US2086272A - Needle threader - Google Patents

Description

July 6, 1937. w. w. JOHL I 2,086,272

NEEDLE THREADER Filed April 14, 1936 INVENTOR.

I V/ALMM l KJw/L Patented July 5, 1937 I .UNETE sir-s NEEDLE THniiAnEa, h William W. 30111, Groton, (Jenn, assig'nor to Mair Pollack & Company,

inc, New York, N. Y., a.

corporation of New York Application April 14,

5 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in spools for thread and has particular reference to a needle-threading attachment for such spools.

An object of the invention is to provide an im- "o proved device of simple and practical construc- The above and other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates preferred embodiments of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

Figure l is an end elevation of a spool of thread showing the device of the present invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of said spool, partly broken away and shown in section, and with the device attached.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the spool and I device, illustrating the manner of threading a needle, and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing another form of the invention.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 to 3, the numeral 5 indicates an ordinary spool on which sewing thread 6 is wound, said spool having the usual opening 1 extending therethrough.

The attachment of the present invention may be made from a single piece of thin metal or like material in the form of a disc-like plate 8 preferably of a diameter less than that of the end of the spool 5 and adapted to be centrally located on said end. For this purpose, the center of the plate has extending laterally therefrom 40 a collar 9 of a diameter to fit snugly within the opening I in the spool and to further secure the plate upon the spool, the former has struck therefrom a plurality of pointed lugs l designed to be driven into the end of the spool. At diametrically opposite points adjacent the periphery of the plate 8 the same also has struck therefrom the thread-retaining ears H which are slightly bent outwardly relative to the plane of the plate so that the free end of the thread 6 on the spool 50 may be readily engaged beneath said ears, as clearly shown in Figure 1, so as to hold the end of the thread when not in use and thereby prevent its unwinding from the spool. By reason of the disposition of the ears I I, the portions of the 65 thread engaged between the ears II will extend 1936, Serial No. 74,239

over the opening 1 in the spool so that the thread may be readily grasped to detach it from the ears preparatory to severing a desired portion of the thread from the spool.

The invention also contemplates the provision of a device which will facilitatethe operation of threading a needle. In Figuresl to 3, this device, generally indicated by the numeral i2, is formed integrally with theplate 8 by being struck therefrom. To accomplish this, the periphery of the plate 8 is cut away or reduced, as indicate-d at E3, on opposite sides of a thin strip of the plate which, after the cutting operation, forms a hook i l. The plate is further cut along parallel lines which extend diagonally with respect to a radius of the'plate and to a point adjacent its center to form the shank of the threading device E2, the diagonal disposition of said shank enabling it to be of sufiicient lengthto impart a degree of flexibility to the device to enable the free hooked end thereof to be raised slightly away from the surface of the spool when said end is extended through the eye of a needle 55, as shown in Figure 3. When the threader is not in use it lies substantially in the plane of the plate 8 and against the end of the spool where itwill not interfere with the packaging of a number of spools in a carton, or be likely to catch upon other material when the spool is placed in a sewing basket.

In practice, when it is desired to thread the needle 15, the free end of the thread is first de-.

tached from the ears H and a desired length of the thread then unwound from the spool, after which the thread may be re-engaged with the ears and then severed. The eye-end 0f the needle is then engaged with the hook Hi to raise the same slightly so that the hook may be passed through the eye of the needle to the position shown in Figure 3 in which the needle will be held'by the threader against an adjacent portion of the plate 8 and in a position substantially at right angles to the threader. The length of thread it is then looped and the bight of the loop is engaged with the hook it. Then, with the thread held under a slight tension so as to maintain it in engagement with said hook, the needle is drawn off the device l2 and onto the thread It. In so doing the loop of the thread will pass through the eye of the needle and after the thread has been detached from the hook I l one end of the thread may be pulled through the eye, whereupon the needle is completely threaded.

The form of the invention illustrated in Figure 4. is the same as that above described with the exception of the needle-threading device. In

Figure 4, this device, indicated by the numeral i1, is made from a separate piece of thin spring metal having at one end an enlargement l8 through which is extended a screw l9 or other fastening device utilized to attach the device I! to the plate 8. Said device is extended diagonally with respect to a radius of the plate so that the device may be of sufiicient length to easily flex the same, and the free end of the device terminates in a hook 20 disposed within the confines of the circumference of the spool 5, and, in this instance, projecting slightly beyond the edge of the plate 8 so that it may be readily engaged in the eye of the needle being threaded.

In both forms of the invention, the plate 8 may be provided with a number of slight indentations 2| in its outer surface any one of which may receive the eye-end of a needle when it is necessary to force the latter through a thick piece of fabric.

What is claimed is:

1. A device adapted for attachment to the end of a spool of thread, comprising a disc-like plate having means to secure the same to said end, and a flexible needle threader aflixed at one end to said plate adjacent the center thereof so that it can be flexed outwardly from said plate, and having a free outer end provided with a hook capable of passage through the eye of a. needle and of holding a looped thread while said needle is withdrawn from said threader and onto the looped thread.

2. A device adapted for attachment to a spool of thread, comprising a disc-like plate secured to an end of said spool, and a needle threader formed from the material of said plate to provide a flexible shank therefor normally disposed substantially in the plane of said plate, said shank extending diagonally relative to a radius of the plate and having a free end provided with a hook.

3. A device adapted for attachment to an end of a spool of thread, said device comprising a disc-like plate having means to secure the same to said end, said plate being reduced at a point in its periphery and then cut inwardly in a direction diagonal to a. radius thereof and along spaced substantially parallel lines to a point adjacent the center of the plate to form a needle threader the outer end of which terminates in a hook disposed Within said reduced peripheral portion of the plate.

4. A device adapted for attachment to a spool of thread, comprising a disc-like plate having a flexible needle threader struck from a portion thereof and normally disposed in the plane of the plate, the inner fixed end of said threader being adjacent the center of the plate and its free outer end terminating in a hook spaced slightly from the outer edge of the plate, said hooked end flexing outwardly from said plane when inserted through the eye of a needle.

5. A device adapted for attachment to the end of a spool of thread, comprising a disc-like plate having means to secure the same to said end so as to be disposed entirely within the confines of the outer edge thereof, and a flexible needle threader aflixed at one end to said plate adjacent the center thereof and having a free outer end provided with a hook capable of being flexed to a position offset from the plane of said plate by the passage-of said hook through the eye of a needle and of holding a looped thread while said needle is withdrawn from said threader and onto the Z looped thread, said threader being disposed diagonally relative to a radius of said plate and having its hooked end spaced from the adjacent edge of the plate and terminating short of said outer edge of the spool.

WILLIAM W. JOHL.

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