Howe, Elias (1819–1867)

US inventor, in 1846, of a sewing machine using two threads, thus producing a lock stitch.

Howe was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, and trained as a machinist. He began work on the design of a sewing machine in about 1843, and in 1846 he was granted a US patent for a practical machine. He was the first to patent a lock-stitch mechanism, and his machine had two other important features: a curved needle with the eye (for the thread) at the point, and an under-thread shuttle (this had been invented by a Walter Hunt in 1834, probably unbeknown to Howe).

Howe went to the UK and sold the invention for £250 to a corset manufacturer named William Thomas of Cheapside, London.

Thomas secured the British patent in his own name, and although Howe worked with Thomas until 1849, his career in London was unsuccessful. Returning in poverty to the USA, he found that various people – among them Isaac Singer – were making machines similar to his own. Howe redeemed his patent, which he had pawned, and sued for infringement. The courts eventually found in his favour and Howe became a millionaire on his royalties. In his last years he manufactured the machine in Bridgeport, Connecticut.