Patent Models: Textile and Sewing Machines - Introduction
For much of the nineteenth century, inventors submitted a model with their patent application to the United States Patent Office. The National Museum of American History’s patent model collection began with the acquisition of 284 models from the Patent Office in June 1908, and reached more than 1,000 models by the end of that summer. In 1926, Congress decided to dispense with the stored collection of models and gave the Smithsonian Institution the opportunity to collect any models it wanted. Today, the Museum’s collection exceeds 10,000 patent models dating from 1836 to 1910.
The Museum’s Textile Collection contains over four thousand patent models. The collection includes many examples of carding machines, spinning machines, knitting machines, rope making machines, looms, baskets, carpets, fabrics, and sewing machines. Even the simple clothespin is well represented, with 41 patent models.
This sampling of patent models from the Textile Collection describes the two major groupings, textile machinery and sewing machines. In both groups, the examination of the models begins with the earliest of the inventions. In this early group of patent models, the textile machinery models date from 1837 to 1840, and the sewing machine models from 1842 to 1854.
For more information about the Museum’s patent model collection, see Patent Model Index, Guide to the Collections of the National Museum of American History.
"Patent Models: Textile and Sewing Machines - Introduction" showing 41 items.
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1838 Kimball's Patent Model of a Loom Let-Off and Take-Up
- Description
- Take-Up and Let-Off for Power Looms Patent Model
- Patent No. 758, issued May 30, 1838
- Stephen Kimball of Putney, Vermont
- Kimball’s patent refers to the application of friction to the yarn beam of a power loom. This was accomplished by using a belt, made of steel or iron, which formed nearly a circle around the warp beam. Friction was created by adjusting a screw that caused the circular belt to contract or expand in turn, to increase or decrease the drag on the beam. An elliptical spring eased the movement of the beam within the belt and helped maintain the evenness of the cloth.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1838-05-30
- patent date
- 1838-05-30
- inventor
- Kimball, Stephen
- ID Number
- TE*T11412.002
- catalog number
- T11412.002
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 758
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1838 Angell's Patent Model of a Loom Temple
- Description
- Loom Temple Patent Model
- Patent No. 987, issued October 19, 1838
- Emory A. Angell of Killingly, Connecticut
- In his patent specification, Angell stated that “this temple is of the kind which holds the selvage of the cloth between jaws, which are opened by the beat of the lathe, and is in many respects similar to such as have been long in use.” He claimed, as his invention, the way in which the upper and lower jaws were connected by pins to form the hinge-joints.
- On the original wrapper containing the patent application papers is a faint handwritten note “see Saml. P. Mason’s Temple July 1837.” In the process of checking Angell’s patent, Charles M. Keller, the patent examiner, probably wrote that notation but found no conflict with the Mason patent and thus granted Angell his patent.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1838-10-19
- patent date
- 1838-10-19
- inventor
- Angell, Emory A.
- ID Number
- TE*T11414.013
- catalog number
- T11414.013
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 987
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1837 Thorp's Patent Model of a Loom Shuttle Tongue
- Description
- Loom Shuttle Tongues Patent Model
- Patent No. 162, issued April 17, 1837
- Comfort B. Thorp of Smithfield, Rhode Island
- Comfort Thorp, the younger brother of textile machinery inventor John Thorp, worked for Thomas and William Fletcher in their mill near North Providence. His patent improved the method of securing and holding the cop, or yarn cylinder, on the common power loom shuttle, preventing slips that would waste yarn and cause imperfections in the woven cloth.
- The patent model he submitted contained two types of tongues. One used a common round tongue with wire spiraled around it. The other consisted of a tongue with ridges or notches similar to the teeth of a saw blade. The two loom shuttle tongues were neatly exhibited in a box, probably to keep them from being separated or lost in the cases at the Patent Office.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1837-04-17
- patent date
- 1837-04-17
- inventor
- Thorp, Comfort B.
