The Invention of the Sewing Machine

by Grace Rogers Cooper

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II. American Sewing-Machine Companies of the 19th Century

During the latter half of the 19th century, there was a total of two hundred or more sewing-machine companies in the United States. Although a great many manufacturing-type machines were sold, this business was carried on by relatively few companies and most were primarily concerned with the family-type machines. A representative number of these family machines together with information concerning both the company and serial-number dating are found in figures 68 through 132. A great many of the companies were licensed by the “Combination,” but, in addition, some companies were constructing machines that did not infringe the patents, other companies infringed the patents but managed to avoid legal action, and there were numerous companies that mushroomed into existence after the “Combination” was dissolved in 1877. Most of the latter were very short-lived. It is difficult to establish the exact dates of some of these companies as many of their records were incomplete or have since disappeared; even a great many of the “Combination” records were lost by fire. A summary of the existing records kept by the “Combination” is given in figure 37.

As will be noted in the subsequent listing, only a small percentage of the companies were in business for a period longer than ten years; of those that continued longer, all but a few had disappeared by 1910. Today there are about sixty United States sewing-machine companies. Most of them manufacture highly specialized sewing machines used for specific types of commercial work; only a few produce family or home-style machines. Foreign competition has increased, and the high cost of skilled labor in this country has made competition in this consumer-product field increasingly difficult. The countless varieties of American family sewing machines, so evident in the 19th century, have passed away.

Sewing Machine	Manufacturer or Company	First Made or Earliest Record	Discontinued or Last Record
Aetna	Aetna Sewing Machine Co., Lowell, Mass.	ca. 1867	ca. 1877
Aiken and Felthousen	——, Ithaca, N.Y.	ca. 1855	before 1880
Alsop	——	—	ca. 1880
American	American Sewing Machine Co.	1854	—
American Buttonhole, Overseaming and Sewing Machine (fig. [68])	American Buttonhole, Overseaming and Sewing Machine Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	1869	ca. 1874
Later New American (fig. [69])	American Sewing Machine Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1874	ca. 1886
American Magnetic (fig. [70])	American Magnetic Sewing Machine Company, Ithaca, N.Y.	1853	1854
Atlantic (fig. [71])	——	1869	ca. 1870
Atwater (fig. [87])	——	1857	ca. 1860
Avery	Avery Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1852	185-
Avery	Avery Manufacturing Co., New York, N.Y.	1875	1886-1900
A. Bartholf Manfr.	A. Bartholf, manufacturer, New York, N.Y.	ca. 1850	185-
Blodgett & Lerow patent 1849 (see also)
A. Bartholf Manfr.	A. Bartholf, manufacturer, New York, N.Y.	1853	ca. 1856
Howe’s patent, 1846 (fig. [72])
Bartholf	A. Bartholf, manufacturer	1857	1859
	Bartholf Sewing Machine Co.	1859	ca. 1865
Bartlett (fig. [73])	Goodspeed & Wyman	1866	ca. 1870
	Bartlett Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	ca. 1870	1872
Baker	——	—	before 1880
Bartram & Fanton (fig. [74])	Bartram & Fanton Mfg. Co., Danbury, Conn.	1867	1874
Bay State	——	—	before 1880
Beckwith (fig. [75])	Barlow & Son, New York, N.Y.	1871	1872
	Beckwith Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1872	ca. 1876
Blees	Blees Sewing Machine Co.	1870	1873
