Singer Sewing Machine

“ From 1850 to 1858 the Singer company produced heavy manufacturing-type sewing machines similar to the patent model shown earlier (fig. 28) . The first machine for family use, Singer’s new “Family” sewing machine (fig. 33) was manufactured from 1858-1861. Their second-style family machine was called the “Traverse Shuttle Machine—Letter A;” it was manufactured from 1859 to 1865, when they introduced their third family machine and called it the “New Family” sewing machine. This style machine continued until about 1883 when the “Improved Family” machine appeared. ”

“ Hand sewing has been superseded in most factories by mechanical sewing, by hand or electric power, for which Messrs. Singer supply a very efficient machine. In the larger power machine made by this house, the breadths to be sewn together are clipped face to face with flush edges, and stretched in the frame of the machine in such a way that the moving part of the mechanism runs along over the two edges and sews them together. The ends of the carpet, top and bottom, are then turned over and hemmed by hand or machine. ”

“ The founder of this most successful 19th-century company was Isaac Singer, a native of Pittstown, New York. [52] Successively a mechanic, an actor, and an inventor, Singer came to Boston in 1850 to promote his invention of a machine for carving printers’ wooden type. He exhibited the carving machine in Orson Phelps’ shop, where the Blodgett and Lerow machines were being manufactured.
Because the carving machine evoked but little interest, Singer turned his attention to the sewing machine as a device offering considerable opportunity for both improvement and financial reward. ”

“ Upon becoming owners of the Morey and Johnson patent, Singer applied for a reissue which covered this type of yielding pressure. It was granted on June 27, 1854. The Singer company’s acquisition of the Bachelder patent had given them control of the yielding pressure bar also.
Figure 33.—Singer Family Machine, 1858, head only. (Smithsonian photo 45524-F.)
Singer’s aggressive selling had begun to overcome the public’s suspicion of sewing machines. ”

“ Figure 29.—Singer’s Perpendicular Action sewing machine, an engraving from Illustrated News, June 25, 1853, which states: “The sewing machine has, within the last two years acquired a wide celebrity, and established its character as one of the most efficient labor saving instruments ever introduced to public notice.... We must not forget to call attention to the fact that this instrument is peculiarly calculated for female operatives. They should never allow its use to be monopolized by men.” ”

“ Still less did we anticipate that within twelve years the Singer company would be selling a thousand sewing-machines a week, at a profit of a thousand dollars a day. He was the true pioneer of the mere business of selling machines, and made it easier for all his subsequent competitors."
The peculiarity of the Singer machine is the chain stitch or single thread device, but with the employment of an eye-pointed needle, and other appliances, so as to make it admirably adopted for the general purposes of [452] sewing. ”

“ He pioneered in the use of lavishly decorated sewing-machine showrooms when the company offices were expanded in the mid-1850s (fig. 30) . These were rich with carved walnut furniture, gilded ornaments, and carpeted floors, places in which Victorian women were not ashamed to be seen. The machines were demonstrated by pretty young women. The total effect was a new concept of selling, and Singer became the drum major of a new and coming industry that had many followers (see fig. 31) .
[Pg 35] Figure 34.—Grover and Baker’s patent model, 1851. (Smithsonian photo 32003-G.) ”

“ He developed a wooden packing case which doubled as a stand for the machine and a treadle to allow it to be operated by foot. Because of the dimensions of the packing case, Singer put the pivot of the treadle toward its center, about where the instep of the foot would rest. ”

“ Madersperger’s machine consisted of two major parts: the frame, which held the material, and the stitching mechanism, called the hand. The hand shown here is an original model. (Photo courtesy of Technisches Museum für Industrie und Gewerbe, Vienna.)
[Pg 13] For over fifteen years, from the mid-1830s to the early 1850s, the machine dropped out of sight. When the sewing-machine litigation developed in the 1850s, the I. M. Singer company searched out the Hunt machine, had the inventor rebuild one, [25] and attempted to use this to break the Howe patent. ”

