The Forgotten History of Sewing Machines

[Music] [Applause] [Music] earlier in the year there was a sudden demand for cloth face mask that far exceeded the supply and that led to something of a revival for a household machine that had followed largely into disuse the household sewing machine suddenly the grandmother that made beautiful quilts or the mother that wanted to make a beautiful easter dress were doling out cloth masks to the family left and right and prior to the industrial revolution that task would have been much more laborious sewing and mending clothes was a household task that took several days out of every month and store-bought clothing was a luxury item that could be rather expensive but during the industrial revolution several entrepreneurial men sought to reduce the burden of sewing by creating mechanical sewing machines sewing machines are more than a hobby item for quilt makers they transformed economies changed women's roles in the workplace they transformed massively culture and became the backbone of multiple industries including the garment industry which is today a 368 billion dollar annual industry in the united states the invention of the mechanical sewing machine is history that deserves to be remembered sewing is the act of connecting fabric via needle and thread the earliest needles were made of wood bone or ivory with estimates that the first needles were used between 30 and 60 000 years ago the oldest was found in dennis of a cave a prehistoric early hominid dwelling in siberia that contained a seven centimeter needle made of bird bone that is approximately fifty thousand years old and yet described as still usable these needles would have been used with plant fibers or animal senior to piece together hides or skins of animals for clothing or shelter in egypt copper needles were found dating back to around 4000 bc and iron needles have been found in bavaria from the 3rd century bc needles are such a valuable tool that they are celebrated in japan in harikuyo the buddhist and shinto festival in this festival of the broken needles the sewing tools that were broken over the past year are thanked for their service prayers are offered up for improved skills for the tailors and seamstresses but why needles have been a tool for humankind for millennia a machine that can replicate the human motion of the needle is a relatively new invention the first design for a sewing machine is still accepted to be in 1790 when thomas saint a cabinet maker in england designed and detailed a machine intended for use on leather and canvas the machine used a chain stitch in which a series of loop stitches form a chain like pattern the process uses two points a stitching all that pierces the material and a fork point rod that would carry the thread through the hole where it was hooked underneath but saint never appeared to market his design and it was never produced or used in any large numbers it's assumed that he probably had at least one working device but no original examples exist but in 1874 an engineer was able to replicate the design using those original patent drawings while several machines were patented in the early part of the 19th century either the designs failed or were not successfully marketed joseph mattersberger an austrian taylor was granted a patent in 1814 for a machine that he created to recreate the motions of the human hand while sewing he never marked the design and the patent expired three years later he died in the poor house in vienna never having had any success the first practical machine to see widescale used was created in 1829 by a tailor named bartolomy timonier who recruited auguste ferrand an engineer to help with patent drawings their patent was granted by the french government in july of 1830 timonier successfully negotiated a contract with france for the manufacture of army uniforms and opened the first machine based sewing factory with 80 machines however his factory was burned in an active arson allegedly by a group of tailors who feared their jobs would be replaced by the invention tamonia was inside when the fire began but escaped with his life but just as others before him his machine never fully caught on and he died in poverty in 1832 an american mechanic an inventor named walter hunt devised a working sewing machine but concerned with the welfare and success of seamstresses and tailors decided against filing the patent hunt did however go on to patent the safety pin the fountain pen a street car bell a coal-fired stove an ice boat an ice plow a street sweeping machine and an early repeating rifle design but it wasn't until 1844 that all these elements came together to create a truly practical machine and that came from englishman john fisher who in 1844 patented a machine for making lace that was very much like one that was created by isaac singer in 1851. importantly though while fischer's device earned a patent that patent was apparently either lost or misfiled by the patent office next was elias howe jr in massachusetts he had been apprenticed in a textile factory and later in the shop of a master mechanic where he latched onto the concept of making a sewing machine in 1846 his machine was the first to be patented with a lock stitch design and a needle with an eye at the point powered by a hand crank house spent a great deal of money on improvements in marketing but after failing to find investors in the united states his brother marketed the machine in london there william thomas a factory owner purchased one for 250 pounds how then traveled to london the further design in conjunction with thomas but after business disagreements and the failing health of his wife returned to the united states he was penniless not even able to afford the steerage to get home aboard the ship he served as cook to earn his way and became soon afterwards a widower it was learned that the sewing machine had proliferated with various patents for minor differences but he was unable to afford the court cases in defense of his own patent shortly after the death of hal's wife an american inventor named isaac singer was working in a machine shop in boston where sewing machines designed by a pair named blodget and laro were being repaired the shop owner asked singer if he could improve the machine because it was cumbersome to make and utilize singer's improvements a straight needle instead of a curved one and a linear shuttle instead of a circular one were memorialized in his patent number 8294 in august of 1851. it was about this time that house started borrowing money from friends and family in order to pursue court cases against all the companies that were manufacturing machines in violation of his patent including singer singer tried to argue that howe's design was not original because walter hunt had invented the machine previous to that but since hunt had never filed for his patent how won the dispute and earned the right to have royalties on all lock stitch machines that used eye pointed needles originally the royalties were twenty five