How Howe changed the sewing industry

Do you have a sewing machine at home? The birth of these machines not only revolutionised the sewing industry, but also ensured the beginning of the first proper sewing machine industry. Credit for these should go to American Elias Howe, best known for the creation of the modern lockstitch sewing machine.

Born on July 29, 1819, in Massachusetts, Howe spent most of his childhood and early adult years here. At the age of 16, he apprenticed in a textile factory in Lowell, but lost that job in the Panic of 1837, a financial crisis in the U.S.

Elias Howe

He became a mechanic and a year later worked for the shop of Ari Davis, a Boston precision machinist who specialised in the manufacture and repair of chronometers and other instruments. It was during his time with Davis, who had suggested that anyone who invented a practical sewing machine would end up rich, that Howe began working towards the possibility of inventing a mechanical sewing machine.

Not the first

Howe wasn’t the first one who conceived the idea of a sewing machine. There were a number of others before him, including Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier and American Walter Hunt. While Thimonnier did patent a device that mechanised the hand sewing motions to create a simple chain stitch, Hunt never patented his back-stitching sewing machine as he believed that it could lead to massive unemployment (Hunt was a prolific inventor, creating the safety pin and a knife sharpener, among other things).

It took Howe eight years to come up with his machine, which he demonstrated to the public. Capable of producing 250 stitches per minute, Howe’s lockstitch mechanism was capable of out-sewing five hand sewers with a reputation for speed right away. Howe received the patent for his invention on September 10, 1846.

Three main features

Despite the fact that Howe’s machine contained the three most important features still found in modern sewing machines: a needle with an eye at the point; a shuttle that operated beneath the cloth to facilitate the lock stitch; and an automatic feed, he couldn’t get people interested in his machine.

The eight years of toil to create his machine were followed by nine years of financial struggle. Howe might have been a good inventor, but he was bad as a businessman. He went over to England in 1847 and was employed by William Thomas, a manufacturer of umbrellas, corsets, and leather goods. Even though Thomas saw the possibilities of Howe’s machine, Howe wasn’t able to adapt it to Thomas’ needs.

After two fruitless years in England, Howe returned to the U.S. nearly penniless and got back to working as a journeyman machinist. He did, however, notice that the sewing machine had now caught the imagination of the public, and also that different machines used all or part of the invention that he had patented.

Singer’s role

The wide recognition that the sewing machine had now received was thanks largely to American inventor Isaac Singer, who had improved its design. Singer invented the up-and-down motion mechanism instead of sideways movement, and also included power from a foot treadle instead of a hand crank. Along with Singer, American inventor Allen Wilson also made improvements in the 1850s, developing a rotary hook shuttle.

Following failed attempts seeking compensation from manufacturers he saw as patent infringers, Howe took them to court. He won the first of many suits in 1854 and was able to defend his right to a share of profit of his invention.

The four major sewing machine manufacturers of the time then agreed to pool in their patents to arrive at a sewing machine combination, variations of which still exist to this day. As for Howe, it is estimated that he earned close to two million dollars from his invention from 1854 until his death in 1867. His machine transformed the nature of work in the sewing industry and brought in women into the workforce, most of whom no longer worked just with their hands.