- ID Number
- TE*T11418.002
- catalog number
- T11418.002
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 162
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1840 Baldwin's Patent Model of a Loom Shuttle
- Description
- Loom Shuttle Patent Model
- Patent No. 1,485, issued on January 31, 1840
- James Baldwin of Nashua, New Hampshire
- Baldwin’s patent consisted of a steel spring and catch made in one piece that fits inside the wooden bobbin. In his patent specification, he claimed this avoided the expense of separate catches and springs that were in the common shuttle as then in use. The arrangement and construction of the spring and catch were such that pushing the bobbin down on the spindle and into the mouth of the shuttle secured the bobbin on the catch. By pulling up on the bobbin, the head of the spindle pushed down on the spring, which in turn disengaged the catch and released the bobbin. These improvements make it easier for the bobbin changer to replenish the shuttle with thread.
- An earlier notice of Baldwin’s loom shuttle appears in the Journal of the American Institute. In 1838, at the eleventh Annual Fair of the American Institute, James and E. Baldwin were awarded a diploma for an improved loom shuttle. On May 3, 1859, James Baldwin was successful in having the shuttle awarded Reissue Patent No. 710.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1840-01-31
- patent date
- 1840-01-31
- inventor
- Baldwin, James
- ID Number
- TE*T11418.011
- catalog number
- T11418.011
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 1,485
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1838 Mason's Patent Model of a Speeder for Roving Cotton
- Description
- Speeder for Roving Cotton Patent Model
- Patent No. 724, issued May 4, 1838
- William Mason of Taunton, Massachusetts
- In 1837, William Mason, who was employed by Crocker and Richmond, developed a speeder (a machine used in cotton yarn spinning) to replace the one that had been invented by George Danforth in 1824.
- Mason’s patent consisted of two parts: the method of removing the full spindle and the centrifugal levers. In 1839, the editor of the Journal of the Franklin Institute stated of the first that it was “ingenious, and manifestly good.” Of the second part, he explained that “by their weight at their outer ends, these levers expanded by the centrifugal force, with a power proportioned to their velocity, causing their inner ends to press upon the spools, and laying the yarn hard and compact upon them; and consequently, admitting of a very high degree of speed.” Although Mason was granted Patent No. 724 for his improvements, it proved difficult to thread and to remove the bobbins.
- Earlier in his career, Mason had devised a loom for weaving diaper cloth and another loom for weaving damask tablecloths. In 1833, he succeeded in perfecting John Thorp’s ring frame to the point where it was later used extensively in the textile industry. He also invented a self-acting cotton spinning machine (Patent No. 1,801, issued October 8, 1840), which for that period was a successful alternative to the contemporary ring spinning machine.
- Mason, with the financial backing of Boston merchant James Kellog Mills, established a machine shop in 1842 called William Mason and Company. Business prospered and in 1845 new buildings were constructed. At that time, Mason’s Taunton shop was considered the largest machine shop in the United States. The shop was particularly successful in manufacturing cotton machinery, as well as machine tools, cupola furnaces, blowers, rifles, Campbell printing presses, gears, and shafts.
- Mason found new fame in 1852 when he began building locomotives, the first of which was finished in 1853. His locomotives found wide acceptance for the beauty of design and technical excellence. Mason was a pioneer inventor and manufacturer whose ideas, manufacturing methods, and products had a profound influence on American technology.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1838-05-04
- patent date
- 1838-05-04
- inventor
- Mason, William
- ID Number
- TE*T11421.043
- accession number
- 89797
- catalog number
- T11421.043
- patent number
- 000724
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1838 Fairman's Patent Model of a Loom
- Description
- Power Loom Patent Model
- Patent No. 595, issued February 6, 1838
- Elijah Fairman of Stafford, Connecticut
- Fairman’s improvements, consisting of an additional cam and a set of treadles, were applied to power looms in common use. His improvements allowed the harnesses to operate more smoothly and the warp to open, enabling the shuttle to pass more easily. The end result was that the loom was better suited to weaving either light or heavy fabrics. Six pages and three illustrations in Clinton Gilroy’s 1844 book, The Art of Weaving, are spent in describing Fairman’s patent. Gilroy commented that Fairman’s loom would probably work fine for simple weaves, but for fancy patterned work, requiring 10 to 100 heddle frames, it would be totally impractical.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1838-02-06
- patent date
- 1838-02-06
- inventor
- Fairman, Elijah
- ID Number
- TE*T11411.095
- accession number
- 89797
- catalog number
- T11411.095
- patent number
- 595
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1854 Hunt's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine
- Description
- Sewing Machine Patent Model
- Patent No. 11,161, Issued June 27, 1854
- Walter Hunt of New York, New York
- Walter Hunt was born in rural Martinsburg, New York, on July 29, 1796. The nearby town of Lowville was the site of a textile mill where Hunt’s family worked. Hunt, adept at providing mechanical solutions to difficult problems, worked with the mill owner, Willis Hoskins, inventing and patenting improvements to the flax spinner in 1826. He traveled to New York City to raise capital for manufacturing the device.
