needle used has the eye that is to receive the thread within a small distance, say an eighth of an inch, of its inner or pointed end, the other or outer end of the needle being held by an arm that vibrates on a pivot or joint pin, the curvature of the needle being such as to correspond with the length of the arm as its radius.

When the thread is carried through the cloth, which may be done to the distance of about three-fourths of an inch, the thread will be stretched above the curved needle, something in the manner of a bowstring, leaving a small open space between the two. A small shuttle, carrying a bobbin filled with silk or thread, is then made to pass entirely through this open space, between the needle and the thread which it carries; and when the shuttle is returned, which is done by means of a picker staff or shuttle-driver, the thread which was carried in by the needle is surrounded by that received from the shuttle; as the needle is drawn out, it forces that which was received from the shuttle into the body of the cloth; and as this operation is repeated, a seam is formed which has on

each side of the cloth the same appearance as that given by stitching, with this peculiarity, that the thread sewn on one side of the cloth is exclusively that which was given out by the needle, and the thread seen on the other side is exclusively that which was given out by the shuttle.

Thus, according to this arrangement, a stitch is made at every back and forth movement of the shuttle. The two thicknesses of cloth that are to be sewed, are held upon pointed wires, which project out from a metallic plate, like the teeth of a comb, but at a considerable distance from each other, say three-fourths of an inch, more or less,—these pointed wires sustaining the cloth, and answering the purpose of ordinary basting. The metallic plate from which these wires project has numerous holes through it, which answer the purpose of rack teeth in enabling the plate to move forward, by means of a pinion, as the stitches are taken. The distance to which the said plate is moved, and, consequently, the length of the stitches, may be regulated at pleasure.

One of the most formidable of Mr.

Howe's competitors, as a successful inventor and manufacturer, was Mr. I. M. Singer. His biographer speaks of him as a mechanic of some ingenuity but of small means, who, taking up with a casual suggestion made to him by a comrade, that a sewing-machine capable of doing a greater variety of work would be a profitable thing, ceased all other labor, and, borrowing forty or fifty dollars of his friend Mr. Zieber, applied himself unremittingly to the accomplishment of his task. He worked, as he states, day and night, sleeping but three or four hours out of the twenty-four, and eating generally but once a day, knowing that he must get a machine made for forty dollars, or not get it at all. The machine was completed the night of the eleventh day from the day it was commenced. About nine o'clock that evening the parts of the machine were finally put together, and a trial commenced with it. The first attempt to sew was unsuccessful, and the workmen, who were tired out with almost unremitting work, left him one by one, intimating that the thing was a failure. Singer continued, however, trying the machine, with Zieber to hold the lamp for him; but, in the nervous condition to which he had become reduced by incessant toil and anxiety, was unsuccessful in getting the machine to sew tight stitches. About midnight, Singer started for the hotel where he then boarded, accompanied by Zieber. Upon the way, they sat down on a pile of boards, and Zieber asked Singer if he had noticed that the loose loops of thread on the upper side of the cloth came from the needle. It then flashed upon Singer's mind that he had forgotten to adjust the tension upon the needle thread! They both started for the shop again. Singer adjusted the tension, tried the machine, and sewed five stitches perfectly, when the thread broke. The perfection of those stitches, however, satisfied him that the machine was a success, and he therefore stopped work, went to the hotel, and had a sound sleep. By three o'clock the next day, he had the machine finished, and started with it to

New York, taking immediate steps to secure a patent. It brought him, in a few years, princely wealth. The peculiarity of this machine is the chain stitch or single thread device, but with the employment of an eye-pointed needle, and other appliances, so as to make it admirably adapted for the general purposes of sewing. On a similar principle are the Ladd and Webster, and Finkle and Lyon, machines.

