The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-12 00:00:00

DEATH OF ELMS HOIVE, JUN.

We announce with deep regret the death of
Elias Howe, junior, who departed peacefully in the
midst of his family on the 3d inst., and was buried
from the residence of his father at Cambridgeport,
Massachusetts, on Sunday, the 6th inst.
This American has left a name which will per-
haps be known when many of the most distin-
guished and elevated on earth are forgotten. Elias
Howe did not sway in the tribune, nor fascinate on
the platform, nor persuade in the press. He did
not direct in the council, nor lead in the crash of
armies. Nor even as an inventor was his work such
as takes forcible hold of the imagination. Wind
and water were not subjugated, distance annihilated,
space traversed with more than the speed of a bird
by any invention of his. Yet it is difficult to
exaggerate the boon he has conferred on the
human race in the invention of his sewing machine.
He was born at Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1819,
his father being a farmer and miller. At 21, when
a working machinist, he married, and had to sup-
port thereafter a family. The idea of the sewing
machine was first suggested by an ingenious me-
chanic named Ari Davis, who kept a shop in Corn-
hill, Boston, for the manufacture and repair of
nautical and other instruments. A mechanic and a
capitalist had striven to produce a knitting machine
which baulked every effort, and in 1839 they took
it to Mr. Davis, who exclaimed, " What are you
bothering yourselves with a knitting machine for,
why don't you make a sewing machine ?" Elias
Howe stood by them a young workman, 20 years
old. He often pondered over Mr. Davis's exclama-
tion, but it was not till 1843, when pressed with po-
verty, that he threw himself into the design, catching
the inventor's mania, which gives no rest to its vic-
tims till they have accomplished their task. He
lost months under the impression that it was neces-
sary to imitate the action of the hand ; his eman-
cipation from this idea being the crisis of the in-
vention. He had perfected the conception in his
mind in the fall of 1844, when he convinced George
Fisher of its feasibility, and a partnership was
arranged for bringing the invention into use. They
were both very poor men. Elias Howe bad been
regarded as a mere visionary, while his friend,
George Fisher, was considered a fool for assisting
him in his ridiculous invention. During the winter
of 1844-45 he constructed his model, and in April
he sewed a seam by his machine. In July he made
a suit of clothes for his patron and another for
himself. This machine, now in the Paris Ex-
hibition, has been pronounced more complete
and final in its utility than any other inven-
tion constructed for a first trial. But now
commenced Mr. Howe's real difficulties. He had
soon all the tailors in Boston in arms against him.
He took his little engine to the Quincy Hall
Clothing Manufactory, and sewed seam after seam
before the eyes of the unbelieving tailors at the
rate of 250 stitches a minute, about seven times the
speed of the hand. At last he challenged five of
the swiftest semptresses to sew a race against him,
and beat the girls, who were working at top speed,
not only doing his work quicker, but neater and
stronger. The more conclusive the proof of its
value the more decided was the opposition he
experienced, while the cost of the machine as
then constructed was too great either for private
houses or large establishments. He patented
the invention, making another machine after
three mouths' bard labour for deposit in the
Patent-office. Even his friend Mr. Fisher, who
advanced about $2,000, lost confidence, and
regarded the loan as a dead loss, while Elias
had to drive a locomotive to earn his bread, till he
was compelled to give it up for lack of strength.
Having failed in his own country, by a great effort
he reached London, where had sent one of his ma-
chines by his brother Amasa, who preceded him.
That machine was sold to a manufacturer in Cheap-
side for £250 sterling, with a right to use as many
others as he required in his own business. It is
calculated that the purchaser made £200,000 by
the bargain. His career in London may be readily
guessed—it is the usual story of poor, unfriended
inventors. He first sent his wife back to America,
and, after months of labour, performed while literally
starving, of ter pawning his precious first machine and
his letters patent, with his traps on his back he
returned in a state of destitution to America. To
his surprise he discovered that his invention had
become celebrated, though he was forgotten. After
great difficulty he recovered his letters patent, and
he was fortunate enough to induce Geo. W. Bliss,
of Massachusetts, to buy Mr. Fisher's share of the
patent, and to advance money to carry on suits
against the infringers of his invention. Mr. Bliss
had so little faith in the enterprise that his father
had to give him a mortgage on 'his farm as security.
The infringing interest had grown, and the great
object was to show that a prior invention had been
made. After searching the Patent Records of Eng-
land, France, and the United States, and even
groping among the Chinese, the work of a New York
mechanic, named Walter Hunt, was brought to light.
He had invented and partially completed a sewing
machine as early as 1832, parts of which were actually
in the garret of a house in Gold-street. This was
brought forth, and the inventor was stimulated to
complete and put it together so that it could sew,
but he failed in spite of every aid, though it was
shown that he had hit upon the shuttle as a means
of forming the stitch. " The plaintiff's patent is
valid, and the defendant's machine is an infringe-
ment," said Judge Sprague, of Massachusetts, after
a long trial ; adding, there is no evidence in this
case that leaves a shadow of a doubt that for all
the benefit conferred on the public by the introduc-
tion of a sewing-machine the public are indebted to
Mr. Howe. Nine years had then elapsed since the
first machine was completed, and eight years of the
term of his first patent had expired. Mr. Bliss
died, and Elias Howe was able, poor as he
was, to purchase his share, so little was the
patent valued. This was the inventor's only stroke
of luck, for the tide hitherto flowing so strongly
against him suddenly turned, and he stepped almost
at once into fame and fortune. From a few hun-
dreds a year his income rapidly increased until it
went beyond $200,000, and it is anticipated that by
the time the extension of the patent expires he will
have received $2,000,000. The decision of the
courts was followed by a war among the lead-
ing sewing machine houses, which eventuated

in what is known as The Combination. They
_ _ __

all became tributary to Mr. Howe, who re-
ceived $5 on every machine sold in the United
States, and $1 on every one exported. On the
renewal of the patent his fee was reduced from
$5 to $l. It is calculated that there are now
manufactured in the United States 1,000 sewing
machines every day, at an average cost to the pur-
chaser of $6O each. Attempts have been
made to estimate the value in money of the sewing
machine to the people of the United States. Pro-
fessor Renwick expressed the opinion seven years
ago on oath, after careful study of the machine,
that then the saving in labour amounted to
$19,000,000 per annum ; the estimate of Messrs.
Wheeler and Wilson was that the work done in 1863
by the sewing machine was worth $342,000,000. A
good hand sewer averages 35 stitches per minute ;
the fastest machines on some kinds of work perform
3,000 a minute. There are 20,620 stitches in a good
shirt, and some idea may be formed by carrying out
this calculation what the saving of labour amounts
to. From a woman's bonnet to her shoes, from a
man's boots to his hat, every article is sewn. From
his birth to his grave the machine is brought into
play ; unless stripped naked and cast on a desert
island, a ciyilind being must be enveloped and