Chronology

A Chronology of Sewing Machine Inventions

I am not an authority on the history of the sewing machine. These notes come from various sources, including my own library and other Internet sites. These gave rise to contradictory claims so if I have not given credit where it is due, please let me know.

Main Features	Date	Inventor	Country	Notes

Looper & chain stitch, vertical needle bar and straight, forked, needle.	1790	Thomas Saint	England	Designed for leather boots, it formed a simple chain stitch.The patent was found by William Newton Wilson in 1874 and, with minor modifications to the looper mechanism a working machine was built from these plans.
Eye-pointed needle Eye-pointed needle Looper & chain stitch, overhanging arm and a presser foot in the form of a tube for the needle to pass through.	1807 1810 1830	Edward Chapman Balthasar Krems Bartholomy Thimonnier	U.S.A Germany France	For passing a thread through leather belts. On a machine for making nightcaps. These are just two instances. There were others used for leather and decorative work. The loops were on top of the material with the thread being pulled through from underneath by a barbed needle entering from the top. It tended to catch the cloth on its way up. The thread was hooked onto the needle by an oscillating arm which is not shown on the animation. The machine had no cloth feed so the work had to be moved along by the operator.
Single eye-pointed needle, shuttle & lockstitch	1832	Walter Hunt	U.S.A	This was the first practical lockstitch machine on which most domestic machines were based.
Curved eye-pointed needle, shuttle & lockstitch	1846	Elias Howe	U.S.A	This machine was not very practical and employed many ideas already used by other inventors. It could not deal with a curved stitch and managed only short runs before the cloth needed resetting.
Vertical needle bar, straight needle, spring loaded presser foot	1849	John Bachelder	U.S.A	This was a chain stitch machine using two threads with a horizontal work surface. It was the forerunner of the modern industrial machine. I am still looking for a good picture or diagram of this invention.
Double locking chain stitch Treadle drive	1849 1851	William Grover Isaac Singer	U.S.A U.S.A	Most industrial machines use a stitch based on this invention. There is no shuttle so both threads can be supplied from a large bobbin which will seldom need replacing. Notice that the ends of both threads are fixed and do not pass through a loop. Only loops pass through loops. Very clever. I cannot help thinking that Singer might have seen the idea of the treadle on your actual common or garden spinning wheel! Thimonnier's later machine also had treadles. In fairness though, Singer did not attempt to patent it. Singer's machine had the same general layout of those used today. He did not have the four motion feed but instead used a toothed wheel which turned intermittently against a presser foot so it was difficult to turn the cloth. He was not a key inventor but, to put it simply, he put all the parts in the right place and pointed them in the right direction.
Four motion feed & rotating hook lock stitch and circular shuttle	1852 &1854	Allan B Wilson	U.S.A	The rotating hook was much quieter and faster than the oscillating shuttle and is used in most modern domestic machines.
First reliable, efficient (and legal!) machines.	1856	The Combination	U.S.A	In 1856 Wheeler & Wilson, Grover & Baker, Howe and Singer were forced by litigation in the courts to pool their patents, making a single charge to anyone wishing to use them. This continued until 1877.
Rotating hook, twisted chain stitch.	1856	James Gibbs	U.S.A	Used on the Wilcox & Gibbs machines and many toys.
Take up lever	1872
Oscillating hook lock stitch	C1874
First electric machine	1889	Singer	U.S.A
Reversing cloth feed	1919	Vickers	U.S.A

Also try http://www.sew2go.com/smhistory.htm

For a biographical account of Thimonnier go to http://perso.wanadoo.fr/buisson/english/singer%20propaganda.htm#5