In 1846, Elias Howe was awarded the first U.S. patent, number 4,750, for a functional sewing machine using a lockstitch design. The first patent connected to mechanical sewing had been issued in 1755 in England to the German inventor Charles Weisenthal for a needle that was designed for a machine. However, the patent was for the needle, not a machine--and the machine designed to use the needle may, in fact, not have existed. Many other inventors attempted to design a mechanical sewing device, but their machines were neither functional nor successful.

In 1830, a sewing machine was designed and manufactured by a French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, to mass-produce uniforms for the French Army, but rioting tailors destroyed the machines. His design merely mechanized the hand-sewing operation, as it used one thread only and a hooked needle that made the same chain stitch used with embroidery.

In 1834, New Yorker Walter Hunt contributed a great improvement when he used a lockstitch. He never patented his method, however, because he thought that his invention might cause unemployment. When, twelve years later, Howe independently patented his sewing machine for "a process that used thread from two different sources," the device was on its way to becomingthe modern sewing machine.

Howe's machine had a needle with a straight eye-point and transverse shuttle. The needle was pushed through the cloth and created a loop on the other side; a shuttle on a track then slipped the second thread through the loop, creating what is called the lockstitch. The technique proved highly successful, but Howe had problems defending his patent and marketing his invention.

Sewing machines did not enter mass production until the 1850's, when Isaac Singer built the first commercially successful machine. Singer "borrowed" Howe's lockstitch mechanism and became the largest manufacturer of sewing machines. In Singer's sewing machine, the needle moved up and down rather than the sideways, and power was provided by the operator, using a foot treadle. Previous machines were all hand-cranked. However, because Singer used Howe's lockstitch process and a needle similar to that employed in Howe's design, Howe sued Singer for patent infringement, and he won his case in 1854.

Allen Wilson developed the rotary hook shuttle. Ultimately, a design that incorporated the work of Howe, Singer, and Wilson was patented, and by 1860 more than 110,000 sewing machines were produced in the United States alone. Today, modern sewing machines span an enormous variety, for both in-home use and, even more important, for industrial purposes. However, Elias Howe's basic lockstitch operation remains unchanged.

With his invention of the sewing machine, Howe made a contribution to American industry that profoundly affected Americans' lives. The hand-sewn garments that women laboriously made for their families were replaced by mass-produced clothing that sold at affordable prices. Howe's invention also moved the making of many clothing items, including shoes, out of cottage industries and tailor shops and into manufacturing plants. The sewing machine became a reasonably priced, convenient piece of equipment that was also found in a large number of homes; there sewing became a creative task, rather than a painstaking necessity.

Howe also played an important role in another area of American industrial development. He, along with several successful sewing machine manufacturers, held a conference in Albany, New York, in 1856, with the purpose of avoiding further lawsuits. These manufacturers, known as the Combination, became the first American industrial group to form a patent pool; they shared one another's machine designs and improvements for a reasonable fee, rather than remaining rivals.

Howe's inventiveness, perseverance, and mechanical skill won for him many well-deserved honors in foreign nations, including a gold medal at the famed Paris Exhibition of 1867. His genius and Yankee know-how gained for this once poverty-stricken American the acclaim of a grateful nation and a grateful world.

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