478 



SEWIM i MACHINES. 



favor. This is known as the " Smead system of dry- 

 air closets." It consists in passing the dry air of a 

 jiroperly ventilated house through the closets and 

 into a ventilating shaft. The manner of lining this 

 is unique and tin- result is remarkable: A "down- 

 draught" from the various rooms in the building, 

 created by flues connecting with a heated ventilating 

 shaft outside, carries the vitiated air of the ventilated 

 rooms into a " gathering room " which communicates 

 directly with the closets and thence with the shaft 

 the fecal and urinary deposits are thus sul 

 to a constant current of dry air, which not only de- 

 stroys all odor and evaporates all moisture but ren- 

 ders the night-soil so dry and earth-like as to no longer 

 resemble fecal discharges ; it can then be burned 

 where it lies or used as a fertilizer. Many school- 

 houses throughout the United States are supplied 

 with this system of "sewerage," thus dispensing 

 entirely with water-closets, the tests having proved 

 satisfactory both in winter and summer. 



(p. H. B.) 



SEWING-MACHINES. Of modern inventions 

 there are few of more importance, or 

 * ua ' nave done more for the comfort 

 Am. Rep ) an ^ convenience of civilized com- 

 munities than the sewing-machine. In 

 its various applications to the making of clothing, 

 shoes, etc., it has greatly added to the abundance and 

 cheapness of these necessaries of life, and aided in 

 enabling the poorest of the laboring classes to dress 

 warmly and respectably. The sewing-machine is 

 usually claimed as an American invention, ami justly 

 so, if regarded as an effective instrument, though the 

 idea originated in England, where efforts at machine- 

 sewing were made as early as the middle of the last 

 century. No satisfactory English machine was pro- 

 duced, however, though that of Thomas Saint (1790) 

 possessed many of the features of the successful 

 modern machines. A French inventor, M. Thimo- 

 nier, produced in 1830 a machine which worked with 

 some efficiency, and was patented, in an improved 

 form, in the United States in 1850. America, how- 

 ever, has the honor of producing the first practicable 

 machines for sewing cloth and leather. The Rev. 

 John Adams Dodge, of Monkton, Vt., invented, in 

 1818, a machine which, like the earliest English 

 machine, used a double-pointed needle with the eye 

 in the middle. It made a back stitch, and sewed a 

 good seam straight forward, but would not let the 

 rliith be turned. This machine was not patented, 

 and the professional duties of the inventor forced 

 him soon to abandon his experiments. 



The earliest effective machine of the modern pat- 

 tern was invented in 1832 by Walter Hunt, of New 

 York. It was the first machine to use two threads, 

 one being carried by a curved needle, with the eye in 

 the ] mint , the other by a shuttle. It formed what is 

 known as the lock stitch. Other inventors followed, 

 from time to time, and in 1846 Elios Howe, of Cam- 

 bridge. Mass., took out a patent for a machine which 

 was in its more important appliances similar to the 

 unpatented Hunt machine, though with several 

 novel devices. This is looked upon as the parent 

 sewing-machine, all the more recent inventions 

 being, in the main, simply improvements upon it. 

 It had defects which the inventor did not succeed in 

 overcoming, and which prevented it from working 

 satisfactorily and being accepted by the public or 

 by capitalists. These defects were removed by 

 later and better mechanics. John Bmdshaw, of 

 Lowell, Mass., patented in 1848 a device to regulate 

 the tension. Others improved the feeding arrange- 

 ment, and still others invented a lock stitch differing 

 from Howe's, though the same in principle. The 

 lack of n satisfactory feeding device, a defect in all 

 the earlier machines, was overcome in 1850 by the 

 effective four-motioned feeder invented by Allen . 



Wilson, of Pittsfield, Mam. His machine also re- 

 placed the shuttle by a rotating hook device. Other 

 machines quickly followed. That of Isaac M. Singer, 

 the first that proved satisfactory to manufacturers, 

 is said to have been produced in 12 days' time on a 

 promise to make on efficiently working machine for 

 S40. In 1851 William O. Orover, of Boston, invented 

 a machine that made a double loop stitch by means 

 of a circular rotating needle. All these machines 

 used the leading features patented by Howe several 

 years before, and a lawsuit arose which ended in his 

 being paid a royalty on all machines manufactured. 

 This royalty continued in force till 18G7, and brought 

 him in nearly 82,000,000. Singer, by obtaining con- 

 trol of other patents-, accumulated a large fortune. 



The Weed, the Florence, and other new machines 

 came into the market about 1854, the Willcox & 

 Gibbs in 1857, and since that period the application 

 for patents for sewing-machines and devices con- 

 nectc'd therewith have averaged about 50 per year. 

 The lost mentioned, invented by James E. A, Gibbs, 

 of Millpoint, Va., is the most popular of the single- 

 tlnvad machines. It makes a twisted loop stitch by 

 means of a rotating hook under the cloth, and, hav- 

 ing the advantages of noiselessness, speed, and ease 

 of running, has sold largely. Of the more recent 

 machines we may name the Remington, Domestic, 

 American, and two Howe machines (the Elias and 

 the Amasa B. Howe). An important event occurred 

 on the 8th of May, 1877. At noon of that day the 

 last of the essential patents held by the sewing-ma- 

 chine manufacturers expired, and the devices nec- 

 essary to the making of a workable machine were 



| open to all. Prices at once fell 40 or 50 percent., 

 the 60 machine being reduced to $30, and the 870 



' to 840. This was a highly desirable resnlt to the 

 general public, and has greatly added to the number 

 of machines in domestic use. The Wilson feeder 

 was the most important of the expiring inventions, 

 others being the vibrating needle, the reciprocating 

 shuttle, and the rotating hook. There are perhaps 

 a thousand patents still iu force, but the above- 

 named were the foundation patents, without which 

 no tirst-closs machine could be made. In addition 

 to the patents for machines, many have been taken 

 out for devices necessary to perform certain kinds of 

 sewing, such as basting, folding the cloth for hem- 

 ming, button-hole making, etc. Some of these de- 

 vices are remarkable for the intricacy and accuracy 

 of their achievements, and machine work is now 

 di >no of a character that would seem impossible to 

 be ]>erforined otherwise than by hand. By the use 

 of the sewing-machine, sewing can be done with at 

 least five times the rapidity of the fastest hand-sew- 

 ing, and with greatly decreased labor. The treadle 

 motion, which has hitherto been the most exhaust- 

 ing part of the work, is being avoided by the use 

 of steam, and by spring and electric motors suitable 

 for house use, which, when generally introduced, 

 will be a great saving of labor. It is questionable 

 if much further improvement can be made in the 

 efficiency of the sewing-machine ; it is almost per- 

 fect in its running and its performance now, and is 

 a notable example of the great advance iu modern 

 machinery. 



In addition to the machines in use for ordinary 

 sewing, there are many inventions adapted to the 

 l>erformance of special work which in some cases is 

 seemingly beyond the power of machinery, yet is 

 done with extraordinary accuracy and rapidity. A 

 very important one of these is the cylinder sewing- 

 machine, which possesses a cylindrical feed arrange- 

 ment adapted to sew seams on sleeves, water-hose, 

 her buckets, boot-legs, and similar cylindrical 

 articles. It is adapted for all grades of shoe-work, 

 but especially for vamping, and is also used largely 

 by manufacturers of gloves, pocket-books, travelling 



