SEWING-MACHINE 



SEX 



351 



Howe machine was a great invention, without 

 which no sewing-machine is possible ; improve- 

 ments were, however, soon made in the ' setting ' 

 of the needle, substituting the vertical motion of 

 the needle for the horizontal motion of the original 

 machine, thus passing the cloth upon the table 

 of the machine horizontally under the needle, 

 together with a ' wheel feed motion ' beneath the 

 baster-plate, by which the cloth was moved hori- 

 zontally from left to right. Subsequently the 

 shuttle was made to describe an entire circuit 

 instead of the former oscillating or vibrating 

 motion. This latter improvement was made and 

 patented by Blodgett & Heron of Boston in 

 1849 ; but while it effectively economised power, 

 it was soon found impractical because of tne un- 

 twisting of the thread as the shuttle rotated. In 

 1830 Allan B. Wilson of Pittsfield patented a 

 'doable beak shuttle,' by which a complete stitch 

 was made at each forward and backward motion 

 of the shuttle, which also economised power. 

 About the same time Robinson of Boston patented 

 a machine having two needles carved, which being 

 threaded with short threads, one upon each side 

 of the cloth, were passed alternately through the 

 cloth, and the thread drawn each way, making the 

 cordwainer's stitch. By this machine the Lack 

 stitch and the basting stitch could be made. 



In 1851 Mr Wilson invented and patented the 

 'rotating hook" device (see fig. 4), a device 

 new in machinery and an effective substitute for 

 the shuttle. Mr Wilson also made a most sub- 

 stantial improvement in his lock-stitch rotary 

 motion machine, known as the 'four-motioned 

 feed ' or ' rough surface feed with yielding pressure,' 

 which has since lieen adopted by all sewing-machine 

 manufacturers for all flat-bed work. It consists 

 of a horizontal slotted bar placed between the stan- 

 dards which support the cloth plate, with a ' feed- 

 tongue,' which fills the slot, and is pivoted at one 

 end, but free at the other end for an up-and-down 

 motion. The four motions are an upward or lifting 

 motion by which the teeth are fixed in the cloth, 

 a forwara motion by which the cloth is moved for- 

 ward, a downward motion by which the teeth loose 

 their hold upon the cloth, and a backward motion 

 effected by a spiral spring at the other extremity 

 of the feed-bar. The length of the stitch is deter- 

 mined by the play of the feed-bar. By the succes- 

 sive motions of this rough surface feed, the only 

 hold upon the cloth while the needle is passing 

 down through the cloth is the needle itself ; hence 

 the cloth may be turned in any direction by the 

 operator without stopping the machine, an advan- 

 tage which will be readily appreciated, making it 

 possible to turn corners while sewing. In 1849 a 

 ' chain-stitch ' machine was patented Dy Morey and 

 Johnson, in which the cloth was suspended from a 

 circular baster-plate, the thread being carried 

 through the cloth by the horizontal play of the 

 needle. This machine was subsequently improved 

 by J. E. A Gibbs of Virginia, and as improved is 

 known as the Wilcox & Gibbs machine. The 

 double loop-stitch machine before described was 

 invented and patented by W. C. Grover and 

 W. E. Baker of Boston in 1852. Immediately 

 after the Singer machine, bearing the name of the 

 inventor, was patented. It was an improvement 

 upon the original Howe machine, and it in turn 

 has been improved from time to time with various 

 patents, until, as we have seen, it is one of the 

 leading machines. Its automatic self-adjusting 

 belt is one of its recent patents. In 1856 Chapin 

 ecured a patent for the ' hemmer,' a device of 

 teel consisting of a ' scroll ' or ' gauge ' set in a 

 steel ' presser-foot,' by which the hem or fell is 

 tamed. It is an attachment adapted to any sew- 

 ing-machine. Various patents have been secured 



for the various attachments and improvements 

 from time to time, and also for new machines 

 adapted to special classes of work, the number in 

 the United States alone amounting to many hun- 

 dreds, and still a large number of devices for 

 sewing-machine appliances are patented annually. 



The button-hole machine was invented and 

 patented in 1882 by Ostroni, and almost at 

 once materially improved by Horace Doggett, a 

 young man under twenty, by the addition of an 

 ' automatic cutter. This device was patented, and 

 was subsequently purchased by the Wheeler and 

 Wilson Company. Attachments for the working of 

 button-holes have been patented, adapted for use 

 upon any-sewing machine. The button sewing- 

 machine is also a recent invention, of which there 

 are a variety of devices patented. 



Immediately after the invention of the Singer 

 machine litigation arose between the various 

 inventors, and terminated in 1854 in a sewing- 

 machine combination, by which all companies 

 united in the use of the Howe needle and the 

 Wilson four-motioned feed, paying to their in- 

 ventors a royalty. Mr Howe's royalties amounted 

 to over $2,000,000 ; Mr Wilson also amassed a large 

 fortune from his four-motioned feed patent, which 

 patent ran out in 1878, the last of the important 

 original patents to run out. Immediately sewing- 

 machines were reduced in price fifty per cent. 



The sewing-machine of to-day is fitted up with 

 an open or closed cabinet with or without drawers 

 elaborately finished in expensive woods, the 

 machine being of the same quality in all cases. A 

 large amount of capital is invested in the sewing- 

 machine manufacture, and many thousands of 

 machines are annually made, there being from 

 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 now in use. The Singer 

 Manufacturing Company is the largest manufactur- 

 ing company, having factories at Elizabethport, 

 N. J. , at Kilbowie, near Glasgow, Scotland, at 

 Vienna, and in Canada. The main factory of the 

 Wheeler and Wilson Company is in Bridgeport, 

 Conn., and its machines are extensively used in 

 Great Britain and other European countnes. 



S-\. In all the many-celled animals, and in 

 most of the many-celled plants, the continuance 

 of life from generation to generation is secured by 

 special reproductive cells which form new lives, 

 being sooner or later separated from the body of 

 the parent. In this specialisation of reproductive 

 cells lies the great difference between sexual and 

 asexual reproduction. But in the great majority 

 of organisms the special reproductive cells are of 

 two kinds there are relatively large and passive 

 ova, and relatively small and often very active 

 spermatozoa. These two kinds of reproductive 

 cells are mutually dependent ; in most cases they 

 die unless they unite with one another. When 

 this union or fertilisation takes place a new life 

 begins. But in most organisms the ova are formed 

 in one organ, the spermatozoa in another, while in 

 most animals, and in all the higher forms, the ova 

 are formed by one individual (a female) and the 

 spermatozoa by another (the male) there being, 

 in other words, two distinct sexes. Moreover, the 

 males and females differ not only in their essential 

 characteristics of producing spermatozoa and ova 

 respectively, but tney often differ very markedly 

 in external appearance, constitution, and habits. 

 Further, they are instinctively attracted to one 

 another in such a way that the union of the com- 

 plementary reproductive cells is secured. 



It is evident then that the fact of sexual repro- 

 duction involves many distinct biological problems : 

 (a) the formation of specialised reproductive cells ; 

 (6) the origin of two different kinds of reproductive 

 cells ova and spermatozoa ; (c) the differentiation 

 of distinct organs or of two distinct types of indi- 



