Sewing Definitions — stitches, seams, quilting and sewing terms from Apparel Search
A sewing machine is a mechanical or electrical device that joins fabric using thread, in a manner similar to manual sewing. Sewing machines make a stitch called a sewing-machine stitch, usually using two threads, although machines exist that stitch using one, three, four or more threads. Most home sewing machines, like many industrial machines, use the two-thread lockstitch. Machines include means for gripping, supporting and conveying the fabric past the needle to form the stitch pattern, and some can create embroidery-type stitches or move the fabric along a curved path under pattern control.
Sewing machines can make a great variety of plain or patterned stitches. They include means for gripping, supporting, and conveying the fabric past the sewing needle to form the stitch pattern. Most home sewing machines, as with many industrial machines, use a two thread stitch called the lockstitch. Some other common machine types are chain stitch machines and sergers.
The fabric shifting mechanism may be a simple workguide or may be pattern-controlled (e.g., jacquard type). Some machines can create embroidery-type stitches. Some have a work holder frame. Some have a workfeeder that can move along a curved path, while others have a workfeeder with a work clamp.
History of the sewing machine
The first known attempt at a mechanical device for sewing was by the German born Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal, who was working in England. He was awarded British Patent No. 701 in 1755 for a double pointed needle with an eye at one end. This needle was designed to be passed through the cloth by a pair of mechanical fingers and grasped on the other side by a second pair. This method of recreating the hand sewing method suffered from the problem of the needle going right through the fabric, meaning the full length of the thread had to do so as well. The mechanical limitations meant that the thread had to be kept short, needing frequent stops to renew the supply.
In 1790 British Patent No. 1764 was awarded
to Thomas Saint, a cabinetmaker of London.
Due to several other patents dealing with
leather and products to treat leather, the
patent was filed under "Glues &
Varnishes" and was not discovered until
1873 by Mr. Newton Wilson. Wilson built
a replica to the patent's specifications
and it had to be heavily modified before
the machine would stitch
suggesting that Saint never actually made
a machine of his own. Saint's design had
the overhead arm for the needle and a form
of tensioning system, which was to become
a common feature of later machines.
There were various attempts and patents awarded for chain stitch machines of varying types from 1795-1830, none of which were used to any degree of success many of which didn't work correctly at all. A French tailor Barthelemy Thimonnier made the next major breakthrough. He did not try to replicate the human hand stitch, looking instead for a way of finding a stitch, which could be made quickly and easily by machine. His machine worked by using a horizontal arm mounted on a vertical reciprocating bar, the needle-bar projected from the end of the horizontal arm. The cloth was supported on a hollow, horizontal fixed arm, with a hole on the topside, which the needle projected through at the lowest part of its stroke. Inside the arm was a hook, which partly rotated at each stroke in order to wrap the thread (fed from the bobbin onto the hook) around the needle at each stroke. The needle then carried the thread back through the cloth with the upward motion of its stroke. This formed the chain stitch, which held the cloth together. The machine was powered by means of a foot pedal. The easiest way to describe this is to picture the machine working the wrong way round the stitch was formed on the top of the cloth, not the bottom as with most other chain stitch machine made since. Thimonnier was awarded a French patent in 1830 and 80 of these machines were installed in a factory in Paris to stitch Soldiers clothing. Unfortunately, other tailors concerned for their livelihood invaded the factory and smashed the machines.
Elias Howe patented his machine in 1846; using a similar method to Hunt's, except the fabric was held vertically. The major improvement he made was to put a groove in the needle running away from the point, starting from the eye. After a lengthy stint in England trying to attract interest for his machine he returned to America to find various people infringing his patent. He eventually won his case in 1854 and was awarded the right to claim royalties from the manufacturers using ideas covered in his patent.
Isaac Merritt Singer has become synonymous with the sewing machine. Trained as an engineer, he saw a rotary sewing machine being repaired in a Boston shop. He thought it to be clumsy and promptly set out to design a better one. His machine used a flying shuttle instead of a rotary one; the needle was mounted vertically and included a presser foot to hold the cloth in place. It had a fixed arm to hold the needle and included a basic tensioning system. This machine combined elements of Thimonnier's, Hunts and Howe's machines. He was granted an American Patent in 1851 and it was suggested he patent the foot pedal (or Treadle) used to power some of his machines, however it had been in use for too long for a patent to be issued. When Howe learned of Singer's machine he took him to court. Howe won and Singer was forced to pay a lump sum for all machines already produced. Singer then took out a license under Howe's patent and paid him $15 per machine. Singer then entered a joint partnership with a lawyer named Edward Clark, and they formed the first hire purchase scheme to allow people to afford their machines.
