SEWING MACHINE, a machine fot sewing or stitching cloth, leather, etc. The various forms of this now well-known and almost universally used machine are all of quite recent introduction. The in vention of the double-pointed needle with an eye in the center, in the year 1755, marked a distinct advance toward the invention of the sewing machine, and it was itself used in a form of machine for producing the "shoemaker's stitch." In the eye of the double-pointed needle the sewing thread was fastened, and by a pair of grippers or mechanical fingers the needle was pushed and pulled alter nately from the opposite sides of two folds of the material to be sewed.
In 1830 Barthelemy Thimonier, a Frenchman, obtained in his native coun try a patent for a form of sewing machine which was for some time successfully worked, and which was in effect the par ent of the single-thread machines now in use. In Thimonier's apparatus, which was constructed largely of wood, the thread carrier was placed under the table whereon the fabric to be sewed was laid. The needle was in the form of a crochet hook, and having a descending and ascend ing motion, it passed through the cloth, brought up a loop of thread, which was caught and retained by a nipple till the hooked needle brought up a second loop. The second loop passed through loop No.
1, which thereupon was released and drawn tight, a chain stitch was thus formed, and the cloth being moved for ward the length of a stitch, the process was repeated and continued.
Between 1832 and 1834, Walter Hunt, a New York mechanician, invented and sold several sewing machines which made a practical lock stitch. He, however, ne glected to apply for a patent.
The invention of the eye-pointed needle by Newton & Archibald, patented in 1841, and applied by them to the stitching and tamboring of the back of gloves, formed the most important step in the progress of developing the sewing machine, and in no essential principle did their machine differ from the single-thread machines now in use. In 1844 an invention by John Fisher was patented jointly with James Gibbons, in which a shuttle and needle were used for producing a lock stitch, and by a different combination the patent covered the production of what subse quently was known as the Grover & Baker, or knotted stitch. Elias Howe's
invention was patented in the United States by himself, and in England by William Thomas in 1846. Howe, after several years' labor and study, worked out the idea of his sewing machine with out any guidance from or knowledge of what had been previously accomplished; and he moreover secured such effective combinations of parts as made the Howe machine in reality the acknowledged par ent of all the forms since introduced.
His patent-right for Great Britain was sold for $1,250 to Mr. Thomas, in whose employment Mr. Howe worked for about two years. On returning to the United States in 1849, Howe found that notwith standing his patent right, several indi viduals had made, exhibited, and used sewing machines, though not a single machine had yet been made in the United States under his patent. He had, there fore, to face the task of vindicating his rights. It was not till the end of 1850 that the manufacture of his machine ac tually began, and it was 1854 before a decision in his favor against I. M. Singer was obtained.
The modifications, improvements, and additions made to the sewing machine since its introduction are innumerable. It has now been adapted to produce al most all kinds of stitching which can be done by the hand; and every variety of work required on garments. The leading classes of machines are: (1) Single thread machines, (2) machines with two or more threads, and (3) overhead or glove-stitch machines.
Single-thread Machines.—The stitch made by the ordinary form of single thread machine is precisely what is known as the crochet stitch, and when the thread is broken at any point the whole work readily undoes. Ordinary single-thread machines, unless for limited applications, such as glove embroidery, are passing out of general use. It is different, however, from the Wilcox & Gibbs single-thread machine, in which a revolving double hook or looper is employed which gives each loop a twist and produces thereby the twisted chain stitch, combining a solid fastening with great elasticity and smoothness.