History of sewing machines

The history of sewing machines
In 1755, German, Charles Weisenthal was issued a patent for a sewing machine needle, but no machine is recorded in the patent.

In 1790, English inventor and cabinet maker, Thomas Saint was issued the first patent for a complete sewing machine. Modern reproductions of Saint's patent drawings reportedly show that the machine did not work.

In 1810, German, Balthasar Krems invented an automatic machine for sewing caps. Krems did not patent his invention and it never functioned well.

In 1814, Austrian tailor, Josef Madersperger also made several unsuccessful attempts at inventing a machine for sewing.

In 1804, a French patent was granted to Thomas Stone and James Henderson for "a machine that emulated hand sewing."

That same year a patent was granted to Scott John Duncan for an "embroidery machine with multiple needles." Both inventions failed and were soon forgotten by the public.

In 1818, the first American sewing machine was invented by John Adams Doge and John Knowles. Their machine failed to sew any useful amount of fabric before malfunctioning.

In 1830, French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier made a breakthrough when he invented the first functional sewing machine. Thimonnier's machine used just one thread and a hooked needle to make the a chain stitch. The inventor was almost killed when an enraged group of French tailors burnt down his garment factory because they feared unemployment as a result of his new invention.

In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first successful sewing machine, but it only sewed a straight seam. Hunt never patented the machine and turned away from the idea. If you believe the reports, he thought his invention would cause unemployment.

In 1846, the first American patent was issued to Elias Howe for "a process that used thread from two different sources." Howe's machine had a needle with an eye at the point. The needle was pushed through the cloth and created a loop on the other side; a shuttle on a track then slipped the second thread through the loop, creating what is called the lockstitch. A ground breaking innovation which can still be seen in sewing machines to this day.

For the next nine years, Howe battled for his patent as others were adopting and improving upon his lockstitch mechanism.

During this time, American Isaac Singer invented the up-and-down motion mechanism. Already an inventor in his own right, Singer was primed to produce sewing machines for the masses. This ultimately led to a protracted legal battle between Singer, Howe and other interested parties.

In the 1850's, Singer built the first commercially successful machine. It was the first sewing machine where the needle moved up and down rather than side-to-side and the needle was powered by a foot treadle. Previous machines were all hand-cranked. But Singer's machine used the same lockstitch that Howe had patented. Howe sued Singer for patent infringement and won in 1854. Walter Hunt's sewing machine also used a lockstitch with two spools of thread and an eye-pointed needle; however, the courts upheld Howe's patent since Hunt had abandoned his patent.

Between 1854 and 1867, Howe earned close to two million dollars from his invention.

Singer became a wealthy industrialist. He was however, notorious for his social activities (he fathered at least 18 children by four women and was once arrested for bigamy), eventually forcing him to move to Europe.

Sewing machines saw Singer create a worldwide business empire. In 1908 he constructed what was then the tallest building in the world - The Singer building in New York, the world's first skyscraper at over 600ft high.

Elias Howe died a wealthy man in 1867, the year his patent expired.

Isaac Merritt Singer - inventor, actor, salesman and entrepreneur - died in 1875 in England, leaving an estate of about $14,000,000.