Figure 104. — "Lady" sewing machine of about 1859. The 

 contemporary name of this machine is unknown. The 

 unusual design of the head, or main support, is based in 

 part on the design patent, number 216, of Isaac F. Baker, 

 issued April 10, 1849, for a "new and useful design [,] for 

 ornamenting furniture [,] called Cora Munro" who was a 

 character in James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. 

 The design shows a female figure wearing a riding dress and 

 hat that is ornamented with a plume and a bow. Her right 

 hand holds a riding stick and the left, her skirt. Trunks of 

 trees and foliage complete the Baker design, which is known 

 to have been used for girandoles of the period. A companion 

 design was also patented by Baker, number 215, which 

 is in the form of a man in military costume and is 

 named "Major Heyward," for another character in Last of 

 the Mohicans. 



The sewing machines based on the "Cora Munro" design 

 also use branch designs as the overhanging arms. A mother 

 bird sits in the upper branch and descends to feed a young 



bird as the machine is in operation. 1 he one illustrated was 

 used as the machine submitted with a request for patent by 

 George Hensel of New York City for which patent 24,737 

 was issued on July 12, 1859. Since Hensel's patent applica- 

 tion was for an improvement in the feed, there was no need 

 for the highly decorative head unless such a machine was 

 commercially available. The patent specifications merely 

 state that the head is "ornamented." Another sewing 

 machine of this type was used as the patent model by Sidney 

 Parker of Sing Sing, New York, number 24,780, issued on the 

 same date as the Hensel patent. Parker's patent also covered 

 an improved feeding mechanism. In the patent description, 

 however, the inventor states that "the general form of the 

 machine is not unlike others now in use." By this he might 

 have meant in the design, or possibly in the basic structural 

 form. Other than the two machines described, no other 

 examples are known to have survived, but "Lady"' or 

 "Cora Munro" sewing machines were manufactured. 

 (Smithsonian photo 45506 -D.) 



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