$235
Wood Sewing Machine Model, prototype (? ), with slim birch arm, thread holder, stitch plate and mahogany base on tapering feet, wd. 15 in. Provenance: Elias Howe Homestead, Ware, Massachusetts. In 1846 Elias Howe patented his design for a lockstitch sewing machine capable of sewing 250 straight stitches a minute (which he famously demonstrated in a challenge against five seamstresses in Quincy Hall Clothing Manufactury, Boston). Each machine was hand-tooled and would have cost around $300, compared to $125 for a machine from Isaac Singer; additionally, Howe's machine could not accomplish curved stitching, which had to be finished by hand. Clearly, the design was not ideal. After a protracted legal battle between Howe and Singer (and others), the first U.S. patent pool was formed with the Sewing Machine Combination in 1856: the resultant design incorporated the major elements of several different inventions, including Howe's eye-pointed needle and shuttle combination. The pool was finally dissolved ten years after Howe's death in 1867. The model offered here bears a strong resemblance to Howe sewing machines produced in the Stockwell Brothers factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1865 onwards.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2004-09-11
