Figure 77.—(New) Buckeye sewing machine of about 1875. The Buckeye machine was one of several manufactured by W. G. Wilson of Cleveland, Ohio. It was licensed under Johnson’s extended patent of April 18, 1867. Although it was small and hand turned, it used two threads and a shuttle to form a lockstitch. The machine was sufficiently popular for Wilson to introduce an improved model in the early 1870s, which he called the New Buckeye. W. G. Wilson continued to manufacture sewing machines until about the mid-eighties, although the Buckeye machines were discontinued in the seventies. (Smithsonian photo 45524-A.)
Figure 78.—Centennial sewing machine, 1876. The Centennial machine was basically a McLean and Hooper sewing machine which was renamed to take advantage of the coming Centennial celebration. It was based on the patents of J. N. McLean, March 30, 1869, and August 2, 1870, and made a two-thread chainstitch. Only about five hundred Centennial machines were manufactured in 1873, but by 1876 over three thousand had been constructed. The machines were advertised on white circulars which were printed in red and blue, and engraved with two women sewing, one by hand, labeled “Sewing in 1776,” and one at a Centennial sewing machine, labeled “Sewing in 1876.” There is no record that the machines were made after 1876. (Smithsonian photo 48216-T.)
Figure 79.—Clark’s Revolving-Looper double-thread sewing machine, 1860. This machine was manufactured by Lamson, Goodnow, & Yale of Windsor, Vermont. It was an attempt to improve on the combined ideas of the Grover and Baker machine, the Nettleton & Raymond machine, and the earlier single-thread Windsor machine. The improvements were made and patented by Edwin Clark on December 6, 1859. Widely advertised, the machines sold for $35 with a foot-power table. They could also be operated by hand. Over three thousand were manufactured and sold, and preparations were being made to continue manufacture of the earlier single-thread Windsor, originally made by the company’s predecessor, Vermont Arms Co., when the Civil War broke out. A flood of arms orders arrived, and the sewing-machine manufacture was discontinued early in the summer of 1861. The sewing-machine equipment and business was sold to Grout & White of Massachusetts. (Smithsonian photo 48216.)
