Elias Howe
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Elias Howe (July 9, 1819 – October 3, 1867) was born in Spencer, Massachusetts. He was an American inventor and sewing machine pioneer. Contrary to popular belief, he did not invent the sewing machine (many other people, including Walter Hunt, had worked on the idea of such a machine before him), but since he refined the others' ideas into a functional machine, on September 10, 1846, Howe was awarded the first United States patent for a sewing machine using a lock stitch design.
Howe was forced to defend his patent in the 1850s, because when he came back to the United States from a trip to Europe, he found that Isaac Singer had perfected his machine and was selling it. He won the dispute and earned royalties. Howe contributed much of the money he earned to the Union Army during the Civil War.
Howe died on October 3rd, 1867. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in New York. [1]
[edit] References in popular culture
- The Beatles's 1965 film Help! ends with the line, "Respectfully dedicated to Elias Howe who, in 1846, invented the sewing machine."
- Elias Howe is identified as the inventor of the sewing machine in the Schoolhouse Rock song "Mother Necessity".
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