Portrait of Singer
by Edward Harrison May, 1869
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-75) was the youngest child born in NY to German migrants. The parents divorced & abandoned the 8 children when Isaac was only 12, so he left home with minimal education, took odd jobs at carnivals and formed a travelling troupe of repertory actors. After 9 years on tour, Singer ran out of money and the group had to disband.
He developed interests and skills in machines, theatre and women!
At 20 Singer started again, becoming an apprentice at an older brother’s machine shop in Rochester, and in 1839 he patented a rock-drilling machine. 10 years later he patented a metal-and-wood carving machine. But mainly it was Singer who developed and brought into general use the first practical domestic sewing-machine. He invented the first practical, commercially-successful sewing machine and the first multinational company.
While working in a Boston machine shop in 1851, Singer was asked to repair a Lerow and Blodgett Co sewing machine. Instead of repairing the machine, inventor Singer quickly redesigned it by installing a presser-foot for feeding the fabric. Importantly, the new design caused less thread breakage with the innovation of an arm-like apparatus that extended over the work-table, holding the needle at its end. It was an excellent replacement for hand-sewing, sewing 900 stitches a minute, a dramatic improvement over a skilled seamstress's rate of 40 stitches a minute on simple work. ![]()
He developed interests and skills in machines, theatre and women!
At 20 Singer started again, becoming an apprentice at an older brother’s machine shop in Rochester, and in 1839 he patented a rock-drilling machine. 10 years later he patented a metal-and-wood carving machine. But mainly it was Singer who developed and brought into general use the first practical domestic sewing-machine. He invented the first practical, commercially-successful sewing machine and the first multinational company.
While working in a Boston machine shop in 1851, Singer was asked to repair a Lerow and Blodgett Co sewing machine. Instead of repairing the machine, inventor Singer quickly redesigned it by installing a presser-foot for feeding the fabric. Importantly, the new design caused less thread breakage with the innovation of an arm-like apparatus that extended over the work-table, holding the needle at its end. It was an excellent replacement for hand-sewing, sewing 900 stitches a minute, a dramatic improvement over a skilled seamstress's rate of 40 stitches a minute on simple work.
An early sewing machine produced by the Singer Co.
Singer patented & sold the new sewing machine with his partner Edward Clark. Others had patented sewing machines before Singer, of course eg the British inventor Thomas Saint had received the world's first patent for a sewing machine in 1790. And American Walter Hunt developed a machine in 1832 that made a lock stitch. But Singer’s successful machine was the first to embody features allowing continuous and curved stitching. His machine used an overhanging arm holding the needle bar over a horizontal table, making it possible to sew on any part of the object. His basic design features have been followed in most subsequent machines.
Because Singer had copied a basic eye-pointed needle and the lock stitch developed by Elias Howe in his machine, Howe won a patent-infringement suit against him in 1854. The suit did not prevent Singer from manufacturing his machine and by 1860, Singer and Clark’s company had become the largest makers of sewing machines in the U.S. Singer secured 12 additional patents for improvements!
While the first Singer machines were relatively expensive and bulky, the inventor soon adopted a mass-production system of interchangeable parts, and worked to reduce the machines in size and weight. From the start, he looked past the commercial market into households, aiming to sell to housewives. As we will see, he knew about women’s needs!
After the refinements, Singer could sell his machines for $10 each, making them affordable symbols of status and self-reliance for average American families. Edward Clark pioneered instalment credit plans, allowing customers to pay in instalments for a machine that would have been too expensive for most to afford in just one payment. This had had a profound effect on soaring consumer sales. By the time tailor Ebenezer Butterick began selling dress patterns, the Singer had become America's most popular sewing machine.
Singer began relationships with a cluster of women, many of whom unknowingly overlapped in his life. By 1860, Isaac had fathered and acknowledged 18 mainly illegitimate children, 16 of them still then living, by four women. In 1861, his longstanding mistress Mary Ann Sponsler took him to court for abusing her and daughter. Mary Ann began securing a financial claim to his assets by filing documents detailing his infidelities!
Singer already had a large family with Mary McGonigall, an employee at his company's American factory, when the two sailed together for London in 1862. In 1863 Singer & Clark formed the Singer Manufacturing Co. in Britain.
Only later did Singer sail to Paris, alone! In Paris he met Isobelle Summerville, married her in 1865, and stayed together for the rest of his life. The couple settled in Devon, bought an estate there and began to build a huge mansion a la Palace of Versailles.
IM Singer expanded into the European market, establishing a factory in Glasgow controlled by the parent company; it thus became one of the first U.S-based multinational corporations with agencies in Paris and later in Rio de Janeiro. Thus we note that this, the first American multinational company, innovated and spread key elements in the sewing machine design around the world. They marketed it to households, freeing millions of women from hand-sewing. ![]()
Singer died in 1875 on his British land, leaving a vast estate. By 1890, 15 years after Isaac's death, Singer machines accounted for 90% of the world's sewing machine sales, including my grandmother’s beloved machine in the 1930s.
You will enjoy the Smithsonian’s article on "How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War".
Because Singer had copied a basic eye-pointed needle and the lock stitch developed by Elias Howe in his machine, Howe won a patent-infringement suit against him in 1854. The suit did not prevent Singer from manufacturing his machine and by 1860, Singer and Clark’s company had become the largest makers of sewing machines in the U.S. Singer secured 12 additional patents for improvements!
While the first Singer machines were relatively expensive and bulky, the inventor soon adopted a mass-production system of interchangeable parts, and worked to reduce the machines in size and weight. From the start, he looked past the commercial market into households, aiming to sell to housewives. As we will see, he knew about women’s needs!
After the refinements, Singer could sell his machines for $10 each, making them affordable symbols of status and self-reliance for average American families. Edward Clark pioneered instalment credit plans, allowing customers to pay in instalments for a machine that would have been too expensive for most to afford in just one payment. This had had a profound effect on soaring consumer sales. By the time tailor Ebenezer Butterick began selling dress patterns, the Singer had become America's most popular sewing machine.
Singer began relationships with a cluster of women, many of whom unknowingly overlapped in his life. By 1860, Isaac had fathered and acknowledged 18 mainly illegitimate children, 16 of them still then living, by four women. In 1861, his longstanding mistress Mary Ann Sponsler took him to court for abusing her and daughter. Mary Ann began securing a financial claim to his assets by filing documents detailing his infidelities!
Singer already had a large family with Mary McGonigall, an employee at his company's American factory, when the two sailed together for London in 1862. In 1863 Singer & Clark formed the Singer Manufacturing Co. in Britain.
Only later did Singer sail to Paris, alone! In Paris he met Isobelle Summerville, married her in 1865, and stayed together for the rest of his life. The couple settled in Devon, bought an estate there and began to build a huge mansion a la Palace of Versailles.
IM Singer expanded into the European market, establishing a factory in Glasgow controlled by the parent company; it thus became one of the first U.S-based multinational corporations with agencies in Paris and later in Rio de Janeiro. Thus we note that this, the first American multinational company, innovated and spread key elements in the sewing machine design around the world. They marketed it to households, freeing millions of women from hand-sewing.
Singer's elaborate grave
in Torquay Cemetery
You will enjoy the Smithsonian’s article on "How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War".