WEBVTT - Techstuff Classic: The Sewing Machine 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:13.920 Stuff works dot com. Hey guys, welcome to Tech Stuff. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.920 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and today is another Saturday 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:20.119 morning rerun episode where we take a classic episode of 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.639 tech Stuff and we play it for you in case 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:24.280 you didn't have a chance to listen to it when 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:26.759 it originally aired. I mean, this show has been going 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.560 on for ten years, so I know not everybody can 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.479 do a deep dive into the archives, and this one 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.360 I think is really really exciting. Now. Throughout the history 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:38.760 of tech Stuff, I've had the opportunity to have lots 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.159 of different interesting guests on the show, including other hosts 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.920 of How Stuff Work shows, And in this episode, Holly Fry, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.479 one of the co hosts of Stuff You Missed in 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.400 History Class, joined the show to talk about an enormous 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.920 patent war and and not talking about Samsung and Apple, 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.920 I'm talking about sewing machines. Yep, the Humble sewing machine 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.919 was the centerpiece of a patent war that got pretty ugly, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.240 and Holly and I talked not just about that, but 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:12.399 about the technology and its cultural impact. This episode originally 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:16.039 published on October thirteenth, two thousand and fourteen. I hope 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.839 you enjoy this classic episode of tech Stuff. So before 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.959 we jump into the sordid history of the sewing machine, 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.200 I thought I would remind folks what a patent is. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.200 What's all about. So patents are that's a set of 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.039 exclusive rights granted by government some form of agency that 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.840 has authority to an inventor or an assignee for the 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.840 use of an invention. Now, an invention does not have 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.200 to be a complete thing all by itself. It could 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:46.440 be a component of a thing, like if you were 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:52.880 to have a full invention. Let's say it's a washing machine, 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.240 because we've done a tech Stuff episode about washing machines, 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:57.840 and you come up with a way to improve washing 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.720 machines so that they wash clothes uh more thoroughly or 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.400 without as much bashing around, so the clothing doesn't take 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.200 as much of a beating. And you come up with 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.280 that that improvement, and then you patent it. You can 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.680 do that, that's perfectly acceptable, and then any washing machine 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.040 that would use that particular improvement would have to either 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 have been made by you or have received your permission 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.959 to use that specific technology. Yes, so patents can be 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.920 for a full invention with all the different components, or 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.919 it can be just a tiny little thing that's an improvement. 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.519 The point of it is the reason why you would 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.520 want to patent it is that you get those exclusive 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.760 rights to use that technology. Now, in return for that, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.280 you have to disclose how that technology works. You submit 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.440 a patent application that has a full description of the 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.919 mechanism and the purpose of your invention, and that becomes 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:58.040 publicly available, and once the patent expires, which they do, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.480 anyone can actus that information and make use of it. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.239 But during the course of that patent, that the lifespan 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.440 of that patent, it's all you, boss. They got to 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.320 come through you. Yeah, Although that is an interesting one 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.200 related to what we're talking about today, because there were 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.200 several instances on the road to the sewing machine actually 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.960 becoming a fully fledged thing where there were some FIBs 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.400 told in the patent filings that they could keep their 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:26.000 proprietary information to themselves, so when people tried to replicate them, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.520 they did not always work. Right. See, you could if 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.200 you wanted to, if you invented something, there's nothing nothing 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.720 that requires you to get a patent, you could keep 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.800 it secret and say this magical technology is mine and 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.680 mine alone. But the danger of that, of course, is 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.440 if someone gets hold of it and figures out how 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.680 it works, they could then make the same thing with 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:44.640 and you would have no protection. Only could they make 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.320 the same thing, they could file a patent for it, 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.280 and then you would no longer be able to use 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.280 the thing you invented. Yeah, it's all about first rights 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.520 so as it turns out, And we haven't even gotten 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.760 into the complication of filing for a patent in one 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.040 country versus filing for a paton and another. But we 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.080 we've hemmed in hod long enough about patents. Let's start off. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:09.960 Tell me what what was sewing before the sewing machine. Well, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.240 most people would probably recognize it if they thought about 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.360 pre sewing machines sewing, they would think of an needle 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.200 and thread. But even way before that, there were people 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:22.599 using bones and sticks to kind of poke holes into fabrics, 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.159 usually leathers, and then they would pass a lace through. 