“ Figure 30.—I. M. Singer & Co. New York showroom of the mid-1850s, as illustrated in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, August 29, 1857; only manufacturing machines are shown in this illustration. (Smithsonian photo 48091-B.)
[Pg 33] Figure 31.—Hunt and Webster’s sewing-machine manufactory exhibition and salesroom in Boston, as illustrated in Ballou’s Pictorial, July 5, 1856; only manufacturing machines are shown. (Smithsonian photo 45771-A.)
Singer enjoyed demonstrating the machine and showed it to church and social groups and even at circuses ”

“ This is because a half century has been devoted to training and specializing men each to do one thing best in sewing machine construction. The Singer's superiority—its lifetime-lasting value—does not appear on the surface. ”

“ Instructions for using Singer sewing machine 246-2 for trimming and overedging in one operation, form 20138 (349) . By The Singer Manufacturing Company. NM; new illus. & text. © 23Nov49; AA134743. The Singer Company (PWH) ; 24Jan77; R651902.
R651903.
List of parts, machine number 122W145, form 2895W (149) . By The Singer Manufacturing Company, NM: new plates. © 6Dec49; AA135573. The Singer Company (PWH) ; 24Jan77; R651903.
R651904.
Instructions for using Singer sewing machine 246-4 for trimming and blind stitch hemming in one operation, form 20250 (249) . ”

“ We have here a small Singer machine, riding upon the edge of two pieces of carpet, a carpet machine weighing ten pounds. When the handle is turned, it stitches and travels over the edges, uniting them faster and more securely than six hand sewers; and several others, representative of the family type of sewing machine, besides Wheeler & Wilson's hemstitch machine, the working of which is of much interest. ”

“ Singer sewing machine 231-25, two
needles and two loopers. (Form
19707) © 22Mar41; AA362923.
Singer Co. (PWH) ; 14Jan69; R454058.
Instructions for using and adjusting
Singer sewing machines of class
400W. Rev. (Form 2641W)
© 19Feb41; AA360603. Singer Co.
(PWH) ; 14Jan69; R454051.
Instructions for using and adjusting Singer sewing machines 71-101 and 71-107 high speed, gear driven feed for making straight buttonholes with square barred ends. Rev. (Form 2174W) © 17Jul41; AA371494. Singer Co. (PWH) ; 14Jan69; R454080. ”

“ Many patents whose original claim was for only a mechanical awl to pierce holes in leather or a clamp to hold leather for hand stitching were claimed as sewing devices once a practical machine had evolved. ”

“ The important element in the Hunt invention was an eye-pointed needle working in combination with a shuttle carrying a second thread. Future inventors were thus no longer hampered by the erroneous idea that the sewing machine must imitate the human hands and fingers. ”

“ The death-knell rang for all time when the sewing-machine was invented. The machine has been a very doubtful blessing, as it has allowed even the art of stitchery in ordinary work to slide into the limbo of forgotten things. What woman now knows what it is to "back-stitch" a shirt cuff, for instance, drawing a thread for guidance, and carefully going back two or three threads in order to make a neat, firm line of stitching? The sewing-machine does all this, and does it well, a clever machinist turning out more work in a week than a seamstress in a year. ”

“ Figure 51.—One of the early commercial manufacturers of the Palmer patent was Madame Demorest, a New York dressmaker. She advertised her Fairy sewing machine in Godey’s Lady’s Book, vol. 66, 1863, and stated: “In the first place it will attract attention from its diminutive, fairy-like size, and with the same ease with which it can be carried, an important matter to a seamstress or dressmaker employed from house to house ... What no other sewing machine attempts to do, it runs, and does not stitch, it sews the more delicate materials an ordinary sewing machine cuts or draws....” ”

“ The requirements for producing a successful, practical sewing machine were a support for the cloth, a needle to carry the thread through the fabric and a combining device to form the stitch, a feeding mechanism to permit one stitch to follow another, tension controls to provide an even delivery of thread, and the related mechanism to insure the precise performance of each operation in its proper sequence. ”

“ The use of sewing machines in all types of manufacturing that required stitching of any type continued to grow each year. While the principal purpose for which they were utilized continued to be the manufacture of clothing items, by the year 1900 they were also used for awnings, tents, and sails ”

