Isaac Merrit Singer: American Sewing Machine

This was my research paper for my American History to 1870 class this year.  I just got my grade back on it, a 90 out of 100 (an A-).  We had to pick someone from our textbook to write about.  I first chose Ben Franklin, but there was SOOOO much info on him I got swamped with what to do to keep it to 5-7 pages.  Isaac Merrit Singer (who modernized the sewing machine, he didn't actually invent it) had an almost passing reference in two sentences, which was enough of a mention to warrant my attention.  So he was my topic.

  Isaac Merritt Singer is a true American classic: born October 27, 1811 in Oswego, New York, he improved greatly on an existing product -- the sewing machine -- making it far easier to use in the home, and created a company making his product, and using a business model that still exists to this day, well over a century later.

His Early Life

     Born in Oswego, New York in 1811, Isaac Merritt Singer grew up fast, leaving his home at age twelve. When he was nineteen, he began working in his older brother's machine shop.  It was there that he learned the trade of being a machinist, the trade that would ultimately leave his name on sewing machines around the world.¹

     He grew into a tall man; at six feet four inches, he towered over most people, yet didn't believe that machining was his future.  He wanted to follow a different vocation, that of the stage.  Isaac wanted to be an actor.

     In 1830, around the time he started working for his brother, Isaac married the first of his two wives, Catharine Maria Haley -- who was fifteen at the time -- by which they had two children, William and Lillian.²  When William was five years old and Lillian still not born yet, Isaac moved his family to New York City where he worked in a press shop for a year.  He left the press shop to become an agent for a company of actors touring through Baltimore, Maryland.  While working as the agent, he met a woman named Mary Ann Sponsler and because thoroughly enchanted to the point where he proposed to her though he never followed through.³  He did, however return to New York in 1837 where Isaac became a father twice that year: his wife gave birth to Lillian and his mistress Mary Ann arrived soon after, already pregnant.  She gave birth to Isaac's second son, Isaac Augustus.

     Isaac and Catharine's marriage went downhill from there, Catharine suspecting and possibly even knowing about Mary Ann.  However, Isaac and Catharine didn't officially divorce until January 23 of 1860.  Mary Ann, once she found out Isaac was already married, surely wasn't happy.⁴  Isaac did the only thing he could: he left town.  He went back to Baltimore with Mary Ann and told people in Baltimore that she was his wife.⁵

Isaac the Inventor

     Isaac left New York and the mess he created with his wife, children, and his mistress to head to Chicago to work on the construction of the Illinois-Michigan canal.  It was while working on the canal in 1839 that Isaac obtained his first patent on a machine he had invented that drilled through rock.  He sold the patent to the I&M Canal Building Company for $2,000.⁶  With his newfound wealth, Isaac returned to his first love, acting.

     Isaac formed and acting troupe called the Merritt Players, using the stage name of Isaac Merritt (dropping the Singer from his name).    He even had Mary Ann Sponslor return to the stage as an actress, using the name Mary Ann Merritt.  The Merritt Players toured for about five years all over North America.⁷

     After a couple more jobs in printing and wood signs, Isaac landed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he developed a machine that gave him his second patent: a "machine for carving wood and metal."⁸

     Isaac Singer, at age 38, with two wives and eight children between them, returned to New York.  It was while he was in New York, trying to sell the machine that he was given an advance from a man named George B. Zieber -- a man who figured prominently in Singer's future -- to build a prototype of the wood and metal carving machine that actually worked.⁹  Along with the advance money from Zieber, Singer was also offered a place where sewing machines were being manufactured in Boston to set up his prototype once he built it.  The sewing machines were being built by the "moderately successful Lowell and Blodget Company"¹⁰ in a shop owned by Orson C. Phelps.

     And, in 1850, he once again packed up his family and moved, this time to Massachusetts.

Isaac the Innovator

     It was in Boston in 1850 that Isaac Singer got his idea for improving on the sewing machine.  Why not make it smaller and easier to use in the home?  Why shouldn't people be able to make their own clothes at home faster than sewing by hand?  That was what prompted the idea to make a smaller, more manageable sewing machine, but it wasn't how he started with the machines.

