Thomas Saint 1790
Thomas Saint took out British Patent No. 1764 on a machine for "quilting, stitching, and sewing, and for making shoes, and other articles. . . ." in 1790.
Thomas was a cabinet maker born in Greenhill Rents parish of St. Sepulchre London, England.
Working again
Many years later in 1874 a man named William Newton Wilson found the patent of Thomas’s machine. The original drawings were so complete he was able to rebuild it, and with slight amendments to the looper, he rebuilt Saints sewing machine, proving it did work. His replica is now exhibited in the Science Museum.
Modern Features
Saint’s device had many features of today's sewing machines. It had an overhead arm to take the stitching awl and a tensioning system. The awl pierced the material and a forked rod carried the thread through the hole, where it would be hooked underneath and moved to the next stitching place. The cycle would then be repeated, so locking the stitch.
Links
History of the Sewing Machine
