BRITISH  PATENT  713-1852

713   John Henry Johnson of 47, Lincoln’s Inn Field, in the County of Middlesex and Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for an invention for improvements in machinery or apparatus for sewing and stitching. A communication.

Letters Patent sealed.                                                    November  11, 1852

extract from 

The Journal of Domestic Appliances (August 1, 1889)

The Development of the Sewing Machine

By    E. Ward

A machine using a straight needle acting vertically, the filling thread being passed through the loop by means of a reciprocating shuttle working in a rectilinear groove or race and having a wheel-feed motion, was patented by Mr. John Henry Johnson on November 11th, 1852. This machine in itself possesses no distinctive features worthy of record and is noticed in these articles only because of the fact that with it was introduced one of those simple ideas which have done so much towards perfecting the machine for special kinds of work. The machine was arranged to sew stout materials, and the idea above referred to was the provision made to lubricate the needle thread. A small reservoir containing the lubricating agent is fitted to the top of the overhanging arm or bracket and through this reservoir the needle thread is caused to pass on its way from the reel to the needle; simple as this arrangement undoubtedly is, it has proved of very great importance to the leather trade, and is extensively used at the present day in stitching heavy leather goods and if due regard be paid to the composition of the lubricating material, great solidity and durability are given to the work produced, and the fibres of the leather are less likely to be cut than they would be if exposed to the friction of a dry thread.