dollars per machine and with the sewing machine adapting and proving so rapidly many other patent holders pursued legal cases in what has often been called the sewing machine war in october of 1856 the president of one sewing machine company grover and baker proposed a sort of legal truce he worked with several manufacturers including singer wheeler and wilson and alas howe to form the sewing machine combination or sewing machine trust the group pulled their patents and agreed to share the profits with how getting a reduced royalty of five dollars per machine sold in the united states and one dollar for every machine sold abroad this agreement allowed manufacturers to concentrate on production and sales not legal action it ended in 1877 when the last patent expired because how was paid per machine his royalty records allow us to know just how quickly sewing machine production grew in 1853 we learned wilson produced just shy of 800 machines by 1859 the number was 21 000 with the total for the seven years being almost 34 000 sewing machines singer produced slightly more than 800 machines in 1853 and about 11 000 in 1859 with a seven year total of over twenty three thousand in 1860 110 000 machines were made in the united states in 1860 the new york times chimed such are some of the important results accomplished by the sewing machines these lilliputian needle women that never become weary while performing the labor of human fingers every day extends their use into remoter parts of the country and of the world they are used in china in hindustan australia turkey africa south america and throughout europe in fact everywhere that busy needle is plied these tireless workers have found their way caring really for women's trembling hands and weary eyes the swift flying needle the best boon to a woman in the 19th century has already won many victories and soon the song of the shirt will be heard only in tradition of sufferings passed away but in all this growth one company stood out and is still a household name today singer despite him to pay royalties built a flourishing business he invested in mass production with interchangeable parts making his machines less expensive to produce and introduced a smaller machine intended for home use edward clark singer's attorney and part owner of the company launched the concept of installation payments or higher purchase plans this allowed the machine to be used for income while still paying off the purchase according to one article singer said i don't care a damn for the invention the dimes or what i'm after he made many dimes at the time of his death in 1875 his company was one of the first american-based companies to be multinational and was profiting some 22 million dollars a year according to american science invention singer was the first to spend more than a million dollars on advertising the company's website currently claims to produce the first practical sewing machine in that by 1890 the company had 90 percent of the global market share isaac singer and elias howe both died multi-millionaires and the sewing machine went on to impact society in other ways firstly the industrialized garment industry allowed for cheaper clothing along the purchase of new clothing instead of repairing worn ones this freed-up time otherwise spent creating or maintaining a family's clothing prior to sewing machines the amount of time it took in experienced seamstress to create a gentleman's dress shirt by hand was 14 hours a frock coat would take 10 and a pair of pantaloons took five with a sewing machine the time was drastically reduced to between one and three hours per item the change allowed women to seek employment outside the home the machine also transformed industry more clothing could be produced more cheaply and the increased income for more workers increased demand the garment industry grew along with insulin industries like growing cotton manufacturing machines and parts and department stores to sell the products with the new industry however came new challenges of industrialization ready to wear clothing did not require specialized craftsmen and textile industry needed a huge quantity of employees in factories with the sewing machine and the use of assembly line techniques unskilled labor could be utilized by textile companies to make clothing even less expensive although oftentimes creating unsafe working conditions for underpaid workers the most well known of these instances was the triangle shirtwaist factory in manhattan new york on saturday march 25th 1911 a fire started on the 8th floor of the ash building where the triangle shirtwaist factory manufactured women's blouses on the top three floors of the 10 story building the 8th and 10th floors had telephone connection and were alerted to the fire but the 9th did not adding insult to injury the exits were locked to prevent employees from sneaking breaks or stealing clothing the managers could check purses since all employees exited through one set of doors and with the fire blocking the only open stairwell many resorted to jumping from the windows to escape the flames the death toll in the day was 146 garment workers only 23 of whom were men the tragedy of that day led to many legislative reforms and creation of new organizations the american society of safety professionals was formed to help create industry standards for occupational safety and health new york state legislature formed the factory investigating commission to prevent hazards and loss of life their investigations led the creation of 38 new labor laws in new york the impact of the invention of the sewing machine was truly profound it changed economies it changed industries it changed women's roles in industry it changed the way that we regulate industry but it also powerfully impacted culture things like department stores and advertising and consumer culture were powerfully impacted by sewing machines which were among the first industrialized items to be marketed directly towards women the introduction of electric sewing machines which were first available in 1889 but became much more available after the first world war was part of what spurred the demand to have electricity in homes with factories spewing out clothing fashions changed much more quickly and clothing didn't have to last as long and new stores were created or stores were transformed entire industries were transformed in order to showcase those fashions in other industries like interior design think about things like drapes or furniture or the interior of automobiles were also revolutionized by the invention according to time magazine mahatma gandhi who was a man famous for simplicity said that the sewing machine is one of the few useful things ever to have been invented i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets of forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 258,317

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, sew, sewing machine, invention

Id: 3144SpUGbng

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 31 2020