The Fulcrum-Plate Needle Feed: Raise the Plate and the Stitch Grows

"The top of the needle being thus hung and supported, and being by motion of the shaft driven rotatively, the bottom of the needle extends through a guide-hole in a stationary plate, m, fastened to the head n. As the top of the needle, in working up and down, also works to and fro (laterally,) its lower end vibrates against the plate m as a fulcrum, and these vibrating movements impart the feed or progressive movements to the cloth" "As the amount of lateral movement of the lower end of the needle is dependent upon the position of the fulcrum and guide-plate m, such plate is made adjustable in height to change the length of the stitch, to effect which it is made with a long slot, o, through which the head a screw, p, passes, a nut, q, on the screw serving to clamp the plate to the head."

**Frame and crank.** Screw a hardwood head to an upright on a baseboard clamped to the table's edge. Bend a steel rod into a crank with a 3 mm throw, run it through the upright in a drilled bearing, and thread the crank-pin's end for a nut. **Needle.** Bend a round eye in the top of a long stout needle, or of a length of steel wire filed to a point, and hang it on the crank-pin under the nut. **Fulcrum and stripper plates.** Cut two small plates of sheet steel, one with a guide-hole the needle passes through, the other with a notch that strips the cloth, and cut a long slot in each. Clamp both to the head with one screw and nut through the slots, with a small bent spring between the back plate and the nut so either plate can be moved while the other holds. **Ratchet.** Fit a toothed wheel on the shaft and a straight wire pawl with a bent tooth in a socket, pressed by a spring, so the crank can turn only one way. **Test.** Lay card under the needle on a smooth plate and turn the crank; measure how far the card moves each turn. Raise the fulcrum plate, measure again, and compare with the notebook.

**George H. Fox and Joseph Hubbard** of Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, received US 80,861, dated 11 August 1868; their machine had the general form of one in US 67,535. The head n held the plates m and j by the screw p and nut q, with the friction spring q²; the spool spindle g was hinged to swing out and was held upright by a bent spring r; the ratchet v² had a straight wire pawl w in a socket, pressed by a spring y, as hinged pawls broke. Their claims cover the adjustable fulcrum and stripper plates with the screw and nut, and the friction spring. **Honest limits.** A wooden head, a bent-rod crank and a filed needle stand in for their cast machine. The notebook treats the needle as a straight lever; its sizes are examples. Your measured stitches are the result.