The Sewing Machine: Hunt Or Howe
Several years ago, my husband wrote a story for a magazine about his years growing up on the farm. After it was published, several family members and long forgotten friends, responded that his recollections were quite different from theirs. Perhaps it is faulty memory or just rosy recall, but even history books sometimes tell very different stories.
The patent filed by Elias Howe in 1846 certified the first practical sewing machine.
The two thread process used one thread connected to a curved needle and a second thread contained inside a shuttle. The first needle would puncture the fabric and bring the first thread to interlace with the second thread inside the shuttle. The result was a locked stitch inside the fabric.
Elias Howe had done it! His lockstitch machine could put out (250spm) as much as five speedy experienced hand sewers.
It was joked that Elias Howe was not actually the inventor of the sewing machine. Some said it was actually his wife. She got so upset with her husband that one day she made up her mind and in two hours invented the sewing machine. Elias, however, filed the patent taking credit for everything. (Russel Conwell, 1877).
We will never know the truth about exactly how it was done, but difficulties marketing the device and struggles over patent rights drained the Howe family of even greater success.
Others were watching and adapting. Isaac Singer (1811-1875) invented a mechanism that moved up and down. Allen Wilson originated a rotary hook shuttle.
Quickly, Isaac Singer led the pack. He produced the first profitable sewing machine with a needle that moved up and down. Unlike many of his competitors how used hand crank drive devices, Singer introduced a sewing machine powered by a foot driven treadle device.
Prior to Elias Howe filing his patent, someone else had already produced a working model of a lockstitch machine using two threads like Howes invention, but he never filed a patent. His name was Walter Hunt and the year was 1834 ” twelve years earlier than Howe. Hunt had stopped working on his invention due to social pressures among garment workers fearful of losing their jobs to a machine. Still, Elias Howe later sued Hunt for patent infringement.
Seemingly endless legal battles ensued over patent infringements. In spite of winning the court battle (1854), Elias Howe largely lost the marketing battle.
Elias Howe was certainly successful with his invention of the sewing machine. Earning about two million dollars, he became a wealthy man, but the potential of his invention was realized far more by his competitors.
Elias Howe is a name forgotten by most even among avid sewers. His competitor, however, Isaac Singer has become well known even among those who do not sew. Due to Isaac Singers success at marketing and improving the sewing machine, the Singer brand continues to be the best known brand of sewing machines.
Communities were desperate to get their hands on this exciting new invention. Towns would join together to buy one machine for the whole town. Soon the sewing machine became a necessary appliance for every home. By the 1950s every home expected to have a sewing machine and a vacuum cleaner.
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