1851 Grover and Baker's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine
date: label: model constructed
content: before 1851-02-11
label: patent date
content: 1851-02-11
name: label: inventor
content: Grover, William O.
label: inventor
content: Baker, William E.
notes: label: Description
content: Sewing Machine Patent Model
label: Description
content: Patent No. 7,931, issued on February 11, 1851
label: Description
content: William O. Grover and William E. Baker of Roxbury, Massachusetts
label: Description
content: William O. Grover, a tailor working in Boston, believed that the sewing machine would transform the clothing industry. Seeing that the available sewing machines were not very practical, he began in 1849 to devise a different machine. He developed a new stitch that was made by interlocking two threads in a series of slipknots. Another Boston tailor, William E. Baker, shared Grover’s vision and became his partner in the project.
label: Description
content: They received Patent No. 7,931 on February 11, 1851, for a double chain stitch made with two threads. The stitch was made using a vertical eye-pointed needle for the top thread and a horizontal needle for the under thread.
label: Description
content: The Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Company was organized in 1851. Jacob Weatherill, mechanic, and Orlando B. Potter, lawyer, joined the firm. It was Potter who saw that the numerous lawsuits over patent rights were strangling the growth of the fledging sewing machine industry. In 1856, his work lead to the formation of the Sewing Machine Combination also called the Sewing Machine Trust. This organization consisted of three sewing machine manufacturers, I. M. Singer Co., Wheeler & Wilson Co., and the Grover & Baker Co., and the inventor, Elias Howe Jr., who all agreed to pool their important patents and stop patent litigation between them. This allowed them to move ahead with manufacturing and marketing of their own sewing machines and collecting license fees from other companies wanting to use their patents.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Patent Models
label: classified
content: Invention
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Patent Models, Sewing Machines
label: See more items in
content: Sewing Machines
label: See more items in
content: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Patent Models
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Janssen, Barbara Suit. Patent Models Index
label: Related Publication
content: Cooper, Grace Rogers. The Sewing Machine: Its Invention and Development
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Cooper/CF/view.cfm
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T06053
label: catalog number
content: T06053.000
label: patent number
content: 007931
label: accession number
content: 48865
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sewing machine patent model
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 in x 12 in x 10 3/4 in; 22.86 cm x 30.48 cm x 27.305 cm