SEWING MACHINE (from seta, AS. scow ion, Goth. sinjan, OHG. siimer+, to sew; connected with Lat. SUCIT, OC'hursh Slay. shiti, Lith. siu/i, Lett. shut, Skt. sir, to sew). It is probable that the first sewing machine was made by an Englishman named Thomas Saint, and was patented July 17, 1790. Though made of wood, it resembled the later successful machines in that it had an overhanging arm, vertically recipro cating needle, continuous thread, and automatic feed. This machine had a notch instead of an eye in the needle, for the thread to pass through, and a hole was punched by an awl for the needle to pass through. It prodnced a single-thread chain stitch. In 1S30 Barth4lemy Thimonier pro duced a sewing machine which was patented first in France and some time afterwards in the United States. This machine was so far successful as to he employed to make clothing for the French army, and it thereupon was de stroyed by an ignorant and furious mob. Thi monier's first machine was also of wood, but he afterwards constructed one of metal, driven by a cord and treadle. It had the overhanging arm, flat cloth plate, vertical post, vertical re ciprocating needle, continuous thread, and presser-foot of the modern machine. The needle was hooked and had to be passed backward and forward through the cloth twice to complete a stitch. In 1841 Newton and Archbold patented in England a machine using an eye-pointed needle and producing a chain-stitch.
About the same time that the French machine was being perfected, Walter Hunt is said to have made a sewing machine having the double thread and lock-stitch which was characteristic of the Howe machine. Hunt, however. failed to perfect or patent MS invention for so many years after it was first put upon the market that when at length he applied for a patent it was denied him.
In 1S40 Elias Howe (q.v.) patented a sewing machine containing most of the essential fea tures of the modern machine. The needle was curved and moved back and forth horizontally instead of vertically. The machine, crude as it
was, included the grooved, eye-pointed needle and the automatic feed and produced a lock-stitch by means of a shuttle operating on the opposite side of the cloth from the needle. Howe was for many years engaged in suits for infringement upon his patents. In thee he was successful, and, unlike most of the earlier inventors, he received a large fortune from royalties.
In 1849 John Bachelder patented a machine which was the first to combine the horizontal table and the continuous feed device. The latter consisted of an endless band of leather set on to small steel points. These points projected up through the table and, penetrating the material, carried it to the needle.
A. B. Wilson invented in 1S52 the vibrating double-beak shuttle, and in 1854 the four-motion feed. The latter invention—the serrated metal bar covered with forward pointing saw teeth— is the familiar feed-plate now used on almost all machines. This toothed bar (1) rises through a slot in the table, (2) moves horizontally for ward to advance the cloth, (3) drops below the table, (4) moves horizontally back again to its starting point below the table.
In 1851 Isaac M. Singer patented a sewing machine having a fixed, overhanging arm and a vertical needle. He also introduced the foot treadle, previous American machines having been operated by turning a crank with the hand. The most important invention which he contributed was the presser foot, with a yielding spring.
There are two types of domestic sewing ma chines: those making a lock-stitch and those producing a chain-stitch, or the double and single thread machine. Some double-thread machines produce a chain-stitch. Each type has its ad herents among seamstresses. The lock-stitch re sembles weaving in its formation. while the chain-stitch resembles knitting, and is easily raveled. According to the census for 1900, 90 per cent. of the machines built for household use have the lock-stitch.