The Invention of the Sewing Machine Part 14

1-200 1856 201-450 1857 451-700 1858 701-950 1859 951-1500 1860 1501-3000 1861 3001-5000 1862 5001-7000 1863 7001-9000 1864 9001-11000 1865 11001-13000 1866 13001-15490 1867 15491-17490 1868 17491-18830 1869 18831-21250 1870 21251-28890 1871 28891-40790 1872 40791-48240 1873 48241-53530 1874 53531-59635 1875 59636-65385 1876

No estimates are available for the years 1877 to 1890. (Smithsonian photo 48216-A.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 83.--FLORENCE SEWING MACHINE. The Florence machine was based on the patents of Leander W. Langdon, whose first patent was obtained in 1855. Langdon sewing machines were manufactured by the inventor for a few years. It was his patent of March 20, 1860, that was the immediate forerunner of the Florence machine, whose name was derived from the city of manufacture, Florence, Ma.s.sachusetts. The Howe royalty records of 1860 listed the Florence Sewing Machine Co. as one that took out a license that year. Langdon's patent of July 14, 1863, was incorporated into the machines manufactured after that date; however, the date is always incorrectly stamped "July 18, 1863." In 1865, the machine won a silver medal at the Tenth Exhibition of the Ma.s.sachusetts Charitable Mechanics a.s.sociation.

Over 100,000 Florence machines were manufactured by 1870. About 1880 the company changed the name of the machine to Crown. Improvements led to the name New Crown by 1885. About this time the right to use the name Florence for a sewing machine was purchased by a midwestern firm for an entirely different machine. In 1885 the Florence company began to manufacture lamp stoves and heating stoves and shortly thereafter they discontinued the manufacture of sewing machines.

Using the serial numbers, Florence machines can be dated approximately as follows:

_Serial Number_ _Year_

1-500 1860 501-2000 1861 2001-8000 1862 8001-20000 1863 20001-35000 1864 35001-50000 1865 50001-60000 1866 60001-70534 1867 70535-82534 1868 82535-96195 1869 96196-113855 1870 113856-129802 1871 129803-145592 1872 145593-154555 1873 154556-160072 1874 160073-164964 1875 164965-167942 1876

No record of the number of machines produced each year between 1877 and 1885 is available.

The machine shown here, serial number 49131, was manufactured in 1865.

It is stamped with the following patent dates: "Oct. 30, 1855, Mar. 20, 1860, Jan. 22, 1861, and July 18, 1863" and the Wilson patent date "Nov.

12, 1850." The machines from 1860-1863 are marked with the early Langdon patents, excluding the 1863 one, and they have the additional patent dates of Howe and others: "Sept. 10, 1846, Nov. 12, 1850, Aug. 12, 1851, May 30, 1854, Dec. 19, 1854, Nov. 4, 1856." (Smithsonian photo 45572-A.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 84.--GLOBE SEWING MACHINE. J. G. Folsom received two design patents in 1864, one on March 1 for a spool holder and one on May 17 for the basic style of the machine. Also in the same year, he was awarded a mechanical patent for an adjustment in the lower looper that would accommodate a change in needle size. Using these patents, he manufactured a single-thread, chainst.i.tch machine, the Globe. Folsom also exhibited his machines at the Tenth Exhibition of the Ma.s.sachusetts Charitable Mechanics a.s.sociation in 1865. The Globe attracted particular attention and was awarded a silver medal.]

In 1866 Folsom devised a new treadle attachment for hand-operated machines; the invention was featured in _Scientific American_, volume 14, number 17, with a Globe machine. Folsom again exhibited at the Ma.s.sachusetts Mechanics exhibition in 1869. In addition to an improved single-thread Globe, he also showed a double-thread, elastic-st.i.tch (double chainst.i.tch) machine for which he received a silver medal.

Folsom machines were manufactured until 1871; 280 machines were manufactured in that year.

The Globe sewing machine ill.u.s.trated is stamped "J. G. Folsom, Maker, Winchendon, Ma.s.s. Patented April 28, 1863 [Ketchum's patent], Mar. 1, 1864. May 17, 1864." The machine was manufactured before November 1864 or it would include the patent for the lower loop adjustment.

(Smithsonian photo 48216-H.)