     At Phelps's shop in Boston, Phelps asked Singer to look at one of the machines and repair it if possible.  Singer, rather than repair the machine, saw that the machine would work more efficiently and reliably if the needle were straight rather than curved, and the shuttle -- the piece that moves the needle -- moved in a straight line rather than in a circle.¹¹  He also installed a presser-foot for feeding the fabric -- a part that the fabric sits on and pulls the fabric under the needle.¹²  He also designed the now-familiar shape of the sewing machine with the "arm" that extends out over the worktable that holds the needle over the "foot."  What all this did was make sewing more efficient and time-saving, improving the number of stitches from an experienced seamstresses 40 stiches per minute by hand to 900 stitches on the sewing machine.¹³

     Singer asked Zieber for financing, which he received, and became partners with Zieber and Phelps, creating the "Jenny Lind Sewing Machine," named for a Swedish songstress.  Singer applied for, and acquired, patents for his improvements to the sewing machine.  He did, however, lose a lawsuit for patent infringement in 1854 when he used Elias Howe's eye-pointed needle and lock-stitch method in the machine's methods of sewing.¹⁴  Yet it didn't stop him from manufacturing his machines in a partnership with Edward Clark.  They formed their partnership in 1851 and in nine years, the I. M. Singer & Company was the largest producer of sewing machines anywhere in the world.¹⁵

          Singer’s partnership with Clark made them both a lot of money.  Singer continued to refine the mechanics of his sewing machine with innovations like interchangeable parts and reducing the size and weight.  Clark, meanwhile, was streamlining the business side as Singer handled the manufacturing; he created purchase plans using installment payments as well as taking old sewing machines in as trade-ins on newer models, much like car purchases are done today.  The result was a booming business with soaring sales at about $10 per machine.¹⁶

     Singer aimed his marketing not only at commercial customers, but also at housewives.  With his inexpensive sewing machines, shown off in large showrooms, with a team of mechanics, sewing instructors and easily accessible replacement parts, the Singer sewing machine became a status symbol for self-reliant American families.¹⁷

     In 1863, a man named Ebenezer Butterick, a tailor, had his own innovation for the American household that went hand in hand with Singer’s sewing machines: dress patterns.  Combined with “America’s most popular sewing machine,”¹⁸ Butterick’s dress patterns made a powerful combination that made Singer a wealthy man but the time he died in 1875 on his British estate, “the Wigwam.”¹⁹

     Despite Singer’s womanizing and attraction to the theater, he was a great innovator in both his sewing machine and business model using credit and installment plans, all of which helped shape America’s modern credit system.  Singer might be famous for his sewing machine, but his other contributions helped form modern America.

Notes

     1. Evans, Harold.  They Made America. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004). p 86

     2. "Isaac Merritt Singer." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/545806/Isaac-Merrit-Singer>.

     3.  Evans, p 87-88

     4. "Isaac Merritt Singer." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 Mar. 2012<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Singer-IM.html>.

     5.  “Isaac Merritt Singer.” New World Encyclopedia. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Isaac_Merritt_Singer.

     6. Columbia Encyclopedia.

     7.  Encyclopædia Britannica.

     8. Bissel, D.C. The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Brunswick, ME: Audenreed Press, 1999.  p 45

     9. Encyclopædia Britannica.

     10. Encyclopædia Britannica.

     11. Brandon, Ruth. Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance. New York: Kodansha International, 1977. p 95-97

     12. Brandon, p. 100

     13. Encyclopædia Britannica.

     14. New World Encyclopedia

     15. Bissel, p. 60

     16. Encyclopædia Britannica.

     17. Encyclopædia Britannica.

     18. Columbia Encyclopedia.

     19.  New World Encyclopedia.

Bibliography

Evans, Harold.  They Made America. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004).

"Isaac Merritt Singer." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/545806/Isaac-Merrit-Singer>.

"Isaac Merritt Singer." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 Mar. 2012<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Singer-IM.html>.

Bissel, D.C. The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Brunswick, ME: Audenreed Press, 1999. 

Brandon, Ruth. Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance. New York: Kodansha International, 1977.

“Isaac Merritt Singer.” New World Encyclopedia. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2012. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Isaac_Merritt_Singer.

Greece and Roman Empires Expanded Culture Growth in Ancient Times

Arrian, "The Campaigns of Alexander the Great" (Fourth Century B.C.E.), published in Katharine J. Lualdi, Sources of The Making of the West, Vol. I: To 1740, Third Edition (Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2009), pp. 79-83

Eratosthenes, "Measurement of the Earth" (Third Century B.C.E.), published in Katharine J. Lualdi, Sources of The Making of the West, Vol. I: To 1740, Third Edition (Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2009), pp. 93-95

Julius Caesar, "The Gallic War" (52 B.C.E.), published in Katharine J. Lualdi, Sources of The Making of the West, Vol. I: To 1740, Third Edition (Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2009), pp. 116-119

Greece's expansion into the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea wasn't as much an effort in conquest as it was of unification, unlike Rome's building of a republic that would become an empire.

     Alexander the Great's efforts to expand Greece's territory incorporated cultures and lands south into Egypt and as far east as into India.  His campaigns lasted eleven years until his death in 323 B.C.E. and his empire fell into petty squabbling as his generals each tried to get their own piece of Alexander's kingdom.  Alexander managed to keep his kingdom together through the use of garrisons in each conquered country as well as keeping the local governments in power.  The conquered peoples noticed little change in their daily lives after the battles as they were still dealing with the same governing bodies.

