THE HISTORY OF THE SEWING MACHINE
THE HISTORY OF THE SEWING MACHINE
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 I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT IF YOU DON'T FIND WHAT YOUR LOOKING FOR PLEASE ASK, I HAVE A LOT OF PARTS THAT I DON'T HAVE LISTED.
THANK YOU,
DUANE
 I also buy sewing machines and take donations so if you have a few that you would like to pass on I will be happy to take them off your hands.
THE HISTORY OF THE SEWING MACHINE

MADE AND DISTRIBUTED BY PFAFF HANDEISGESELLSCHAFT FUR HAUSHALTNAHMASCHINEN mbH
GRITZNERSTRABE 11, 7500 KARISRUHE 41, WEST GERMANY.


PEOPLE WHO OWN A MODERN PFAFF ELECTRONIC, A SEWING MACHINE WITH
WHICH THEY CAN NOT ONLY SEW THEIR OWN CLOTHES, BUT ALSO EMBROIDER
AND DARN THEM, SELDOM STOP TO THINK HOW LABORIOS AND TIME-CONSUMING
SEWING WAS A YEARS AGO.  SEWING MACHINES DID OF COURSE EXIST BEFORE
THAN, BUT WERE HARDLY KNOWN AND SCARCELY TO BE FOUND.
AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, EVEN OUR GRANDMOTHERS OFTEN HAD TO BE
CONTENT WITH THE SLOW AND NOISY LONG-SHUTTLE MACHINE, WHICH OF
COURSE WAS TREADLE-OPERATED.  NEVERTHELESS, THIS METHOD OF SEWING
ONE'S OWN CLOTHES WAS A LUXURY COMPARED TO THE METHODS USED
BEFORE THAT TIME.

