establishments in using the machine, the protests of the 

 tailors effectively blocked him. He took his sewing 

 machine to the Quincy Hall Clothing Manufactory 

 and offered to sew up any seams brought to him. 

 Daily he sat in one of the rooms demonstrating his 

 machine, and finally he challenged five of the swiftest 

 seamstresses there to a race. Ten seams of equal length 

 were prepared for stitching. One was given to each of 

 the girls while the remaining five were given to Howe. 

 Howe finished his five a little sooner than the girls each 

 finished one, and his seams were declared the strongest 

 and neatest. (Had any curved or angular work been 

 brought, he could not have stitched it.) Still Howe did 

 not receive a single order. The fear of throwing hand 

 sewers out of work was again expressed, and, in addition. 

 the cost of the machine was said to be too high. When 

 it was estimated that a large shirtmaker would have to 

 buy thirty or forty such machines, the necessary large 

 investment was dismissed as ridiculous. 



Howe was not too discouraged. In the meantime, he 

 had finished a second machine for deposit with the 

 patent specifications, as the patent laws then required. 

 The second was a better made machine (fig. 15) and 

 showed several minor changes. As soon as the patent 

 was issued on September 10, 1846, Howe and his 

 partner returned to Cambridge. 



Without the inventor's enthusiasm or love of his own 

 invention, George Fisher became thoroughly discour- 

 aged. He had boarded Howe and his family for nearly 

 two years, had furnished the money needed to purchase 

 the tools and materials for making the two sewing 

 machines, had met the expense of obtaining the patent 

 and the trip of Howe and himself to Washington; 

 representing in all an outlay of practically $2000. Since 

 no orders for machines had been received from either 

 garment makers or tailors, Fisher did not see the slightest 

 probability of the machine's becoming profitable and 

 regarded his advances of cash as a dead loss. 



Howe moved back to his father's house with a plan to 

 look elsewhere for a chance to introduce the machine. 

 Obtaining a loan from his father, he built another 

 machine and sent it to England by his brother Amasa. 

 After many discouraging attempts to interest the 

 British, Amasa met William Thomas, a manufacturer of 

 umbrellas, corsets, and leather goods. Thomas em- 

 ployed many workmen, all of whom stitched by hand, 

 and he immediately saw the possibilities of a sewing 

 machine. He proposed that Howe sell the machine to 

 him for £250 sterling (about SI 250). Thomas further 

 proposed to engage the inventor to adapt this machine 

 to the making of corsets, at a salary of £3 a week. 



When Amasa Howe returned to Cambridge with the 

 news, Elias was reluctant to accept Thomas' offer but 

 had nothing better in sight. So the brothers sailed for 



London in February 1847, taking with them Howe's 

 first machine and his patent papers. Thomas later 

 advanced the passage money for Howe's wife and three 

 children so that they could join Howe in England. 



At this point, historians disagree on how long Howe 

 was in Thomas' employ and whether he succeeded in 

 adapting the machine to meet Thomas' needs. He was 

 in England long enough, however, to find himself 

 without employment in a strange country, his funds 

 nearly exhausted, and his wife ill. He hoped to profit 

 by the notice that his work had received and began to 

 build another machine. He sent his family home to 

 reduce expenses while he stayed on to finish the machine. 



After working on it for three or four months, he was 

 forced to sell it for five pounds and to take a note for 

 that. To collect enough for his passage home, he sold 

 the note for four pounds cash and pawned his precious 

 first machine and his patent papers. He landed in 

 New York in April 1849 with but half a crown in his 

 pocket to show for his labors. A short time after he 

 arrived, he learned that his wife was desperately ill. 

 Only with a loan from his father was he able to reach 

 her side before she died. Friends were found to look 

 after the children, and Elias returned to work as a 

 journeyman machinist. 



Howe discovered, much to his surprise, that during 

 his absence in England the sewing machine had become 

 recognized in the United States. Several machines 

 made in Boston had been sold to manufacturers and 

 were in daily operation. Upon investigating them, he 

 felt that they utilized all or part of the invention that 

 he had patented in 1846, and he prepared to secure 

 just compensation for its use. The first thing he did 

 was to regain his first machine and patent papers from 

 the London pawnshop. It was no easy matter for Howe 

 to raise the money, but by summer he had managed. 

 It was sent to London with Anson Burlingame, who 

 redeemed the loans, and by autumn of the same year 

 the precious possessions were back in Howe's hands. 

 Though Howe gained nothing by his English experience, 

 William Thomas by his modest expenditure obtained 

 all rights to the machine for Great Britain. This later 

 proved to be a valuable property. 



Howe then began writing letters to those whom he 

 considered patent infringers, requesting them to pay a 

 fee or discontinue the manufacture of sewing machines 

 which incorporated his patented inventions. Some at 

 first were willing to pay the fee, but they were per- 

 suaded by the others to stand with them and resist 

 Howe. This action forced Howe to the courts. With 

 his father's aid he began a suit, but soon found that con- 

 siderably more money than either possessed was necessary 

 for such actions. Howe turned once more to George 

 Fisher, but years of investing money in Howe's machine 

 without anv monetary return had cooled him to the 



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