qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvb nmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa Elias Howe sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfBy: Ryan Welsh

12/4/2010 ghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjHIST13002 klzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklz xcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn mqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuio pasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopas dfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg hjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjk In the , the 19th century was the age of invention. So many different inventions and discoveries came out during 1800’s, most of which changed the way we live, even today. One of the brilliant inventors to come out of this era was the native

Dr. Elias Howe. Elias and his accomplishments are going to be the subject of this essay.

Elias was born in Spencer, MA on July 9, 1819. Elias’s fame comes solely from the invention of the modern machine; a machine that took five years to design, and was patented by its inventor in September of 1846. Elias was very interested in the some of the industrial machinery that was being invented from a very young age. These interests made him pursue a job in mills in Lowell and Cambridge, MA (Parrott-Sheffer). In 1938 Elias was pushed into Boston due to a state-wide depression. There he began working for a well know craftsman and repairman Ari Davis. Ari and Elias would have conversations about how rich the person would be who invented a “proper” . Ari was also known for being a bit of a cocky man, and he and Elias had a small bet on who could invent such a machine first

(Askaroff).

In 1841, at the age of 22, Elias Married for the first time. Elias was now a family man earning nine dollars an hour with a wife and children. To make extra money, his wife made clothes for the family, as well as for selling. Watching his wife make clothes by hand is one of the things that gave Elias his inspiration to make a sewing machine. He would lay in bed, dreaming up ideas for his new sewing machine. He once said “I wish I could just lie here in bed for the rest of time” (Askaroff). Times were so hard that in 1944 Elias, his family, and his father had to re-locate again; this time to his uncle’s pal-leaf slicing business in Cambridge, MA until it was burned down later that year (Askaroff).

After the disaster at his uncle’s business, Elias happened to bump into his former friend from his school days. George Fisher was now a very rich man because of his skills as a merchant for wood and coal. George recognized Elias’s talent and drive to invent the new, improved sewing machine and took Elias and his family in, giving him room, board, and a small workshop a small room of his house. George Fisher said "I believe I was the only one of Elias

Howe's friends and neighbors in the area that had any confidence in his ability and his invention. Many people thought of him as an eccentric visionary trying to invent the impossible" (Askaroff). George’s faith in Elias started pay off in April of 1945 when Elias completed his new sewing machine. The problem was that no one wanted to buy it. However, he patented it anyway on September 10, 1846. Due to the lack of return on his investment in

Howe, Fisher has no choice but to kick Elias out later that year (Askaroff). Elias ended up going to England to sell his sewing machine. He barely sold enough to sail back to America in 1849. He had left his family in New York while he was in England, and came back to a fatally ill wife. However, there was good new awaiting in America, the sewing machine that he had pitched to so many people, was now a big hit. Many people were using his patented idea to sew threads; Elias was not seeing a dime of the money. He served all of the sewing machine manufacturers using his design, stating "No successful sewing machine of our time can be made without embodying my principles." (Askaroff). Many of the people coughed up the cash without further trouble. The people who did not pay put up an eight year fight to avoid paying Elias for using his idea. The several defendants tried many ways to make their point, accusing him of copying the design from Walter Hunt was one of them. Despite the claims, in 1854 Elias won his case, Judge Sprague saying "There is no evidence in this case that leaves a shadow of a doubt that for all the benefits conferred by the introduction of the sewing machine the public are indebted to Elias Howe Jr." (Askaroff). The case resulted in paying Elias royalties of $15,000, the equivalent of between four to four and a half million dollars in today’s world. He also received five dollars for every sewing machine sold. After court, he was making about $1,000 a day; the equivalent of $250-$300 thousand today. Elias Howe undoubtedly lived a difficult life; the death of a wife, living in poverty his whole life, no one except his father and an old friend believing in him, and going through an eight year trial to defend his integrity. He came out in the end having invented one of the most important machines to come out of the 19th century. The sewing machine gave people the ability to mass produce clothing, a very valuable asset. Imagine having to make a choice: pay

$100 for a t-shirt ($200 for jeans), or spend 10 hours making your own. That is a choice you would have to make if Elias was not the visionary that he was. His early invention inspired later machines that can a t-shirt in seconds, instead of hours.