- Hunt supported his family in New York by speculating in real estate, but his love of creativity was paramount. From 1829 to 1853 his inventions and patents included a knife sharpener; a rope making machine; a heating stove; a wood saw; a flexible spring; several machines for making nails; inkwells; a fountain pen; a bottle stopper; firearms; and a safety pin.
- In 1833, Hunt invented a sewing machine that used a lockstitch, but failed to patent it. The lockstitch used two threads, one passing through a loop in the other and then both interlocking. This was the first time an inventor had not mimicked a hand stitch. As Joseph N. Kane writes in Necessity’s Child: The Story of Walter Hunt, America’s Forgotten Inventor, “With nothing to serve as a basis or model, with no other machine from which parts could be obtained, he evolved a plan for mechanical sewing which was so revolutionary that had he even dared to suggest it before completion of his model he would have been scoffed at and regarded as insane.”
- Ten years later, manufacturers searched for ways to mechanize sewing, and inventors turned their energies to patenting improvements to sewing machines. On May 27, 1846, Elias Howe Jr. received Patent No. 4,750 for improvements to the sewing machine, claiming to have created the first machine to sew a lockstitch using two threads. When Howe began to sue manufacturers for royalties, Hunt’s previous work emerged as attorneys argued that Hunt’s invention preceded Howe’s and therefore Howe’s patent claims were invalid.
- On April 2, 1853, Hunt submitted his application for his 1834 sewing machine, as his invention preceded Howe’s machine. The Patent Office recognized Hunt’s precedence but it did not grant a patent to Hunt because he had not applied for one prior to Howe’s application. Hunt received public credit for his invention, but Howe’s patent remained valid because of a technicality.
- Later, Hunt was granted a patent for other improvements on the sewing machine. In Hunt’s patent specification for Patent No. 11,161, issued on June 27, 1854, he claimed: “Said improvements consist in the manner of feeding in of the cloth and regulating the length of the stitch solely by the vibrating motion of the needle; in a rotary table or platform, upon which the cloth is placed for sewing; in guides and gages for controlling the line of the seam.”
- Hunt noted that other sewing machines would jam because the material had to be pushed through the vibrating needle. He created a round rotating top that allowed the cloth to be fed through the needle at an even rate, eliminating the problem of jamming. As in the past, Hunt simply sold off the rights to the machine to others and did not capitalize on it, but he did prove that he had the mechanical ability and the creativity to improve upon the sewing machine.
- Hunt continued to invent and patent devices until his death in 1859. Several were patented: shirt collars, a reversible metallic heel for shoes, lamp improvements, and a new method for manufacturing shirt fronts, collars, and cuffs. Walter Hunt’s inventive nature was captured in the New York Tribune, which wrote at his death, “For more than forty years, he has been known as an experimenter in the arts. Whether in mechanical movements, chemistry, electricity or metallic compositions, he was always at home: and, probably in all, he has tried more experiments than any other inventor.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1854-06-27
- patent date
- 1854-06-27
- inventor
- Hunt, Walter
- ID Number
- TE*T07781
- catalog number
- T07781.000
- patent number
- 011161
- accession number
- 139439
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1852 Miller's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine
- Description
- Sewing Machine Patent Model
- Patent No. 9,139, issued July 20, 1852
- Charles Miller of St. Louis, Missouri
- At the time of his patent, Charles Miller lived in St. Louis, Missouri, an uncommon choice of residence for a sewing machine inventor. Most of the inventors, and subsequent manufacturers, were located in the northeastern United States, particularly New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
- In his patent specification, Miller states: “This invention relates to that description of sewing-machine which forms the stitch by the interlacing of two threads, one of which is passed through the cloth in the form of a loop, and the other carried by a shuttle through the said loop.” His claim continues by stating: “It consists, first, in an improved stop-motion, or certain means of preventing the feed or movement of the cloth when by accident the thread breaks or catches in the seam; and, second, in certain means of sewing or making a stitch similar to what is termed in hand-sewing ‘the back stitch.”
