1865.j 
AMERICAN AaRICULTURIST, 
867 
The Sewing Machine. 
The first attempts to sew by macHfnery date as far back 
as the year 1755; but the practicability of the Sewing 
Machine as a substitute for hand labor, in uniting fabrics 
by means of seams of continuous stitciies, was not fully 
established until nearly a century later. The inventive 
minds of Europe failed in their efforts to reduce to prac¬ 
tice the idea of Machine Sewing, and it was left for the 
genius of America to produce and give to the world tlie 
first practical Sewing M.achine. Of the usefulness of this 
invention it is unnecessary to speak at tliis late day. The 
prejudices that impeded its early introduction have long 
since been swept away by the stern facts which its every¬ 
day successes practically demonstrate, and for tlie last 
ten years the Sewing Machine has been universally re¬ 
cognized as a necessity in the manufacture or putting to¬ 
gether of every known description of textile fabric, and 
an important addition to tlie household economy. 
As manufacturers and inventors, Grover & Baker are 
the most prominent names identified with the Sewing 
Machine. Elias Howe invented the Shuttle Stitch Ma¬ 
chine, but did not manufacture more than were necessary 
to use as models in his lawsuits, until after the Sewing 
Machine was made practical and useful by subsequent 
inventors. A. B. Wilson improved on the feeding mech¬ 
anism of Howe’s machine, and invented a substitute for 
the Howe shuttle in the rotary liook of the Wiieeler & 
Wilson machine, w'hich makes the shuttle stitch by a dif¬ 
ferent mechanism. Grover & Baker invented the machine 
making the Grover & Baker Elastic Stitch, and have 
been manufacturing their machines ever since the taking 
out of their patent. There are over 150,000 of the Grover 
& Baker Elastic Stitch Machines now in use, which is 
abundant evidence that the excellences of this stitch are 
appreciated by the public. 
Soon after Howe’s invention became known, a number 
of manufacturers of Sewing Machines appeared in the 
field, each with some little attachment or improvement, 
on the strength of which they sought to identify them¬ 
selves with tlie Sewing Machine, in the public mind. 
Nearly all these made Shuttle Stitch Machines, and it 
was their interest in common to cry down and damage, to 
the extent of their ability, their formidable rival, the 
Grover & Baker Elastic Stitch Machine ; and no means, 
honorable or otherwise, were spared by them to prejudice 
the public against it. Despite all this opposition, the 
Grover & Baker Machines gradually but sureiy worked 
their way into the foremost place in public favor, relying 
solely on their intrinsic and manifest merit over other 
machines. 
As further evidence of their great popularity, we may 
state that they have been awarded the iiighest premiums 
at all the State Fairs at which they were entered in com¬ 
petition the past three years, and at hundreds of Institute 
and County Fairs. They have also been awarded gold 
medals and diplomas at various exhibitions of England, 
France, Spain, and Austria, and have been furnished by 
command to the Empress of France, Empress of Russia, 
Empress of Brazil, Queen of Spain, and Queen ofBavaria. 
Keeping pace w’itli the growing demand for their Ma¬ 
chines, Grover & Baker increased their facilities for man¬ 
ufacturing, and invented and built new machinery, of the 
most perfect kind, adapted to all the parts of the Sewing 
Machine. The Company’s manufactory is at Boston, and 
they have wholesale depots in all the principal cities of 
the Union ; in London and Liverpool, England, and Mel¬ 
bourne, Australia. Agencies are also established in all 
the other leading cities of the Old World, and in almost 
every village of the New. The Company conduct twenty- 
four establishments in their own name, and employ in 
connection with them over 300 clerks, salesmen, me¬ 
chanics, and operators. At the Factory, in the manu¬ 
facture of Machines, Stands, Cabinets, etc., between four 
and five hundred hands are employed, capable of turning 
out complete, from thirty to forty thousand Machines per 
annum. The principal depot for foreign export is at 495 
Broadway, New York, at which place a large retail trade 
is also done. This establishment is three stories in front. 
and extends through to Mercer-street, 200 feet. Unique 
in design and magnificently fitted up, it ranks among the 
first of the commercial palaces of Broadway, and is 
wholly occupied by their business. 
The Grover & Baker Sewing Machine makes a double 
thread Elastic Stitch, and forms a seam of great strengtii 
and beauty, peculiarly adapted for family sewing and the 
manufacture of goods where firmness and elasticity of 
seam are required. The mechanism of the machine is 
simple, the parts few, its movements quiet, and the 
method of operating it easily acquired. It uses the thread 
directly from the spool as purchased. One side of the 
seam can be made highly ornamental for embroidering, 
by using colored silk or worsted. 
