The Singer Sewing Machine was Patented on This Day in 1851: Here are Some Facts You Might Not Know

The Singer sewing machine has become a brand that dominated the market for numerous decades.

When we hear the brand name Singer, we immediately tie the word to sewing. Remarkably, its fundamental operation has not changed significantly since its initial surge in popularity in the middle of the 1800s.

Some of you may not have sewed a stitch in your life, it's likely that you're familiar with the iconic look and function of a sewing machine because it is often used in factories, studios of fashion designers, schools, or malls.

It has evolved into one of the most significant discoveries in the history of American history and is now an indispensable component in the production of clothing. With that here are some unknown facts about the machine.

Isaac Merritt Singer

The man behind the Singer sewing machine, Isaac Merritt Singer, was not the first one to invent the sewing machine.

However, he designed the first practical and efficient one, used mass-production techniques to manufacture it and pioneered the hire-purchase system of buying on credit in easy installments, which revolutionized consumer behavior.

The work of other inventors, most notably Elias Howe, served as a foundation for Singer's machine, as was the case with a large number of other innovations.

Patent of the Sewing Machine

On August 12, 1851, Isaac Singer, he was awarded Patent No. 8,294, for his invention. The machine shop owned by Orson C. Phelps in Boston was responsible for the construction of these industrial sewing machines.

Cast iron was used to create the machine's head, base cams, and gear wheels; in order for these components to come together properly, they needed to be filed and ground by hand.

The machine created a lockstitch by combining a straight needle with an eye-pointed tip and a shuttle that moved in a reciprocating motion.

According to Smithsonian, "The specific patent claims allowed were for: 1) the additional forward motion of the shuttle to tighten the stitch; 2) the use of a friction pad to control the tension of the thread from the spool; and 3) placing the spool of thread on an adjustable arm to permit thread to be used as needed."

I.M. Singer & Company

In the year 1851, he was living in Boston and working in a machine shop at the time when he was handed a sewing machine to fix. Singer succeeded in building a more effective sewing machine, which he subsequently patented.

After that, he established the I.M. Singer & Company produced the machine with the assistance of two investors named Zieber and Phelps. He carried it on barnstorming tours and showed it at fairs.

Isaac Singer as an Art

Aside from being a business tycoon, Singer is also an actor for a short while and has loved art. In 1863, Singer married his second wife, a Parisian woman named Isabella Boyer, a boarding-house keeper.

He had been an actor for a period of time and created his own theatrical troupe called The Merritt Players. According to History Today, Singer moved to England when he was in his early fifties and constructed Oldway House at Paignton in South Devon.

He had a private theater in the house that he called "The Wigwam," and he had long had the ambition to pursue a career in the performing arts. There, in the year 1875, he passed away at the age of sixty-three.