The Latch-Hook Chain Stitcher: A Hook Needle From Below, Its Latch Closed by the Cloth

A hook needle rising through the cloth from below catches the thread above and draws it down as a loop; but going up, the open hook catches in the cloth, and coming down it may drop the loop. Daniel Weaver of Guilderland, New York, received US 80,789, dated 4 August 1868, for a machine in which "the hook-needle is provided with a latch, which recedes as the needle rises, so that the hook will catch the thread presented to it and, forming a loop, carry it down through the material, the loop of the thread being retained in the hook by a latch, which also prevents the hook in its descent from catching in the material." A tappet-arm opens the latch to cast off the loop, a spring closes it, and a fork rising through slots in the cloth-plate feeds the work with the needle. This rung works out how the bracket's place sets the stitch, then builds a hand-cranked demonstrator from a latch-hook needle on a rocking bar under a cloth-plate, and sews a chain stitch from below.