US1221883A - Thread-stand. - Google Patents

Description

, menses.

JOHN MAITLAND, 0F SWAMPSCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS.

THREAD-STAND.

Application filed January 7, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MAITLAND, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Swampscott, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented. cer tain new and useful Improvements in Thread-Stands, of which the following is a a specification.

The present invention relates to stands or holders for thread used in sewing machines,

such a stand being adapted to supply thread to a machine having one, two, or more needles. The main object of the invention is to furnish a stand from which thread wound on a tube may be supplied to the sewing machine, such stand having means for preventing the coils of thread from falling from the tube and being tangled or wrapped about any part of the stand or support in such a way that it can not be drawn freely, and also to provide a means for protecting the thread from currents or drafts of air.

In order that the purposes and advantages of my present invention may be better understood I will explain that where thread wound upon spools is used in connection with a sewing machine of the sort which uses thread supported on a stand separate from the machine, which is the usual practice with multineedle machines, it is a matter of great difliculty to draw the thread from the spools, and this difliculty increases as the supply on the spool diminishes, due largely to the tendency of the thread becoming caught on rough or irregular points, or in cracks on and in the head of the spool. Moreover the cost to the user of spool wound thread is much greater than that of thread wound upon tubes, on account of the expense of the spools. On the other hand, inthe case of thread which is wound upon tubes the tendency is greater for the outer winding of the thread to fall, particularly when the thread is exposed to drafts of air, which tend to P blow off the slackened outer windings from the tube of thread. When the thread thus falls or is blown from the tube, it is liable to kink and snarl, or to be wrapped about some part of the support, wherefore it does not run readily and breaks, or must be broken to dispose of the snarl. Every breaking of the thread necssitates a rethreading of the needle, with consequent loss of time and decrease in the productionof the machine and its operator.

Thread wound upon tubes is, of course,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. a, 1917.

Serial No. 937.

less expensive to the user than spool wound thread because of the low cost of the tube, and is more convenient to use because the tube has no heads, and because the manner in which thread is wound upon the tubes, which is known as the universal wind, enables the thread to be drawn from the end of the tube more readily than it can be drawn over the head of a spool.

By my invention I have produced a stand adapted to receive ,and support thread wound upon tubes and having means to pro tect the thread from the effect of drafts of air and also having means to prevent thread which might fall from the outer windings of the tube from becoming snarled or caught in such a way as to prevent its being drawn freely to the sewing machine.

The figure of the drawing represents an elevation of a thread stand made according to my invention, partly in section and partly broken away to show its interior.

The stand comprises a base or adapted to be screwed or otherwise securely fastened to the base of a sewing machine,-or the bench on which the machine is mounted, or on any other support located where the thread may be led conveniently from the stand to the sewing machine. From the base rises a post or column b detachably set in a socket in the base and secured by a set screw 0. The thread holder consists of two cups (2 and 6 connected together by a neck 7 which is bored parallel to the axes of the cups to permit of its being slipped upon the post 6 and adjusted up and down thereon. It is secured at any desired height by a set screw g.

Preferably the cups and connecting neck are made of cast metal in one piece, although I do not limit the invention to any particular mode of making the holder. Neither do I limit my invention to a holder consisting of any particular number of cups, as the essentials of the invention can be embodied in a holder having one cup or in one having more than two, as well as in the specific two-cup holder here shown. In each cup is a device for centering and retaining the thread tube in the holder consisting of two rods h attached in any suitable way to the bottom of the cup, conveniently by being screwed into tapped holes in the bottom. These rods are preferably made of springy material and are placed far enough apart so that they may enter the tube i and be sprung together slightly in thus entering the tube. In the drawing I thereby. Thus it is not essential that the rods constituting the retainer here shown should be springy, since it is only necessary that some form of retainer be provided upon which the tube of thread can be easily mounted and which will hold the tube firmly enough to prevent its being displaced by the pull of the thread, and at the same time will not interfere with thread being drawn off over the end of the tube. Thus any retainer which engages the interior of the tube of thread in a readily detachable manner and with sufficient friction for the purpose may "i diskv of felt which is sufliciently soft andbe employed in place of the particular retainer here shown.

Inthe bottom of. each cup is a packing member 7a which is conveniently a layer or compressible to pack closely against the end of the tubular thread winding and leave no space capable of being entered by any thread which might fall from the outside of the thread tube. The function of the disk 71 is essentially that of a packing to close up any space which might exist between the bottom of the cup and the end of the thread tube, wherefore any packing whichaccomplishes this purpose iswithin the view of my invention.

A guide is provided for each cup consisting in .the form-here shown of a rod Z se- .curely attached to the side of the cup by there are a sufficient number of holes 0, p,

screws or otherwise, and having an arm on, extending across the top of the cup, in which and q, the hole 0 being approximately in line with the axis of the cupv so that the V I thread will always make the same angle with the guide; The thread is carried through the hole a, back through the'hole p and then through the hole 9, whence it is led to the machine. "More holes and bends may be provided, if needed, to give greater tension, or only one of the holes may be used, if the thread is so rough that carrying it through all of the holes would cause too great resist- ;ance and tension. The arms m of the guide devices for the two cups here shown are connected by an offset neck 1" which is car ried around one side of the post Z). guides in fact 'aremade from a single rod having bendsat the proper points to form (epics this patent may belobtained for five cents each, by

These the upright portions Z and the offset connection 1*, although the guides might be made in any other desired way.

Two or more duplicates of the holding unit here illustrated may be mounted on the same post 6 if it is desired to supply more than two needles with thread from the same stand, or as suggested above, a holding unit having more than two cups but otherwise embodying the principles herein illustrated could be substituted for the unit illustrated without departure from the invention.

Although I have shown the stand as being in an upright position and the cups of the thread holder as being vertical with their 7 upper ends open, I desire to state that I do not limit the stand as a whole or the holding element thereof to one which is vertical or can only be used in a vertical position.

In analyzing the construction and functions of the several parts of the thread holding cups, it will be understood that the pins h are essentially a retainer for the thread tube, the bottom or end 8 of the cup is an abutment for the end of the thread tube to prevent loosened windings of the thread from becoming wrapped about the retainer, and the sides t of the cup constitute a wind shield.

lVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters. Patent is:

1. A thread stand consisting of a cup open at one end and having a transverse wall at the other end, retaining rods fixed in said wall and projecting thence toward said open end, being adapted to enter a headless thread tube and being set at such a distance apart as to. bear forcibly against the inner walls of such tube and produce frictional resistance to removal of the tube, a guide overlying the open end of the cup, and a support on which the cup is mounted.

2.. A thread stand comprising a supportingpost, a slide mounted adjustably on said post, cup shaped holders forming a part of said slide located on opposite sides of said post, a retainer mounted centrally in each of said holders comprising rods secured in the bottom of the holder in position parallel to the axis thereof, and a rod bent to provide ends approximately parallel to the, axes of the holders which are secured to the outer sides, of the respective holders, and having a cross piece provided with eyes over the open end of each holder.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN MAITLAND.

addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

Images