ncyclopedia of 1763, vol.
II, _Plates Brodeur_, plate II. (Smithsonian photo 43995-C.)]

This raised the question whether Saint had built even one machine.
Nevertheless, the germ of an idea was there, and had the inventor
followed through the sewing machine might have been classed an
18th-century rather than a 19th-century contribution.

1800-1820

There is no doubt that the successful late-18th-century improvements in
spinning and weaving methods, resulting in increased production of
fabrics, had a great effect in spurring inventors to ideas of stitching
by machinery. Several efforts were made during the first two decades of
the 19th century to produce such machines.

On February 14, 1804, a French patent was issued to Thomas Stone and
James Henderson for a "new mechanical principle designed to replace
handwork in joining the edges of all kinds of flexible material, and
particularly applicable to the manufacture of clothing."[7] The machine
used a common needle and made an overcast stitch in the same manner as
hand sewing. A pair of jaws or pincers, imitating the action of the
fingers, alternately seized and released the needle on each side of the
fabric. The pincers were attached to a pair of arms arranged to be moved
backward and forward by "any suitable mechanism."[8] This machine was
capable of making curved or angular as well as straight seams, but it
was limited to carrying a short length of thread, necessitating frequent
rethreading. The machine may have had some limited use, but it was not
commercially successful.

On May 30 of the same year John Duncan, a Glasgow manufacturer, was
granted British patent 2,769 for "a new and improved method of
tambouring, or raising flowers, figures or other ornaments upon muslins,
lawns and other cottons, cloths, or stuffs." This machine made the
chainstitch, using not one but many hooked needles that operated
simultaneously. The needles, attached to a bar or carrier, were pushed
through the vertically held fabric from the upper right side, which in
this case was also the outer side. After passing through it, they were
supplied with thread from spools by means of peculiarly formed hooks or
thread carriers. The thread was twisted around the needle above the
hook, so as to be caught by it, and drawn through to the outer surface.
The shaft of the needle was grooved on the hook side and fitted with a
slider. This slider closed upon the retraction of the needle from the
fab