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.920 It was not all one continuous thing where the lace 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.440 was attached to the the boner stick, and then they 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.880 added the eye that circle that the whatever you're lacing 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.520 material passes through. The thing that confounds me whenever I 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.120 have to threaten. Many people say that I think you 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.400 either got it or you don't. I don't got it. Um, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.080 I hope I keep it forever, because I have a 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.800 few friends who are saying they're getting to the age 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.599 and their eyesight isn't letting them keep it anymore. But yeah, 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.400 so that eventually that I was added and people were 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.200 able to do it all in one fell swoop where 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.600 they poked the whole am, passed the binding material through, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.800 and that also developed things like embroidery. But it wasn't 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.080 really until the Industrial Revolution that stitching became mechanized. And 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.560 even pre Industrial Revolution in the mid seventeen hundreds where 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.520 kind of industry was first starting to get seated, is 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.359 really where we started having first people on record actually 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.120 filing things. Right. So you have Charles Wisenthal here who 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.880 received a patent for a needle for a sewing machine, 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.680 but it had a distinct disadvantage and that it was 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.160 a design for a needle for a machine that didn't exist. Yeah, 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.800 he just really felt like he had the needle situation 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.479 worked out and eventually the rest would follow. You've got 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.200 to really nail the needle, is his approach, which is 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:45.800 the needle. How it came to be where it is 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.159 today really took a lot of iterations. And his needle 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.080 um had was pointed on both ends, and it had 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:52.680 an eye, but the eye was in the middle, which 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.560 is not If anybody knows a modern sewing machine or 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.360 hand sewing needle, the eye is usually not in the middle. Right, 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.000 So then we moved forward his s We have Thomas 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:06.039 sat who I love the title of his patent. We 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.240 talked about this in the History podcast. It's a succinct. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:13.880 It's so delightful and just completely rebos. Do you want 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:15.720 to read it? Let me? Let me do this all right? 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.920 So he's an English cabinet maker, so uh sorry, listeners, 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.200 Here we go an entire new method of making and 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.040 completing shoes, boots, splatter, dashes, clogs, and other articles by 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.640 means and tools, and by means of tools and machines 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.120 also invented by me for that purpose, and of certain 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.360 compositions of the nature of Japan or Vanish, which will 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.920 be very advantageous in many useful applications. End quote. Don't 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.080 you just feel like this is sewing? As described by 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.760 a Monty Python sketch, It does feel like John Cleese 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.040 is the person who needs to deliver that patent title. 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.240 For me, it's Terry Jones, but we all have our favorite. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.160 That's fair. You went more Welsh. That's all right, something's 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:59.160 fine with that. So he's actually describing three different machines 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.040 in this pattern. Um, so the second of the three, 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.800 which is why it's so crazy wordy, I mean Japan 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.559 and varnish, which are the words used for like these 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.120 coding um methods have nothing to do with stitching. But 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.240 it kind of lumped everything together. And he was a 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.760 cabinet maker. I think maybe he didn't like to file 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.400 a lot of paper. Yeah, it's probably one of those 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.440 things where we thought, goodness, gracious, this is a lot 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.840 of work. Let's let's just lump it all together. One 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.480 very wordy document will cover me. So the second part 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.040 of his patent was actually the one for stitching, and 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.000 it really wasn't terribly practical. It had a lot of 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.040 components that we actually associate with modern showing machines. So 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.000 it had the arm with the needle, it had continuous 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.000 thread from a spool, uh, and it had a table 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.480 set up that the cloth would sit on. And those 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.840 all still persist in some form or another. But his 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.640 is a case where there's no actual example of his 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.280 machine having been built, although in eighteen seventy three Newton Wilson, 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.600 who was from Great Britain, found the plans and he 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.480 did build this machine, but it did not work. And 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:01.960 this is one of those ones that we talked about 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.840 a little bit ago, where the suspicion is that he 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.360 didn't entirely disclose what he was getting. Leave a few 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.920 things out of the patent design so that folks don't 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.680 automatically go out there and actually start making one uh 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.000 one thing about patents, By the way, there's no guarantee 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.200 that your design has to work, and it has to 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.120 it has to be reasonably you know, the people at 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.840 the patent offices have to reasonably believe that you you 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.840 believe it will work the way you've designed it. But 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.360 you don't have to prove. Yeah, there's not