ars of American
Commerce_, vol. 2. ed. Chauncey Mitchell Depew (New York: D. O. Haines,
1895), p. 530. (Smithsonian photo 42542-A.)]

The "Sewing-Machine Combination"

With the basic elements of a successful sewing machine assembled, the
various manufacturers should have been able to produce good machines
unencumbered. The court order, however, which restrained several firms
from selling Singer machines while the Howe suit was pending, started a
landslide; soon Wheeler, Wilson and company, Grover and Baker company,
and several others[64] purchased rights from Elias Howe. This gave Howe
almost absolute control of the sewing-machine business as these
companies agreed to his royalty terms of $25 for every machine sold. In
an attempt to improve his own machine, Howe was almost immediately
caught up in another series of legal battles in which he was the
defendant; the companies he had defeated were able to accuse him of
infringing on patents that they owned. To compound the confusion,
individual companies also were suing each other on various grounds.

Because of this situation Orlando B. Potter, president of the Grover and
Baker company, advanced in 1856 the idea of a "Combination" of
sewing-machine manufacturers. He pointed out how the various companies
were harming themselves by continuing litigation and tried to convince
Howe that all would benefit by an agreement of some kind. He proposed
that Elias Howe; Wheeler, Wilson and company; I. M. Singer and company;
and Grover and Baker company pool their patents covering the essential
features of the machine. The three companies had started production
about the same time and approved of Potter's idea; Howe opposed it as he
felt that he had the most to lose by joining the "Combination." He
finally consented to take part in Potter's plan if the others would
agree to certain stipulations. The first requirement was that at least
twenty-four manufacturers were to be licensed. The second was that, in
addition to sharing equally in the profits with the three companies,
Howe would receive a royalty of $5 for each machine sold in the United
States and $1 for each machine exported. It has been estimated that, as
a result of this agreement, Howe received at least $2,000,000 as his
share of the license fees between 1856 and 1867 when his patent
expired.[65]

The organization was called the Sewing-Machine Trust and/or the
Sewing-Machine Combination. The important patents contributed