Figure 16. — An enlargement of the stitching area. (Smithsonian photo 45525-B.) 



problem and that sewing machines were being 

 manufactured for sale. The sixth United States 

 sewing-machine patent (No. 5,942) had been issued to 

 John A. Bradshaw on November 28, 1848, for a 

 machine specifically stated as correcting the defects 

 in the E. Howe patent. Bradshaw did not purport that 

 his machine was a new invention. His specifications 

 read: 



The curved needle used in Howe's machine will not by 

 itself form the loop in the thread, which is necessary for 

 the flying bobbin, with its case, to pass through, and has, 

 therefore, to be aided in that operation by a lifting-pin, 

 with the necessary mechanism to operate it. This is a 

 very bungling device, and is a great incumbrance to the 

 action of the machine, being an impediment in the way 

 of introducing the cloth to be sewed, difficult to keep 

 properly adjusted, and very frequently gets entangled 

 between the thread and the needle, by which the latter 

 is frequently broken. This accident happens very often, 



not withstanding all the precaution which it is possible 

 for the most careful operator to exercise; and inasmuch 

 as the delay occasioned thereby is very considerable, 

 and the needles costly and difficult to replace, it is 

 therefore very important that their breaking in this 

 manner be prevented, which in my machine is done in 

 the most effectual manner by dispensing with the lifting- 

 pin altogether, the loop for the flying bobbin to pass 

 through being made with certainty and of the proper 

 form by means of my angular needle moved in a par- 

 ticular manner just before the flying-bobbin case is 

 thrown. The shuttle and its bobbin for giving off the 

 thread in Howe's machine are very defective . . . my 

 neat and simple bobbin-case . . . gives off its thread 

 with certainty and uniformity .... The baster-plate 

 in the Howe machine is very inconvenient and trouble- 

 some ... in my machine . . . the clamp ... is a 

 very simple and efficient device. . . . The Howe ma- 

 chine is stationary, and the baster-plate or cloth-holder 

 progressive. The Bradshaw machine is progressive and 

 the cloth-holder stationary. 



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