The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-04-10
DOWN WITH MONOPOLIES.

DUNN WITH WUNUTVLiEo.
Speech of Hon. d. Wyatt Aiken In Con-
gress, March 4th, 1870, On the Petition
OF the Mckay Sewing Machine Associa-
ton Asking IN Extension of the Mathies
Patent.
Mr.. Speaker, there is perhaps no one
implement that portrays more beautifully
the progress of inventions in this country
and the inventive genius Of the Ameri-
can mind than the Mckay sewing ma.
chine. 1t is an implement complex and
yet simple; there is little that is auto
matte in it, and yet it has only to be
guided in its movements, when it accom-.
plishes work that can neither be equaled
or surpassed by the most skillful me-
chanic. This machine comprises per-
haps fifty patents, the results of as many
combined intellects, the controlling one
of which will expire during the current
year. The purpose of the petition now
under consideration is to secure a new
lease of life to this controlling patent,
and thereby continue to its owners the
privilege of levying or imposing speci-
fed royalty upon every pair of shoes the
soles of which have been sewed to the
uppers by any one of the twelve hundred
machines now in operation throughout
the United States.
Anterior to the war there were very
few large shoe manufactures. All shoes
were made by. hand, the material Of
which they were made being cut out and
distributed among mechanics who did
most of their wors; at their homes. The
demand, however, was greater than the
supply, and the thoughtful American
mechanic soon proved himself equal to
the occasion. Invention, protected by
the wise provisions of our organic law,
was not long in substituting machinery
for muscle, and foremost among the
minds that contributed to this end was
one L.. R. Blade, who in 1860 secured
letters-patent upon machine for bot
toming boots and shoes. Without being
perfected, this machine was sold to Mr..
Gordon Mckay, of Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, shoe manufacturer, in whose
employment lived Mr.. R. H. Mathies.
This employee being man of peculiarly
inventive powers, was assigned the duty
of working, and,- if practicable, perfect
ing this machine. He gave it constant
study for months; and so closely did he
apply himself that an idiosyncrasy was
produced that resulted in his committing
suicide.
During his employment by Mr.. Nc
Kay, Mr.. Mathies received wages that
averaged s. per day, and in August,
1862, was awarded ,letters-patent for an
improvement upon the Mckay machine,
(she Blade patent, As soqpzas this was
done McKaySjEi6pi jsei 8 ihissto.i Join
him in the man lftcturs ss aoSs SThe
profFer was rejected, Mathiss Prsaerring
to sell his patent, which he. did, in the
spring of 1853, to Mckay, for $4,000
cash. In October, 1868, the same year
he sold his patent, and before it had been
satisfactorily tested by the purchaser,
= Mathies, in ftof ALTERATION commit
ted suicide.
Mr.. Mckay continued to improve this
machine, and finally organized COM
pany, known as the Mckay Sewing Ma
chine Association, who built these ma
chimes and sold them at about the cost OF
. Manufacture to shoe manufacturers, ex-
acting q small royalty of from one to
three cents upon every pair of shoes made
lpon them.
Anterior to 1860 the life of patent
WAS by law limited to fourteen years,
with the privilege, however, of an extern
sion for seven years under certain condl-
tions. The patent of Mr.. Blade, which
il one of the controlling patents in the
Mckay machine, was issued in 1860 for
fourteen years, and extended for seven,
and will therefore expire in 1881.
Since 1860 the life of a patent is leglti-
inately seventeen years, without the i'm
piled condition of extension. The
Mathies patent, which is another con-
trolling patent in the Mckay machine,
was issued in 1862 for seventeen years,
and will expire next October. Though
all these patents are owned by the Mckay
Sewing Machine Association, the appli-
cation for the extension of the Mathies
patent is brought in the name of Mrs.
sManpille, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who
was the widow of the inventor Mathies,
and the reason assigned why the extern
sion should be granted is that S, 900, the
amount paid by Mckay to Mathies for
the invention, was inadequate compensa-
ton for the incalculable advantages re-
sulting to the public from the use of this
patent. It will be observed that the
ratent was granted in August, 1852; the
$4,000 were paid in the spring OF 1863,
before the utility of the patent was
thoroughly appreciated, and in the fall
of that same year the patentee commit
ted suicide.
The Mckay sewing machine as at
present built is about six feet high, and
weighs over four hundred pounds. Be-
fore the inventions of Mathies were at
tached to the Blade Machine, it was
about one fourth that size. The inven-
tions ofMathies were an automatic stick
and revolving horn," upon which the
shoe is held while being sewed, the sew
ing being simply that of attaching the
soIes to the uppers Of the shoe.
Mr.. Mckay organized an association,
which, in attempting to perfect and
utilize the Mathies inventions, incurred
a debt of over 100000 before they sue
ceeded. And, indeed, they were utterly
ignorant. of the advantages of these two
inventions until drunken employee
somewhat reckIessly held shoe upon
the horn and made the successful effort
O: sewing entirely around the sole with
out removing the shoe from the horn.
Before this th. shoe was sewed from the
heel to the toe. taken from the horn,
turned, and sewed on the other side in
Il g same way. This bold operative,
began at the heel, sewed to the toe, held
The shoe steady, turned the horn, and
sewed back again to the heel. From that
moment the Mathies invention became
invaluable. Previous to that time forty
pairs of shoes day was an average task
upon one of these machines. Soon one
h ndred pairs were sowed, and to-day
six hundred pairs is Il moderate task
and one man has been known to sew the
sole to the uppers of nine hundred pairs
o: shoes in ten hours.
7. :, n,,,yl.rr recprded that MathicS