Blodgett & Lerow	O. Phelps, Boston, Mass.	1849	1849
(fig. [21])	Goddard, Rice & Co., Worcester, Mass.	1849	1850
(fig. [20])	A. Bartholf, manufacturer, New York, N.Y.	1849	185-
Bond	——	—	before 1880
Boston	J. F. Paul & Co., Boston, Mass.	1880	—
Later New Boston	Boston Sewing Machine Co., Boston, Mass.	—	after 1886
Boudoir (fig. [76])	Daniel Harris, inventor and patentee Manufacturer—several	1857	ca. 1870
Bradford & Barber	Bradford & Barber, manufacturers, Boston, Mass.	1860	1861
Brattleboro	Samuel Barker and Thomas White, Brattleboro, Vt.	ca. 1858	1861
Buckeye	Wilson [W.G.] Sewing Machine Company, Cleveland, Ohio	ca. 1867	ca. 1876
Later New Buckeye (fig. [77]) (see Wilson)
Buell, “E. T. Lathbury’s Patent”	A. B. Buell, Westmoreland, New York	ca. 1860	—
Burnet & Broderick	Burnet, Broderick and Co.	1859	ca. 1860
Centennial (fig. [78])	Centennial Sewing Machine Co. (see McLean and Hooper), Philadelphia, Pa.	1873	1876
Chamberlain	Woolridge, Keene and Moore, Lynn, Mass.	1853	ca. 1854
Chicago Singer	Scates, Tryber & Sweetland Mfg. Co., Chicago, Ill.	1879	1882
Later Chicago	Chicago Sewing Machine Co.	1882	ca. 1885
Chicopee
(see Shaw & Clark)
Clark (fig. [42])	D. W. Clark, Bridgeport, Conn.	ca. 1858	after 1860
Clark’s Revolving Looper [double thread] (fig. [79])	Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, Windsor, Vt.	1859	1861
(see Windsor)
Clinton	Clinton Brothers, Ithaca, N.Y.	ca. 1861	ca. 1865
Companion	Thurston Mfg. Co., Marlboro, N.H.	1882	—
Crown	Florence Sewing Machine Co., Florence, Mass.	1879	after 1886
(see Florence)
Dauntless (later New Dauntless)	Dauntless Mfg. Co., Norwalk, Ohio	1877	after 1882
Davis	J.A. Davis, New York, N.Y.	ca. 1860	—
Davis Vertical Feed	Davis Sewing Machine Co., Watertown, N.Y.	1869	after 1886
Davis Vertical Feed and Rotary Shuttle	Davis Sewing Machine Co., Dayton, Ohio	after 1886	1924
Decker (also The Princess)	Decker Mfg. Co., Detroit, Mich.	—	before 1881
Demorest	Demorest Mfg. Co (formerly N.Y. Sewing Machine Co.)	1882	1908
Diamond (formerly Sigwalt)	Sigwalt Sewing Machine Co., Chicago, Ill.	1880	—
Domestic	Wm. A. Mack & Co. and N. S. Perkins, Norwalk, Ohio	1864	1869
Domestic	Domestic Sewing Machine Co., Norwalk, Ohio, acquired by White Sewing Machine Co. in 1924 and maintained as a subsidiary at Cleveland, Ohio.	1869	[A]
Dorcas	John P. Bowker, Boston, Mass.	1853	185-
Du Laney (fig. [80])
Also called Little Monitor (see)
Durgin	Charles A. Durgin, New York, N.Y.	1853	after 1855
Eldredge	Eldredge Sewing Machine Co., Chicago, Ill.	1869	1890
Elliptic
Sloat’s Elliptic	George B. Sloat and Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1858	ca. 1860
Sloat’s Elliptic	Union Sewing Machine Co., Richmond, Va.	1860	1861
Elliptic	Wheeler & Wilson Mfg. Co.	1861	ca. 1867
	Elliptic Sewing Machine Co., N.Y., N.Y.	1867	before 1880
Empire (fig. [86])	Empire Sewing Machine Co., Boston, Mass.	ca. 1860	1869
Later Remington-Empire
Empress	Manufactured on order through Jerome B. Secor, Bridgeport, Conn.	1877	—
Estey	Estey Sewing Machine Co.	ca. 1880	1882
Estey, Fuller-Model	Brattleboro Sewing Machine Co., Brattleboro, Vt.	1883	after 1886
Eureka (fig. [81])	Eureka Shuttle Sewing New York, N.Y.	1859	—
Excelsior	Excelsior Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1854	1854
Fairy (figs. [51], [52])	Madame Demorest, New York, N.Y.	1863	ca. 1865
Finkle, M. (fig. [82])	M. Finkle, Boston, Mass.	1856	ca. 1859
Finkle & Lyon	Finkle & Lyon Sewing Machine Co., Boston, Mass.	ca. 1859	1867
Later Victor
First and Frost	First and Frost, New York, N.Y.	ca. 1859	ca. 1861
Florence (fig. [83])	Florence Sewing Machine Co., Florence, Mass.	ca. 1860	after 1878
Later Crown
Folsom	Folsom, J. G., Winchendon, Mass.	1865	ca. 1871
(see Globe and New England)
