Evolution of Sewing Machine The Early Days

The sewing machine has had a long journey since the days of its beginning. What began as a humble machine that required no electricity has evolved into todays high tech, computerized & automatic sewing toys. The home sewing machine of today is said to be almost 20000 years old. In the earlier days, it is believed, the needles were made of animal bones or horns & thread was made of animal sinew.

Initial Attempts
The modern sewing machine saw its light of the day during the years of the first Industrial Revolution. It is generally believed to have been invented by a British named Thomas Saint in the year 1791. He not just invented the machine but also patented the same as well. That prototype of his was meant to work on leather & canvass. But a working model of the same was probably never built.In the year 1810, German, Balthasar Krems built an automatic prototype. It was meant for sewing caps. Krems did not patent his invention and it never worked upto expectation.After Krems Austrian tailor Josef Madersperger presented his model in 1814, the work on which he started as far back as 1807. But this attempt was also considered unsuccessful.The first American machine was invented by John Adams Dodge & John Knowels Who also ended up failing in their attempts.

The Real Beginning

The first functional machine was built by a French called Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830. He also patented his machine which sewed straight seams using chain stitch. He also built a factory to build these machines. In 1833 the lockstitch sewing machine was invented by William Hunt. His machine used a needle which had the eye & the point both towards the end of it. The needle was curved & it moved through the fabric horizontally. The problem was that the machine needed to be stopped frequently since the feed mechanism didnt work properly. Hunt did not patent his design fearing it would cause unemployment. The first machine was patented in the US by John Greenough in the year 1842.In 1846 Ellias Howe built his machine which was somewhat similar to hunts. The major difference was to have a needle where the point & the eye were apart from each other. He struggled a lot to enlist his machine but only get into a legal tangle with Issac Singer.Singers machine was commercially successful & in his machine the needle moved up & down rather than side to side. But Singers machine used the same lockstitch as Howes. Howe sued Singer for patent infringement & won the battle in 1854. Singer ended up paying a large amount of

patent money to Howe. After successfully winning the legal battle to a share in the profits of his invention, Elias Howe saw his annual income jump manifold to almost $300,000 a year. Between 1854 and 1867, Howe earned close to two million dollars from his invention. Throughout the 1850s many companies were formed & they fought bitter legal battles with one another.The first modern day computer controlled sewing machine was built by Orisol in 1987 for making shoes. This was an industrial sewing machine.

History of Sewing Machine

The first possible patent connected to mechanical sewing was a 1755 British patent issued to German, Charles Weisenthal. Weisenthal was issued a patent for a needle that was designed for a machine, however, the patent did not describe the rest of the machine if one existed.

Several Inventors Attempt to Improve Sewing

The English inventor and cabinet maker, Thomas Saint was issued the first patent for a complete machine for sewing in 1790. It is not known if Saint actually built a working prototype of his invention. The patent describes an awl that punched a hole in leather and passed a needle through the hole. A later reproduction of Saint's invention based on his patent drawings did not work. In 1810, German, Balthasar Krems invented an automatic machine for sewing caps. Krems did not patent his invention and it never functioned well. Austrian tailor, Josef Madersperger made several attempts at inventing a machine for sewing and was issued a patent in 1814. All of his attempts were considered unsuccessful. In 1804, a French patent was granted to Thomas Stone and James Henderson for "a machine that emulated hand sewing." That same year a patent was granted to Scott John Duncan for an "embroidery machine with multiple needles." Both inventions failed and were soon forgotten by the public. In 1818, the first American sewing machine was invented by John Adams Doge and John Knowles. Their machine failed to sew any useful amount of fabric before malfunctioning.

Barthelemy Thimonnier - First Functional Machine & a Riot

The first functional sewing machine was invented by the French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830. Thimonnier's machine used only one thread and a hooked needle that made the same chain stitch used with embroidery. The inventor was almost killed by an enraged group of French tailors who burnt down his garment factory because they feared unemployment as a result of his new invention. In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first (somewhat) successful sewing machine. He later lost interest in patenting because he believed his invention would cause unemployment. (Hunt's machine could only sew straight steams.) Hunt never patented and in 1846, the first American patent was issued to Elias Howe for "a process that used thread from two different sources."

Elias Howe's machine had a needle with an eye at the point. The needle was pushed through the cloth and created a loop on the other side; a shuttle on a track then slipped the second thread through the loop, creating what is called the lockstitch. However, Elias Howe later encountered problems defending his patent and marketing his invention.
Sewing Machine

A sewing machine is a machine used to stitch fabric and other materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the invention of the first working sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790,[1] the sewing machine has vastly improved the efficiency and productivity of fabric, clothing and needle industries.Needle plate, foot and feed dogs of a sewing machine

Singer sewing machine

A Merrow 70-Class machine (2007) Home sewing machines are designed for one person to sew individual items while using a single stitch type. Modern sewing machines are designed in such a way that the fabric easily glides in and out of the machine without the hassle of needles and thimbles and other such tools used in hand sewing, automating the process of stitching and saving time.Industrial sewing machines, by contrast, are larger, faster, more complex, and more varied in their size, cost, appearance, and task.The fabric shifting mechanism may be a workguide or may be pattern-controlled (e.g., jacquard type). Some machines can create embroidery-type stitches. Some have a work holder frame. Some have a workfeeder that can move along a curved path, while others have a workfeeder with a work clamp. Needle guards, safety devices to prevent accidental needle-stick injuries, are often found on modern sewing machines.