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The Invention of the Sewing Machine Part 20

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[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 136.--ALLEN BENJAMIN WILSON, 1824-1888. From a drawing owned by the Singer Mfg. Co. Formerly, the drawing was owned by the Wheeler & Wilson Mfg. Co. (Smithsonian photo 32066.)]

So valuable has been this latter four-motion feed that few or no cloth-sewing machines are now made without it. The joint ownership of this feature of the Wilson patents has served to bind the combination of sewing-machine builders together, and enabled them to defy compet.i.tion by force of the monopoly. It is this feature which the combination wishes to further monopolize for seven years by act of Congress. The inventor has probably realized millions for his invention. Singer admits that his patents, which are much less important, paid him two millions prior to 1870, since which time he has not been compelled to render an account. The Wilson patents with their extended terms were worth a much larger sum. They have been public property, so far as the feed is concerned, since June 15, 1873, and will remain so if too great a pressure is not brought to bear on Congress for their extension. A monopoly of this feed motion for seven years more would be worth from ten to thirty millions to the owner--and would cost the people four times as much.

Wilson had not made the millions for he only received a small percentage of the renewals' earnings plus his salary from the patents' owner, the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company.

The Congressional Committee on Patents made an adverse report in 1874 and again in 1875 and 1876, when applications for an extension were continued

Wilson died on April 29, 1888.

ISAAC MERRITT SINGER

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 137.--- ISAAC MERRITT SINGER, 1811-1875. From a charcoal drawing owned by the Singer Mfg. Co. (Smithsonian photo 32066-B)]

Isaac Singer, whose name is known around the world as a manufacturer of sewing machines, was the eighth child of poor German immigrants. Isaac was born on October 27, 1811, in Pittstown, New York, but most of his early life was spent in Oswego. He worked as a mechanic and cabinetmaker, but acquired an interest in the theater. Under the name of Isaac Merritt, he went to Rochester and became an actor. In 1839, during an absence from the theater, he completed his first invention, a mechanical excavator, which he sold for $2000. With the money Singer organized a theatrical troupe of his own, which he called "The Merritt Players." When the group failed in Fredericksburg, Ohio, Singer was stranded for lack of funds.

Forced to find some type of employment, Singer took a job in a Fredericksburg plant that manufactured wooden printers' type. He quickly recognized the need for an improved type-carving machine. After inventing and patenting one, he found no financial support in Fredericksburg and decided to take the machine to New York City. Here, the firm of A. B. Taylor and Co. agreed to furnish the money and give Singer room in its Hague Street factory to build machines. A boiler explosion destroyed the first machine, and Taylor refused to advance more money.

While Singer was with Taylor, George B. Zieber, a bookseller who had seen the type-carving machine, considered its value to publishers.

Zieber offered to help Singer and raised $1700 to build another model.

In June 1850 the machine was completed. Singer and Zieber took the machine to Boston where they rented display s.p.a.ce in the steam-powered workshop of Orson C. Phelps at 19 Harvard Place. Only a few publishers came to look at the machine, and none wanted to buy it.

Singer, contemplating his future, became interested in Phelps' work, manufacturing sewing machines for J. A. Lerow and S. C. Blodgett. Phelps welcomed Singer's interest as the design of the mechanism was faulty and purchasers kept returning the machines for repairs. Singer examined the sewing machine with the eyes of a practical machinist. He criticized the action of the shuttle, which pa.s.sed around a circle, and the needle bar, which pushed a curved needle horizontally. Singer suggested that the shuttle move to and fro in a straight path and that a straight needle be used vertically. Phelps encouraged Singer to abandon the type-carving machine and turn his energies toward the improvement of the sewing machine. Convinced that he could make his ideas work, Singer sketched a rough draft of his proposed machine, and with the support of Zieber and Phelps the work began.

Singer continued to be active in the sewing-machine business until 1863.

He made his home in Paris for a short time and then moved to England.

While living at Torquay he conceived the idea of a fabulous Greco-Roman mansion, which he planned to have built at Paignton. Singer called it "The Wigwam." Unfortunately, after all his plans, he did not live to see its completion. Singer died on July 23, 1875, of heart disease at the age of sixty-three.