a proofing 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.600 stage design. Yeah, you don't have to bring one in 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:36.240 and say, well, here, let me put it in motion 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.040 and show you that all the parts move the way 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.840 I've described it in the patent. It really is just 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.520 meant to prevent other people from making that same design 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.160 without your permission. All right. Well, then in eight four 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.240 we've got this story about Thomas Stone and James Henderson 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.600 who were issued a patent in France for their own 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.840 kind of sewing machine. Right. Yeah. It kind of created 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.040 an overcast stich. So if you don't know what that is, 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.840 I do not. If you see like a situation where 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.640 two pieces of cloth are bound together and there's a 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.640 stitch that passes through each one and kind of spirals 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.680 around the edges and then back through, that's an overcast 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.240 all right, Um, so this was similar. It's also called 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.600 a whip stitch when you do it by hand, so 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.880 it was very simple. But it could work on all 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.800 different kinds of fabrics, and it was able to stitch curves. Okay, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:27.880 so it's not just a straight line like some of 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.080 the other devices will be talking about. Correct, Like a 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:32.640 lot of them will only go in a straight line, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:36.200 but this one could handle curves. The one big drawback 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.120 of it, though, was that it did not have a 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.559 continuous thread feed, so there was a lot of stopping 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.560 and going and re threading of needles and fitting. So 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.839 it saved time. We think theoretically, I say that with 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.040 a question mark on purpose, right, then may maybe it 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.680 saves time for someone who just really hates the motion 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.640 of actually making a stitch well, or if you're doing 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.640 like large scale things like leathers and probably help. So 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.360 that's same year you have John Duncan of Glasgow here 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.760 patenting an embroidery machine, which is not quite the same 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.839 thing as a stitching machine. Correct. I mean it does 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.600 do stitches, but it's not the same sort of utilitarian 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.160 things that would hold together pants, right. Uh, they will 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.679 just make the pants beautiful. I've learned that through a 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:23.720 better experience. Uh. In seven we have Edward Walter Chapman 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.520 and Walter Chapman. It's not confusing at all receiving a 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.480 British patent three thousand, seventy eight. That's another thing that 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:32.760 I think is interesting. You look at the history of 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.719 sewing machines and you look at those patent numbers, and 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.760 when they're still in the four digit range, that's incredible. 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.480 If guys go to the patent I'll go to like 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:45.680 Google search for patents and look up any patent that's 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.160 been issued over the last couple of years. We're talking 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.040 in the millions here, Yeah, and this is when they 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.680 were still in the thousands, which is pretty incredible. It 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.480 really does show that the patent industry here was very young. 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.360 Oh yeah, this was the one that I aloud a 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:02.400 machine that had a needle that would not have to 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.200 pass all the way through the fabric. It could just 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.640 puncture it, uh slightly and then pull back out and 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.080 make the stitch that way, right, which is how modern 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.000 machines still were for the most part. I think there's 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.080 a couple of special tea machines that do different things. 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.960 But yeah, so it had two needles. One, as you said, 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.120 punched in and passed the thread down, another kind of 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.760 shuttled through it, and then it got pulled back up. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:30.320 So um, continuous stitching via these two different thread feeds. Cool. 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.280 And then we have what my favorite name on our lists, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.720 one of my favorites eight thirty So it's Bartelomy Timonier. 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:40.800 I love a good French name. Yeah, it's a great one. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.760 Is there's two th in there, and as I recall, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.839 that's a hard tea but I could be wrong. It 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.040 is it is, and his machine made a chain stitch. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.559 And there are still machines very similar to this functioning today. 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.839 They're not used a whole lot because it's one of 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.599 those things. You may have even come across them periodically. 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.839 If you ever have like an article of thing it's 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.559 maybe not super pricy, you may be bought it, you know, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.000 a cheap store, and you pull one thread and the 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.760 whole thing starts coming out. That's often a chain stitch 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.800 because it's the one thread holding everything together, so there's 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.920 nothing stopping it from continuing to unravel. Right. So that's 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.480 what I always get nervous now whenever I see a 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.200 loose thread. And I'm more of a snipper than a 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.920 than a tugger at this. I'm a yanker, but I 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.080 know I can fix it if it all goes right. Yeah, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.760 for me, it's it's fixing means going out and buying 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.480 a new one. We'll come right back to our discussion 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.760 