had employers, it
may be surmised that he was a farmhand. In any event, his decision to
try to produce a less-expensive sewing machine suffered from a lack of
proper tools and adequate materials. Most of the machine had to be
constructed of wood, and he was forced to make his own needles. By the
end of April 1856, however, his model was sufficiently completed to
arouse the interest of his employers, who agreed to furnish the money
necessary to patent the machine.

Gibbs went to Washington, where he examined sewing-machine models in the
Patent Office and other machines then on the market. Completing his
investigations, Gibbs made a trip to Philadelphia and showed his
invention to a builder of models of new inventions, James Willcox. Much
impressed with the machine, Willcox arranged for Gibbs to work with his
son, Charles Willcox, in a small room in the rear of his shop. After
taking out two minor patents (on December 16, 1856, and January 20,
1857), Gibbs obtained his important one, U.S. patent No. 17,427 on June
2, 1857 (fig. 38). His association with Charles Willcox led to the
formation of the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company, and they began
manufacturing chainstitch machines in 1857 (fig. 39). The machine used a
straight needle to make a chainstitch. At the forward end of the main
shaft was a hook which, as it rotated, carried the loop of
needle-thread, elongated and held it expanded while the feed moved the
cloth until the needle at the next stroke descended through the loop so
held. When the needle descended through the first loop, the point of the
hook was again in position to catch the second loop, at which time the
first loop was cast off and the second loop drawn through it, the first
loop having been drawn up against the lower edge of the cloth to form a
chain.

[Illustration: Figure 40.--A DOLPHIN sewing machine based on Clark's
patent of 1858. This design was first used by T. J. W. Robertson in
1855, but in his patent issued on May 22 of that year no claim was made
for the machine design, only for the chainstitch mechanism. The same
style was used by D. W. Clark in several of his chainstitch patents, but
he also made no claim for the design, stating that the machine "may be
made in any desired ornamental form." The dolphin-style machines are all
chainstitch models of solid brass, originally gilt. Although only about
five inches long, they are full-size machines using a full-size needle.
(Smithsonian p