Object Details
- inventor
- Miller, Charles
- Description
- Sewing Machine Patent Model
- Patent No. 9,139, issued July 20, 1852
- Charles Miller of St. Louis, Missouri
- At the time of his patent, Charles Miller lived in St. Louis, Missouri, an uncommon choice of residence for a sewing machine inventor. Most of the inventors, and subsequent manufacturers, were located in the northeastern United States, particularly New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
- In his patent specification, Miller states: “This invention relates to that description of sewing-machine which forms the stitch by the interlacing of two threads, one of which is passed through the cloth in the form of a loop, and the other carried by a shuttle through the said loop.” His claim continues by stating: “It consists, first, in an improved stop-motion, or certain means of preventing the feed or movement of the cloth when by accident the thread breaks or catches in the seam; and, second, in certain means of sewing or making a stitch similar to what is termed in hand-sewing ‘the back stitch.”
- According to Miller, his mechanism was different in that it passed the needle through the cloth in two places rather than in one, as was the case with other sewing machines of the time. His brass model is strikingly handsome, and engraved on the base of the model is “Charles Miller & J. A. Ross.” Usually when a second name is so prominently displayed on a model, it indicates a second inventor. However, no mention is made of Ross in the patent specification. Interestingly, Jonathan A. Ross turns up the following year at the 1853 New York Exhibition, exhibiting a sewing machine, and is listed in the catalogue as a sewing machine manufacturer from St. Louis, Missouri.
- Miller is perhaps best known for an invention some two years later. It was the first sewing machine patented to stitch buttonholes (Patent No. 10,609, issued March 7, 1854). In his patent specification, Miller describes the three different stitches, “button-hole stitch, whip stitch or herring-bone stitch,” that can be mechanically sewn to finish the buttonhole.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- model constructed
- before 1852-07-20
- patent date
- 1852-07-20
- ID Number
- TE.T06113
- catalog number
- T06113.000
- patent number
- 009139
- accession number
- 89797
- Object Name
- sewing machine patent model
- Object Type
- Patent Model
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 in x 8 in x 7 in; 25.4 cm x 20.32 cm x 17.78 cm
- Related Publication
- Janssen, Barbara Suit. Patent Models Index
- Cooper, Grace Rogers. The Sewing Machine: Its Invention and Development
- Related Web Publication
- http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/HST/Cooper/CF/view.cfm
- See more items in
- Cultural and Community Life: Textiles
- Sewing Machines
- Patent Models
- Textiles
- Patent Models, Sewing Machines
- National Museum of American History
- subject
- Patent Models
- Invention
- Record ID
- nmah_1070425
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-3522-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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