In this installment of ‘Profiles in History,’ a young, sickly inventor creates a machine that ‘altered the course of contemporary civilization.’
An Important Move
Howe began an apprenticeship in a textile factory. An apprenticeship typically lasted seven years, but his was cut short when the country experienced the Panic of 1837. Now without a job, Howe moved again, this time to Boston.Supposedly, Howe got the idea for his creation while working at the machine shop. One day a customer presented their knitting machine invention to Howe’s boss. Looking at it, and apparently unimpressed, Davis told the customer he should make a sewing machine. Howe overheard the conversation, and when the customer responded that making such a machine wasn’t possible, Howe decided to take on the challenge.
As is often implied, Howe was not actually the inventor of the sewing machine. Several patents had already been issued by the U.S. Patent Office. The earliest was in 1790, the year America’s first patent law was passed. But no inventor had been able to make a practical sewing machine. This appears to have been common knowledge in the community of machinists and inventors, hence the reason Davis mentioned the possibility in the first place.
Howe tinkered with the idea in his spare time until his crippling disability left him without a job for two years. During this time his wife, Elizabeth, sewed for local families to help make ends meet. His wife’s efforts and his family’s dire straits forced him to resume work on the sewing machine in earnest.
A Working Prototype
By May 1845, Howe built what would become known as the lockstitch sewing machine. According to the Smithsonian Institution which houses the model that was presented with the machine’s patent application in 1846, “Howe’s model used a grooved and curved eye-pointed needle carried by a vibrating arm. The needle was provided with thread from a spool. Loops of thread from the needle were locked by a second thread carried by a shuttle, which moved through the loop by means of reciprocating drivers.”Howe used his machine to make several sets of clothes. He knew his invention was faster than sewing by hand—much faster—and that it could be his family’s way out of poverty. He just needed to showcase his invention’s capabilities. He contacted five local seamstresses, who were known for their fast sewing, and asked if they would join him for an exhibition: his machine against their hands. His lockstitch sewing machine beat the seamstresses handily.
London, Tragedy, and Lawsuits
Howe accepted a job with William Thomas, a local manufacturer of umbrellas, shoes, leather goods, and corsets. He joined the Londoner in 1847 with a focus on building a specialized sewing machine for corsets. The demand for his lockstitch sewing machines in England, however, proved no better than in America. He remained in Thomas’s employ for two years until he received word that Elizabeth was gravely ill. He sold all he had, including his machines and patents, to pay for his journey back home.Business Growth and Recognition
Howe didn’t sit on his laurels. He began his own sewing machine manufacturing business, building a factory on the Pequonnock River in 1863. It produced approximately 400 machines a day. During this time, the country had been embroiled in the Civil War for two years. Howe, now living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was the first in his town to enlist, though his health and age kept him from fighting. He nonetheless joined the 17th Connecticut Volunteers as a private.The portrait now hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Among those inventors are Charles Goodyear, Samuel Colt, and Samuel Morse. On the far right end of the painting sits Elias Howe, identified as the inventor of the sewing machine (though more accurately, the inventor of one that could be practically used).