Thomas saint sewing machine biography of michael
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This blog post continues the previous posts in which I searched for a machine for my friend Michael. Scroll on down to see the earlier posts.
After the green Dressmaker fiasco it finally dawned on me that I had an almost identical machine in my hoard that I had forgotten about.
A year ago I restored my MIL’s Singer 66 Red Head treadle and fell in love with the whole process of bringing an old machine back to life. I was beginning to read vintage sewing machine bulletin boards and was in search of another machine to play with. The Emdeko came my way at the Good Samaritan thrift shop, $15. I brought it home, opened it up and LO! It was pristine. I’m talking factory-fresh.
The fact that the exterior was immaculate and you could do your hair and makeup while looking into the chrome should have been a clue. Oiled it, put in a new needle, and it sewed perfectly. Built in zig-
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The sewing machine was invented in the early 1800’s by an Englishman named Thomas Saint. He was a cabinet maker who was looking for a way to make his job easier. He started experimenting with different types of machines that could stitch fabric together. After several years of experimentation, he finally came up with a machine that could stitch fabric tillsammans with a needle and thread. Many inventors in the US and europe worked on improvements to sewing machines throughout the 19th century.
Barthelemy Thimonnier worked in France and received a patent for his sewing machine invention in 1830. His patent was for a machine that used a hooked needle and one thread to form a chain stitch. This chain stitch could be unfastened without pulling on the fabric or breaking it. Using this technique his device was able to mass tillverka uniforms for the French army. However, French tailors who were making the clothes were unhappy with this new technology as it was perceived as stealing their jo
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IN Cornhill, Boston, thirty years ago, there was a shop for the manufacture and repair of nautical instruments and philosophical apparatus, kept by Ari Davis. Mr. Davis was a very ingenious mechanic, who had invented a successful dovetailing machine, much spoken of at the time, when inventions were not as numerous as they are now. Being thus a noted man in his calling, he gave way to the foible of affecting an oddity of dress and deportment. It pleased him to say extravagant and nonsensical things, and to go about singing, and to attract attention by unusual garments. Nevertheless, being a really skilful mechanic, he was frequently consulted by the inventors and improvers of machinery, to whom he sometimes gave a valuable suggestion.
In the year 1839, two men in Boston — one a mechanic, and the other a capitalist — were striving to produce a knitting-machine, which proved to be a task beyond their strength. When the inventor was at his wit’s end, his capitalist brought the machine