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Library of Congress LC-USZ61-96
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Elias Howe, 1867
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HOWE, Elias
(1819–67), American inventor, born in Spencer, Mass.
When he was 17, Howe was apprenticed to a manufacturer of textile
machinery in Lowell, Mass., and learned the trade of machinist.
In 1837, while working in a watchmaking shop, he conceived the idea
for a sewing machine, and spent the next five years developing it.
He obtained a patent for the sewing machine in 1846 and, after building
only four of them in the U.S., went to England, where he sold his
patent rights for a small sum. Back in the U.S. in 1849, Howe found
that his patents had been infringed and that a number of sewing
machines had been built and were in wide use. He instituted lawsuits
and finally, after expensive and lengthy proceedings, won his suits
entitling him to royalties on all sewing machines produced in the
U.S. As a result, Howe derived considerable wealth from his invention.