Object HST.000051, Division of the History of Science and Technology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Photo courtesy of Professor Thomas Lentz. Singer introduced this model to the national market near the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, and continued producing it until 1902. We have in the collection a beautiful hand-cranked Singer Model 12 sewing machine made in 1885, at the company’s factory in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He pioneered the use of the installment plan, in order to allow more consumers to afford his costly prices of $75 and up. Singer was awarded 20 additional patents, built lavish showrooms, and spent millions of dollars on advertising. Elias Howe’s patent model from 1846, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The two men ultimately came to a compromise, with Singer paying a royalty to Howe, and the Singer company became the world’s largest sewing machine manufacturer by 1860. Singer (1811-1875), who patented the first rigid-arm sewing machine. This model of Barthelemy Thimonnier’s revolutionary sewing machine at the Musée des arts et métiers may be the original patent model.Įlias Howe (1819-1867) of Massachusetts was awarded one of the first United States patents for a sewing machine in 1846, but he could not find investors, and his patent was infringed upon by other entrepreneurs. The French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier (1793-1857) patented the first practical sewing machine in 1830, and this machine was used to sew army uniforms until a mob of tailors destroyed the inventor’s factory. The sewing machine has had a pretty long history, although nothing compared to the thousands of years for which humans have been sewing manually. The British inventor Thomas Saint produced the first workable sewing machine in 1790, but it did not advance beyond a patent model. These include two beautiful sewing machines – one of which came from the Yale Department of Physics – and a “linen prover” microscope. We have at least a few interesting Victorian apparatus for sewing and textile making in the collection. On the right is our Singer sewing machine from 1885 (object HST.000051). On the left, is the Singer sewing machine which Julia Holz’s grandmother bought in the 1940s, and which Julia still uses today. I most recently had a reason to pull out our sewing machines for Julia Holz, a Master’s student in East Asian Studies who is still using the Singer sewing machine which her grandmother bought during the 1940’s! You can see it below on the left, communing with our Singer sewing machine from 1885. When people see them, they often stop and reminisce about the antique machines which their own relatives used – or which they are still using to this very day. Sewing machines have proved to be highly evocative objects, among the diverse historical technologies in our collection.
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