“When the Grim Reaper sweeps through, we have a brush with death.”
Sewing MachineIn 1790, Thomas Saint, a London cabinet maker, patented possibly the first sewing machine, fitted with an awl that makes a hole in leather and allows a needle to pass through it. This machine made a chain stitch with a tambour-type needle to produce a mechanical crochet or chain stitch. No evidence exists that Saint produced a single machine, and those who in the 1880's followed his patent specifications failed. An earlier English patent (24 Jun 1755) by German mechanic, Charles Weisenthal, had described a two-pointed needle for mechanical sewing, but there was no mention of a machine to go with it.Image: Wilcox-Gibbs sewing machine, c.1890. |