Fosket and Savage	Fosket and Savage, Meriden, Conn.	1858	1859
Foxboro	Foxboro Rotary Shuttle Co., Foxboro, Mass.	ca. 1882	—
Franklin	Franklin Sewing Machine Co., Mason Village, N.H.	1871	1871
Free	Free Sewing Machine Co., Chicago and Rockford, Ill.	1898	[A]
Gardner	C. R. Gardner, Detroit, Mich.	1856	—
Globe (figs. [84], [85])	J. G. Folsom, Winchendon, Mass.	1865	1869
Gold Medal (chainstitch)	Gold Medal Sewing Machine Co., Orange, Mass.	1863	1876
Gold Medal (running stitch)	——	1863	ca. 1865
Gold Hibbard	Hibbard, B. S., & Co.	1875	—
Goodbody (sewing shears)	Goodbody Sewing Machine Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	1880	ca. 1890
Goodes	Rex & Bockius, Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1876	before 1881
Goodrich	H. B. Goodrich, Chicago, Ill.	ca. 1880	ca. 1895
Grant Brothers (fig. [90])	Grant Bros. & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	1867	ca. 1870
Greenman and True (fig. [91])	Greenman and True Mfg. Co. Norwich, Conn.	1859	1860
	Morse and True	1860	1861
Green Mountain	——	ca. 1860	—
Griswold Variety	L. Griswold, New York, N.Y.	ca. 1886	ca. 1890
Grover and Baker (figs. [34]-[36], [92])	Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Co., Boston, Mass.	1851	1875
Hancock (figs. [93], [94])	——	1868	before 1881
Heberling Running Stitch	John Heberling	1878	ca. 1885
Herron’s Patent (fig. [95])	——	1857	—
Higby	Higby Sewing Machine Co., Brattleboro, Vt.	ca. 1882	after 1886
Later Acme
Home Home Shuttle	Johnson, Clark & Co., Orange, Mass.	1869	after 1876
Homestead	——	ca. 1881	—
Household	Providence Tool Co., Providence, R.I.	1880	ca. 1884
	Household Sewing Machine Co.	ca. 1885	1906
Howe (figs. [96], [97])	Howe Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1853	1873
	(company of A. B. Howe sold to Howe Machine Co.)
Howe (fig. [98])	Howe Machine Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	1867	1886
Howe’s Improved Patent (fig. [107])	Nichols and Bliss, Boston, Mass.	1852	1853
	J. B. Nichols & Co.	1853	1854
which became Leavitt	Nichols, Leavitt & Co., Boston, Mass.	1854	1856
N. Hunt, which became Hunt and Webster (figs. [99], [100])	N. Hunt & Co., Boston, Mass.	1853	1854
	Hunt and Webster, Boston, Mass.	1854	1857
Later Ladd and Webster (see)
Improved Common Sense (fig. [102])	——	ca. 1870	—
Independent Noiseless	Independent Sewing Machine Co., Binghamton, N.Y.	1873	—
Jennie June	June Mfg. Co., Chicago, Ill.	1881	1890
	Later Belvidere, Ill.
Jewel	Jewel Mfg. Co., Toledo, Ohio	1884	after 1886
Johnson (fig. [103])	Emery, Houghton & Co., Boston, Mass.	1856	after 1865
Keystone	Keystone Sewing Machine Co.	before 1872	ca. 1874
Ladd & Webster (fig. [101])	Ladd, Webster & Co., Boston, Mass.	1858	ca. 1866
Ladies Companion (fig. [115])	——	1858	ca. 1858
(see Pratt’s Patent)
“Lady” (fig. [104])	——	1859	—
Landfear’s Patent (fig. [105])	Parkers, Snow, Brooks & Co., West Meriden, Conn.	1857	—
Langdon	L.W. Langdon	1856	—
Lathrop (fig. [106])	Lathrop Combination Sewing Machine Co.	1873	—
Leader	Leader Sewing Machine Co., Springfield, Mass.	1882	—
Leavitt (fig. [108])	Nichols, Leavitt & Co., Boston, Mass.	1855	1857
	Leavitt & Co.	1857	ca. 1865
	Leavitt Sewing Machine Co.	ca. 1865	1870
Leslie Revolving Shuttle	Leslie Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, Ohio	1881	—
Lester (fig. [109])	J.H. Lester, Brooklyn, N.Y.	ca. 1858	early 1860
	Lester Mfg. Co., Richmond, Va.	early 1860	late 1860
	Union Sewing Machine Co., Richmond, Va.	late 1860	1861
Little Gem	——	—	ca. 1870
Little Giant	Domestic Sewing Machine Co., Norwalk, Ohio	ca. 1882	—
Little Monitor (not associated with Monitor)	G.L. Du Laney, Brooklyn, N.Y.	ca. 1866	after 1875
Love	Love Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.	1885	after 1886
