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1850 BOSTON VI EXHIBITION
SEWING MACHINES PRESENT AT THE EXHIBITION
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Bronze Medal
319. Jones & Lee
New York, by Charles D. Kellogg, Boston. A Sewing Machine. This machine performed good work and is well adapted to some descriptions of sewing.
from
The Invention of the Sewing Machine,
by Grace Rogers Cooper
"A Watson machine was exhibited by Jones & Lee at the Sixth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association held in Boston in September 1850".
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Silver Medal
324. Orson C. Phelps Boston.
One Sewing Machine. This machine performed admirably; it is an exceedingly ingenious and compact machine, able to perform Tailor's sewing beautifully and thoroughly.
( A Blodgett & Lerow sewing machine )
Orson C. Phelps of Boston was manufacturing sewing machines under license from John A. Lerow. The Lerow and Blodgett machine was not very practical. The circular movement of the shuttle took a twist out of the thread at every revolution.
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Bronze Medal
1.464. John Bachelder Boston.
One Sewing Machine. This performed good work and is well adapted to straight seams.
US 6.439 May 8, 1849
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1.655. S. D. Dyer Boston. One Sewing Machine.
In 1848, for a few days, there was an exhibition held at the Merchants' Exchange of NYC, a complete Yankee invention of a Sewing Machine, invented by Messrs J. B. Johnson and Charles Morey, of Boston. Messrs Johnson and Dyer, the proprietors for the State of New York, exhibited this machine to the Scientific American. The machine operate successfully at the rate of 500 stitches per minute. (read more)
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extract from The invention of the sewing machine by Grace Rogers Cooper
Also exhibited was the machine of Allen Benjamin Wilson.
Wilson’s machine received only a bronze medal, but his inventive genius was to have a far greater effect on the development of the practical sewing machine than the work of Blodgett and Lerow.
A. B. Wilson was one of the ablest of the early inventors in the field of mechanical stitching and probably the most original.
"From the 1850 Report of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, the Wilson' machine is mentioned neither as exhibited or as awarded".
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List of US patents up to September 1850
US 2.466 John James Greenough February 21, 1842
US 2.982 Benjamin W. Bean March 4, 1843
US 3.389 George H. Corliss December 27, 1843
US 3.672 James Rodgers July 22, 1844
US 4.750 Elias Jr. Howe September 10, 1846
US 5.942 John A. Bradshaw November 28, 1848
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US 6.099 C. Morey & J. B. Johnson February 6, 1849
first American patent for a chainstitch machine
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US 6.439 John Bachelder May 8, 1849
(Bachelder did not manufacture machines, but his patent was sold to Singer)
I.M. Singer & E. Clark Assignees of J. Bachelder
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US 6.766 S. C. Blodgett & John A. Lerow October 2, 1849
Rotary Sewing Machine
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US 7.296 David M. Smith April 16 1850
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US 7.369 0. L. Reynolds May 14, 1850
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US 7.622 B. Thimonnier September 3, 1850
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