Part 6 (1/2)

_Chapter Four_

[Illustration: Figure 38--GIBBS' PATENT MODEL, 1857 (Smithsonian photo 45504-E)]

Less Expensive Machines

While the ”Co to solve the probleation, another problem faced the would-be hoet lie family caused a demand for a less expensive machine, for this first consumer appliance was a most desirable commodity[67]

There were many attempts to satisfy this derew out of a young man's curiosity Ja e of 24, he saw a simple woodcut illustration of a Grover and Baker machine The woodcut represented only the upper part of thein the illustration indicated that more than one thread was used, and none of the stitch-for mechanism was visible Gibbs assumed that the stitch was forine a mechanism that would make a stitch with one thread His solution was described in his own state in a very out of the way place, far from railroads and public conveyances of all kinds,likely to have my curiosity satisfied otherwise, I set to work to see what I could learn from the woodcut, which was not accompanied by any description I first discovered that the needle was attached to a needle arh the h the same hole by which it entered From this I saw that I could not make a stitch si the thread on the underside, and a this, the chainstitch occurred tothe end

I next endeavored to discover how this stitch was or could beshaft which had the driving wheel on the outer end, passed along under the cloth plate of the machine I knew that the mechanism which made the stitchshaft After studying the position and relations of the needle and shaft with each other, I conceived the idea of the revolving hook on the end of the shaft, which ht take hold of the thread and manipulate it into a chainstitch My ideas were, of course, very crude and indefinite, but it will be seen that I then had the correct conception of the invention afterwards eure 39--ONE OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL MACHINES produced by the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Co in 1857, this h the name ”James E A Gibbs” is inscribed in two places on the cloth plate It was used as the patent model for Gibbs'

iust 10, 1858 (Smithsonian photo P 6393)]

Gibbs had no i machine other than to satisfy his curiosity He did not think of it again until January 1856 when he was visiting his father in Rockbridge County, Virginia While in a tailor's shop there, he happened to see a Singer ht the machine entirely too heavy, complicated, and cumbersome, and the price exorbitant It was then that he recalled thehow simple it was, he decided to work in earnest to produce a less-expensive type of sewing machine

Gibbs had little time to spend on this invention since his faed to find ti inclement weather In contemporary references, Gibbs is referred to as a farmer, but since he is also reported to have 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 coreed to furnish the money necessary to patent the ton, where he exa-machine models in the Patent Office and other ations, Gibbs made a trip to Philadelphia and showed his invention to a builder of models of new inventions, James Willcox Much ied for Gibbs to ith his son, Charles Willcox, in a s out two minor patents (on December 16, 1856, and January 20, 1857), Gibbs obtained his i 38) His association with Charles Willcox led to the for Machine Co chainstitch ht 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 forure 40--A DOLPHIN sewing n was first used by T J W Robertson in 1855, but in his patent issued on May 22 of that year no clain, only for the chainstitch mechanism The same style was used by D W Clark in several of his chainstitch patents, but he alsothat the machine ”may be made in any desired ornamental form” The dolphin-style inally gilt Although only about five inches long, they are full-sizea full-size needle

(S machine, on a simple iron-frame stand with treadle, sold for approximately 50 in the late 1850s,[69] while a Wheeler and Wilson[70] machine or a Grover and Baker[71] with the same type of stand sold for approximately 100 After the introduction of the Gibbs ht family machine in 1858 that was also first sold for 100 It was then reduced to 50, but it was not popular because it was too light (see discussion of Singer ht out its second, more successful family machine, which sold for 75

Like the other companies licensed by the ”Combination,” Willcox and Gibbs company paid a royalty for the use of the patents it held

Although the Willcox and Gibbs le-thread chainstitch machine and the company held the Gibbs patents, the company was required to be licensed to use the basic feed, vertical needle, and other related patents held by the ”Sewing-Machine Combination”

With the approach of the Civil War, Gibbs returned to Virginia Poor health prevented hihout the conflict in a factory processing saltpeter for gunpowder Afterward, Gibbs returned to Philadelphia and found that Willcox had faithfully protected his sewing- absence The firinia a wealthy e to which he returned in later life ”Raphine”--derived, somewhat incorrectly, fro Machine Company is one of the few old co faies toward specialized coinal chainstitch principle

There was also an ever-increasing number of other patentees and manufacturers who, in the late 1850s and 1860s, atte machine that would circuh cost ofaof these are pictured and described in figures 40 through 54