near the point, which, is the 
case in all Sewing Machine needles). 
[f we now withdraw the upper needle it will 
carry the lower thread into the center of the; rabric, 
forming a complete lock stitch, as seen in Fig. 3 
By continuing this process a series of stitches 
will he made ; and since the upper tlirea- J enters 
and returns upward through the singl , e needle 
hole, thee will be uoon the surface of tl p pjoth a 
single line of thread exactly resembling ordinary 
“back stitching.” We see also that the under¬ 
side of the cloth will present precisely the same 
appearance as the upper. 
In the Machine invented by Mr. Howe, the up¬ 
per needle was moved by machinery, and the low¬ 
er thread was carried through the loop by means 
of a shuttle having within it a bobbin (or spool) of 
thread. This arrangement is still used in heavy 
Machines for leather and other thick fabrics, and 
iri some of the “family Machines ” The Wheeler & 
Wilson Machine is an improvement upon the shut¬ 
tle, in several respects. It makes precisely the 
same stitch, but with less complicated machinery 
and less waste of power. We will try to explain 
’is working to the readers of the American 
Agriculturist. Referring to fig. 4, we see the 
needle and upper thread, e, thrust down, just as in 
fig. 2. But in fig. 4, the lower thread, z, is wound 
upon a bobbin, or spool,/. To illustrate the work- 
Fig. 4 h t\ fle 
e e e e 
ing, we may suppose this bobbin passed into the 
loop between the needle h, and the upper thread e. 
In fig. 5, it is shown carried through. Here we 
seetnat, on withdrawing the needle h, the upper 
thread will draw the lower one into the cloth, pro¬ 
ducing a lock-stitch in the centre of the fabric, 
precisely as in fig. 3. 
By examining fig. 4 and fig. 5, it wil. be seen 
Fig. 6 
that the same e^ ect wou,d have been P r °duced. 
ha4 the bobbin or fn*™ 01 ’ /> remained stationary, and 
the loop been carried around it—down the light! 
side and up the left, around the lower thread -*- 
This end is, in effect, accomplished in the machine. 
In fig. 6 we have a rotary hook, E, upon the end' 
of the shaft C. Inside oi this hook, in ihe concav¬ 
ity F, is placed the bobbin, i^jas seen in fig. 8.) The 
needle, h, coming down through the cloth, and 
being partly withdrawn, leaves a loop at e. The 
point of the revolving hook passes into the loop 
at a, opens it, and carries it around, spreading it 
as it moves forward, so as to throw it around the 
bobbin or spool within the hollow hook The bobbin 
F (fig. 8) has no axis passing through it, but is held 
in the concavity F, by a ring (not represented) 
placed before it, so that it plays freely and allows 
a loop of thread to pass around on both sides, as 
around the small ball of thread in figs. 4 and 5. 
Fig. 7 gives a side view of the thread carried 
part way around. It will be noted that this wheel 
upon which the hook a (fig 6) is placed, is beveled 
at E in fig. 7, so as to throw the thread off from its 
edge after it has been partly wound around it 
The object of this, is to throw one part of the 
loop around the bobbin in order to embrace the 
lower thread. 
The operation can be better understood in fg 
8, by tracing the position of the upper thread «, e 
and of the lower thread z, z. We observe tnat 
the loop having been first formed on the right side 
of the lower thread z, one part of it falls behind 
the bobbin F, (hack of the dolled line,) while the 
other branch of it is caught by the hook, carried 
around, to be thrown off on the other side of the 
bobbin by means of the bevel or half screw at b. 
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Fig. 9 gives a front view of the same. We 
here see the upper thread e, «, bent, or looped, com- 
