Hand Propelling Device for Sewing Machines. (open access)

Hand Propelling Device for Sewing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved crank for sewing machines. This design "is to provide propelling device for sewing-machines and similar treadle-power machines which shall dispense with the treadle-action and injurious strain which its use imposes . . . It consists in a rod jointed to the fly-wheel after the manner of a pitman, but which, instead of connecting with a treadle, is fashioned into a handle, which extends obliquely upward toward the operator, and is combined with and held in place by a guide-frame made in the form of a pendent metal loop with flanged ends and screw-holes" (lines 8-21).
Date: April 10, 1888
Creator: Beaird, Kate Palmer
System: The Portal to Texas History