Lyon	Lyon Sewing Machine Co.	1879	ca. 1880
Macauley	Thos. A. Macauley Mfg., New York, N.Y.	before 1879	—
Manhattan	Manhattan Sewing Machine Co.	ca. 1868	ca. 1880
McKay	McKay Sewing Machine Assoc.	1870	1876
McLean and Hooper	B. W. Lacy & Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1869	ca. 1873
	(see Centennial)
Meyers	J. M. Meyers	1859	—
Miller’s Patent	——	1853	—
Monitor (fig. [88])	Shaw & Clark Sewing Machine Co., Biddeford, Me.	1860	1864
Moore	Moore Sewing Machine Co.	ca. 1860	—
Morey & Johnson (fig. [18])	Safford & Williams Makers, Boston, Mass.	1849	ca. 1851
Morrison	Morrison, Wilkinson & Co., Hartford, Conn.	1881	—
Mower	——	ca. 1863	—
National	Johnson, Clark & Co., Orange, Mass.	1874	—
National (also sold under distributor’s name)	National Sewing Machine Co. (consolidation of the June and Eldredge Companies), Belvidere, Ill.	1890	1953
Ne Plus Ultra (fig. [110])	O. L. Reynolds Manufacturing Co., Dover, N.H.	1857	—
Nettleton & Raymond (fig. [111])	Nettleton & Raymond, Brattleboro, Vt.	ca. 1857	—
New England (figs. [112], [113])	Charles Raymond (also by:	ca. 1859	1866
	Grout & White, Orange, Mass.;	1862	1863
	William Grout, Winchendon, Mass.;	1863	—
	and J. G. Folsom, Winchendon, Mass.)	1865	1865
Newell	——	1881	—
New Fairbanks	J. H. Drew & Co.	1878	1880
	Thomas M. Cochrane Co., Belleville, Ill.	1880	—
New Home	New Home Sewing Machine Co., Orange, Mass. (in 1928 became affiliated with Free Sewing Machine Co.)	1876	[A]
New York	——, New York, N.Y.	ca. 1855	ca. 1855
New York Shuttle	N.Y. Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y. (later Demorest Mfg. Co.)	before 1880	1882
Noble	Noble Sewing Machine Co., Erie, Pa.	before 1881	after 1886
Novelty	C. A. French, Boston, Mass.	1869	—
Old Dominion	Old Dominion Sewing Machine Co., Richmond, Va.	ca. 1858	1860
Pardox	——	ca. 1865	—
Parham	Parham Sewing Machine Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1869	ca. 1871
Parker	Charles Parker Co., Meriden, Conn.	before 1860	after 1865
	Later Parker Sewing Machine Co.
Pearl	—— Bennett	ca. 1859	—
Philadelphia	Philadelphia Sewing Machine Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	ca. 1872	ca. 1881
Post Combination	Post Combination Sewing Machine Co., Washington, D.C.	before 1885	after 1886
Pratt’s Patent (fig. [114])	——	1857	ca. 1858
Later Ladies Companion
Queen	Dauntless Mfg Co., Norwalk, Ohio	ca. 1881	—
Quaker City (fig. [116])	Quaker City Sewing Machine Co., Philadelphia, Pa.	1859	ca. 1861
Remington Empire Later Remington	Remington Empire Sewing Machine Co.	1870	1872
	E. Remington & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa.	1873	ca. 1894
Robertson (dolphin & cherub) (figs. [40], [41])	T. W. Robertson, New York, N.Y.	1855	after 1860
Robinson	F. R. Robinson, Boston, Mass.	1853	ca. 1855
Robinson’s patent sewing machine with Roper’s improvement (fig. [117])	Howard & Davis, Boston, Mass.	1855	—
Later Robinson and Roper (fig. [118])	same	1856	before 1860
Royal St. John (formerly St. John)	Royal Sewing Machine Co., Springfield, Ohio (later Free Co.)	ca. 1883	1898
Ruddick	——	ca. 1860	—
Secor	Secor Machine Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	1870	1876
Sewing Shears (Hendrick’s patent) (fig. [43])	Nettleton & Raymond, Bristol, Conn.	ca. 1859	—
Sewing Shears	American Hand Sewing Machine Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	ca. 1884	ca. 1900
Shaw & Clark	Shaw & Clark Co., Biddeford, Me.	ca. 1857	1866
Running Stitch Machine (fig. [53])
Chainstitch Machine (fig. [119])
Chainstitch Machine (fig. [120])	Shaw & Clark Co., Chicopee Falls, Mass.	1867	1868
	Chicopee Sewing Machine Co., Chicopee Falls, Mass.	1868	ca. 1869
Sigwalt	Sigwalt Sewing Machine Co., Chicago, Ill.	ca. 1879	—
