The patented device is for an improvement in machines for cutting and stitching buttonholes. The specification states that:

One general object of this invention is to provide button-hole sewing machines with practically successful cutting mechanisms which shall automatically cut a button-hole only when the machine is stitching a predetermined portion, part, or point in the periphery of the button-hole.

The patent covers a novel machine comprising patentable improvements upon previously-existing devices, whereby new and useful results were produced.

The defense is denial of infringement.

Prior to the invention embodied in the patent in suit, and in certain patents relied upon by defendant, notably that to Egge in 1885, no practical automatic buttonhole attachments for sewing-machines had been devised which would both stitch and cut the buttonhole automatically. The problem presented was to provide a cutter which should not only automatically cut by a single stroke at the proper time and in the proper place, but should be prevented from thereafter continuing the cutting operation. Defendant admits that Osterhout so far solved this problem by an inventive act that his device was capable of practical operation in the hands of an expert operator; and defendant further admits that the patents upon which it relies and under which it manufactures depend for their operation upon a finger or pin on a feed-wheel, such as is found in complainant's patent; but he denies infringement on the ground that this finger was well known in the prior art, that the claims in suit do not cover it except in combination with other elements not used by defendant, and, further, because defendant's machine shows invention by the solution of the problem presented upon a different principle, producing the same results in a different way. The construction of defendant's machine is practically identical with that covered by Patent No. 438,655, granted October 21, 1890, to Tebbetts and Doggett, for Automatically Cutting Buttonholes on Sewing-Machines.

Defendant claims that the Osterhout patent is for an improvement upon the type of cutters known as "step-by-step cutters," in which a knife is operated at each alternate descent of the needle, but that the Tebbetts and Doggett patent is for an independent single-plunger cutter which can operate only once in any event.

Defendant further claims that Patent No. 345,419, granted to Frederick Egge July 13, 1886, for an Attachment for Stitching and Cutting Buttonholes shows such a solution of the problem presented as deprives Osterhout of any claim to any device or construction except the specific construction described and claimed in his patent. This subject will be discussed later.

Buttonhole machines of the class in question comprise a stitchforming mechanism, a work-moving mechanism, and a cutting mechanism. This litigation is concerned with the latter mechanism only.

In this is included a cutter, a cutter carrier moving relatively to the plane of the work, a depressor to force the cutter through the fabric, and a cutter-controller to cause the engagement of the cutter-carrier and depressor.

The claims alleged to have been infringed are the following:

1. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming and work-moving mechanisms, of a work-cutter and its carrier normally elevated, a depressor which ordinarily does not depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, a cuttercontroller connected to and moving with the said work-moving mechanism, and connections between the said cutter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, whereby the latter is temporarily caused to depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, substantially as set forth.

2. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming and work-moving mechanisms, of a work-cutter and its carrier normally elevated, a depressor which is operated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the sewingmachine, and which ordinarily does not depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, a cutter-controller connected to and moving with the said work-moving mechanism, and connections between the said cutter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, whereby the latter is temporarily caused to depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, substantially as set forth.

4. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming mechanism, work-clamps, and mechanism including a rotary feed device for operating the work-clamp, of a work-cntter and its carrier normally elevated, a depressor which ordinarily does not depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, a cutter-controller connected to and rotating with the said rotary feed device, and connections between the said cutter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, whereby the said depressor is temporarily caused to depress the cutter-carrier and cutter, substantially as set forth. 5. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and mechanism including a rotary feed device for operating the work-clamp, of a work-cutter and its carrier normally elevated, a depressor operated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the sewing-machine, a cutter-controller connected to and rotating with the said rotary feed device, and connections between the said cutter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, whereby the cuttercarrier and cutter are temporarily depressed by the said depressor, substantially as set forth.

7. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and mechanism for operating the work-clamp, of a depressor operated by the actuating mechanism of the sewing-machine, a work-cutter, its carrier, means to elevate the cutter-carrier, and means to support it when elevated and disconnected from said depressor, a cutter-controller connected to and moving with the mechanism for operating the work-clamp, and connections between the said entter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, whereby the cutter-carrier is temporarily connected with and depressed by the said depressor and is thereupon elevated and disconnected from the depressor, substantially as described.

15. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and mechanism for operating the work-clamp, of a cutter-carrier normally elevated, and an attached cutter of suitable length to cut a button-hole at one insertion, a depressor operated by actuating mechanism of the sewing-machine, a cutter-controller connected to and moving with the mechanism for operating the work-clamp, and connections between the said cutter-controller, cutter-carrier, and depressor, the same being constructed and arranged so as to canse the cutter-carrier and cutter to be depressed by the said depressor to cut a button-hole when the sewing-machine is stitching at or near one end part of one side of the button-hole, substantially as set forth.

21. In a machine for stitching button-holes, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and mechanism for operating the latter, of a cutter, a cutter carrier or bar, a depressor operated by the needle-bar-actuating mechanism, a cam or device rotating in unison with the clamp-operating cam or disk, and connections between the said rotating cam or device and depressor, whereby the cutter is thrown into action.

22. In a machine for stitching button-holes, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and mechanism for operating the latter, of a cutterbar sliding vertically in the head of the machine and entirely disconnected from the needle-bar thereof, a cutter of suitable length to cut an entire button-hole at a single stroke, a slotted throat-plate through which the said cutter can descend, a depressor operated by the needle-bar-actuating mechanism to cause a descent of the cutter-bar and cutter as a button-hole is being completed, a cam or device rotating in unison with the feed cam or disk for the clamp, and connections between the said rotating cam or device and depressor, whereby the latter is thrown into action to operate the cutter.

