Who Invented the Sewing Machine

With the Industrial Revolution, the era of mechanization started. This mechanization extended to the textile industry, but who invented the sewing machine is a debatable question. The Germans, French, Britishers, Americans, etc., all claim to have invented the sewing machine, which is partially true.

Invention of the Sewing Machine

It is said that the sewing machine was invented by a German, who went by the name Charles Weisenthal. Although he was German, he stayed in England. He had applied for a patent for a needle. The needle was used for a machine, but it is not confirmed till date if the machine was indeed a sewing machine.

In 1790, an Englishman and cabinet-maker of Greenhill Rents in the parish of St Sepulchre, London, called Thomas Saint applied for a patent. He also gave patterns to replicate the design, but his was not a working model. The design had an awl, which created holes in the fabric. The thread was passed through the hole made, to sew the fabric. This patent was later discovered by Newton Wison in 1874 and later Isaac Singer worked upon the same design.

Two Frenchmen called James Henderson and Thomas Stone, came up with an idea in 1804, to design a sewing machine which could replicate hand sewing. This just remained an idea and the design never saw the light of the day.

Scott John Duncan filed a patent for an embroidery sewing machine in 1804. This machine had multiple needles, however, this design also faded into oblivion. The first sewing machine to stitch button holes was patented by Charles Miller.

In 1810, a German called Balthasar Krems invented an automatic sewing machine. Neither did this machine work properly nor did he apply for a patent. Hence, his name is not generally mentioned in the list of names of people who invented the sewing machine. After Krems, in 1814, an Austrian gentleman called Josef Medersperger, claimed to have invented the sewing machine and also applied for a patent. This machine did not work either.

With so many sewing machine patents and designs made in Europe, how could America lag behind? In 1818, two American gentlemen called John Adams Doge and John Knowles made the first "American" sewing machine. Unfortunately, the machine did not sew even a small piece of cloth and malfunctioned. The first American sewing machine was patented by John Greenough in 1842.

Barthelemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, made the first working sewing machine. He was a tailor for the French army. His factory had 80 machines which stitched uniforms for the French Army. But his factory was destroyed by tailors fearing unemployment and he could not use the model again. His model of the sewing machine used a hooked needle and single strand of thread.

Walter Hunt invented the lock stitch sewing machine in 1833. Since the machine had to be stopped frequently, Walter lost interest in the machine. He did not patent the design and sold off the machine. Elias Howe used the design made by Walter Hunt and patented his machine in 1845. He tried to sell his nouvelle idea in England, but did not meet with any success. However, on returning to America, Howe found that parts of his patent were infringed upon. He filed a court case and won it in 1854 and also won the rights to claim royalty from manufacturers using his design.

It was Isaac Merritt Singer’s name which became synonymous with the sewing machines. He noticed a sewing machine in Boston but did not like the design. Therefore, he decided to design one himself. The needle was mounted vertically and he also introduced the presser foot to hold the cloth in place. His machine was a combination of Thimonnier, Howe and Hunt’s machines. He did not patent the foot pedal, which has been in use since then. Howe won the lawsuit filed against Isaac, for which Isaac had to pay Howe the royalty for machines already produced. Later they entered into a partnership.

Allen Wilson used a design exactly opposite to Isaac Singer’s design, but at the same time John Bradshaw also claimed to have invented a similar design. He threatened to sue Allen Wilson, therefore, Wilson could not file for a patent. After that, started the 'sewing machine war', leading to the formation of Sewing Machine Combination. Singer, Howe, Wheeler and Wilson, and Grover were a part of this combination. They all combined their patents. This combination lasted till the expiry of the patent period in 1877.

The invention of the electric sewing machine was made in 1900. It was Singer Sewing Company, who invented the sewing machine. Orisol, invented the computerized sewing machine in 1987. The computerized sewing machine enhanced the accuracy of the sewing machine to a large extent.

With the wide spread usage of the sewing machine, the question ‘who invented the sewing machine’ has faded into the dark. Now its all just about the usage.