Singer (figs. [28], [29], [30], [32], [33], [121], [122])	I. M. Singer & Co. (later Singer Mfg. Co.). Moved from Boston to New York to Elizabethport, N.J. (factory).	1851	[A]
Springfield	Springfield Sewing Machine Co., Springfield, Mass.	1880	—
Standard (chainstitch) (fig. [123])	——	1870	—
Standard (shuttle)	Standard Shuttle Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1874	ca. 1881
Standard	Standard Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, Ohio (acquired by Singer Co.)	1884	ca. 1930
Stewart	Henry Stewart & Co., N.Y., N.Y.	1874	1880
Later New Stewart	Stewart Mfg Co.	1880	ca. 1883
St. John (later Royal St. John)	St. John Sewing Machine Co., Springfield, O.	1870	ca. 1883
Taggart & Farr (figs. [124], [125])	Taggart & Farr, Philadelphia, Pa.	1858	—
Thompson	C. F. Thompson Co.	1871	1871
	T. C. Thompson, Ithaca, N.Y.	ca. 1854	—
Union	Johnson, Clark & Co., Orange, Mass.	1876	—
Victor	Finkle & Lyon Mfg. Co.	1867	ca. 1872
	Victor Sewing Machine Co., Middletown, Conn.	ca. 1872	ca. 1890
Wardwell	Wardwell Mfg. Co., St. Louis, Mo.	ca. 1876	1890
Watson (fig. [126])	Jones & Lee	1850	ca. 1853
	Watson & Wooster, Bristol, Conn.	ca. 1853	ca. 1860
Waterbury	Waterbury Co., Waterbury, Conn.	1853	ca. 1860
Weed	T. E. Weed & Co. (became Whitney & Lyons)	1854	—
Weed	Weed Sewing Machine Co. (reorganized from Whitney & Lyons), Hartford, Conn.	1865	—
Family Favorite		1867	—
Manu. Favorite		1868	—
General Favorite		1872	—
Hartford		1881	ca. 1900
Wesson	Farmer & Gardner Manufacturing Co.	1879	1880
	D. B. Wesson Sewing Machine Co., Springfield, Mass.	1880	—
West & Willson (fig. [127])	West & Willson Co., Elyria, Ohio	1858	—
A. B. Wilson (fig. [23])	E. E. Lee & Co., New York, N.Y.	1851	1852
A. B. Wilson’s patent seaming lathe	Wheeler, Wilson, Co., Watertown, N.Y.	late 1851	1856
Later Wheeler and Wilson (fig. [26], [27], [128], [129])	Wheeler & Wilson Mfg.Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	1856	1905
	Singer Co., Bridgeport, Conn.	1905	1907
White (fig. [130])	White Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, Ohio	1876	[A]
Whitehill	Whitehill Mfg. Co., Milwaukee, Wis.	ca. 1875	after 1886
Whitney	Whitney Sewing Machine Co., Paterson, N.J.	ca. 1872	ca. 1880
Whitney & Lyons	Whitney & Lyons (a machine based on the 1854 patent of T. E. Weed)	ca. 1859	ca. 1865
Wickersham	Butterfield & Stevens Mfg. Co., Boston, Mass.	1853	—
Willcox & Gibbs (figs. [39], [131])	Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Co., New York, N.Y.	1857	[A]
Williams & Orvis	Williams & Orvis Sewing Machine Co., Boston, Mass.	ca. 1859	after 1860
Wilson (fig. [89])	Wilson (W.G.) Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, Ohio	ca. 1867	after 1885
(see Buckeye)
Windsor (one thread)	Vermont Arms Co., Windsor, Vt.	1856	1858
Windsor	Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, Windsor, Vt.	1859	1861
(see Clark’s Revolving Looper)
Name Unknown	John W. Beane	1853	—
“	Henry Brind	1860	—
“	Garfield Sewing Machine Co.	1881	—
“	Geneva Sewing Machine Co.	1880	—
“	Gove & Howard	1855	—
“	Charles W. Howland, Wilmington, Del.	ca. 1860	—
“	Miles Greenwood & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio	ca. 1861	—
“	Hood, Batelle & Co.	1854	1854
“	Wells & Haynes	1854	1854
“	Wilson H. Smith, Birmingham, Conn.	ca. 1860	—

[A] Still in existence.

Figure 68.—American Buttonhole, Overseaming & Sewing Machine of about 1870. Using serial numbers, these machines can be dated approximately as follows: 1-7792, 1869; 7793-22366, 1870; 22367-42488, 1871; 42489-61419, 1872; 61420-75602, 1873; 75603-89132, 1874; 89133-103539, 1875; and 103540-121477, 1876. Figures are not available for the years from 1877 to 1886. (Smithsonian photo 46953-E.)