arly in the
1850s and later through the "Combination," however, he licensed others
to make machines using his patent. These machines bore that patent date
for which a royalty was being paid.

Among his early licensees was his elder brother Amasa who organized the
Howe Sewing Machine Co. in 1854. The Amasa Howe machines were very good
ones, and in 1862 Amasa won the prize medal at the London International
Exhibition. This immensely increased the popularity of the machine and
Elias offered to join Amasa by building a large factory at Bridgeport,
Connecticut, to fill the increasing demand for more machines. The
machines produced at Bridgeport, however, although imitating the Amasa
Howe machines, proved inferior in quality. Amasa found that, rather than
helping his business reputation, his brother's efforts were hurting him,
and he severed business relations with Elias.

Because of their brief association, the 1862 prize medal awarded to A.
B. Howe was sometimes credited to Elias. The latter did receive awards
for his patent, but never for his manufactured machines. When the two
brothers dissolved their joint venture, Elias attempted to call his new
company the Howe Sewing Machine Co., but Amasa's claim that this name
had been his exclusive property for many years was upheld by the courts.
Elias then omitted the word "Sewing" and called his company simply the
Howe Machine Co.

After Elias died in 1867, the company was run by his sons-in-law, the
Stockwell brothers. To distinguish their machines from those of A. B.
Howe, they marked each machine with a brass medallion picturing the head
and flowing locks of Elias Howe. They also continued to advertise their
machine as the "original" Howe. In about 1873, B. P. Howe, Amasa's son,
sold the Howe Sewing Machine Co. to the Stockwell brothers, who
continued to manufacture Howe machines until 1886.

The machines of the A. B. Howe Sewing Machine Co. may be dated by serial
number approximately as follows:

_Serial Number_ _Year_

1-60 1854
61-113 1855
114-166 1856
167-299 1857
300-478 1858
479-1399 1859

No figures are available for 1860-1870, but 20,051 machines were
manufactured in 1871.

The machines of the [Elias] Howe Machine Co. are not believed to have
begun with serial number 1, and no figures are available for 1865-1867.
After that, the machines may be dated by seri