Researched
Sewing Machine
Howe's lockstitch machine (1846) and Singer's practical version (1851) cut a dress shirt from about 14 hours of hand sewing to about 75 minutes and start the ready-made clothing industry.
Open in the interactive tree →Thimonnier patented a chain-stitch machine in France in 1830; Elias Howe's patent of 1846 added the lockstitch, and Isaac Singer's patent of 1851 made the machine practical. Singer and the lawyer Edward Clark sold it with a hire-purchase plan, and in 1856 the leading makers pooled their patents in the Sewing Machine Combination. Singer's sales rose from 810 machines in 1853 to 262,316 in 1876, and clothing makers were the first buyers, producing the first ready-to-wear clothes and shoes.
Prerequisites
- Clothing & the Sewing Needle~120,000-40,000 years agoThe machine mechanises hand stitching with an eyed needle.
- Mechanized Textile Mills1764-1785Spinning and weaving were mechanised; sewing was the last hand step
- Machine Tools1775Needles, shuttles and gears need precisely machined metal parts
Sources
More in Manufacturing & Construction · Industrial Age
- Crucible Steel~1740
- Mechanized Textile Mills1764-1785
- Machine Tools1775
- Iron Bridge1779
- Puddling & Rolling Mills1783-84
- Centrifugal Governor1788
- Interchangeable Parts~1800–1850
- Jacquard Loom (Punched Cards)1804