about the Great Patent Wars and the sewing machine in 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.240 just a second, but first let's take a quick break 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:46.320 to thank our sponsor. Well. I love about this story 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.720 is it's interesting because it's a real life story that 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:57.040 mirrors something that is um a popular misconception. And what 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:58.720 I mean by that is in the story you have 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.760 Toumonier who had a shop in Paris, Uh. He had 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.760 lots of these different machines, eighty of them working at 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:12.880 a time, and Taylor's people who sewed by hand, stormed 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.560 his store and destroyed some of the machinery because they 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.760 didn't want to be put out of a job. And 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:21.839 the reason why I say this is interesting is that 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.280 there's a story that we have told on tech stuff 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.480 before that is erroneous and uh. And in fact I 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.280 have been guilty of of pushing this forward. The idea 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.840 of sabotage being named after sabo, as in the French 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:39.080 word for shoe. The story is that you had uh. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.280 Often it was told about weavers who came in and 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.520 threw their shoes into large mechanized looms in order to 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.000 foul the workings and destroy them. As it turns out, 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.680 that's not necessarily true. The first the first appearance of 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.360 the word sabotage doesn't come until in the written word, 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.480 as far as I can tell, until which tells me 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:04.280 that this incident, which happened in around the mid eighteen hundreds, 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.240 could have given birth to a word involving tailors that 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.559 would have replaced sabotage, and they just didn't capitalize on it. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:17.160 I wanted to include Timonier somehow Timony as I got 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:22.880 totally Timoniate today at work in and they just ambushed me. Yeah. 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:24.960 So they came and destroyed his shop and he had 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:29.520 to flee. And he did get financial backing, uh so 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.240 that he could continue his work and develop new machines. 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:37.800 But unfortunately, uh, and he got some additional patents as well, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.560 both in France and in Britain. But the revolution kind 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.720 of caused his legacy to get put on the back burner. 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.920 He turns out there were some important things that people 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.320 were attending to at the time. Yeah, not so much 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.080 with the let's make machines. Now we've got an American 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.160 inventor coming up next, so let's just take a moment 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.960 to go America. Well, and he becomes very important in 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.440 the patent battles, so as is Walter Hunt you're talking 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.720 about here. Yeah. So he made a machine that it 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.840 created a lock stitch used to thread sources, very similar 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:11.760 to the bobbing and school method you would see on 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.600 modern machines. Um and this you know, of course, was 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:16.880 different than the single thread chain stitch of Timoni. A 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:21.040 successful machines and he kind of was a busy bee 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.360 he had a lot of inventions going at the same time, 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.920 and so it wasn't like this sewing machine was his 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.600 baby and he had really put his heart and soul 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.800 into it. He was kind of like, no, nobody's ever 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.240 gonna be interested in this, and he sold it. So 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.240 he sold the patent off to He didn't even have 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.960 the patent. He just sold I go. That's why he 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.520 didn't even patent his invention. Yeah, I could use the money. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.880 He sold it to a man named George, a aerosmith 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.040 and was basically like, yeah, well, you know, I'll fund 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.320 some other projects with whatever I make off of this. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:53.360 It's not that important. Um. As we said, he comes 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.920 up later and becomes very important to remember him. And 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.480 we'll also point out his machine was one that Jonathan 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.640 referenced earlier that would only going straight lines. You couldn't 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.160 really work curves with it, right, so that that certainly 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:11.200 limits its usefulness. Uh. Now, we also have to acknowledge 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.520 the fact that there's a challenge in really talking about 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.640 the history of the sewing machine because of an event 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.040 that happened in that the mid eighteen hundreds, early to 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.400 mid eighteen hundreds. Yeah, we had a little bit of 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.960 a fire in the patent office. Yeah, as it turns 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:29.520 out patents are flammable. Yes, no one had pended the 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.479 the the not the inflammable that would also be flammable, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.800 but the impossible to burn patent. Yeah, And it wasn't 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.080 a time where they were making tons of backups. It 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:40.760 was kind of like, you file it and you go 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.480 on your way. Because we're still in the thousands, they 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:45.840 haven't really gotten their game figured out yet, right, not 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.680 to mention the fact that they're making Making duplicates is 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.360 no easy task at this time, so they thought, well, 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.880 it's safe enough. Yeah, that fire was in eighteen thirty six, 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:58.680 so they really did not have a plan in place 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.760 to keep duplicate copy. And as a consequence, there are 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.719 actually a lot some sources will say