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Wednesday 20 December 2017

Sewing machine

Humans had used bone and horn to sew for tens of thousands of years, but the first patent for a machine that could sew without the need for such cumbersome devices as pins and thimbles was given to Thomas Saint of England in 1790. Unfortunately, the device didn't work.

The first functioning sewing machine was invented by a French tailor by the name of Barthélemy Thimonnier in 1830. His device used the chain stitch; the first such machine to replicate sewing by hand.

Close up of a copy of Barthélemy Thimonnier's sewing machine. By Panjigally 

By 1841, Thimonnier had a factory with over 80 machines and a contract with the French army for uniforms. However, the factory was destroyed by a riotous group of French tailors who were afraid the sewing machine would spell the end of their trade. Thimonnier never recovered and died penniless.

Elias Howe, (July 9, 1819 – October 3, 1867) was working in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, cotton machinery factory when he dreamed up the idea of a machine that could sew. The idea fascinated him, and he spent all his spare time during the next five years developing a practical sewing machine. Eventually, Howe left his job to work on his invention.

Howe eventually completed his first successful sewing machine in 1845. Howe's innovations included a needle threaded at its point, a shuttle to form a lock stitch and an automatic feed.

Howe said he got the idea for the sewing machine needle from a nightmare about cannibals chasing him with spears, who ordered him to complete his machine or face being killed and eaten. As Howe  was being marched to his death, he noticed that the spears held by the warriors were all pierced near the point. This was the solution he had been searching for. That morning, he built a sewing machine that had a needle with an eye at the point.

Elias Howe Sewing Machine September 10, 1846

The sewing machine was invented at about the same time that factory-made cloth became plentiful. The invention of the sewing machine greatly increased the speed with which a garment could be sewn. Before Howe came up with his device, the fastest sewing possible was only about 50 stitches per minute. Howe's invention stitched five times faster than that. However, it could sew only straight seams of limited length.

Elias Howe patented his sewing machine on September 10, 1846. He attempted with some success to introduce his machine to the English market; returning to the USA in 1847, he found his patent had been infringed and other entrepreneurs began manufacturing sewing machines. After a five-year court fight Howe's patent rights were restored in 1854, after which he earned a fortune - sometimes as much as $4,000 a week - from his invention.

Elias Howe's Sewing Machine U.S. Patent #4,750 issued 10 Sep 1846

Howe's invention helped to establish mass production of clothing and other sewn goods. In 1863, during the American Civil War, he prided himself on the facts that more than a million soldiers were "clothed, kitted and covered by fabric sewn on machines using my inventions".

Isaac M. Singer of Pittstown, New York invented the first sewing machine with an overhanging arm, making it possible to sew on any part of the garment. His sewing machine was patented on August 12, 1851. Singer also patented the foot treadle and the spring-equipped presser foot for holding down the fabric while sewing.


A Singer 1851 sewing machine

In 1873 Ludwig M. Wolf of Avon, Connecticut, patented the sewing machine lampholder. Up to that time, those who could afford it had hired pygmies from their local Lampholders-R-Us company to hold their sewing machine lamps. Those who could not afford that service had to sew with one hand while holding the lamp with the other.

The first sewing machines were powered by hand or foot. Singer Sewing Co demonstrated the first workable electric sewing machine at the Philadelphia electric exhibition in 1885 and began mass-producing domestic electric machines twenty five years later.

At first the electric sewing machines were standard machines with a motor strapped on the side, but as more homes gained power, they became more popular and the motor was gradually introduced into the casing.

Thomas Edison invented a voice-driven sewing machine, requiring users to roar continuously into a mouthpiece.

A survey in the USA has reported that 51 per cent of machinists own three sewing machines.

Australian rock group AC/DC chose their name after band members Angus and Malcolm Young's sister saw "AC/DC" on a sewing machine - an abbreviation for "Alternating Current/Direct Current."

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