Facts on Sewing Machines

Table model sewing machine

A variety of different inventors worked on devising the earliest sewing machines or on innovative designs for the needles for use in early sewing machines. Early machines did not attain any popularity for a variety of reasons, including limited functionality, difficulty of use, size and appearance of the machines; but an 1850 machine eventually popularized the idea of sewing using a machine.

Early Attempts

Charles Weisenthal took out a patent for a needle in London in 1755. Nearly 35 years later, English cabinetmaker Thomas Saint invented a machine generally regarded as the first actual sewing machine. Other innovators included Josef Madersperger, Thomas Stone, James Henderson, and John Duncan---although Duncan's machine was a machine for embroidery versus general sewing.

Hand Sewing Motion

Early sewing machines tried to mimic the action of hand sewing, an approach which had limited effectiveness in terms of the results of machine sewing. The difficulties with the earliest sewing machines included size, weight and difficulty in setting up the machine for sewing projects. The first sewing machine that did not try to replicate hand sewing action came about in 1833 in America, designed by Quaker inventor Walter Hunt.

Appearances

Another drawback of the earliest sewing machines came in the form of appearances. Many of these machines looked like a "medieval instrument of torture" as described at the Sewalot website. This off-putting appearance may have helped to delay the advent of popularity of the sewing machine.

Thimonnier

In 1830, Barthelemy Thimonnier received a patent from the French government for a sewing machine with a barbed needle and built almost completely from wood. Originally designed for embroidery, Thimonnier recognized the potential for use as a sewing machine and put these machines into use in sewing uniforms for use by the French army. Thimonnier's machines qualify as the first practical sewing machines, the first sewing machines sold commercially and the first used as the basis of a garment factory as described at the International Sewing Machince Collectors' Society (ISMACS) website.

Opposition

The arrival of the practical sewing machine invented by Thimonnier met with serious and even violent resistance at the time. Craftsmen tailors viewed these machines as something that would put them out of work, and the tailors stormed Thimonnier's facilities on more than one occasion, eventually forcing Thimonnier to flee to England with only one machine.

Howe and Singer

The sewing machine came into mainstream use through the efforts of two other inventors. Elias Howe of Massachusetts completed a prototype of a sewing machine in 1844 but failed to interest the public in the idea of mechanized sewing. During an interval Howe spent in London, Isaac Singer manufactured and marketed sewing machines using aggressive sales tactics that helped popularize the desirability of sewing using sewing machines. Singer and others, however, had achieved their success in the making and marketing of sewing machines only through violations of Howe's patents: a trespass Howe filed various suits to address. However, as described at the Sewalot site, in actuality Singer's 1850 machine did qualify as the best machine of that time and included features still used in sewing machines today such as treadle action.

References

• Sewalot: A Brief History of the Sewing Machine Without the Boring Bits, Alex I. Askaroff
• ISMACS: A Brief History of the Sewing Machine, Graham Forsdyke