Less Expensive Machines 



While the "Combination" was attempting to solve 

 the problems of patent litigation, another problem 

 faced the would-be home users of this new invention. 

 The budget limitations of the average family caused 

 a demand for a less expensive machine, for this first 

 consumer appliance was a most desirable commodity. 67 



There were many attempts to satisfy this demand, 

 but one of the best and most successful grew out of a 

 young man's curiosity. James E. A. Gibbs' first ex- 

 posure to the sewing machine was in 1855 when, at 

 the age of 24, he saw a simple woodcut illustration of 

 a Grover and Baker machine. The woodcut repre- 

 sented only the upper part of the machine. Nothing 

 in the illustration indicated that more than one 

 thread was used, and none of the stitch-forming 

 mechanism was visible. Gibbs assumed that the 

 stitch was formed with one thread ; he then proceeded 

 to imagine a mechanism that would make a stitch 

 with one thread. His solution was described in his 

 own statement: 



As I was then living in a very out of the way place, 

 tar from railroads and public conveyances of all kinds. 



"Scientific American (Jan. 29, 1859), vol. 14, no. 21, p. 165. 

 In a description of the new Willcox and Gibbs sewing machine 

 the following observation is made: "It is astonishing how, in a 

 few years, the sewing machine has made such strides in popular 

 favor, and become, from being a mechanical wonder, a house- 

 hold necessity and extensive object of manufacture. \\ bile 

 the higher priced varieties have such a large sale, it is no wonder 

 that the cheaper ones sell in such tremendous quantities, and 

 that our inventors are always trying to produce something new 

 and cheap." 



modern improvements seldom reached our locality, and 

 not being likely to have my curiosity satisfied otherwise, 

 I set to work to see what I could learn from the woodcut, 

 which was not accompanied by any description. I first 

 discovered that the needle was attached to a needle 

 arm, and consequently could not pass entirely through 

 the material, but must retreat through the same hole 

 by which it entered. From this I saw that I could not 

 make a stitch similar to handwork, but must have some 

 other mode of fastening the thread on the underside, 

 and among other possible methods of doing this, the 

 chainstitch occurred to me as a likely means of accom- 

 plishing the end. 



I next endeavored to discover how this stitch was or 

 could be made, and from the woodcut I saw that the 

 driving shaft which had the driving wheel on the outer 

 end. passed along under the cloth plate of the machine. 

 I knew that the mechanism which made the stitch must 

 be connected with and actuated by this driving shaft. 

 After studying the position and relations of the needle 

 and shaft with each other, I conceived the idea of the 

 revolving hook on the end of the shaft, which might 

 take hold of the thread and manipulate it into a chain- 

 stitch. My ideas were, of course, very crude and 

 indefinite, but it will be seen that I then had the correct 

 conception of the invention afterwards embodied in 

 my machine. 68 



Gibbs had no immediate interest in the sewing 

 machine other than to satisfy his curiosity. He did 

 not think of it again until January 1856 when he was 

 visiting his father in Rockbridge County, Virginia. 

 While in a tailor's shop there, he happened to see a 



Op. cit. (footnote 53), pp. 129-131. 



45 



