As reported in an 1853 Scientific American, there was “more American thread made ten years ago than there is today.”[92] It was not until the six-cord cabled cotton thread, which was suitable for both machine and hand sewing, was perfected that the industry progressed into full operation.
FOOTNOTES:
[91] William R. Bagnall, Textile Industries of the United States (Cambridge, Mass., 1893), vol. 1, p. 164.
[92] Scientific American (Oct. 22, 1853), vol. 9, no. 6, p. 46.
VI. Biographical Sketches
BARTHELEMY THIMONNIER
The first man known to have put a sewing machine into practical operation, Barthelemy Thimonnier, was a Frenchman of obscure parentage. His father, a textile dyer of Lyon, left that city in 1793 as a result of the Revolution and journeyed with his family to l’Arbresle where Barthelemy was born in August of that year.