Fiddlebase
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1852 - 1856
# 501 - # 7.000
feeding the cloth along, consisting of a notched bar which has a vertical or up-and-down motion for fastening the cloth upon and releasing it from the notches of said bar by striking it against a yielding plate and a lateral motion or motion forward and back for feeding the cloth along after each stitch, substantially as above set forth
a circular instead of a straight horizontal needle for spreading the loop of the thread of the vertical needle
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US 7.931 Grover & Baker
Chain-stitch, two or more threads
Double Chainstitch with two threads
Improvement in Sewing Machines. What we claim as our invention, and desire to have secured to us by letters patent, is the use of two needles operating alternately one working vertically and the other horizontally, substantially as hereinabove described and uniting two pieces of cloth, or forming the seam, by means of the double loop stitch, as hereinabove set forth.
February 11, 1851
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US 9.053 Grover & Baker
Chain-stitch, two threads.
June 22, 1852
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US 9.592 William H. Johnson
Chain-stitch, two needles, two threads.
William G. Bates assignee of W. J. Johnson
February 22, 1853
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US 14.956 William O. Grover
Improvement in Cases for Sewing Machines
The nature of this invention will be understood from the claim and the engraving.
Claim. Arranging a box or case for a sewing machine, so that, when open, the box shall constitute the bed for the machine to be operated upon and hanging the machine thereto to facilitate oiling, cleansing and repairs, without removing it from the box and the peculiar adaptation of the handle F, so that it may be pushed out when required to drive the machine and when returned within the box shall serve to prevent motion of the parts whilst the machine is being transported.
May 27, 1856
1856 - the first portable sewing machines
1857 - 1868
# 7.001 - # 225.886
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US 4.750 Elias Howe Jr.
A new and useful machine for sewing seams in cloth or other articles requiring to be sewed.
September 10, 1846
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US 7.776 Allen B. Wilson
An improved mode of operating the vibrating arm which carries the needle, an improved mode of holding and moving the cloth to be stitched.
November 12, 1850
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US 7.931 Grover & Baker
Use of two needles operating alternately, one working vertically and the other horizontally, uniting two pieces of cloth or forming the seam by means of the double loop stitch.
February 11, 1851
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US 9.053 Grover & Baker
Improvements of previous patent (US 7.931)
Claim:
1st. Feeding the cloth along, consisting of a notched bar which has a vertical or up-and-down motion for fastening the cloth upon and releasing it from the notches of said bar by striking it against a yielding plate and a lateral motion or motion forward and back for feeding the cloth along after each stitch, substantially as above set forth.
2nd. A circular instead of a straight horizontal needle for spreading the loop of the thread of the vertical needle.
June 22, 1852
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US 9.592 William H. Johnson
Chain-stitch, two needles, two threads
The making of the double loop stitch having the loops upon one side of the cloth by means of two needles. The making a seam or uniting two pieces of cloth by means of the double loop stitch, consisting of a plain stitch from a single thread on one side and on the other of a continuous chain formed of a succession of double loops from two threads.
William G. Bates assignee of William J. Johnson
February 22, 1853
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US 12.116 Allen B. Wilson
Improvement for feeding the cloth
rotating hook with stationary bobbin (US 9.041 June 15, 1852)
December 19, 1854
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US 12.233 Jotham S. Conant
An endless rotatory cloth-feeder, in combination with a reciprocating needle or needles.
Assignor to A. B. Ely
January 16, 1855
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US 21.670 William O. Grover
the combination, with a curved needle or hooker-on or looper, of an irregularly-shaped spiral shaft and a reciprocating driver ( chain stitch two threads )
October 5, 1858
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US 21.752 William O. Grover
Improvements for a machine which forms a double chain stitch by the interlocking of two threads and they are applicable to all the varieties of style of bed-plate and to any arrangement of treadle and driving-wheels.
October 12, 1858
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US 31.351 Albert H. Hook
Improvement in the Tension Apparatus of Sewing-Machines
Assignor to Grover & Baker Sewing Machine Company
February 5, 1861
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This Shuttle Sewing Machines were probably manufactured about after the Formation of Patent Pools on 10th March 1856.
1867
Improved Device for Actualing the Shuttle and Needle In Sewing Machines
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the Grover & Baker improved machine for sewing heavy goods. Fig. 2 is a view of the under side of the table at the wheel end and Fig. 3 a similar view of the other end.
