s period
(1840-1860) that the marvelous inventive genius of the people of the
United States began to show itself. Between the day when the patent
office was established, in 1790, and 1840, the number of patents issued
was 11,908; but after 1840 the stream poured forth increased in volume
nearly every year. In 1855 there were 2012 issued and reissued; in 1856,
2506; in 1857, 2896; in 1858, 3695; and in 1860, 4778, raising the total
number to 43,431. An examination of these inventions shows that they
related to cotton gins and cotton presses; to reapers and mowers; to
steam engines; to railroads; to looms; to cooking stoves; to sewing
machines, printing presses, boot and shoe machines, rubber goods, floor
cloths, and a hundred other things. Very many of them helped to increase
the comfort of man and raise the standard of living. Three of them,
however, have revolutionized the industrial and business world and been
of inestimable good to mankind. They are the sewing machine, the reaper
and the electric telegraph.

[Illustration: The first Howe sewing machine]

%410. The Sewing Machine.%--As far back as the year 1834, Walter Hunt
made and sold a few sewing machines in New York. But the man to whose
genius, perseverance, and unflinching zeal the world owes the sewing
machine, is Elias Howe. His patent was obtained in 1846, and he then
spent four years in poverty and distress trying to convince the world of
the utility of his machine. By 1850 he succeeded not only in interesting
the public, but in so arousing the mechanical world that seven rivals
(Wheeler and Wilson, Grover and Baker, Wilcox and Gibbs, and Singer)
entered the field. To the combined efforts of them all, we owe one of
the most useful inventions of the century. It has lessened the cost of
every kind of clothing; of shoes and boots; of harness; of everything,
in short, that can be sewed. It has given employment to millions of
people, and has greatly added to the comfort of every household in the
civilized world.

[Illustration: The Wilson sewing machine of 1850]

%411. The Harvester.%--Much the same can be said of the McCormick
reaper. It was invented and patented as early as 1831; but it was hard
work to persuade the farmer to use it. Not a machine was sold till
1841. During 1841, 1842, 1843, such as were made in the little
blacksmith shop near Steel's Tavern, Virginia, were disposed of with
difficulty. Every effort to induce manufacturers to make the machi