The Singer Cylinder Machines, Fig. 14, are used for stitching many articles which cannot be stitched upon a flat surface, as elastic gores and back seams in shoes, legs of tronsers, and other work in which it is necessary that the thread should pass from and to the inside of a cylindrical or concave surface. They have the oscillating mechanism ; are fitted with a reverse stitch regulator, so that the work is fed either up or off the arm, and arc made with both wheel and drop feed for feeding around the arm, right or left.
Over-seaming Machines.—A machine of this class, for over-seaming hosiery, knit goods, etc., is manufactured by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Co. It has a knife which trims in advance of the needle, which passes alternately through the fabric and over the edge. Two selvage edges can be united in this manner and afterward opened out, leaving a flat seam, without ridge, or two pieces of fabric may be laid flat and their edges joined by the alternate stitches as the needle passes from one to the other. Fig. 15 shows the over-seaming machine made by the Singer Manufacturing Co. It has oscillating mechanism. On the front of the arm is a slotted lever, worked by a cam within the arm. Hinged to this lever is a pitman connected at the reverse end with a rocking frame, through which the needle bar operates. The pitman communicates the to-and-fro movement of the lever to the rocking shaft, thus giving the needle-bar the same movement, which may be extended or entirely thrown off by altering the adjusting thumb-screw seen in the cut. This machine is used for
sewing cloth, leather, carpet, or knit goods, binding, and especially for overcasting the raw edges, left over after seaming up.
Carpel-sewing Machines.—The machine shown in Fig. 16, and made by the Singer Co., comprises the latest improvements in machines used for this purpose. It is fitted with a saddle device, so that it rides upon the edges of the carpet. The carpet to be sewed is • suspended, edge up (Fig. 17), between two clamps attached to upright posts, one of which is stationary, and the other fastened to a windlass, by which the carpet is stretched taut. The saddle is placed on the tightly-drawn edges. With the left hand the operator grasps the handle shown in cut. The machine, as it is operated, feeds itself along the edges of the carpet.. The character of the stitch permits the opening of the carpet flat while retaining a complete union of its edges.
The 16-ft. canvas and belting sewing machine, designed by the Singer Co., is probably the largest sewing machine ever built. It has an oscillating shuttle, two needles, and will stitch goods from} in. to 1 in. in thickness, and any width to 7} ft. It is fitted with roller feed, and a guide adjustable for various widths, for making parallel seams.
See also BOOR-BINDING .ALICHINES and LEATHER-WORKING MACHINES.
Shaft-roundialr, Machine : see Molding Machines, Wood.
Shaper : see Molding Machines, Wood.