This
is the guy who is often called “the inventor of the sewing
machine.”
But
he didn't precisely invent the sewing machine.
Born
on this date in 1819, Howe may have seen and used others' sewing
machine inventions—one was invented as early as 1790, almost 20
years before Howe was born!—but Howe made a great many improvements
to others' designs. In 1846 he was awarded the first United States
patent for a sewing machine (others had patented their inventions in
other countries, apparently earlier than Howe).
Howe
invented three things still used in most modern machines:
- a needle with the eye at the point
- a shuttle operating beneath the cloth to form the lock stitch
- an automatic feed
An
inventor named Walter Hunt had apparently invented a sewing machine
without all of these advances about a decade before Howe's invention.
But he didn't get a patent, and he didn't move to manufacture his
machine, because he feared that his invention would cause
unemployment for seamstresses.
When
Howe patented his own sewing machine and tried to manufacture it,
somehow Walter Hunt hooked up with a man named Isaac Singer. Hunt was
able to make a replica of Howe's sewing machine, and Singer
manufactured and sold a lot of sewing machines! (“Singer” is
still one of the biggest names in sewing machines.) Since Singer was
selling machines with Howe's patented inventions, Howe sued Singer
and, after a looooong (6 year) trial, was awarded thousands of
dollars in back royalties. Then Howe went on to negotiate getting a
five-dollar royalty for each sewing machine manufactured in the U.S.
and one dollar for each sold elsewhere. That earned him millions!
Also
on this date:
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