344 JOHN A. BOSHARD 



had been manufactured. He succeeded in securing a half 

 interest that had been conveyed to his father before his 

 departure for England, and commenced suits in the Boston 

 and New York courts to enforce his rights. In the long and 

 bitterly contested legal controversy which ensued, Mr. Howe 

 succeeded in establishing his claims, after which manufacturers 

 using his patents were compelled by the inventor to pay 

 the exorbitant bounty of $25 for each machine manufactured. 

 The next fundamental and important step in the im- 

 provement of the sewing machine was conceived by John 

 Bachelder, and patented May 8, 1849. His machine was 

 the first to combine the horizontal table and continuous 

 feed device. The feed consisted of an endless band of leather 

 set with small steel points. These points projected up through 

 the horizontal table and penetrated the material to be sewed, 

 carrying it by an intermittent motion to and beyond the 

 needle. This device has been entirely superseded by Allen 

 B. Wilson's patent, November 12, 1850, of a four motion 

 feed, which is noted for its simplicity of action and admi- 

 rable adaptability to the purpose for which it was designed. 

 Wilson's feed device consists of a serrated plate, which rises 

 through a grove in the table on which the material is fed, 

 and by a horizontal motion carries the material forward 

 the length of the stitch, when it drops below the surface 

 of the table and is carried back to its former position at the 

 end of the groove, thus describing a motion following the 

 four sides of a parallelogram. The cloth is held in place by 

 means of a presser foot descending from the head of the 

 overhanging arm. The motion which carries the cloth for- 

 ward is so regulated as to take place while the needle is above 

 the surface, and by limiting the extent of this motion the 

 stitch is easily adjusted. The highest degree of credit as 

 an inventor is due to Mr. Wilson for the ingenuity displayed 

 by him in making and perfecting the four motion feed. His 

 efforts, however, were not confined to this feature alone. 

 In 1851 he patented a device for executing the lock stitch 

 which consisted of a rotating hook used in place of a shuttle 

 for interlocking the upper thread with the lower. This 

 device, with some modifications and improvements, has 