FOOTNOTES:

[93] _The Proceedings and Debates of the 43rd Congress_, First Session, 1874 Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 3, pet.i.tion read to the House by Mr. Creamer on April 7, 1874. In part 4 of the same, Mr. Buckingham read a similar pet.i.tion to the Senate on May 19, 1874. Both were referred to the Committee on Patents; an extension was not granted.

_Bibliography_

ADAMS, CHARLES K. Sewing machines. In vol. 7 of _Johnson's universal cyclopaedia_, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1895.

ALEXANDER, EDWIN P. Sewing, plaiting, and felting machines. Pp.

341-353 in _The Practical Mechanic's Journal's record of the great exhibition, 1862_. 1862.

----. On the sewing machine: Its history and progress. _Journal of the Royal Society of Arts_ (April 10, 1863), vol. 2, no. 542, p.

358.

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. _The life and works of George H.

Corliss._ (Privately printed for Mary Corliss by the Society.) 1930.

Biography of Isaac M. Singer. _The Atlas_, New York, N.Y., March 20, 1853.

BISHOP, J. LEANDER. In vol. 2 of _A history of American manufactures from 1608 to 1860_, by Bishop; Philadelphia: Edward Young and Company, 1866.

BOLTON, JAMES. Sewing machines, special report on special subjects.

In vol. 2 of _Report of the Committee on Awards_; Chicago: World's Columbian Exposition, 1893.

BROCKETT, LINUS P. Sewing machines. In vol. 4 of _Johnson's universal cyclopaedia_; New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1874.

BURR, J. B. _The great industries of the United States._ Hartford: J. B. Burr and Hyde, n.d.

COOK, ROSAMOND C. _Sewing machines._ Peoria, Illinois: Manual Arts Press, 1922.

DEPEW, C. M. 100 years of American commerce. In vol. 2, _American sewing machines_ by F. G. Bourne. New York: D. O. Haines, 1895.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT COURT. Case of Hunt vs. Howe. In _Federal Cases_, case 6891, book 12, 1855.

DOOLITTLE, WILLIAM H. _Inventions._ Vol. in Library of modern progress. Philadelphia: Modern Progress Publishing Company, 1905.

DURGIN, CHARLES A. _Digest of patents on sewing machines, Feb. 21, 1842-July 1, 1859._ New York: Livesey Brothers, 1859.

FAIRFIELD, GEORGE A. Report on sewing machines. In vol. 3 of _Report of the commissioners of the United States to the international exhibition held at Vienna, 1873._ 1874.

FISKE, BRADLEY A. _Invention, the master-key to progress._ New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1921.

GIFFORD, GEORGE W. [Counsel for Elias Howe, Jr.] _Argument of Gifford in favor of Howe's application for extension of patent._ Washington: U.S. Patent Office, 1860.

GRANGER, JEAN. Thimonnier et la machine a coudre. In vol. 2 of _Les publications techniques._ Paris, 1943. [Source for biographical sketch on Barthelemy Thimonnier.]

GREGORY, GEORGE W. _Machines, etc., used in sewing and making clothing._ Vol. 7 of _Reports and Awards_. Philadelphia International Exhibition, 1876. U.S. Centennial Commission, Washington, D.C., 1880.

HERSBERG, RUDOLPH. _The sewing machine, its history, construction and application._ Transl. Upfield Green. London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1864.

HOWE, HENRY. _Adventures and achievements of Americans._ Published by the author, 1860.

HOWE MACHINE COMPANY. _The Howe exhibition catalog of sewing machines._ Published by the company for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, 1876.

HUBERT, PHILIP G., JR. _Men of achievement: inventors._ New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894.

HUNT, CLINTON N. _Walter Hunt, American inventor._ Published by the author, 1935. [Source for biographical sketch on Walter Hunt.]

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Sewing and knitting machines. In _Reports of the Juries_, Cla.s.s VII, Section A. London, 1862.

JOHNSON CLARK AND COMPANY. _Sewing machines for domestic and export trade._ Published by the company, 1883.

KAEMPFFERT, WALDEMAR. A popular history of American invention.

_Making clothes by machine_, by John Walker Harrington, vol 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1924.

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