The importance of Grover & Baker’s inventions will 
be more apparent when itis understood, that the principle 
of the Grover & Baker Machines is entirely different 
from that of the Howe Machine, and all those making 
the Howe Shuttle Stitcli, among which are the Singer, 
Wlieeier & Wilson, Florence, etc. The Grover & 
Baker Machine, making the double thread Elastic Stitch, 
from the time of its invention in 1851, has taken its posi¬ 
tion as a competitor for public favor against the entire 
class of machines descended from the Howe shuttle in¬ 
vention, and bases its claims for superiority over these, 
not on any improvement on or attacliment to the machine 
that Howe invented, but on mechanism of an entirely 
different principle, forming a seam possessing qualities 
impossible of attainment by any machine making the 
Shuttle Stitch of Howe. When treating the subject of 
Sewing Machines, therefore, it is only necessary to hold 
in view the two principles of forming a seam with two 
threads by machinery, viz., the Shuttle Stitch and the 
Grover & Baker Elastic Stitch. 
It is not only unnecessary, but leads to confusion, to 
speak of this Shuttle Machine or that Lock Stitch Ma¬ 
chine, for by whoever manufactured or by whatever name 
it may be known, the Shuttle and Lock Stitch are iden¬ 
tical, and it possesses the same merits and the same 
faults that it had twenty years ago. Those contemplating 
the use of Sewing Machines in their business or their 
homes, should attach as much importance to the selection 
of the one or the other principle, as if they were deter¬ 
mining the choice between liand and machine sewing. 
There are a great many uses, in manufactories and 
families, to which the Grover & Baker Stitch can be suc¬ 
cessfully applied, in which the Shuttle Stitch would be 
utterly useless, while there is no use to which the latter 
can be applied that the former will not accomplish. 
Where both principles can be applied to the same uses 
with comparatively equal success, it is of little im¬ 
portance w hich is adopted. There are however numerous 
employments for the Sewing Machine where the supe¬ 
riority of one kind is so marked, tliat a wrong conclusion 
as to the stitch best suited would result in failure. 
The following extracts from testimony taken on oath, 
in a recent case before the Hon. Commissioner of Patents 
we consider conclusive proof of the superiority of the 
Grover & Baker Elastic. Stitch Machine for nearly all 
the uses to which machine sewing can be applied. 
Edward S. Renwick, of New York City, a profes¬ 
sional engineer, says; 
The seam produced, w hile secure, is extremely 
elastic, and can be strained to as great an extent as the 
cloth in which it is sewed, without the fracture of the 
threads, while the two-thread seams, sewed by machines 
not embodying the said Grover & Baker’s invention, are 
easily fractured by straining the cloth, particularly when 
bias seams are sewed. The Grover & Baker Machines 
are therefore adapted to sewing a great variety of articles, 
which can not be sewed advantageously by dtlier sewing 
machines.” 
Henry B. Renwick, of New York, civil and mechan¬ 
ical engineer, says: 
“ I further say. that machines embodying this invention 
(the Grover & Baker Elastic Stitch) are made and sold 
in great numbers, to my knowledge, and are by many 
preferred for all purposes, and by many others for special 
purposes, to any other sewing machines; such preference 
being due, in my opinion, to the peculiar elastic charac¬ 
ter and the strength of the stitch, and also to the ease 
with which a knowledge of the working of the machine 
may be acquired, and further, to the fact that less care in 
the adjustment of the tension is required in these tlian in 
any other double-thread machine.^.” 
Albert H. Hook, of New York, a mechanical en¬ 
gineer, says: 
“ From my experience and observation, I slate un¬ 
hesitatingly that the Grover & Baker Machine is the best 
sew’ing machine for genei-al domestic and family use yet 
made. It combines, in the greatest extent, firmness, 
elasticity, and durability of seam, simplicity of construc¬ 
tion and ease of management, capacity of doing the 
greatest variety of work, including ornamental work and 
embroidery—advantages not pos.sessed by any other 
machine. Notwithstanding my own inventions in that 
line, I use the Grover & Baker Machine in my family, 
and recommend it to my friends.” 