     Leaving the garrisons in the conquered countries had a two-fold effect.  One, it kept the peace and a small reminder that they were a conquered people, and two, it gave two separate cultures a chance to intermingle and learn from each other.  Alexander also brought scholars with him on his conquests, to record information about his campaigns, and to record new discoveries -- new to Alexander and the Greeks.  Thus knowledge was shared: knowledge of other peoples, other flora and fauna not native to the Mediterranean, and knowledge of other religions, which impacted the Romans later as they adapted a lot of Greek gods but gave them Roman names: Zeus became Jupiter, Hera became Juno, Athena was Minerva in Roman, to name a few.

     When Caesar, among other Roman generals, were expanding Rome's influence in a more northerly direction into Europe, a similar occurrence happened with the cross-culture exchange.

     This cross-culture exchange expanded thoughts and ideas into music, philosophy, art, theater, science and law.

     In Arrian's "The Campaigns of Alexander the Great," the author tells of the time when Alexander had returned to Persia from India when his soldiers desired to return home.  Alexander decided to send home the disabled veterans to appease some of the homesickness.  His Macedonian soldiers resented this move as they feared the Persians were to be taking their place.

     Alexander delivered a speech that inspired the men to realize that his men came before himself.  He did what he did for them.  It wasn't his glory, it was their glory.  It wasn't his treasure, it was their treasure.

     After his speech, Alexander retired to his palace, cloistering himself for three days before summoning his Persian officers to bestow on them command of Alexander's armies.  When the Macedonians heard of this, they prostrated themselves in supplication, offering up the soldiers who led the efforts of returning home, for a chance to stay by his side.  Alexander relented and accepted their apologies, offering up a sacrifice to the gods.  He also hosted a banquet for the men, Persian and Macedonian alike, to bring them together as the army of Alexander, not Persian soldiers and Macedonian soldiers.  This shared affiliation bonded the men and they shared aspects of their culture as a result.

     Besides bringing distant and diverse cultures together through his army, Alexander also had the world's largest library built in the city named for him, Alexandria.  Scientists and scholars from across Alexander's empire were encouraged to come to the library to research new thoughts and processes to further technology and knowledge.  One such man was Eratosthenes.  He hypothesized that using two matching sundial bowls in the distant cities of Alexandria and Syene, both in Egypt about 500 miles apart, and measuring the length of the shadow cast by the sundial in one sundial where the other sundial has no shadow as the sun was directly overhead, he could calculate the circumference of the earth.  The reason Eratosthenes used Syene was because the city was directly south of Alexandria, on the same meridian circle, or longitudinal line, and both cities had the same structure with the same height, very important in measuring the length of the shadows.  Would this have been possible without Alexander's conquering of most of the known world around the Mediterranean?  Highly doubtful as a lot of local tribes were still warring in a lot of areas that Alexander's armies invaded.  Alexander's personal charisma helped people want to come together and share experiences and thus share their culture.

     Alexander set the stage for Rome, with a cross-culture empire having already been established once.  Alexander showed that, done correctly, people of varied cultures can get along and learn from each other.  Once Rome began to rise in power and territory, they modeled some of their expansion techniques on Alexander's, including establishing towns of Roman citizens throughout conquered territories.  While the towns comprised mainly of citizens and not garrisons of soldiers, the basic idea was similar in principle: leave people loyal to the conquerors in the territory of the conquered.

     In the account of Julius Caesar finishing his conquest of the Gauls in what later became France, it is mentioned how Caesar rewarded his friends and generals with governorships in areas he had conquered, specifically Commius who was awarded the Kingship of Atrebates and Brutus -- the same one who later was one of Caesar's murderers and the subject of the now famous line "Et to, Brute?" -- was awarded the governorship of Transalpine Gaul.  This was yet another way of putting Roman influence into area outside of Rome -- in the manner that Alexander had done with his empire some two centuries beforehand -- spreading the culture, as well as absorbing the local customs by the governorship and his aides.

     The Romans also built roads connecting major cities in their new conquered nations.  This shortened the time for troop movement between cities, but also helped ease travel for the citizenry.  As time went on, and the Roman armies needed the use of the roads less and less, the locals used the roads more and more, giving an ease of travel to greater distances, farther than most have traveled before.  Local customs became wider spread and incorporated into larger areas.  Knowledge was traded along the roads as well, as travelers carried it with them wherever they went.

Jester Writer fiction is moving!

As the title states, I'll be moving my fiction writing over to a Wordpress account.  That way I can write and add to my online fiction with my iPad2 since Wordpress has a free app and Blogger/Blogspot doesn't seem to have ANY kind of app.  And I really don't want to try and post from a browser on an iPad.

So as things stand right now, this blog will stay here with essays and the occasional non-fiction thoughts, but all the fiction including the continuing adventures of Spider and Fortune, will be moving to http://jesterwriter.wordpress.com  Look me up there and follow my scribblings!