Page 35 - JOA August 2020

Ward arm and platform
early free arm London 1877

what sort of mechanical sewing we do not know for a description of the
machine was not properly mentioned in his patent.
In 1790, once more in England, Thomas Saint really cracked it. Not
only did he patent a sewing machine but also he provided enough plans Top center, Ward Arm & Platform, London, England circa 1878.
so that a replica could be built and, once modified, stitch. British Patent Second row, from the left, J G Weir, London 1880. Midget, USA 1890,
No. 1764 was awarded to the London cabinetmaker. Due to other Muller No 6, Germany 1900, Raymond chain stitch, Canada 1873.
patents he filed dealing with leather, the patent was with “Glues & Bottom from the left, Starley Queen of Hearts, England, circa 1880.
Varnishes” and not discovered until 1873 when the British sewing L'Incomparable, Paris, France 1890.
machine pioneer, Newton Wilson, came across it while researching the
history of the sewing machine. Hold on I hear you shouting! What about America! Well at last we
In 1804 we go to France where Thomas Stone had patented a come to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
machine that we know little about. That must have been a good year as In 1818 John Knowles and his partner, John Adams Doge, made a
we have two other gentlemen on the scene, a James Henderson and a sewing machine and it really stitched! But there is a catch! The machine
canny Scotsman, Mr. Duncan, who had plans for an embroidery will only stitch a few inches of cloth before it has to be reset.
machine. Again, nothing has ever come to light about their machines. In 1826, Henry Lye of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, patented a
Around 1810, Balthasar Krems came up with a unique sewing sewing machine of sorts but fire destroyed the patent office and his
machine which he used to sew the seams of caps he was manufacturing. invention was lost, so we move on again.
His sewing machine was pedal operated and sewed a continuous-circular In 1829-30 the first real sewing machine that we know about was
chain-stitch. There is one of his machines at the Eifel museum in born in France. Barthelemy Thimonnier (I’m going to call him Bart as
Mayen, Germany, and another replica at the Deutsche Museum in it makes my head hurt spelling his name) took out a patent for a barbed
Munich. Because old Balthasar did needled to be used in his sewing
not patent his design we cannot be machine.
sure of the exact dates, but we do Starley Queen of Hearts Bart’s machine was not a hit with
know he was German, yavol! the French tailors. The machine,
Now we travel across the border made mainly of wood, actually
to the land of schnitzel and leder- worked. In fact it worked so well
hosen, Austria. The year is 1814, that he used them to sew uniforms
Napoleon is about to meet his for the French army.
Waterloo and Josef Madersperger, Before long Bart was sewing
a humble tailor is building the first away with dozens of machines,
of several machines. Although he taking work from the hungry
had been working on his machine tailors of Paris. We all know what
since 1807 it was not until 1815 Frenchmen are like when their
that he was granted patent rights. blood is up, Madame Guillotine was
He tried in vain for years to get his still warm from their revolution. In
machine right and in 1839 he 1831 it all came to a ahead in his
almost cracked it. In 1841 his workshop at Rue de Sevres where 80
machine was awarded a bronze of his wooden machines were busily
medal but he could not find a sewing away. The angry tailors
manufacturer produce it. Josef had gathered outside Bart’s premises,
invested every penny in his inven- stormed in and burnt the lot.
tion and spent his life working on it. However he was still making the Bart fled to England and sold his patents to a company in
same old mistake that many early pioneers made, which was trying to Manchester but never regained his former success. Although he had
make his machine copy the hand movement of sewing girls. made the first reasonable sewing machine it did not stop the old tailor
Eventually Josef gave his model away and a few years later, in 1850, ending up like his Austrian counterpart. Poor old Bart died in poverty
he died a pauper in the poor house in Vienna. He is still held by the in Amplepuis on the 5th of August 1857.
Germans as the inventor of the sewing machine.

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