Mrs, Bellina Fhoeiilich, of 123 East Seventeenth- 
street, New York, sav.s; 
•‘I liave had personal experience of four years and a 
half, during wliicli time I have used it for all the various 
wants of a large family, on ..11 materials ; have made or¬ 
namental work with it, quilting, tucking; and for dress¬ 
making jmrposes I have found it to answer my ends per¬ 
fectly. The machine I used was the Grover & Baker 
Family Sewing Machine. I have liad work periormed 
for me on other family sewing machines — the Wheeler k 
Wilson, anil Singer; am rather familiar with their mode 
of operation. 1 am of the opinion that the elasticity of 
the seams made on the Grover & Baker Family Sewing 
Machines is of great value for all garments of family 
wear, particularly tliose .subjected to wasliing and iron¬ 
ing . that the facility of ripping a seam to a given point, 
without injuring or loosening the rest of the seam, is 
likewise of great value. The ornamental work can be 
performed with great ease and facility upon this machine, 
and surpasses all other machines in this particular fea¬ 
ture. It is not very liable to get out of order; easy to 
operate on, and easy to learn to operate on ; not com¬ 
plicated, easily managed, easy to adjust its parts, and the 
spools are easily attached, without the necessity of wind¬ 
ing both above and below, as the machine sews directly 
from the spools as purchased ; the tension is easily regu¬ 
lated, and does not vary, and does not require readjust¬ 
ment in passing from light to lieavy work. As to strength 
and durability of seam, I can testify having garments in 
use during four and a half years, which have been con¬ 
stantly subjected to washing, wringing, and ironing, and 
which have given out in the fabric before the seam has 
shown any sign of weakness. In my judgment it is, be¬ 
yond all question, the best Family Sewing Machine in 
iise. I also prefer the manner in w Inch the work runs 
over the machine from the operator, getting out of tlie 
way as fast as sewed, and thereby enabling the operator 
tcysit in a comfortable po.sition. In strength and durability 
of seam, I judge its work to last longer and wear belter 
than the seams of the other machines known to me.” 
Mrs. Charlotte D. Watts, wife of Dr. Robert 
Watts, of New York City, says ; 
“ I have been, since the introduction of Sewing Ma¬ 
chines for family use, much interested in them, and have 
taken much pains to inform myself practically of the 
merits of the different leading m<ichines in the market for 
family use. My established judgment is that the Grover 
& Baker Machine, making the stitch known as the Grover 
& Baker Stitch, is superior to all others, for the following 
reasons, for family sewing: 
‘‘First. — The seam is stronger and more elastic than 
any other. 
“ Second. — It is more easily managed, and capable of 
doing a greater variety and range of work than any other. 
“ Third. —In addition to plain sewing, this machine is 
capable of executing ornamental work of great variety 
and beauty. 
“ I think the family Sewing Machine, as an instrument 
for domestic liousehold use, second in importance to no 
other invention yet made ; and I believe, for the reasons 
stated, the Grover & Baker decidedly the best Family 
Sewing Machine. 1 have used a Sewing Machine in my 
family for many years, and would not be willing to dis¬ 
pense wdth it on any account.” 
Mrs. Mary A. Parker, wife of Dr. Willard Parker, 
of New York, says : 
“ Since the introduction of Sewing Machines, and dur¬ 
ing the last ten years, I have been particularly interested 
in ascertaining their relative merits and real value as in¬ 
struments for domestic use in families. I am familiar 
with the leading machines in the market for familv use. 
In my judgment, established from long observation and 
experience, the Grover & Baker Machine, making the 
Double-Loop Grover & Baker Stitch, is decidedly supe¬ 
rior to any other for family use. This machine makes at 
the same time a stronger and more elastic seam than any 
other ; is capable of doing a greater variety of work with 
less change of adjustment than any other; and, in addi¬ 
tion to the work accomplished by other machines, is cap¬ 
able of doing ornamental work and embroidery. I think 
it would be difficult to estimate too highly the value of 
the Grover & Baker machine as an instrument for 
family use.” 
Sarah Edwards, proprietor of store 745 Broadway, 
New York, sayS : 
'• I am proprietor of the establishment for the manu¬ 
facture and sale of children and ladies’ furnishing goods. 
No. 745 Broadway, New York. I am thoroughlv and 
practically acquainted with the merits of the leading 
Sewing Machines in the market adapted to my business, 
or for fine sewing. I have tised maciiines for several 
years, and state, with the utmost confidence, that the 
Grover & Baker Machine is superior to any other for fine 
family and general work. Although I have other machines 
making the shuttle or lock-stitch of high reputation, 
I would not use any other than the Grover & Baker upon 
work when elasticity and strength of seam are required. 
The capacity of the Grover & Baker Machine for doing 
ornamental work, in addition to plain sewing, is of much 
importance and value.” 
Frank A. Allen, of the firm of Allen Brothers, 
manufacturers of cloaks and mantillas. New York, says : 
“ It Is very much more simple than any other machine, 
so much so that I have learned a person who had never 
seen any machine, in two iiours’ time, to run if well 
enough to stitch a cloak. As regards durability, I have 
machines that are now running, which I have had in use 
six years, running them at least six months in each year. 
They seldem get out of order, and require but a very 
small expense to repair them. As compared with other 
machines, as regards elasticity, durability, and strength 
of stitch, we find it much better in all these points than 
any other machine we have used. Much of the material 
used in tiie manufacture of cloaks is very elastic, and re¬ 
quires absolutely an elastic stitch. This we have never 
found in any other machine than the Grover & Baker 
sufficient for the purpose. I have used one in my famiiy 
about five years, on all kinds of work—fine, thick, and 
thin ; and we give it the preference over other machines 
on account of its simplicity, and the elasticity and strength 
of the stitch, and the readiness or facility w ith which any 
article of dress can be ornamented or embroidered.” 
(Independent.) 