1868 - # 216.210 ( Needlebar.org )
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1869 - 1873
# 261.004 - # 477.437
1873 # 452.984 - ( www.naemaschmiede.de )
(THE SEWING MACHINE "COMBINATION" 1856-1877)
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US 6.439 John Bachelder
Bachelder did not manufacture machines, but his patent was sold to Singer
Reissued US RE 617 November 2, 1858
May 8, 1849
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US 7.776 Allen B. Wilson
Improvements in a Machine for Sewing Cloth and other Fabrics
An improved mode of operating the vibrating arm which carries the needle, an improved mode of holding and moving the cloth to be stitched.
November 12, 1850
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US 7.931 Grover & Baker
Use of two needles operating alternately, one working vertically and the other horizontally, uniting two pieces of cloth or forming the seam by means of the double loop stitch.
February 11, 1851
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US 9.053 Grover & Baker
Improvements of previous patent (US 7.931)
Claim:
1st. Feeding the cloth along, consisting of a notched bar which has a vertical or up-and-down motion for fastening the cloth upon and releasing it from the notches of said bar by striking it against a yielding plate and a lateral motion or motion forward and back for feeding the cloth along after each stitch, substantially as above set forth.
2nd. A circular instead of a straight horizontal needle for spreading the loop of the thread of the vertical needle.
June 22, 1852
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US 21.669 William O. Grover
Improvements in Sewing Machines
October 5, 1858
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US 21.670 William O. Grover
The combination, with a curved needle or hooker-on or looper, of an irregularly-shaped spiral shaft and a reciprocating driver ( chain stitch two threads ).
October 5, 1858
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US 21.671 William O. Grover
Improvements in Sewing Machines
October 5, 1858
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US 21.752 William O. Grover
Improvements for a machine which forms a double chain stitch by the interlocking of two threads and they are applicable to all the varieties of style of bed-plate and to any arrangement of treadle and driving-wheels.
October 12, 1858
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US 25.730 Grover, Baker & Co.
Improvements in Sewing Machines
October 11, 1859
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US 37.502 William O. Grover
Improvement in Sewing Machines
January 27, 1863
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Grover & Baker two-thread chain stitch sewing machine, 1871, an improved version of an 1851 model (which was the first double-thread chain stitch machine). The machine is also marked " Newton Wilson & Co.", they were possibly the UK agents for Grover & Baker; the machines were partly built in America and finally assembled by Newton Wilson & Co. in the UK. In all, approximately half a million machines of this model were built. The machine made a chain stitch that was secure. It made a bulky seam and used a lot of thread but had the advantage that there was no bobbin to wind as both threads are carried on reels.
"THE END"
Despite their constant improvements, by 1870 their technology was outdated and their patent protections were expiring.
Though the Grover & Baker company manufactured machines using a shuttle and producing the more common lockstitch, both under royalty in their own name and also for other smaller companies, Potter was convinced that the Grover & Baker stitch was the one that eventually would be used in both family and commercial machines. He, as president, directed the efforts of the company to that end.
The Financial Panic of 1873 decimated sales and when the basic patents held by the “Sewing Machine Combination” began to run out dissolving its purpose and lowering the selling price of sewing machines, the Grover & Baker company began a systematic curtailing of expenses and closing of branch offices. All the patents held by the company and the business itself were sold to another company. But the members of the Grover & Baker company fared well financially by the strategic move.
In 1875 the company merged with the Domestic Sewing Machine Co..
No. 495 Broadway was taken over by woolen cloth merchants Edson Bradley & Co. The firm was run by Edson Bradley; his son, William G. Bradley; son-in-law Hugo Hoffman and a Mr. Church. Unfortunately, the Financial Panic dealt a disastrous blow to their company as well.
Patents hold by the Combination in 1856
The Sewing Machine Combination or the Sewing Machine Trust was the first patent pool in US history.
It was formed by the "Albany Agreement" of 24 October 1856 and lasted until its last patent expired in 1877.
In red are marked which patents Grover & Baker S.M. Co. needed.
1846 US 4.750 E. Howe, Jr.
1849 US 6.099 C. Morey & J. Johnson (re-issued to Singer and Clark)
1849 US 6.439 J. Bachelder (owned by Singer)
1850 US 7.659 J. Bachelder (owned by Singer)
1850 US 7.776 A. B. Wilson
1851 US 8.294 I. M. Singer
1854 US 12.116 A. B. Wilson
1855 US 12.233 Conant
1856 US 16.030 I. M. Singer
sources:
The Invention of the Sewing Machine, by Grace Rogers Cooper
collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk