infuriated mob, as had been earlier labor-saving devices 

 such as the Jacquard attachment for the loom and 

 Hargreaves' spinning jenny. Thimonnier was forced to 

 flee to his home in St. Etienne, once more penniless. 



Soon after this, Jean Marie Magnin. an engineer from 

 Yille-franche-sur-Saone became interested in I himon- 

 nier's machine and provided the inventor again with 

 financial backing. In 1845 under the name of Thimon- 

 nier and Magnin the patent of 1830 was renewed, and 

 under it they organized the first French sewing-machine 

 company. The machines they manufactured could pro- 

 duce 200 stitches per minute. 



The Revolution of 1848 curtailed the manufacture 

 and sale of the machines. Thimonnier, remembering 

 his unpleasant experience in 1841, decided to go to 

 England with Magnin, where, on February 8, 1848, they 

 received the English patent for his chainstitch machine. 

 He was also granted United States patent 7,622 on 

 September 20, 1850. This later machine had some 

 advantages over his French machine of 1830, but by 

 this time other inventors had joined the field with 

 machines that were more practical. Magnin entered a 

 sewing machine (which from the description in the 

 catalog must have been Thimonnier's invention) in the 

 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London in 1850. but 

 because it was late in arriving it was overlooked by the 

 judges and not even considered in the competition. 

 Thimonnier died in poverty at Amplepuis on July 5, 

 1857. 



WALTER HUNT 



Walter Hunt was born near Martinsburg, New York, 

 on July 29, 1796. Although little is known of Hunt's 

 early childhood, we do learn from the author of his 

 obituary, which appeared in Scientifu Am, num. July 9. 

 1860. that even as a child he was more interested in 

 people and what he could do for them than in what he 

 could do to insure his own welfare. He is said to have 

 devoted his life to his friends, frequently giving away 

 his last cent when he did not have enough to provide 

 for himself. 



There is no record that Hunt maintained a regular 

 business other than the occupation of inventor. His 

 interests were numerous and varied. He received his 

 first patent on June 26, 1826, for a machine for spinning 

 flax and hemp. During the next 33 years he patented 

 26 ideas. In addition he sold or dropped several more. 

 His second patent was for a coach alarm, and through 

 the years he also received patents for a variety of things 

 including a knife sharpener, heating stove, ice boat, nail 

 machine, inkwell, fountain pen. safety pin, bottle stopper, 

 sew inn machine (1854), paper collars, and a reversible 

 metallic heel. 



Figure 134.— Walter Hunt, 1796-1860. From 

 a daguerreotype owned by his great-grand- 

 son, G. N. Hunt. (Smithsonian photo 

 32066 A) 



ELI AS HOWE, JR. 



Elias Howe, Jr., was born on his father's farm in 

 Spencer, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1819. This was one 

 of those batten \ru l.nglancl farms with man)- rock- 

 filled acres. All possible ingenuity was necessary to 

 secure a living. The elder Howe supplemented his 

 farming by having a small gristmill, a sawmill, and also 

 by manufacturing cards for the fast-growing cotton 

 industry of New England. Elias Jr.'s earliest recollec- 

 tions were of the latter. He worked with his brothers 

 and sisters sticking wire teeth into strips of leather to 

 make these cotton cards, but, not being very good at 

 this, his family decided to let him ''live out" with a 

 neighboring farmer. (Children were leased in those 

 days; they received their board and keep in exchange 

 for chores they would perforin.) After a few years, Elias 

 returned home and worked in his father's mill until he 

 was sixteen. Then, against the wishes of his family, 

 he went to Lowell, Massachusetts. Here, he obtained a 



138 