28. The combination, with a button-hole sowing-machine, of a cutter, a cuttercarrier, a cam from which motion is transmitted to the cutter-carrier to depress the cutter, and mechanism whereby the depression of the cutter from the cam will be produced but once and after the stitching of the greater part of a button-hole, substantially as specified.

The invention claimed in this patent consists of a cutter normally elevated and out of engagement with the other parts of said machine, but which may be so connected with the work moving and feeding mechanism that at the appropriate time in the stitching of the button hole it is caused to be positively and unyieldingly operated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the machine so as to cut the buttonhole, and immediately thereupon to be again disengaged and returned to its normal position.

In the stitch-forming mechanism of this class of machines the needle does not move over the cloth, but reciprocates constantly in one position, while the work-moving mechanism imparts to the fabric a jogging movement for each stitch and a progressive feed movement, whereby the cloth is so moved as to produce the required buttonhole.

A question which has been much discussed is whether the complainant's cutter-controller, as claimed, covers only a controller which necessarily controls the cutting during the entire period from the time when it is automatically put into engagement until the cutting operation is terminated, or whether it may also cover merely the means whereby it is put into engagement, without reference to the length of the engagement. The accompanying illustrations will serve to show the distinction between the two machines.

Complainant's lettered exhibit, "Wheeler and Wilson machine with Osterhout device, No. 2," also shows the buttonhole cutter of the patent in suit. P of the patent drawings represents the cutter-controller, a laterally-projecting finger attached by means of screws to the feedwheel disk F, arranged to be operated by means of teeth in said wheel engaging a ratchet or pawl, motion to which is imparted by the motion of the main shaft of the machine. As this disk revolves, it brings the projecting point of the cutter-controller into engagement with a vertical

finger on the arm L of a lever, which so moves the arm L' of said lever, acting by means of hinges upon the vertical cutter-carrier I, as to cause the cutter-bar to slightly rotate and to bring the clutch J on the cuttercarrier and the clutch J' on the needle-carrier A into engagement. Thereupon the downward movement of the needle-arm depresses the cutter carrier and the cutter passes through the fabric. Upon the upward movement of the needle-carrier a spring causes the clutches to be disengaged, and another spring K upon the cutter-carrier elevates the cutter.

The defendant's machine is constructed substantially in accordance with the Tebbetts and Doggett patent. The drawing on Sheet 1 of said patent shows said cutter in operative combination with a Wheeler & Wilson buttonhole-sewing machine. It also comprises a circular feed-wheel attached to a Wheeler & Wilson machine, and having a laterally-projecting finger or controller like that of the patent in suit, operated in the same way. As the feed-wheel revolves, a pin on said finger strikes an arm of a bell-crank lever, causing said lever to slightly rotate and bring a latch into engagement with a catch on a collar on a

needle-bar rocker shaft. This latch is fastened by means of screws to a cutter-bar rocker-shaft. At the extremity of said cutter-bar rockershaft is an arm which operates the cutter-carrier. On said cutter-bar rocker-shaft is a collar with a projection or finger thereon. The upper short arm of said bell-crank lever is pressed against said finger when the lower arm is brought into engagement with the controller or finger on the feed-wheel, thus causing a slight rotary movement of the cutterbar rocker-shaft, sufficient to bring the latch into engagement, as above stated, with the catch on the collar carried by the needle-bar rockershaft. The rotary movement of the needle-bar rocker-shaft, communicated by said engagement to the cutter-bar rocker-shaft, causes a jaw or clutch at the extremity of said arm, connected with and operated by said cutter-bar rocker-shaft, to descend, and in descending to depress a finger with which it is in engagement on the cutter carrier, and thus to depress the cutter which cuts the buttonhole. While the cutter is thus being depressed the movement of said cutter-bar rocker-shaft causes a releasing snail-shaped cam thereon to press against the top of said bell-crank lever, thus releasing the arm of said lever from engagement with the controller on the feed-wheel. Defendant claims that this releasing operation accomplishes what the patentees of said machine state as the main object of their invention-a single automatic descent of the cutter and the prevention of further descents by means of a device independent of the needle-bar. When the cutting operation is completed, a spring on the cutter-bar rocker-shaft elevates the cutter.

A comparison of the two machines shows that each has a circular feed-wheel disk operated in the same way by the feed-wheel mechanism and provided with a projecting pin which at a certain point contacts with a lever which causes a cutter-carrier to engage with a needlecarrier by means of a clutch, the lever in one device acting directly upon the cutter-carrier and causing it to contact and engage with the needle-carrier, and in the other device through the intervention of an interposed cutter-bar rocker-shaft engaging with a needle bar rockershaft by means of collars and clutches thereon. In each case the cutterbar and needle-bar are normally disconnected; in each case the movement of the needle-actuating mechanism causes the descent of the cutter-carrier; in each case it is positively and unyieldingly actuated at a given point; in each it is normally elevated by a spring. The prior art does not show this construction or any such combination.

Prior to the invention of the patent in suit, fingers or projections on the feed wheel had been used to bring some independent or auxiliary device into operation at a predetermined point. Thus in Patent No. 303,453, granted to F. W. Ostrom August 12, 1884, a pin on the feedwheel released certain cording mechanism, so that it was operated by a spring, and also released certain brake mechanism. This device did not cut. While it set a train of mechanism in motion, it did not throw it out of operation.