Sewing machine
OTHER-NAME:
DATE INVENTED/BEGAN: 1851
PLACE INVENTED/BEGAN: New York, NY
DATE ENDED:
PLACE ENDED:
CATEGORY: Technology
DISCIPLINE: Invention
ASSESSMENT: The sewing machine revolutionized the textile industry
LANGUAGE: English
DETAILS:
The sewing machine was patented by Isaac M Singer* in 1851, in essentially the same form as a modern machine. Singer improved on the earlier work of several inventors, especially Howe* to whom he was obliged to pay royalties.
Singer’s machine used a foot treadle to drive a needle up and down through cloth held horizontally in place by a small ‘presser foot.’ The pointed end of the needle had an eye carrying a thread, and when the needle emerged below the fabric, as it withdrew it left behind a thread loop. This was caught by a vertically revolving hooked wheel, at the center of which was a bobbin of thread. As the wheel turned the hook pulled the needle thread loop down and around and back up, allowing the bobbin thread to pass through the needle thread loop. When the needle withdrew the loop tightened, forming a ‘lock stitch.’
ONELINER: The sewing machine
EXTRA-CONNECTIONS: None
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Encyclopedia Britannica
http://home.howstuffworks.com/sewing-machine.htm