Meanwhile Mr. Allen Wilson had developed a reciprocating shuttle, which was an improvement over Singer's and Howe's. However, John Bradshaw had patented a similar device and was threatening to sue. Wilson decided to change tack and try a new method. He went into partnership with Nathaniel Wheeler to produce a machine with a rotary hook instead of a shuttle. This was far quieter and smoother than the other methods and the Wheeler and Wilson Company produced more machines in 1850s and 1860s than any other manufacturer. Wilson also invented the four-motion feed mechanism; this is still seen on every machine today. This had a forward, down, back, and up motion, which drew the cloth through in an even and smooth motion.
Through the 1850s more and more companies were being formed and were trying to sue each other. In 1856 the Sewing Machine Combination was formed, consisting of Singer, Howe, Wheeler and Wilson, and Grover and Baker. These four companies pooled their patents, meaning that all the other manufacturers had to obtain a license and pay $15 per machine. This lasted until 1877 when the last patent expired.
Sewing machines continued being made to roughly the same design, with more lavish decoration appearing until well into the 1900s when the first electric machines started to appear. At first these were standard machines with a motor strapped on the side. As more homes gained power, these became more popular and the motor was gradually introduced into the casing.
Modern machines are computer controlled and use stepper motors or sequential cams to achieve very complex patterns. Most of these are now made in Asia and the market is becoming more specialized, as fewer families own a sewing machine.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sewing_machine). 10/19/04 |
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Before a usable machine, everything was sewn by hand, and most early attempts failed because they tried to replicate the hand sewing method, passing a needle completely through the cloth and pulling the full length of thread after it. Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal's 1755 British patent was for a double-pointed needle to be passed between mechanical fingers, and Thomas Saint's 1790 patent, filed under glues and varnishes and only discovered in 1873, described an overhead needle arm and tensioning that later machines would use, although Saint may never have built a working machine. The breakthrough was to stop imitating the hand. A machine stitch could be formed from a loop: when a needle is pushed partly through fabric and withdrawn, it leaves a loop of thread, and the next stitch can pass through that loop, forming a chain.
Barthelemy Thimonnier built the first commercially used machine on that chain stitch principle, patented in France in 1830, and 80 of his machines were installed in a Paris factory to stitch soldiers' clothing before tailors fearing for their livelihood invaded the factory and smashed them. Chain stitch had one major drawback: it is very weak and the stitch can easily be pulled apart. The stitch suited to machine production was the lockstitch, created by two separate threads interlocking through the fabric so the stitch looks the same from both sides.
Walter Hunt developed the lockstitch machine first, in 1834, with an eye-pointed needle carrying the upper thread and a shuttle carrying the lower thread, but he did not patent it. Elias Howe patented a similar machine in 1846, adding a groove in the needle running from the eye, and after years of litigation won in 1854 the right to claim royalties. Isaac Merritt Singer, an engineer who saw a rotary machine being repaired in Boston and thought it clumsy, designed a machine with a flying shuttle, a vertical needle, a presser foot to hold the cloth and a basic tensioning system, patented in 1851. Howe sued and won; Singer paid a lump sum and then a licence fee of 15 dollars per machine, and with his partner Edward Clark formed the first hire purchase scheme, letting households buy machines in instalments. Allen Wilson contributed the rotary hook and the four-motion feed mechanism, forward, down, back and up, which drew cloth through in an even motion and is still seen on every machine today.
The competing patents produced the Sewing Machine Combination of 1856, in which Singer, Howe, Wheeler and Wilson, and Grover and Baker pooled their patents and licensed all other manufacturers at 15 dollars per machine until the last patent expired in 1877. Machines continued to be made to roughly the same design, with more lavish decoration, until the first electric machines appeared in the early 1900s, first as standard machines with a motor strapped on the side and then with the motor built into the casing. Modern machines are computer controlled, using stepper motors or sequential cams to achieve complex patterns and embroidery stitches, and most are now made in Asia. The lockstitch at the heart of the machine, however, is Hunt's and Howe's stitch, unchanged in principle: two threads, locked in the fabric, at speeds no hand can approach.
A sewing machine is a mechanical or electrical device that joins fabric using thread. It forms a sewing-machine stitch, usually the two-thread lockstitch, and conveys the fabric past the needle to form the stitch pattern.
Walter Hunt first developed a lockstitch machine in 1834 but did not patent it. Elias Howe patented his machine in 1846 and won royalties from manufacturers; Isaac Singer's 1851 machine added a vertical needle, presser foot and tensioning system.
Formed in 1856, the Sewing Machine Combination pooled the patents of Singer, Howe, Wheeler and Wilson, and Grover and Baker. Other manufacturers had to obtain a licence and pay 15 dollars per machine until the last patent expired in 1877.