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MT002 - Edition 2,000
Singer
Isaac Merritt Singer, after examining the machine, noted "instead of the shuttle going around in a circle, I would have it move to and fro in a straight line. In a place of the needle bar pushing a curved needle horizontally, I would have a straight needle and make it work up and down.
After 11 days and forty dollars in cost, Singer completed his invention : the worlds first practical sewing machine. This machine had a straight eye-pointed needle and transverse shuttle, an overhanging arm, a table to support the cloth, a presser foot to hold the material against the upward stroke of the needle, and a roughened feed wheel extending a slot in the table. Motion was communicated to the needle arm and shuttle by means of gears.
Singer also conceived the idea of using a treadle similar to that of a spinning wheel; all other machines at the time used a hand crank to generate power.