NOTE: At least five sewing machines, those in figures 84 through 89, are similar enough in appearance to cause some confusion, because their basic design stems from a short pillar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 85.--GLOBE SEWING MACHINE with treadle attachment as ill.u.s.trated in _Scientific American_, April 21, 1866. (Smithsonian photo 48221-A.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 86.--EMPIRE SEWING MACHINE, late 1860s. Although an Empire Sewing Machine Co. existed in New York in the 1860s (the predecessor of the Remington-Empire Co.), it is not known whether this machine was manufactured by that same company, which was primarily concerned with producing shuttle machines. This chainst.i.tch machine is marked "Empire Co., Patented April 23, 1863," the date referring again to Ketchum's patent. It is very similar to Folsom's Globe, except that it has claw feet rather than a closed base; the painted designs on the base of both are almost identical to those on the Monitor. Its spool holder, mounted in reverse, is a crude imitation of the Folsom patent.

The Empire machines were probably manufactured about the same time as the Wilson machine. (_Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 87.--At.w.a.tER SEWING MACHINE, 1858. At.w.a.ter machines, based on the patent of B. At.w.a.ter, issued May 5, 1857, were manufactured from 1857 to about 1860. The machine ill.u.s.trated, which is designed to be operated by a hand-turned wheel, has an upper forked dog feed, and its horizontally supported spool is directly over the st.i.tching area. Like the others, it has a striated pillar and claw feet.

The manufacturer is unknown. (Smithsonian photo P63200.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 88.--MONITOR SEWING MACHINE, 1860-1866. The Monitor machines of this style were not marked by their manufacturers, Shaw & Clark of Biddeford, Maine. Later the company was forced by the "Combination" to pay a royalty, so it changed the style and began marking its machines with the company name and patent dates (see fig.

119 for copy of seal). The Monitor, which employed the conventional vertical spindle to hold the spool of thread, had a top feed in the form of a walking presser. Its striated pillar was similar to that of the At.w.a.ter machine, and both featured the same claw feet and urn-like top.

Unlike the At.w.a.ter, however, the Monitor had a double drive from the hand-turned wheel, which was grooved for operation with belt and treadle. (Smithsonian photo 33458.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 89.--WILSON SEWING MACHINE, late 1860s to early 1870s. In addition to the Buckeye (see fig. 77), W. G. Wilson manufactured several other styles of sewing machines. This one, a combination of the varying styles of the earlier pillar machine has even duplicated the general style of the spool holder patented by Folsom. The pillar is not striated, but the machine does repeat the claw feet of the At.w.a.ter and Monitor machines. Wilson machines are usually marked "Wilson Sewing Mach. Manuf'g Co. Cleveland, Ohio, Ketchum's Patent April 28, 1863." The latter name and/or patent date are found on many of the machines of this general construction. The patent is that issued to Stephen C. Ketchum for his method of converting rotary motion into reciprocal motion. (_Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan._)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 90.--GRANT BROTHERS SEWING MACHINE, 1867. This machine was one of several styles that utilized Raymond's 1861 patented chainst.i.tch method. This machine, however, used an under feed rather than a top feed.

Neither a name nor a date appears on the machine. In the June 25, 1907, issue of the _Sewing Machine Times_ it was called the Common Sense machine, but detailed research has turned up no evidence to substantiate this name. However, a dated brochure advertising the Grant Brothers machine and showing a model identical to that ill.u.s.trated in the _Sewing Machine Times_ has been found. The brochure states that the machine made an elastic lockst.i.tch; this was not a true lockst.i.tch, however, but was in fact a simple chainst.i.tch.

Grant Brothers sold their machine, which had silver-plated mountings, for $18; the price included hemmer, Barnum's self-sewer, oilcan, screwdriver, clamp, gauge, and four silver needles. An additional charge of $12 was made for a table and treadle. Compared to other chainst.i.tch machines the price was high, and the company was short-lived.

(Smithsonian photo 60794-E.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 91.--GREENMAN AND TRUE SEWING MACHINE. This lockst.i.tch machine based on S. H. Roper's patent of 1857 was manufactured at Norwich, Connecticut, from 1859 to 1861 by Cyrus B.

True, the inventor, and Jared F. Greenman, True's financial partner.

Licensed by the "Combination" and carrying the Howe patent date, the machine had obvious merit: it was strong, well made--a good family machine. Exhibited at the Ninth Exhibition of the Ma.s.sachusetts Charitable Mechanics a.s.sociation in September 1860, it received a bronze medal. (At this time the company was listed as Morse and True--the inventor had obviously taken on a second financial backer.) Unfortunately, the best market for the machine lay in the South, and the outbreak of the Civil War made collections impossible. This greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded business and finally drove the firm into bankruptcy. In all, it is doubtful that more than one thousand machines were produced in the three years of manufacture.

The machine ill.u.s.trated is marked "Greenman and True" and bears the serial number 402; it was probably manufactured early in 1860.

