Elements of a Successful Machine 



The requirements for producing a successful, 

 practical sewing machine were a support for the 

 cloth, a needle to carry the thread through the 

 fabric and a combining device to form the stitch, a 

 feeding mechanism to permit one stitch to follow 

 another, tension controls to provide an even delivery 

 of thread, and the related mechanism to insure the 

 precise performance of each operation in its proper 

 sequence. Weisenthal had added a point to the 

 eye-end of the needle, Saint supported the fabric by 

 placing it in a horizontal position with a needle 

 entering vertically, Duncan successfully completed a 

 chainstitch for embroidery purposes, Chapman used 

 a needle with an eye at its point and did not pass it 

 completely through the fabric, Krems stitched circular 

 caps with an eye-pointed needle used with a hook to 

 form a chainstitch, Thimmonier used the hooked 

 needle to form a chainstitch on a fabric laid hori- 

 zontally, and Hunt created a new stitch that was more 

 readily adapted to sewing by machine than the hand 

 stitches had been, but, although each may have had 

 the germ of an idea, a successful machine had not 

 evolved. There were to be hundreds of patents issued 

 in an attempt to solve these and the numerous minor 

 problems that would ensue. But the problems were 

 solved. And, in spite of its Old World inception, the 

 successful sewing machine can be credited as an 

 American invention. 



Although the invention of the practical sewing 

 machine, like most important inventions, was a 

 many-man project, historians generally give full 

 credit to Elias Howe, Jr. Though such credit may be 



overly generous, Howe's important role in this history 

 cannot be denied. 



Elias Howe, Jr., was born on a farm near Spencer, 

 Massachusetts, but he left home at an early age to 

 learn the machinist's trade. 33 After serving an 

 apprenticeship in Lowell, he moved to Boston. In 

 the late 1830s, while employed in the instrument shop 

 of Ari Davis, Howe is reported to have overheard 

 a discussion concerning the need for a machine that 

 would sew. In 1843, when illness kept him from his 

 job for days at a time, he remembered the conversa- 

 tion and the promises of the rich reward that reputedly 

 awaited the successful inventor. Determined to invent 

 such a machine, he finally managed to produce 

 sufficient results to interest George Fisher in buying a 

 one-half interest in his proposed invention. By April 

 1845, Howe's machine (fig. 14) was used to sew all 

 the seams of two woolen suits for men's clothing. 

 He continued to demonstrate his machine but found 

 that interest was, at best, indifferent. 



Nevertheless, Howe completed a second machine 

 (fig. 15), which he submitted with his application 

 for a patent. The fifth United States patent (No. 

 4,750) for a sewing machine was issued to him on 

 September 10, 1846. The machine used a grooved 

 and curved eye-pointed needle carried by a vibrating 

 arm, with the needle supplied with thread from a 

 spool. Loops of thread from the needle were locked 

 by a thread carried bv a shuttle, which was moved 



See biographical sketch, pp. 138-141. 



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