- According to Miller, his mechanism was different in that it passed the needle through the cloth in two places rather than in one, as was the case with other sewing machines of the time. His brass model is strikingly handsome, and engraved on the base of the model is “Charles Miller & J. A. Ross.” Usually when a second name is so prominently displayed on a model, it indicates a second inventor. However, no mention is made of Ross in the patent specification. Interestingly, Jonathan A. Ross turns up the following year at the 1853 New York Exhibition, exhibiting a sewing machine, and is listed in the catalogue as a sewing machine manufacturer from St. Louis, Missouri.
- Miller is perhaps best known for an invention some two years later. It was the first sewing machine patented to stitch buttonholes (Patent No. 10,609, issued March 7, 1854). In his patent specification, Miller describes the three different stitches, “button-hole stitch, whip stitch or herring-bone stitch,” that can be mechanically sewn to finish the buttonhole.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1852-07-20
- patent date
- 1852-07-20
- inventor
- Miller, Charles
- ID Number
- TE*T06113
- catalog number
- T06113.000
- patent number
- 009139
- accession number
- 89797
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1852 Hodgkin's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine
- Description
- Sewing Machine Patent Model
- Patent No. 9,365, issued November 2, 1852
- Christopher Hodgkins of Boston, Massachusetts
- On his sewing machine patent model, Christopher Hodgkins made sure his model was well identified. On the base, “Hodgkins” was painted in bold gold letters, and a brass bed plate was stamped “Christopher Hodgkins.” In his patent specification, Hodgkins wrote “My machine sews with two needles working through the cloth in opposite directions, and the one being made to cross the path of the other. It performs a lock-stitch, the loops made by each thread being locked in the cloth by those of the other.”
- Hogkins assigned his patents (Patent No. 9,365, issued November 2, 1852; Patent No. 10,622, issued March 7, 1854; and Patent No. 10,879, issued May 9, 1854) to Nehemiah Hunt of Boston. In 1853, N. Hunt & Co. manufactured sewing machines based on Hodgkins’s patents. A year later, Hunt took a partner, and the company became Hunt and Webster.
- Ballou’s Pictorial, July 5, 1856, featured Hunt and Webster in an article. The illustration depicted Hunt and Webster sewing machines in an elegant exhibition and showroom in Boston. They noted that “ . . . the North American Shoe Company have over fifty of the latest improved machines now running . . . .”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1852-11-02
- patent date
- 1852-11-02
- inventor
- Hodgkins, Christopher
- ID Number
- TE*T08702
- catalog number
- T08702.000
- patent number
- 009365
- accession number
- 89797
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1852 Bradeen's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine
- Description
- Sewing Machine Patent Model
- Patent No. 9,380, issued on November 2, 1852
- John G. Bradeen of Boston, Massachusetts
- John G. Bradeen notes in his patent specification that his sewing machine operates and forms a similar stitch to that of Frederick R. Roberson’s sewing machine of December 10, 1850 (Patent No. 7,824.) Roberson’s machine sewed with a running stitch or basting stitch.
- The mechanisms of Bradeen’s patent model are mostly made of brass and the model sits on a simple wooden box. He furnished six pages of drawings depicting his improvements, whereas most sewing machine inventors limited their submissions to fewer drawings. Bradeen claims for his improvements “two rotating draft-hooks . . . separate from the needle, in combination with the two needles and two threads-guides; . . . the arrangement of each needle and its thread-guide, respectively, on opposite sides of the cloth . . . and the combination of the rocking thread-lifter or its equivalent with the needle and presser . . . .”
- It is not known if any sewing machines were manufactured based on Bradeen’s patent.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1852-11-02
- patent date
- 1852-11-02
- inventor
- Bradeen, John G.
- ID Number
- TE*T08634
- catalog number
- T08634.000
- patent number
- 009380
- accession number
- 89797
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center