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Mary
Bellis
Elias Howe was the inventor of the
first American-patented sewing machine. Elias Howe was born in Spencer,
Massachusetts on July 9, 1819. After he lost his factory job in the Panic
of 1837, Howe moved from Spencer to Boston, where he found work in a machinist's
shop. It was here that Elias Howe began tinkering with the idea of inventing
a mechanical sewing machine.
Eight years later, Elias Howe demonstrated
his machine to the public. At 250 stitches a minute, his lockstitch mechanism
outstitched the output of five hand sewers with a reputation for speed.
Elias Howe patented his lockstitch sewing machine on September 10, 1846
in New Hartford, Connecticut.
For the next nine years Elias Howe
struggled, first to enlist interest in his machine, then to protect his
patent from imitators. His lockstitch mechanism was adopted by others who
were developing innovations of their own.
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Photo: Occupational Portrait of a Woman Working at a Sewing Machine, circa
1853.
During this period, Isaac Singer
invented the up-and-down motion mechanism, and Allen Wilson developed a
rotary hook shuttle. Howe fought a legal
battle with these inventors to see that his rights in the invention
were recognized, winning one of his suits in 1856. The three inventors
pooled their patent rights in the Sewing Machine Combination, under which
patent the sewing machine was successfully marketed for many years.
 The first mechanical sewing machines
were used in garment factory production lines. It was not until 1889 that
a sewing machine for use in the home was designed and marketed. By 1905,
the electrically-powered sewing machine was in wide use.
After successfully defending his
right to a share in the profits of his invention, Howe saw his annual income
jump from three hundred to more than two hundred thousand dollars a year.
Between 1854 and 1867, Howe earned close to two million dollars from his
invention. During the Civil War, he donated a portion of his wealth to
equip an infantry regiment for the Union Army and served in the regiment
as a private.
Right: Elias Howe - patent
drawing side view.
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Elias Howe
- patent drawing front view.
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