In April 1845
Elias Howe of Cambridge, Massachusetts, invented the
lockstitch sewing machine, and was awarded the first U.S. patent for a lockstitch sewing machine (No. 4750) on September 10, 1846. Howe's sewing machine contained the three essential features common to most sewing machines: a needle with the eye at the point, a shuttle operating beneath the cloth to form the lock stitch, and an automatic feed.
Besides the patent, this entry illustrates the catalogue that the Howe Company published for the 1876
Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia, the first World's Fair in the United States.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
The catalogue illustrated an extensive series of fancy sewing tables and cases for the machine, all built out of various fancy hardwoods and inlays. When the machine was powered by pumping a pedal rather than a handcrank, it could not be sold without a table and the power mechanism.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
This cabinet-size photograph shows a senior tailor using a Howe sewing machine from about 1870, presumably at one of the sewing tables supplied with the machine by Howes. It is unusual for capturing a group of men working at various tasks. Only one of the tailors (second to the left) was caught slightly in motion.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
Decorative back of the cabinet photograph of the tailors, including the senior tailor using an 1870 model Howes sewing machine. The photograph was taken and sold by P. Swanson in Thurso, Scotland, a coastal town in the Caithness area.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
Besides Howe's portrait this page opening illustrates the original sewing machine that Howe built and patented.
Jeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
The rear cover of the brochure illustrated the very ornate booth that the Howe company built for the exhibition.
Howe's patent drawing for his lockstitch sewing machine.
