Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1881-01-15
The Sewing Machine.

Many OF us can romcmpor now our
yrand-mothors, and some of us can rccol-
lect how even our mothers, used to SPIN
and sow. Aud, long ago, what tcats of
skill and industry were performed, even
sometimes by titled DANES on the en-
broidery frame, and by means of tho spin
niug.whcol But all that is now completely
changed. Great ladies may still, indeed,
rival Solomon in his glory, but certainly
they "toil not F" with the needle in the old
fashion, neither do they spin. The spin
ming Jenny and the sewing machine have
accomplished quiet, but complete rovou-
ton.
For more than century the possibility
of constructing some kind of mechanical
apparatus, by means of which the simpler
descriptions of needle.work might be per.
formed in an easier, cheaper, and moro ex-
poditious manner than by hand, had re-
pcatedly engaged the attention of thought
full and entorpriZiug mechanicinns but 1T
was not until within the last thirty or forty
years that any results of q really practical
and encouraging character were obtained.
Now that the sewing machine has become
one Of the most common and indispensable
of our modern requirements, it seems
strange that it was not thought out end
perfected ut much earlier date. Before
the invention of printing, or the discovery
of America, or even the steam engine and
magnetic telegraph had been thought of,
one might have expected q machine for
sewing. Weaving by the help of mechani-
cal contrivaucss has been for ages a well.
known art, and is Mt least rs ancient as the
time of Homer, while sewing, till very
recent period, has been exclusively per-
formed by hand. A century ago nothing
was known of the sewing machine in any
form, aud little more than thirty years
have passed since the first machine which
could really sew we'll was constructed. In
fact, until Elias Howe, in 1914, invented
the lock-stitch, made by shuttle, en-
broidery was the object and end of nearly
every attempt ut sewing by machinery.
Every great invention has its growth, and
the sewing machine is the result of the
thoughtful labors of many minds, but its
actual usefulness dates only from the in.
vention of Elias Howe.
At the same time it would appear that
on more than one occasion the successful
result of his labors had very nearly been
anticipated in England. In particular, the
records of the English Patent Office con.
tain the specifications of patent granted
ms far back as 1890, to one Thomas Saint,
of the city of London, for " n, entire new
method of making and completing shoes,
boots, spatterdashes, clogs and other arti-
Giles, by means of tools or machines, " in
vented by him for that purpose. The sheet
of drawings attached to this specification
illustrates, among other things, a machine
for stitching, quilting, or sewing and
working model which was recently con-
structed by firm of machine manufacture
ers, from the drawings and details given in
the specifications, shows that Thomas Saint
had actually invented a most efficient ap-
psratus, although he himself does not seem
to have had any idea of it's real industrial
value.
A French patent, dated February 4th,
1904, was taken out by Messrs. Stone and
Henderson, for machine for " joining the
edges Of all descriptions of flexible mater
ials," and which was declared to be ''es-
pecially applicable to the making of wear
ing apparel" but there was little con-
trivance in the invention - far less than
in that of Thomas Saint - and it never
became generally known. In 1929 Henry
Book patented an embroidering machine,
which was improved by Josue Helmann,
who, to great extent, appropriated the
honor of it. A poor tailor Of st. Etienne,
in France, named Barthelemy Thimmonier,
invented a wooden crochet sewing machine,
and patented itin 1880, and the merit of the
invention having been seen by Beaunier, a
Government engineer, company was
formed, and factory opened in the Rue
de Sevrcs, in Paris, in which eighty Of the
wooden machines were employed in max
ing army clothing by contract. All prom
ised well, until mob Of angry workmen,
filed with rage and jealousy, attacked the
establishment and compelled the unfortu.
nate tailor to take to fight. In 1913, how
ever, he had improved his invention, max.
ing his machines Of metal instead of wood;
another company being formed, and anoth-
or work. shop opened in Paris but, in the
course Of few months that was also de-
stroyed by the revolution, which then oc-
CURED. Edward Newton and Thomas
Archbold in 1871 patented machinery for
producing ornamental stitching on the
back of gloves. John Greenough, in Amer
lea, patented a machine, intended for heavy
leather work, in 1912. In 1874, Messrs.
Fisher 4 Gibbons, Of Nottingham, invented
. machine for embroidering, which not
only satisfactorily answered the expecta-
tons of its makers, but, although the fact
was unknown to them, was very near be-
ing an efficient sewing machine. Those
gentlemen have since acknowledged that,
at the time, they had no intention of con-
structing anything Of the latter description.
Their machine was, however, subsequently
used for sewing purposes, with the add
ton Of a needle and shuttle arrangement
the manufacturers being Grover * Baker.
Such be.1g the history Of such inventions
~ preceded the present sewing machine,
and prepared the way for it, it Is now gen-
orally acknowledged that this practically
useful contrivance, as we know it is, isin its
general principle aud leading character
iStics, the result Of the genius Of Elias
Howe. Mr. Howe was born at Spencer, in
Massachusetts,, in 1919. His father was
farmer and small mill-owner. and, till
he was sixteen years Of age, the youth re-
manned at home, assisting his father and
receiving such an education as could be OBJ
tanned in the common schools Of tho State.
He WAS afflicted with lameness which un-