Throughout history, lockstitch sewing machines have used a variety of methods to drive their bobbins so as to create the lockstitch.
Names | Invented | Description | Picture | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Transverse shuttle Longitudinal shuttle |
1846 by Elias Howe[1]
![]() |
Transverse shuttles carry the bobbin in a boat-shaped shuttle, and reciprocate the shuttle along a straight horizontal shaft. The design was popularized in Singer's 'New Family' machine.[2] The design became obsolete once the other bobbin driver designs were developed.[3] | ![]() |
Sometimes incorrectly called an "oscillating shuttle". Somewhat confusingly, the term "Transverse Shuttle" is usually used only to refer to a side-to-side motion of the bobbin. When moved in a front-to-back motion, as in the Howe machines, and the earliest Singers, the term "Reciprocating Shuttle" is used instead. |
Vibrating shuttle | 1850 by Allen B. Wilson[4]
![]() |
Vibrating shuttle machines reciprocate their shuttle through a short arc. The earliest vibrating shuttles used boat-shaped shuttles, but bullet-shaped shuttles soon replaced them. The design was popularized in the White Sewing Machine Company's 'White Sewing Machine' and Singer's 27-series machines.[5] Now obsolete.[6] | ![]() |
|
Rotary hook Rotating hook |
1851 by Allen B. Wilson[8]
![]() |
Rotary hook machines hold their bobbin stationary, and continuously rotate the thread hook around it. The design was popularized in the White Sewing Machine Company's 'Family Rotary' sewing machine[9] and Singer's models 95 and 115.[10] | ![]() |
|
Oscillating shuttle | 1877 by Lebbeus B. Miller and Philip Diehl[11]
![]() |
Oscillating shuttle machines mount their bobbin on the hook, and reciprocate the hook through a short arc. The design was popularized in Singer's models 15 'Improved Family' and 31.[12] | ![]() |
|
Oscillating hook | ? | Oscillating hook machines hold their bobbin stationary, and reciprocate the hook through a short arc. The bobbin lays horizontally, right under the needle plate. The design was popularized in Singer's model 66.[13] | ![]() |
"Rotating shuttle"
editThe term rotating shuttle is ambiguous. Sometimes it refers to a bobbin case,[14] and sometimes it refers to a rotary hook design.[15]
References
edit- ^ US patent 4750, published 10 September 1846
- ^ Singer Sewing Machine Company (1914). "Monograph 5". Mechanics of the Sewing Machine. Singer Sewing Machine Company. p. 49.
mechanics of the sewing machine monograph 5.
- ^ Grace Cooper (2004). "1913 trade flyer offering a treadle cabinet and a choice of machines representing every bobbin driver design except the transverse shuttle". The Sewing Machine: Its Invention and Use. Smithsonian Museum. p. 152.
- ^ Refer to Vibrating shuttle for full inventor credits with references
- ^ All information drawn from the Vibrating shuttle article
- ^ Singer's last vibrating shuttle machine was built in 1962, according to the references on the Singer Model 27 and 127 page
- ^ See e.g. US patent 5617803, "Rotary Loop Taker with Replaceable Tip", issued 1997
- ^ US patent 9041, published 15 June 1852; but see Rotary hook for full inventor credits with references
- ^ All information drawn from the Rotary hook article
- ^ Singer Sewing Machine Company (1914). "Monograph 5". Mechanics of the Sewing Machine. pp. 54–55.
- ^ US patent 208838, issued 8 Oct 1878; and refinement US patent 221338, issued 4 November 1879. The Singer Sewing Machine Company (1914). "Monograph 5". Mechanics of the Sewing Machine. Singer Sewing Machine Company. p. 50.
mechanics of the sewing machine.
, the date of invention is given as 1879, but the Miller/Diehl patent trail actually began in 1877. - ^ Singer Sewing Machine Company (1914). "Monograph 5". Mechanics of the Sewing Machine. Singer Sewing Machine Company. p. 52.
mechanics of the sewing machine monograph 5.
- ^ Singer Sewing Machine Company (1914). "Monograph 5". Mechanics of the Sewing Machine. Singer Sewing Machine Company. p. 53.
mechanics of the sewing machine monograph 5.
- ^ See e.g. US patent 3921553, "Lock Stitch Rotating Shuttle", issued 1975, or US patent 3698333, "Rotating Shuttle Drive Mechanisms", issued 1972
- ^ See e.g. US patent 36256, "Sewing Machine" (ironically filed by Wheeler & Wilson), or US patent 2257950, "Sewing Machine", issued 1941