<P> The first practical and widely used sewing machine was invented by Barthélemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, in 1829 . His machine sewed straight seams using chain stitch like Saint's model, and in 1830, he signed a contract with Auguste Ferrand, a mining engineer, who made the requisite drawings and submitted a patent application . The patent for his machine was issued on 17 July 1830, and in the same year, he opened (with partners) the first machine - based clothing manufacturing company in the world to create army uniforms for the French Army . However, the factory was burned down, reportedly by workers fearful of losing their livelihood following the issuing of the patent . </P> <P> A model of the machine is exhibited at the London Science Museum . The machine is made of wood and uses a barbed needle which passes downward through the cloth to grab the thread and pull it up to form a loop to be locked by the next loop . The first American lockstitch sewing machine was invented by Walter Hunt in 1832 . His machine used an eye - pointed needle (with the eye and the point on the same end) carrying the upper thread and a falling shuttle carrying the lower thread . The curved needle moved through the fabric horizontally, leaving the loop as it withdrew . The shuttle passed through the loop, interlocking the thread . The feed let the machine down, requiring the machine to be stopped frequently and reset up . Hunt eventually lost interest in his machine and sold individual machines without bothering to patent his invention, and only patenting it at a late date of 1854 . In 1842, John Greenough patented the first sewing machine in the United States . The British partners Newton and Archibold introduced the eye - pointed needle and the use of two pressing surfaces to keep the pieces of fabric in position, in 1841 . </P> <P> The first machine to combine all the disparate elements of the previous half - century of innovation into the modern sewing machine was the device built by English inventor John Fisher in 1844, thus a little earlier than the very similar machines built by the infamous Isaac Merritt Singer in 1851, and the lesser known Elias Howe, in 1845 . However, due to the botched filing of Fisher's patent at the Patent Office, he did not receive due recognition for the modern sewing machine in the legal disputations of priority with Singer, and it was Singer who won the benefits of the patent . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> Elias Howe's lockstitch machine, invented in 1845 </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Elliptic sewing machine with elliptic hook and stationary bobbin, American Institute Fair, 1862 </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Singer treadle machine </P> </Li> <Li> <P> An 1880 machine from the Wheeler and Wilson Company </P> </Li> </Ul>

Who invented the sewing machine in victorian times
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