Figure 64. — The treadle of the machine was also 

 used to help create music. George D. Garvie and 

 George Wood received patent 267,874, Nov. 21. 

 1882, for "a cover for a sewing machine provided 

 with a musical instrument and means for trans- 

 mitting motion from the shaft of the sewing machine 

 to the operating parts of the musical instrument." 

 Although no patent model was submitted by the 

 inventors, the "Musical Sewing Machine Cover" 

 was offered for sale as early as October 1882, as 

 shown by this advertisement that appeared in 1 h, 

 S ving Machine News that month. (Smithsonian 

 photo 57983.) 



need in the 1870s. As more highly specialized 

 stitching machines were developed, an ever-increasing 

 variety of needles was required, and the industry 

 gi ev\ . 



Soon after the sewing machine was commercially 

 successful, special attachments for it were invented 

 and manufactured. These ranged from the simplest 

 devices for cutting thread to complicated ones for 

 making buttonholes (see figs. 56 through 66). 



The first patent for an attachment was issued in 



Figure 65. — This fanning attachment was com- 

 mercially available from James Morrison & Co. 

 in the early 1870s; it sold for one dollar as stated 

 in the advertising brochure from which this en- 

 graving was copied. Other inventors also patented 

 similar implements. (Smithsonian photo 45513.) 



1853 to Harry Sweet for a binder, used to stitch a 

 special binding edge to the fabric. Other related 

 attachments followed ; among these were the hemmer 

 which was similar to the binder, but turned the 

 edge of the same piece of fabric to itself as the stitching 

 was performed. Guides for stitching braid in any 

 pattern, as directed by the movement of the goods 

 below, were also developed ; this was followed by the 

 embroiderer, an elaborate form of braider. The 

 first machine to stitch buttonholes was patented in 



1854 and the first buttonhole attachment in 1856, 

 but the latter was not practical until improvements 

 were made in the late 1860s. Special devices for 

 refilling the bobbins were invented and patented as 

 early as 1862, and the popularity of tucked and 

 ruffled garments inspired inventors to provide sewing- 

 machine attachments for these purposes also. To 

 keep the seamstress cool, C. D. Stewart patented an 

 attachment for fanning the operator by an action 

 derived from the treadle (fig. 65). While electric 



62 