that there are 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.840 a lot of kind of partial patent documents that still 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:12.639 exists that like they mentioned a needle, or they mentioned 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.159 something sewing related, but like the attribution portion of the 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:18.320 document has been too damaged and they don't know who 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.600 filed it. So there could be families out there that 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.000 could have, for all we know, inherited great wealth. But 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.240 we'll never know because the capriciousness of fire robbed them 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.120 of their place in history. Fire and it's ways possibly 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:35.359 on Martha's vineyard. In eighteen forty two, we've got John J. Greenoff, 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.359 who is the first guy, first American, to get a 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.320 patent for the sewing machine that we have a record 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.040 of anyway. Um, So even though he made his invention 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:48.280 after Hunt had, Hunt had not patented it, And as 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.800 you have in your notes here, the aerosmith apparently never 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.879 got around the patenting it either. So, uh, this is 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.120 the first one in the American patent system. Yeah, he 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.280 there was no replication of his He basically kind of 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.480 was one and done. Yes, so he made a prototype 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.440 and then not a production model. Yeah, there's we don't 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.200 know if he didn't get funding or he just abandoned 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.359 the idea and moved on to something else. But it 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.679 was only a year later when the second US patent 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.080 for a sewing machine came about, and that was issued 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.760 to Benjamin W. Bean which is a great name, I know. Um, 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.960 and he created a unique development and that his machine 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.760 was the first that actually fed the fabrics through gears. 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:33.200 So for the stitchers in the house, all three of us. Um, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.600 that's similar to feed dogs. And if you don't stitch 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:37.159 what a feed dog is. If you've ever looked at 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.720 the sewing machine, you may see these two. They almost 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:41.440 look like little feet that come up and kind of 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.399 kick at your fabric as you're sewing, and they have 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.760 rigid edges and that's kind of pulling your fabric through 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.119 as you go right, so you don't have to put 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.200 through as much effort, you don't have to worry about 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:55.120 misguiding the fabric. So it helps feed the fabric through 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.520 as you're stitching. Yes, sometimes it creates great drama and 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.280 it eats fabric, but not very often. Um and his 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.000 also had a clamp mechanism to attach it to a table, 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.000 so that was also a new development. Uh, and there's 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.200 still machines made that do that. Also that year, in 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:14.000 eighteen forty three, we got George H. Corliss, who uh 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.040 you know, he was also a busy body making making 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.080 a steam engine. That's pretty cool. We did a full 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:23.240 episode in Tech Stuff on steam engine. So if you 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.600 guys are are big into that and you really want 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.360 to know about the development of the steam engine, here's 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.320 a here's an interesting little effect. The original steam engines 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.639 didn't push with steam. They rather would pull by letting 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:37.320 steam condense and create a vacuum, thus pulling a piston 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.000 down rather than pushing a piston out. But we go 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.119 into full detail and tech stuff, so I don't need 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.480 to redo the whole thing. This pretty cool stuff. It 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.120 is exciting. It's actually not cool, it's actually quite hot. 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:54.199 But ump. So Corliss had what's considered the third u 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.320 S sewing machine patents. His performed what is called a 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.199 saddle stitch, which is a specialized stitch that's used to 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.159 this day to join leather together. Uh, it kind of 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:06.359 keeps it all stable. If anybody has ever tried to 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.800 sew with leather, if you've had like a leather pouch 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.960 or anything, Uh, it can present some challenges in terms 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:16.960 of how it because it's so rugged usually and tough, 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.119 it will chew on threads and or even if you 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:21.800 have a lacing lacing even though it's leather, also we'll 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.040 kind of get chewed up over time. So a saddle 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.000 stitch kind of gives you a tighter stitch and it 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:31.320 prevents some of that friction. Okay. Cool, And then also 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.840 just a year later, in eighteen forty four, we've got 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.439 James Rogers getting the fourth US sewing machine pen And 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.639 you may all wonder why we're covering every single patent. 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.359 The pen wars will make all clear. Everybody's gonna be 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.400 really apparent, and I mean, it's it's it's important because 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.280 again we're trying to illustrate the fact that a lot 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:56.640 of these patents were not revolutionary devices that completely reinvented 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.720 the machine. They were sometimes incremental improvements that had a 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.399 remarkable difference from earlier machines, but it was one tiny element, right, 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:11.320 not necessarily a full reworking. Yeah, so yeah, James Rogers 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:15.000 patent was really only had a tiny change to Bean's design, 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.159 and that was that the gears were kind of in 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:21.080