The Sewing Machine's Early History
Many Inventors Contributed to Emerging Stitching Appliance
Before the sewing machine was invented, garments, home decor items, and all fabric items were sewn by hand. Like most inventions, the history of the sewing machine is a bit murky; there is some confusion as to who really invented the machine first. It was actually a series of events and inventions by a number of contributors that evolved into one of the most popular machines ever used.
Early Contributors to Sewing Machine History
Sincere’s History of the Sewing Machine by William Ewers (Sincere Press, 1970) is one of the most complete works on the sewing machine ever published. Even though it was written in 1970, it is still immensely useful. According to Ewers, many people were involved in the development of the sewing machine. The following people are all mentioned in his book as major contributors to this rich history.
- Charles Weisenthal - In 1755 a German immigrant living in London, Charles Weisenthal, took out a patent for a needle to be used for mechanical sewing. However, there was no mention of a machine to go with it.
- Thomas Saint - In 1790 an English cabinetmaker, Thomas Saint, patented a machine which used an awl that made a hole in leather and then allowed a needle to pass through. Saint most likely did not make the machine, but he did patent the idea. An attempt was made in the 1880s to produce a machine from Saint's drawings. It would not work without considerable modification.
- Balthasar Krems - Around 1810 in Germany the inventor Balthasar Krems developed a machine for sewing caps. Exact dates are not known because Krems never applied for any patents.
- Joseph Madersperger - An Austrian tailor named Josef Madersperger received a patent in 1814 for an experimental series of machines. He was still working on the invention in 1839, aided by grants from the government, but he failed to get all the elements together successfully in one machine.
More Sewing Machine Pioneers
In 1804 a slew of sewing machine-related patents was issued. Thomas Stone and James Henderson from France received a patent for a machine which attempted to emulate hand sewing. Another patent was given to Scott John Duncan for an embroidery machine using a number of needles. Nothing is known of the fate of either invention.
America came into the picture in 1818 when a Vermont churchman named John Adams Doge, with his partner John Knowles, produced a device which, although making a reasonable stitch, could only sew a very short length of material before labor intensive resetting was needed.
Barthelemy Thimonnier
Genuine progress occurred in 1830, when the French government granted a patent to Barthelemy Thimonnier. Within a decade of receiving of his patent, Thimonnier had a factory running with 80 machines.
Parisian tailors feared Thimonnier’s machines would replace hand sewing, putting the craftsmen tailors out of work. Late one night a group of tailors stormed the factory, destroyed every machine and caused Thimonnier to flee for his life.
He started again, produced a vastly improved machine, and was set to go into full-scale production. But the tailors attacked again. France was in the grip of revolution, so Thimonnier could expect little help from the police or army. He fled to England with just one salvaged machine. For all his accomplishments, he died a pauper.
The Sewing Machine after Thimonnier
Had things gone a bit differently, Thimonnier’s name may have replaced Singer’s name today. However, Thimonnier’s machine faded away with him. But there were others ready to continue the quest.