Other improvements or modifications of the machine have been patented by Messrs. Grover & Baker, Blodgett, Lerow, Wilson, Morey, Johnson, Chapin, Gibbs, Leavitt, Watson, Clark, Weed, Arnold, McKay, Langdon, and others, but which can only be alluded to here. The principle of the double-thread self-regulating machine brought forward by Mr. Martin, stopping whenever the thread breaks or a loop is missed, is claimed by several parties. A number of the machines patented after Howe's, use needles of a different kind from his, but produce the same stitch; most of these instruments are equally correct in respect to mechanical principles, but differ widely in certain particulars, one being vertical and the other horizontal, one carrying its own cloth and another requiring that it should be carried by hand; with other differences.

But one of the most ingenious and original devices in this line remains to be mentioned, namely, a combination of the sewing-machine and the melodeon, by Wheeler and Wilson, and by them exhibited, on its completion, to an admiring public. The apparatus had the appearance, externally, of a small parlor sideboard or other similar piece of furniture. On lifting the front, there was seen a handsome set of piano keys. On closing it, and turning back a hoop on the top, there opened to the view a complete sewing-machine, conveniently arranged. Concealed below, within side doors, were two pedals, one for the music, the other for the sewing-machine. Thus, by the use of one of these ingenious contrivances, when the lady operating the machine became tired of playing at sewing, she

Though at first looked upon as of doubtful utility, the value of the sewing-machine was in a short time abundantly demonstrated. Curiosity and doubt were succeeded by admiration, and soon the demand became extensive both at home and abroad, until, at the present time, the annual production of machines is thought to approximate to half a million. Active minds were also not slow to devise what they deemed to be improvements in the machine and its appurtenances; and to this end, the number of patent-claims filed up to the present time does not vary much from one thousand, though only an extremely small proportion of these are of any really practical importance.

Such a revolution in the processes and results of national industry as that effected by this machine could have entered into no man's mind—not even the mind of one given to the wildest romancing. Thus, in the brief period of some dozen years merely, from the time of the introduction of the machine to the public, the value and practical results of the invention may be understood from the following facts, which appeared in evidence in the contest before the commissioner of patents, for the extension of Howe's patent-namely:

At that time, the amount of the boot and shoe business of Massachusetts was fiftyfive million dollars annually, and of this amount, the ladies' and misses' gaiterboots and shoes involved one-half. About one-eleventh of the sum total above named was paid for sewing labor. From this proportion it appeared that the annual expenditure for sewing upon ladies' and misses' gaiter-boots and shoes was two and a half million dollars, and that it would have cost four times as much if done by hand, so that the saving in a single year, in one state, by this invention, in the man

Similarly conclusive evidence was given in regard to the making of shirts, by an extensive manufacturer in Connecticut, who stated that his factory turned out about eight hundred dozen per week; that he used four hundred sewing-machines, and that one machine, with an attendant, would do the work of five hand-sewers at least, and do it better. He paid, at least, four dollars per week; but, reckoning it at three dollars, the old price for sewing before machines were introduced, showed a saving, in this single manufactory, of two hundred and forty thousand dollars. Allowing, then, the males of the United States, at that time, to wear out two shirts a year apiece, a proportional saving would amount to the large sum of between eleven and twelve million dollars annually, in making the single article of shirts.

it

Another witness, representing the firm of Brooks Brothers, of New York city, manufacturers of clothing, stated that that house alone did a business, at the period named, of over a million dollars annually, using twenty machines in the store, besides patronizing those that others used, and doing about three-fourths of all their sewing by machines, and paying annually for sewing labor about two hundred thousand dollars; seventy-five thousand dollars of this was saved by machines,—that is, the machines saved seventy-five thousand dollars on every two hundred thousand paid for sewing labor. But the great manufactures of this house did not constitute, at most, but one-hundredth part of the machine-made clothing produced in that city; which fact, putting the proportion at one-hundredth part, made the business of manufacturing machine clothing in the city of New York one hundred million dollars per annum; and thus, at the rate paid by that house for sewing, it brought the cost of sewing in that branch of the business in that city, even with the assistance of the sewing-machines,-up to twenty million dollars. Applying the

branch of business in the United States, the total would reach the sum of seventyfive million dollars. All this, be it remem

the machine. Its pecuniary importance,

as a labor agent, is now estimated to reach $500,000,000 annually.