pany
fared well financially by the strategic move.

The Grover and Baker machine and its unique stitch did not have a great
influence on the overall development of the mechanics of machine sewing.
The merits of a double-looped stitch--its elasticity and the taking of
both threads from commercial spools--were outweighed by the bulkiness of
the seam and its consumption of three times as much thread as the
lockstitch required. Machines making a similar type of stitch have
continued in limited use in the manufacture of knit goods and other
products requiring an elastic seam. But, more importantly, Grover and
Baker's astute Orlando B. Potter placed their names in the annals of
sewing-machine history by his work in forming the "Combination,"
believed to be the first "trust" of any prominence.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] See biographical sketch, pp. 138-141.

[34] _In the Matter of the Application of Elias Howe, Jr. for an
Extension of His Sewing Machine Patent Dated September 10, 1846_, New
York, 1860, with attachments A and B, U.S. Patent Office. [L.C. call no.
TJ 1512.H6265]

[35] It is interesting to note that when William Thomas applied for the
British patent of the Howe machine (issued Dec. 1, 1846), the courts
would not allow the claim for the combination of the eye-pointed needle
and shuttle to form a stitch, due to the Fisher and Gibbons patent of
1844. For more details on Howe's years in England see his biographical
sketch, pp. 138-141.

[36] The machine referred to as the London Sewing Machine is the British
patent of the Thimonnier machine. This patent was applied for by Jean
Marie Magnin and was published by _Newton's London Journal_, vol. 39, p.
317, as Magnin's invention.

[37] The exact date is not known; however, it was prior to 1856 as the
patent was included in the sewing-machine patent pool formed that year.

[38] JAMES PARTON, _History of the Sewing Machine_, p. 12, (originally
published in the _Atlantic Monthly_, May 1867), later reprinted by the
Howe Machine Company as a separate.

[39] _Sewing Machine Times_ (Feb. 25, 1907), vol. 17, no. 382, p. 1,
"His [Bonata's] shop was on Gold Street, New York, near the Bartholf
shop, where Howe was building some of his early machines."

[40] _Sewing Machine News_, vol. 3, no. 5, p. 5, Sept. 1881-Jan. 1882.
"History of the Sewing Machine."

[41] Op. cit. (footnote 34).

[42] _New York Daily Tribune_, Jan. 15, 1852, p. 2.

[43] See Howe's biographical sketch,