, 1864-09-13
A TRIBUTE To AMERICAN
Invent IONS.
Tho Great NoVeliat Dickens on the
Sowing Machine.


produced entire by American journals. We
can, however, give but q few detached para
graphs to show the tone and acope Of tbs
whole:
WHAT ENGLAND OUGHT TO HAVE DONE.
Our mechaniclans should have perfected
The sewing machine The land that invent
ed tie steam engine and the power loom
ought, In the ordinary nature Of things, to
which was to sew together tho textile fhbEtcs
Its cunning mechanics had 60 deity
WHAT AMERICA DID DO.
Elias Howe, nat1vc.of Massachusetts, In
America, nearly quarter Of century ago,
first conceived the idea Of making mechan'
ioal stamalress. The history of this work.
ing man is' remarkable, aud tn 8ome respects
great inventors whose aenius only brought
them trouble and pennry throughout life.
MULTIPLICITY OF INVENTION.
Since the first patent was registered, more
than 800 patents have been taken out IN this
country for improvements In its different
parts; ~hilst ,n America, within the sane
time, upwards Of GOO patents have been OBJ
talned, and no less than ], 200 have failed.
TEE LooK STITCH.
For endurance, there is but one kind of
stitch that Is truly valuable, and that Is the
lock ~stitch-an arrangement by which the
under and upper thread interlock In the cen
ire of the material, aud therefore Is not
likely to wear out in the washing, or the
friction to which all the surfaces or mate
rlals are liable.
THE ROTATING HOOK.
In the machines of Messrs. Wheeler and
Wilson, this implement. the shuttle, is done
| nWay with, and rotating hook takes It's
| place. It Ie difficult beyond measure to de-
| scribe popularly the action of intricate ma-
cbinery; but this rotatlog hook may be de-
sc1ibed as stationary shuttle, catching the
| With 1t, and doing its work with noisless
| rnpsdity which makes the machine an al
most perfect invention.
TIE FoUR-FKED APPARATUS.
There Is also one grand improvement In
| the Wheeler and Wilson machine which
| places 1t in the very fret rank. We alude
! to the four-feed apparatus, an arrangement
| which enables the manlpulator to turn the
| work upon the plate In any direction With
tho utmost rapidity. This Improvement,
together with the rotating hook, which saves
all The time use1eaaly spent BY the shuttle
traversiDg backwards aud forwards, renders
It the most rapid and the most nolseless
machine IN use for Light household work,
hold fabrics, especially those requiring or
namental stitching; In collar stitching and
| In eh1rt-makipg 1t Ia especially useful; In
deed, It is mainly used in the manufactures
employed In the making OF these articles OF
+ dress.
TIE uoxroN COLLAR SATISFACTORY.
We visited, the other day, the workshops
OF the Messrs. Blenkfron, at Hoxton, where
one hundred and fifty Of these machines and
| five hundred foung women are employed In
! doing nothing but making collars. A great
er contrast to the scene iu the garret, as
crawn by Hood, where the wretched seam
s strees slowly dies rather than lives,
workwomen tending these machines. The
motion Of the sewing machine itae1f
is vast improvement upon the monoto-
nous movements used In common sewing.
| We saw these machines working at the rate
average twelve gross Of collars . day, or
twelve dozen doztn-a number which must
seem nothing less than marvellous to the
poor needle woman. twill be asked what
can become Of all the collars produced at
this extraordinary rate In all the manufacto-
rics of thesc articles In the metropolis The
answer ia platn; the sewing machines have
so cheapened the rate Of production Of all
wearing apparel, in which the cost OF sewing
forms heavy Item, that the incseas. In tue
rate Of their ealo Is absolutely prodtgious !;
indeed, 80 great: We are told, Is the increase
In the sale or ehirts and collars that ono is
lost in wonder at the n1Moer of persons
who must either have gone without them,
or at least must have used them In the most
sparing manner, before these machines cane
into uee.
TIRE SEWING MACHINE IN ENGLAND.
The sewing machine is very much more
largely employed In America han in Eag-
land, and is far more universally known.
The number at work In Great Britain aud
Ireland is II, 900 to GO 000.
In England their use Is rapidly spreading.
All our great army contractors now use
them; and In the manufacture of shirts, col
lars, stays, mant1es, drtsses, coats, trousers,
caps, trimmings, and boots and shoes they
are being adopted. Upwards Of 5000 sew
Ing machines are employed BY the boot and
ehoe makers alone.
Every year the manufacture and sale of
these machines arc Increasing In America and
England In an extraordinary degree. In
America especially; for we find that between
the years 1858 and 1858 the number of sales
had been from 9, 500 to Il, 1857, and in the sue.
CT eding year they had risen 10 the extraordl-
nary number OF 4G, ,243. What the numbers
would have risen to, during the reign Of the
great arny-clothing contractors, we should
scarcely like to guess. The Americans esti-
mate that the annual value Of the saving
effected by the sewing-machines in their
country was not less than $145 ,000, ,00O.
These are certainly excellently we'll put
faets for our British cousins, especially the
great writer's improvement" OF the whole
theme with which he closes his paper, show,
ing the effect OF the Introduction Of the Sew
ing Machine, on the question Of Labor, and Its
benefit to the working classes, especially
among the oppressed work people Of Eng
land.