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1852 - Christopher Hodgkin's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine

National Museum of American History

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Object Details

inventor
Hodgkins, Christopher
Description
Sewing Machine Patent Model
Patent No. 9,365, issued November 2, 1852
Christopher Hodgkins of Boston, Massachusetts
On his sewing machine patent model, Christopher Hodgkins made sure his model was well identified. On the base, “Hodgkins” was painted in bold gold letters, and a brass bed plate was stamped “Christopher Hodgkins.” In his patent specification, Hodgkins wrote “My machine sews with two needles working through the cloth in opposite directions, and the one being made to cross the path of the other. It performs a lock-stitch, the loops made by each thread being locked in the cloth by those of the other.”
Hogkins assigned his patents (Patent No. 9,365, issued November 2, 1852; Patent No. 10,622, issued March 7, 1854; and Patent No. 10,879, issued May 9, 1854) to Nehemiah Hunt of Boston. In 1853, N. Hunt & Co. manufactured sewing machines based on Hodgkins’s patents. A year later, Hunt took a partner, and the company became Hunt and Webster.
Ballou’s Pictorial, July 5, 1856, featured Hunt and Webster in an article. The illustration depicted Hunt and Webster sewing machines in an elegant exhibition and showroom in Boston. They noted that “ . . . the North American Shoe Company have over fifty of the latest improved machines now running . . . .”
Location
Currently not on view
model constructed
before 1852-11-02
patent date
1852-11-02
ID Number
TE.T08702
catalog number
T08702.000
patent number
009365
accession number
89797
Object Name
sewing machine patent model
Object Type
Patent Model
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 9 in x 14 in x 10 in; 22.86 cm x 35.56 cm x 25.4 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_1070426
Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-3523-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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