102 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Harrison's improvement. The object of an improvement by James Harri- 

 son, Jr., of Milwaukie, Wis., is to give the cloth a feed-movement independ- 

 ently of the needles, instead of by the needles, as in the Avery sewing- 

 machine. For this purpose both needles are, for a time, withdrawn from the 

 cloth, to leave it free to be acted upon by suitable feeding mechanism. Other 

 parts of the invention are to provide means for holding the material to be 

 sewed, and admit of its being liberated before and during the feed-movement ; 

 also means of causing the interlacings of the two threads when the seam is 

 formed, to be always as close as desirable to one surface of the material, 

 whatever may be the thickness of the material, and notwithstanding any 

 variations in its thickness ; also in a self-adjusting arrangement of the feed- 

 ing apparatus, which permits the sewing of stuff of different or changing 

 thicknesses, without any stoppage of the machine. 



Cowperthwaifs Improvement. Improvements patented by C. J. Cowper- 

 thwait, of Philadelphia, consist principally in the employment of a weighted 

 trip-lever, instead of spring-pressure, in feeding the cloth, and in an oblique 

 arrangement of the shuttle race relating to the line of the feeding movement, 

 or the sewing, whereby the stitches formed by the needle and shuttle are all 

 caused to be produced in line with each other, instead of zig-zag, as in other 

 machines. 



fiobinsori's Hand Sewing-Machines, ivith Roper's Improvements. This a very 

 singular-looking and acting apparatus. It puts us in mind of a hand printing- 

 press, more than any thing else. Two needles are employed, carried by two 

 long arms, one above, the other below the table. One thread only is used. 

 There are notches near the points of the needles, answering to eyes, which 

 catch the thread, and alternately carry it through and out of the cloth, form- 

 ing the same kind of stitches that are made by hand, to wit : back-stitches, 

 half and quarter back, side, sail, quilting, hemming, running, etc. The work 

 which it performs is strong and beautiful. Price of machine $150. Scientific 

 American. 



Singers Improvements. Several important improvements hi sewing- 

 machines have also been patented during the past year by J. M. Singer, 

 of New York, well known from his connection with this machine from 

 the commencement. They consist in a new plan of stitching, and in a 

 novel method of embroidery, whereby ornamental designs, of every descrip- 

 tion, can be wrought out on the cloth in the most splendid manner, with 

 great precision and rapidity. Thread, silk, worsted, gold lace, and other 

 species of embroidering stuffs, varied in colors to suit the taste, may be laid 

 on with singular ease and facility. The work performed is, moreover, very 

 firm and durable. 



Musical Sewing-Machine. Messrs. Wheeler and "Wilson, of New York, 

 exhibited at the recent Fair of the American Institute a combination of the 

 sewing-machine and the melodeon. The apparatus has the appearance, ex- 

 ternally, of a small parlor side-board or escritoir. You lift the front, and find 

 a handsome set of piano-keys. Close it, and turn back a hoop on the top, 

 and you have a complete sewing-machine, conveniently arranged ; concealed 

 below, within side doors, are two pedals, one for the music, the other for the 



