Have you ever wondered who invented such a ubiquitous and transformational technology as the sewing machine? Though many handy household inventions abruptly entered the mainstream in the late 19th century due to the American Industrial Revolution, the origins of the sewing machine stretch back decades prior, with the pioneering work of many inventors worldwide. Their incremental innovations collectively brought about the modern sewing machine we know today. The history of the invention of the sewing machine is explored in depth in this article.
The quest to mechanize sewing began in with the English inventor Thomas Saint. Saint designed a machine with an awl to pierce holes in leather and a needle to pass the thread through the holes, though his design never progressed to a functional model. In , Thomas Stone and James Henderson also patented a machine for &#;quilting, stitching, and sewing&#; in England. Numerous inventors in the early s attempted to produce a practical sewing machine, including John Knowles with a machine for sewing hats in and Barthélemy Thimonnier, who patented a functional machine in France in
Thimonnier established the first sewing machine factory with
Thomas Saint
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Thomas Sainttook out British Patent No. on a machine for "quilting, stitching, and sewing, and for making shoes, and other articles. . . ." in
Thomas was a cabinet maker born in Greenhill Rents parish of St. Sepulchre London, England.
Working again
Many years later in a man named William Newton Wilsonfound the patent of Thomas’s machine. The original drawings were so complete he was able to rebuild it, and with slight amendments to the looper, he rebuilt Saints sewing machine, proving it did work. His replica is now exhibited in the Science Museum.
Modern Features
Saint’sdevice had many features of today's sewing machines. It had an overhead arm to take the stitching awl and a tensioning system. The awl pierced the material and a forked rod carried the thread through the hole, where it would be hooked underneath and moved to the next stitching place. The cycle would then be repeated, so locking the stitch.
Links
History of the Sewing Machine
The Evolution of the Sewing Machine: A Historical Timeline
The first patent for the sewing machine was worded &#;An entire new method of making and completing shoes, boots, splatterdashes, clogs, and other articles, by means of tools and machines also invented by me for that purpose, and of certain compositions of the nature of Japan or varnish, which will be very advantageous in many useful appliances.&#;
This somewhat sums up why the sewing machine was invented. The invention of the sewing machine, allowed for quicker and more precise stitches than hand sewing. Sewing machines made it possible to sew faster and more efficiently than ever before. This revolutionized the garment industry.
Pre-History of sewing machines
The oldest known needle dates some years. But it took a long long time for man to invent a machine to replace hand sewing. Till then stitch upon stitch was labouriously hand worked by men and women. It took days to complete one garment this way.
Before the invention of sewing machines, seamstresses spend hours sewing up gowns and accessories. Each button and buttonhole and every single eyelet and everything was hand sewn.
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In , the English inventor Thomas Saint invented the first sewing machine design, but he did not successfully advertise or market his invention. His machine was meant to be used on leather and canvas material. It is likely that Saint had a working model but there is no evidence of one; he was a skilled cabinet maker and his device included many practically functional features: an overhanging arm, a feed mechanism (adequate for short lengths of leather), a vertical needle bar, and a looper.
His sewing machine used the chain stitch method, in which the machine uses a single thread to make simple stitches in the fabric. A stitching awl would pierce the material and a forked point rod would carry the thread through the hole where it would be hooked underneath and moved to the next stitching place, where the cycle would be repeated, locking the stitch. Saint's machine was designed to aid the manufacture of various leather goods, including saddles and bridles, but it was also capable of working with canvas, and was used for sewing ship sails. Although his machine was very advanced for the era, the concept would need steady improvement over the coming decades before it could bec
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