Ship embroidery machine

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Embroidery or sewing shuttle

The ship embroidery machine or shuttle embroidery machine is a special construction of an embroidery machine . It was invented by Isaak Gröbli in 1863. In contrast to the hand embroidery machine, which was widespread up to that point in time, in which the thread was guided right through the fabric on a double-pointed needle, the Schiffli embroidery machine uses the same procedure as the sewing machine invented shortly before . On the back of the fabric there is a shuttle for each needle that picks up the thread and returns it with the next stitch.

principle

Most of the ship embroidery techniques use a second thread in the shuttle that acts as the bobbin thread . Because the process is very similar to that of weaving with the shuttle, it was given this name. The needle or upper thread is entwined with the lower or shuttle thread with each stitch . The needle on the front has an eyelet at its front end through which the upper thread is passed. When you go back, a loop forms there, through which the shuttle or parts of it picks up the thread and guides it around the bobbin thread. A shuttle embroidery machine contains a large number of needles and an equally large number of shuttles on the opposite side of the fabric. The needles are firmly clamped on the front. As with the hand embroidery machine, the vertically clamped embroidery base and, to a lesser extent, the shuttle on the back are moved by means of a pantograph . In contrast to the hand embroidery machine, the needles are not moved completely through the fabric.

The advantage of the Schiffli embroidery machine that works with two threads is that significantly longer threads can be used than with the hand embroidery process. If the thread has to be pulled completely through the fabric after each stitch with the hand embroidery machine , this is no longer necessary with the Schiffli embroidery machine , which significantly increases the working speed. The relatively large bobbins in the shuttle mean that you can embroider for longer without a break.

history

The first ship embroidery machine was invented in 1863 by Isaak Gröbli (1822–1917). At Benninger in Uzwil, he developed a prototype in order to win over interested parties for this system. In 1864, the JJ Rieter machine factory in Winterthur became interested in the invention and guaranteed its participation in further development. In the years that followed, Gröbli was busy improving the machine at Rieter. The first machines came into use from 1868. However, the breakthrough came in the early 1870s. In 1875 the first machines were delivered abroad (to Glasgow), then in 1876 to New York. By 1880, Rieter was able to sell more than 300 boat embroidery machines. At that time, the competition also appeared, in Switzerland by Saurer in Arbon and Martini in Frauenfeld. In Germany it was in Saxony, the most important area in competition with the textile industry in eastern Switzerland and with St.Gallen embroidery in particular. There it was the machine works JC & H. Dietrich in Plauen (later VOMAG ) and the machine works Kappel AG based in Chemnitz-Kappel. They achieved decisive improvements to the machine that were soon to be found in Eastern Switzerland as well. Saurer had found the technological connection again before 1900 and was now able to sell ship embroidery machines in large numbers himself. In 1910, 4862 boat embroidery machines were in operation in Switzerland, not counting the 757 embroidery machines. For comparison: In that year, 15,671 hand embroidery machines were still in operation, but their number has been in decline since 1890.

The period between 1890 and 1910 is considered to be the heyday of St. Gallen embroidery . During this time, many embroidery factories were also opened because, in contrast to the hand embroidery machines, these were expensive and could only be financed with the appropriate outside capital. Accordingly, most of these new machines were housed in factories, in contrast to hand embroidery, which in many places was home work. The Schiffli embroidery machine laid the foundation for the complete mechanization of embroidery. Previously, the embroidery machine was “only” a working device of the sticker that had to adhere precisely to its movements and that it controlled completely, now the sticker had to adapt to the cycle of the machine. That was one of the reasons why the very self-confident stickers were very reluctant to switch to the new technology.

In 1898 Joseph Arnold Gröbli (1850–1939), Isaak Gröbli's eldest son, succeeded in developing the automatic embroidery machine . For him, the pantograph was replaced by a punched card tape, so the sticker was given the task of transferring the pattern onto the cloth as skilfully as possible. The mechanization of embroidery was thus complete and the decline of home embroidery was finally sealed. Only very few hand embroidery machines for special purposes remained - mainly because preparing the punched tape for small series was too time-consuming. Almost all embroidery machines still used today are ship embroidery machines. Today, of course, you mainly use direct digital control by computer instead of punch cards.

The functioning of historical ship embroidery machines can now be studied in various embroidery museums . The entire technical development of the hand and ship embroidery machine is shown using fully functional machines, especially in the Plauen show embroidery shop .

Individual evidence

  1. Patent application to improve the shuttle embroidery machine . Patent.de. June 29, 2006. Retrieved July 23, 2010.

literature

  • Albert Tanner: The boat flies, the engine roars. Weavers, stickers and manufacturers in Eastern Switzerland . Union Publishing House; Zurich 1985; ISBN 3-293-00084-3
  • Max Lemmemeier: embroidery blossom . In: Sankt Galler Geschichte 2003, Volume 6, Die Zeit des Kantons 1861-1914 . Office for Culture of the Canton of St. Gallen, St. Gallen 2003, ISBN 3-908048-43-5
  • Ernest Iklé: La Broderie mécanique . Edition A. Calavas Paris 1931, text available on the Internet under Ernest Iklé.
  • F. Schöner: Tips, encyclopedia of high-tech . VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig 1980.
  • Swiss pioneers in business and technology , published by the Association for Economic History Studies, Zurich:
    • Volume 15: Isaak Gröbli (1964).
    • Volume 48: Three Saurer Generations (1988).
    • Volume 54: Friedrich von Martini (1992).

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