PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 527 



Mr. Stetson. — No, it does not. In nearly every machine the 

 etitch is formed by putting the shuttle through while the thread 

 is on a slact. He hoped to see the day, in his time, when the 

 sewing machines would be as plenty and as cheap as the clock 

 that ornaments our mantel pieces. (Mr. Stetson here produced 

 a sewing machine, and illustrated on it the manner in which the 

 different motions were accomplished ; also, a diagram showing 

 the different positions in which the thread was placed during the 

 formation of the stitch). In this machine the only point to be 

 attended to is the tension. It requires a good deal of discrimi- 

 nation to ascertain how the different lock stiches are formed. 

 The machine can be run with perfect success whether the thread 

 be tight or loose. The Wilcox & Gibbs' machine runs with a 

 greater speed than any other. In one street in this city there 

 are 100 machines running at 1500 revolutions a minute, making 

 36 miles of seam per day. The Wheeler & Wilson machine runs 

 to the best advantage at between 400 and 800 revolutions per 

 minute, but could be worked at 1500 revolutions per minute. 

 One revolution occupying the twenty-fifth part of a second makes 

 one entire stitch. One peculiarity in the single thread sewing 

 machine is that the needle is so formed that it cannot enter the 

 work wrong. In this machine there is a brake fitted on the 

 driving wheel so as to prevent its working back. 



Mr. Lansey. — The first sewing machine I saw was twelve feet 

 long. I have been in the business of furnishing gentlemen's 

 goods generally. The first one that appeared to my mind as the 

 most practical for that kind of light work was the Wheeler & 

 Wilson sewing machine. I used it for years, but had to suspend 

 the use of it as it made a bias stitch. The next practicable one 

 to my mind was the Grover & Baker. With the shuttle stitch 

 the compression is only half what it is in the others. In the 

 Grover & Baker machine the loop not only passes through the 

 cloth but around it, causing compression. Compression, I think, 

 is a benefit. No sewing machine Avork will ever be equal to that 

 done by hand. In the Grover & Baker machine, I have found by 

 experiment on a piece of cloth a certain length, that it stretched 

 14 inches during the process of stitching. By experiment' with 

 the shuttle stitch on a piece the same length as the piece I used 

 on the Grover & Baker machine, I found that it stretched half an 

 inch. He (Mr. Lansey) then produced three pieces of cloth 

 which were cut the same length for the purpose of stitching, and 