“ The machine, acclaimed by the art experts, must therefore have been intended for embroidery stitching. From the contemporary descriptions and the illustration, the machine is judged to have made a couched stitch—one thread was laid on the surface of the fabric and stitched in place with a short thread carried by a two-pointed needle of the type invented by Weisenthal. ”

“ The Grover and Baker machine and its unique stitch did not have a great influence on the overall development of the mechanics of machine sewing. The merits of a double-looped stitch—its elasticity and the taking of both threads from commercial spools—were outweighed by the bulkiness of the seam and its consumption of three times as much thread as the lockstitch required. Machines making a similar type of stitch have continued in limited use in the manufacture of knit goods and other products requiring an elastic seam. ”

“ In a description of the new Willcox and Gibbs sewing machine the following observation is made: “It is astonishing how, in a few years, the sewing machine has made such strides in popular favor, and become, from being a mechanical wonder, a household necessity and extensive object of manufacture. While the higher priced varieties have such a large sale, it is no wonder that the cheaper ones sell in such tremendous quantities, and that our inventors are always trying to produce something new and cheap.” ”

“ Darning, satisfactory for some purposes, may be done quickly on a double thread sewing machine. It is best done in an embroidery ring, first drawing the edges together. Loosen the tension on the presser foot, use fine thread with light tension. Sew back and forth, first along the warp threads and then at right angles along the woof threads. The machine will be sewing backwards part of the time, but if the pressure is light, there will be no difficulty. For large holes, paper may be placed underneath. ”

“ Different Types of Sewing Machines. There are two types of sewing machines in use—the chain-stitch and the lock-stitch. Sewing machines are made to run by hand, foot or mechanical motor power. This makes no difference in design or care of the stitching part of the machine. ”

“ No radical changes in the principle or mode of operation of sewing machines have been made in the last twenty-five years; but the efforts of inventors have been directed to improve the previously established types, and to devise attachments of all kinds, by the aid of which anything that can be sewed, can be sewed upon a machine. Tucking, ruffling, braiding, cording, hemming, turning, plaiting, gaging, and other attachment devices are numerous. Inventors have rivalled one another in originating new forms of stitches. ”

“ Figure 66.—Jones “electro motor” patent model of 1871 on a Bartlett sewing machine. (Smithsonian photo P-63104.)
Sewing-machine improvements have been made from time to time. Like other mechanical items the machine has become increasingly automatic, but the basic principles remain the same. One of the more recent developments, patented [84] in 1933 by Valentine Naftali et al., is for a manufacturing machine that imitates hand stitching. This machine uses a two-pointed “floating needle” that is passed completely through the fabric—the very idea that was attempted over one hundred years ago. ”

“ He considered the problem of sewing leather, analyzing the steps required to make the saddler’s stitch, one popularly used in boots and shoes. He concluded that a sewing machine to do this type of work must first perforate the leather, then draw the threads through the holes, and finally secure the stitches by pulling the threads tight. The machine Corliss invented (fig. 13) was of the same general type as Greenough’s, except that two two-pointed needles were required to make the saddler’s stitch. This stitch was composed of two running stitches made simultaneously, one from each side. ”

“ The sewing machine has taken away much of the drudgery of home sewing, but its use does not lessen the need of skill in hand work. No machine can finish ends of belts, collars, sew on trimmings, fastenings, and like work and the finish has much to do with the general appearance of a garment. ”

“ Since the sewing machine has been considered by some as one of the most important inventions of 19th-century America, of equal importance to this story of the invention is the history of the sewing machine’s development into a practical, popular commodity. ”

“ But to many 19th-century people the sewing machine was probably as awe-inspiring as a space capsule is to their 20th-century descendants. It was expensive, but, considering the work it could do and the time it could save, the cost was more than justified. The sewing machine became the first widely advertised consumer appliance, pioneered installment buying and patent pooling, and revolutionized the ready-made clothing industry. It also weathered the protests of those who feared the new machine was a threat to their livelihood. ”