(Smithsonian photo 48216-N.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 92.--GROVER AND BAKER SEWING MACHINE. The Grover and Baker machine was one of the more popular machines from the 1850s until the early 1870s. The company produced iron-frame machines, fine cabinet models, and portables (figs. 35 and 36). Their machines may be dated by serial number approximately as follows:

_Serial Number_ _Year_

1-500 1851 501-1000 1852 1001-1658 1853 1659-3893 1854 3894-5038 1855 5039-7000 1856 7001-10681 1857 10682-15752 1858 15753-26033 1859 26034-44869 1860 44870-63705 1861 63706-82641 1862 82642-101477 1863 101478-120313 1864 120314-139148 1865 139149-157886 1866 157887-190886 1867 190887-225886 1868 225887-261004 1869 261005-338407 1870 338408-389246 1871 389247-441257 1872 441258-477437 1873 477438-497438 1874 497439-512439 1875

(Smithsonian photo 45513-B, an engraving of a Grover and Baker sewing machine from an advertising brochure of about 1870.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 93.--HANc.o.c.k SEWING MACHINE, 1867. One of the many inventors who turned his talents to inventing and producing a mechanically simple and cheaper machine was Henry J. Hanc.o.c.k. His 1867 machine is only about six inches wide; it uses a tambour-type needle, pulling a loop of thread from below the st.i.tching surface. (Smithsonian photo P63197.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 94.--HANc.o.c.k SEWING MACHINE, 1868. Hanc.o.c.k in 1868 received both a design patent and a mechanical patent now using the eye-pointed needle and a hook to form the chainst.i.tch. The design was an open framework circle with a mirror mounted in front of the table clamp.

The purpose of the designated "looking gla.s.s" was decorative only. The Hanc.o.c.k machines were only manufactured for a few years. They measure 10-1/2 inches in width, slightly larger than the earlier machine.

(Smithsonian photo 48328-M.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 95.--[A.C.] HERRON'S PATENT SEWING MACHINE, 1858.

The manufacturer of this machine is not known, but the machine was based on the patent of Abial C. Herron issued August 4, 1857. All the machines carry a small heart-shaped plate just above the needle descent bearing the patentee's name and the patent date. The patent covered an improvement in the method of making the chainst.i.tch. The machines were provided with a hand crank, but were also meant to be operated by a belt and treadle. No records of the extent of manufacture of this machine have been found. This machine head measures 14 inches in width, about standard size. (Smithsonian photo 48329-J.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 96.--A. B. HOWE SEWING MACHINE of about 1860.

(Smithsonian photo 45525-C.)]

Figures 96, 97, and 98.--THE HOWE MACHINES. It is difficult for many to believe that the stamped legend "Elias Howe patent, Sept. 10, 1846" does not certify that a machine is an original Howe. Although Elias Howe was granted a patent for the lockst.i.tch machine in 1846, he did not establish a sewing-machine factory for about twenty years. Early in the 1850s and later through the "Combination," however, he licensed others to make machines using his patent. These machines bore that patent date for which a royalty was being paid.

Among his early licensees was his elder brother Amasa who organized the Howe Sewing Machine Co. in 1854. The Amasa Howe machines were very good ones, and in 1862 Amasa won the prize medal at the London International Exhibition. This immensely increased the popularity of the machine and Elias offered to join Amasa by building a large factory at Bridgeport, Connecticut, to fill the increasing demand for more machines. The machines produced at Bridgeport, however, although imitating the Amasa Howe machines, proved inferior in quality. Amasa found that, rather than helping his business reputation, his brother's efforts were hurting him, and he severed business relations with Elias.

Because of their brief a.s.sociation, the 1862 prize medal awarded to A.

B. Howe was sometimes credited to Elias. The latter did receive awards for his patent, but never for his manufactured machines. When the two brothers dissolved their joint venture, Elias attempted to call his new company the Howe Sewing Machine Co., but Amasa's claim that this name had been his exclusive property for many years was upheld by the courts.

Elias then omitted the word "Sewing" and called his company simply the Howe Machine Co.

After Elias died in 1867, the company was run by his sons-in-law, the Stockwell brothers. To distinguish their machines from those of A. B.

Howe, they marked each machine with a bra.s.s medallion picturing the head and flowing locks of Elias Howe. They also continued to advertise their machine as the "original" Howe. In about 1873, B. P. Howe, Amasa's son, sold the Howe Sewing Machine Co. to the Stockwell brothers, who continued to manufacture Howe machines until 1886.

The machines of the A. B. Howe Sewing Machine Co. may be dated by serial number approximately as follows:

_Serial Number_ _Year_

1-60 1854 61-113 1855 114-166 1856 167-299 1857 300-478 1858 479-1399 1859