Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/39

SEWING MACHINE. 25 SEWING MACHINE. the automatic feed and produced a lock-stitch by means of a shuttle operating on the opposite side of the cloth from the needle. Howe was for many years engaged in suits for infringement upon his patents. In these he was successful, and, unlike most of the earlier inventors, he received a large fortune from royalties. In 1849 John Bachelder patented a machine which was the first to combine the horizontal table and the continuous feed device. The latter consisted of an endless band of leather set on to small steel points. These points projected up through the table and. penetrating the material, carried it to the nceiUe. A. B. Wilson invented in 18.52 the vibrating double-beak shuttle, and in 18.54 the four-motion feed. The latter invention — the serrated metal bar covered with forward pointing saw teeth — is the familiar feed-plate now used on almost all machines. Tliis toothed bar (1) rises through a slot in the table. (2) moves horizontally for- ward to advance the cloth, (3) drops below the table, (4) moves horizontally back again to its starting point below the table. In 1851 Isaac JI. Singer patented a sewing macliine having a fixed, overhanging arm and a vertical needle. He also introduced the foot treadle, previous American machines having been operated by turning a crank with the hand. The most important invention which he contributed was the presser foot, with a yielding spring. There are two types of domestic sewing ma- chines: those making a lock-stitch and those producing a chain-stitch, or the double and single thread machine. Some double-thread machines produce a chain-stitch. Each type has its ad- herents among seamstresses. The lock-stitch re- sembles weaving in its formation, while the chain-stitch resembles knitting, and is easily raveled. According to the census for 1900, 90 per cent, of the macliines built for household use have the lock-stitch. Among the sewing machines for doing special kinds of work or work on special materials are the shoe and leather sewing machines, the carpet- sewing machine, and the button-hole machine. By far the most important of these, in practical results attained, is the shoe-sewing machine. The !McKay machine was the result of three years of patient labor and of an expenditure of over $130,000 before practical results were at- tained. In using this machine the inner sole is first placed on the last and then the upper is lasted and fastened to the inner sole. The otiter sole is then placed above the lower sole, to which it is tacked, and the shoe is placed on a horn or rotary support which brings the shoe up to the needle of the machine. A waxed thread wound on a spool is contained on a spool within the horn and is carried up to the whirl or small ring at its upper end. where there is an opening for the needle, which comes down from above, piercing the sole. The waxed thread, which is kept soft by the heat of a lamp, is caught by a barb or hook on the needle as it descends through the hole, and is pulled back through the sole on its upward passage. This machine attended by a single operator can sew 900 pairs of shoes in a day of ten hours, while a usual rate by an aver- age workman is from 500 to 600 pairs in a simi- lar time. It was used extensively both in the I'nited States and in Europe, btit it possessed the disadvantage that the shoes, though strong an<l comfortable when first made, could not be resoled except by pegging or nailing, and pos- sessed in addition soles stifl' and lacking in llexibility. In the Goodyear welt machine, for which patents were granted in 1871 and 1875, a welt was sew-ed to an upper and this welt in turn was fastened by an e.xtcrnal row of stitches to the sole. Shoes made in this way were much more ficxiblc and could be half- soled by the shoemaker by the ordinary process of hand sewing. This machine at once found application to the manufacture of fine boots and shoes, and on it at the present time are made nearly all of the finer grades of men's shoes. The first machine for sewing leather and other heavy materials was patented by J. J. Grecnough in 1842, but did not come into extended use. The following year a similar machine was patented by George H. Corliss, the inventor of the Corliss engine. It had two needles with eyes near their points, which worked horizontally through holes previously punctured b}- awls. The movements were derived from cams on a revolving shaft and the feed was automatic. Leather-sewing ma- chines are now used in all branches of the leather industiy, including the sewing of the uppers of shoes and the different kinds of stitching re- quired in the manufacture of gloves. A button-hole niachiiie was first patented by Humphrey in 1802. but the Reece buttonhole machine, patented iiearl}' twenty j'ears later, first brought the art of making button-holes by ma- chinery to its present state of perfection. There are several styles of these machines now on the market and a button-hole attachment is sold with ordinary sewing machines. An invention patented in 1894 is a machine for sewing the breadths of carpeting. It differs from other sewing machines in that it, and not the material, moves along as the process of sew- ing advances. In the manufacture of sewing machines Amer- ica leads the world. Xot only are great numbers of machines exported, but several of the leading manufacturers have branch factories in Europe. St.tistk',s. The value of the export trade of the X'nited States in sewing machines for the last ten vears of the nineteenth centurv w-as as fol- lows': 1891, $2,883,577; 1892, .'(!3,l'33,992 ; 1893, .$2,476,446; 1894, $2..347,.354 ; 1895. .$2,260,139; 1896. .$3,139,249; 1897, $3,340,241; 1899, $3,136,- 364; 1899. .$3,264,344; 1900, .$4,541,774. Accord- ing to the I'nited States Census for 1900 there are 65 establishments in this country engaged in the manufacture of sewing machines. These fac- tories have a combined capital of $20,072,800, and the value of their annual product is .$21,129,- 561. This product includes 7-t7.587 machines for household use and 55.227 machines for use in factories. In 1800. when statistics of the indus- try were first collected, there were 88 factories. or 23 more than in 1900; but the total amount of capital invested was only $1,404,450. and the an- nual product was $4,40,3.206. The popularity of this industry seems to have been at its height in 1880. when 124 factories were in operation. This is accounted for by the fact that in 1877 the dis- organization of the sewing-machine combination, which controlled patents covering several of the essential features of the sewing machine, was effected, and thus the field was opened to nu- merous small manufacturers. Consult: Section on "Sewing Machines," Twelfth Census of tht