97: The Singer Sewing Machine

97

The Singer Sewing Machine

In the corner of my grandmothers dinning room, sat her Singer Sewer. Her house was small, built right before World War II. She didn’t have room for a traditional sewing room like most southerners; so, the corner of the dinning room served the purpose well. I remember her using it nearly every day when she babysat me before I began school or when I stayed with her during the summer. She sowed for extra cash or sowed for her family. My mother wore a dress that my grandmother made on the first day of first grade. She and her friends would pass partners back and forth and create every thing from curtains, to clothes, and everything in between. I have a few table clothes she made. The Singer Sewer completed and made the chore of sewing quicker. But this domestic machine didn’t come with out controversy.

The two men that are credited to have completed the sewing machine are Elias Howe and Isaac Singer. (There is a third player in this drama that will be mentioned later in this article). In 1846, Elias Howe filed for a patent for his invention of the lockstitch, which he placed the eye of the needle at the point that when it pushed into the cloth, it left a loop which then a shuttle passed through the loop creating a stitch from two separate pieces of thread. Then the process is repeated rapidly and continuously.

Isaac Singer

Elias Howe

Isaac Singer, who began production in the early 1850’s of his machine, also used the lockstitch method. His needle moved up and down rather than the side-to-side movement that other machines had. Also another aspect of his invention that set the Singer apart form the rest is, the machine was powered by a foot treadle while, the other machines were powered by a hand crank.

Though Isaac Singer took all these mechanisms to make his machine, what he did not expect was to be sued in 1854 for patent infringement. Howe sued Singer for using his patented lockstitch method and won. But here is the kicker. A man by the name of Walter Hunt, built a machine in 1834 which he called the Lacing machine (it was really a sewing machine) but he had developed the use of using two spools of thread to create a locking stitch like that of Howe had made. If Hunt’s patent had not been misplaced, Hunt would have sued both Singer and Howe.

Howe Sewing Machine

Howe, after winning the patent on the Signer machine’s lockstitch he began to be paid by Singer. Howe who then began to share in the profits of Singer, his annual income went from two hundred dollars a year to nearly 200,000 dollars a year. The Singer is still one of the top selling sewing machines. The Singer Corporation also has produced home versions of embroidery machines and home machines that are automated by computer.

The Singer sewing machine is one of those inventions that that shaped the

1900's Singer 

way people produced stuffs in the home. Humans since the beginning of time has always tried to find a better way of manufacturing stuffs for the home. Cactus needles attached to fibers have been found to be the first needles and threads. Progressing beyond that is needles of metal and then the home machine that can do it almost automatically. The machination of sewing in the home helped make sewing a chore that didn’t take long to mend a hole in shirt, pants, or the most iconic the sock.

Threading a vintage Singer
Singer Sewer commercial (1954)
Singer Treadle in action (he talks to much for my taste but he does show how it works)