THE SEWING-MACHINE 



through a groove 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 forward is so regu- 

 lated as to take place while the needle is above the 

 surface, and by limiting the extent of this motion 

 the stitch is easily adjusted." 



But the ingenuity of Wilson was not exhausted by 

 this single great improvement in the sewing-machine. 

 The following year he invented a new device for exe- 

 cuting 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, is still the distinguish- 

 able feature of a certain well-known sewing-machine. 



About this time a New York mechanic named Isaac 

 M. Singer became interested in sewing-machines, and 

 very soon constructed a machine from a design of 

 his own, which was a great improvement, in many 

 ways, over previous ones. This was the first machine 

 having a rigid, overhanging arm to guide the vertical 

 needle, which is now the popular type of household 

 machine. But besides this novel feature, there was a 

 departure in the feed, using what was called a "wheel- 

 feed." 



Since the general style of the original Singer machine 



VOL. K. 7 [97] 