Elias Howe was a very controversial person ion his own day. Before his invention was patented, he was seen by his peers as nothing more than a gifted craftsman and repairman, who was on the fools-errand of attempting to invent an effective sewing machine. During his time inventing and attempting to sell his new machine most people looked at him as a failure; someone who had made a contraption that was effective only in the hands of its inventor due to the complexity. It was also the price equivalent of buying a brand new car today, therefore the sewing machine was seen as effective, but un-practical. Later in his life, after the sewing machine became a big hit, Elias was seen as a thief; a person who had stolen the idea of a smarter Walter Hunt. Even though it was proven that

Walter Hunt had invented essentially the identical machine twelve years earlier, in 1834, it was also a fact the Walter did not seek patent on his invention. It was also proven that Elias Howe is unlikely to have copied the invention, or even have come across it in his day. It was merely a coincidence that two men created the same invention, ten years apart. However the reputation of Elias Howe remained tarnished for year to come.

Today, Elias is known as an influential inventor of that time period. After all, he did invent a machine that changed life forever. Although the design of a contemporary sewing machine is a far cry from that of the original Elias Howe version, he still receives credit for being the original inspiration. He is not as well-known as other American inventors of his time, like:

Benjamin Franklin, , , , and the Wright

Brothers. The reason for this is that is unlike any of these five other inventors, Elias Howe invented one thing; and it was important, but not controversial (cotton gin) or previously thought to be impossible (telephone, airplane, light bulb). When writing this paper on Elias Howe I ran into the problem of having a lack of recourses. There is not a whole lot of information on him, so finding any source that gave me more than a couple paragraphs was very difficult. The other problem is due to the fact that he only made one significant invention unlike Ben Franklin or Alexander Graham Bell; because of that most of the presentable information on him is biographical. This wasn’t that big of a problem because he did have a very eventful life living in poverty. The final problem I ran into is that I did this essay relatively last minute, so I could not go to the library to find a solid, offline resource. Obviously I take full blame for that.

The most helpful resource I found was a website fully devoted to sewing, and therefore

Elias Howe. The writer was Alex I Askaroff, an enthusiast on significant inventions and there inventors. He gave a very detailed description on the life of Elias Howe. The problem with the site is that it is poorly set up in my opinion, making it hard to follow. He also did not cite any of his sources, meaning I could not go directly to wherever he got his information from. That being said, it was the only significant bit of information I found on Elias’s life.

One of the most important things I found on Elias Howe, who I knew almost nothing of before this assignment, was that he lived essentially in poverty his whole life until the end of his court case in 1854 where he was paid royalties for his patent in a sum of money, equivalent today to about four million dollars. The importance of that is that Elias lived out the American dream; anyone can make it big for any reason. His background from working in a textile factory gave him the experience to become an inventor. Without the Experience he probably would not have found an interest in machinery. Another significant part of his life is working with Ari

Davis; a prominent and trusted machinist at the time. He gained invaluable experience working there as well, having conversations with Ari about the ineffectiveness of the sewing machines at the time, and the need for a need design. One other thing that was essential to Elias’s success was re-uniting with his old school friend George Fisher. George just happened to be fairly well off at the time of their re-introduction, and he took in Elias and his family; in the process George gave him a workshop, and funds needed to complete the invention, and travel to promote his product.

The importance of Elias’s invention is clear; it started a practice that allowed clothes, and other fabric materials to be made quicker and better. The sewing machine made way for the mass production of clothing in the United States. The significance of this invention is obvious. It also produced some companies dedicated to sewing that are still prominent even today. Singer Sewing is the best example of this.

Elias Howe was an inventor of the utmost importance. He had but one invention; but it is an invention that has made history as one of the most effective creations of its time. It has saved millions of people time, and money. More importantly it helped create a whole new industry. That’s why Elias Howe is one of the most influential people, of a time period overrun with prominent names.

Works Cited

Askaroff, Alex I. "ELIAS HOWE, INVENTOR OF THE SEWING MACHINE." SUSSEX

SEWING MACHINES.SEWALOT.COM HOMEPAGE. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec.

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Bellis, Mary. "The History of the Sewing Machine - Elias Howe and Isaac Singer."

Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2010.

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Degler, Carl N., Santis Vincent P. De, and Steeg Clarence L. Ver. Introduction to

American History: Volume 1 - to 1877;. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

"Famous American Inventors." Famous American Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec.

2010. .

Parrott-Sheffer, Chelsey. "Elias Howe." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia.

N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. .