1851 - Isaac Singer's Sewing Machine Patent Model
date: label: model constructed
content: before 1851-08-12
label: patent date
content: 1851-08-12
name: label: inventor
content: Singer, Isaac M.
notes: label: Description
content: Sewing Machine Patent Model Patent No. 8,294, issued August 12, 1851
label: Description
content: Isaac Merritt Singer of New York, New York
label: Description
content: The eighth child of poor German immigrants, Isaac Singer was born on October 27, 1811, in Pittstown, New York. As a young man he worked as a mechanic and cabinetmaker. For a time he was an actor and formed his own theatrical troupe, The Merritt Players.” Needing a steadier income, Singer worked for a plant in Fredericksburg, Ohio, that manufactured wooden type for printers. Seeing the need for a better type-carving machine, he invented an improved one.
label: Description
content: In June 1850, Singer and a partner took the machine to Boston looking for financial support. He rented display space in the workshop of Orson C. Phelps. Here Singer became intrigued with the sewing machine that Phelps was building for John A. Lerow and Sherburne C. Blodgett. Analyzing the flaws of the Lerow and Blodgett sewing machine, Singer devised a machine that used a shuttle that moved in a straight path—as opposed to theirs, which moved around in a complete circle. He visualized replacing their curved horizontal needle with a straight, vertically moving needle. Phelps approved of Singer’s ideas and Isaac worked on perfecting his machine.
label: Description
content: For his first patent model, Isaac Singer submitted a commercial sewing machine. He was granted Patent No. 8,294, on August 12, 1851. These commercial sewing machines were built in Orson C. Phelps’s machine shop in Boston. The head, base cams, and gear wheels of the machine were made of cast iron; to fit together, these parts had to be filed and ground by hand. The machine made a lockstitch by using a straight, eye-pointed needle and a reciprocating shuttle. The specific patent claims allowed were for: 1) the additional forward motion of the shuttle to tighten the stitch; 2) the use of a friction pad to control the tension of the thread from the spool; and 3) placing the spool of thread on an adjustable arm to permit thread to be used as needed.
label: Description
content: Always the showman, Singer relished exhibiting his invention at social gatherings and was masterful in convincing the women present that the sewing machine was a tool they could learn to use. The machine was transported in its packing crate, which served as a stand; it contained a wooden treadle that allowed the seamstress to power the machine with her feet, leaving both hands free to guide the cloth. This early, heavy-duty Singer machine was designed for use in the manufacturing trades rather than in the home.
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: American Enterprise
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: See more items in
content: Sewing Machines
label: See more items in
content: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Patent Models
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
label: Related Publication
content: Janssen, Barbara Suit. Icons of invention : American patent models
label: Related Publication
content: Janssen, Barbara Suit. Patent Models Index
label: Related Publication
content: Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America
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.T06054
label: accession number
content: 48865
label: catalog number
content: T06054.000
label: patent number
content: 008294
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sewing machine patent model
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (mechanisms material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 in x 17 in x 12 in; 40.64 cm x 43.18 cm x 30.48 cm