FOR MORE THAN 5000 YEARS, WOMEN AND GIRLS, TAILORS, SHOEMAKER, AND
SADDLERS KNEW NO OTHER WAY OF SEWING THAN BY HAND.  OUR ILLUSTRATION
SHOWS A TAILOR'S SHOP ABOUT THE YEAR 1640.  WHEN MAN FIRST BEGAN
MAKING CLOTHES, HE KNEW OF NO SUCH THING AS A SEWING NEEDLE.
FOR HIS SEWING -- IF ONE MAY CALL IT THAT - HE USED SHAPE PIECES OF BONE,
THORNS, AND OTHER POINTED OBJECTS.  THESE TOOLS WERE USED TO MAKE
HOLES IN THE EDGES OF ANIMAL SKINS, AND LATER ON IN PLAITED OR WOVEN
PARTS.  IN ORDER TO HOLD THE VARIOUS PARTS TOGETHER , STRAPS, BAST FIBERS
OR CORD WERE LACED THROUGH THESE HOLES.  THROUGHOUT THE AGES MAN
HAS ENDEAVORED TO MAKE CLOTHING THAT IS NOT ONLY PRACTICAL BUT ALSO
ATTRACTIVE, FOR THE ORIGIN OF ALL CLOTHING IS THE HUMAN DESIRE FOR
ADORNMENT.
14TH CENTURY SEWING TECHNIQUES WERE IMPROVED BY AN IMPORTANT INVENTION,
NEEDLE WITH AN EYE. 1370 WAS WHEN THE FIRST NEEDLE WITH AN EYE MADE FROM
STEEL WIRE MANUFACTURERS OF NUREMBERG.  WHEN THE 1ST ATTEMPTS WERE
MADE TO INVENT A MACHINE WHICH COULD SEW, PEOPLE'S REACTIONS WERE
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.  THE ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE AT THAT TIME TOWARDS
INVENTORS OF SEWING MACHINES WAS HOSTILE RATHER THAN FRIENDLY.
THE EFFORTS OF THOSE PIONEERS WERE REGARDED WITH A SNEER AS TOMFOOLERY
OR EVEN WITCHCRAFT.  IT IS NO WONDER THAT VERY FEW OF THEM ACHIEVED
SUCCESS.  ALTHOUGH THEY WERE OFTEN FORCED TO SACRIFICE THEIR HEALTH,
THE HAPPINESS OF THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR EARNINGS, OR EVEN THEIR ENTIRE SAVINGS
IN THE COURSE OF THEIR EXPERIMENTS.  THE EARLIEST DESCRIPTION OF A
SEWING MACHINE DATES BACK TO THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY, A TIME WHEN EVEN CHILDREN'S DRESS REFLECTED THE
SPLENDOR OF LATE BAROQUE FASHION.  THIS MACHINE
IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A RUNNING STITCH.
THE GERMAN WEISENTHAL IS SAID TO HAVE INVENTED THIS SEWING
MACHINE IN 1755.  IT HAD A NEEDLE WITH AN EYE IN THE MIDDLE
WHICH MADERSPERGER IS SAID TO HAVE USED LATER.  SOME YEARS
LATER, IN 1790, AN ENGLISHMAN BY THE NAME OF THOMAS SAINT BUILT
A MACHINE WHICH SEWED A CHAINSTITCH SEAM.
ABOUT 1880 A GERMAN CALLED BALTASAR KREMS OF MAYEN IN THE
RHINELAND BUILT HIMSELF A CHAINSTITCH SEWING
MACHINE FOR SEWING NIGHT CAPS.  HIS MACHINE WAS TECHNICALLY
HIGHLY ADVANCED FOR THAT PERIOD.  IT ALREADY HAD A CONTINUOUS
MATERIAL FEED, A CRANK-OPERATED NEEDLE BAR AND CERTAIN OTHER
INTERESTING MECHANISMS SOME OF WHICH ARE STILL USED ON
SPECIAL-PURPOSE SEWING MACHINES TODAY.
THE MOST VALUABLE PART OF KREMS' MACHINE WAS THE NEEDLE HE
DESIGNED FOR IT.  THIS NEEDLE HAD A EYE AT ITS TIP, AND IT WAS 
THIS TYPE OF NEEDLE WHICH LATER MADE POSSIBLE THE INVENTION OF
THE LOCKSTITCHING SEWING MACHINE.  JOSEF MADERSPERGER, AN
AUSTRIAN TAILOR, USED TWO OF THESE EYE-POINTED NEEDLES IN HIS
LAST MACHINE AROUND 1830.  THUS HE WAS THE FIRST TO PRODUCE A
STITCH CLOSELY RESEMBLING A LOCKSTITCH.

THIS MACHINE, FOR WHICH MADERSPERGER WAS AWARDED A BRONZE
MEDAL, SEWED ABOUT 200 STITCHES PER MINUTE.  DESPITE THIS SUCCESS
AND THE AWARD MADE TO HIM BY THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA, NOBODY IN
THIS COUNTRY OFFERED TO LEND THIS MODEST TAILOR A HELPING HAND.
FOR DECADES HE FOUGHT AGAINST PREJUDICE AND THE BUREAUCRACY OF
HIS COUNTRY, BUT TO NO AVAIL.  UTTERLY IMPOVERISHED, HE FINALLY
SOUGHT REFUGE AT AN ALMSHOUSE AND, ON HIS DEATH, WAS BURIED IN A
MASS GRAVE.  SUCH WAS THE LIFE AND FATE OF A GIFTED SEWING MACHINE
INVENTOR.

THE DESTINY OF THIMMONIER, A FRENCH SEWING MACHINE INVENTOR, WAS
EQUALLY ILL-FATED.  ALTHOUGH UNTIL 1829 HE MANAGED TO BUILD AND SELL
SOME 80 SEWING MACHINES MADE OF WOOD, HIS HOPES OF SUCCESS WERE
SHATTERED BY TAILOR WHO, FOR FEAR OF LOSING THEIR LIVELIHOOD,
DESTROYED HIS MACHINES AND REDUCED HIS WORKSHOP TO RUINS.
TO AVOID BEING KILLED BY THE EXCITED MOB, HE WAS FORCED TO FLEE FOR
HIS LIFE . HE WAS ABLE TO SAVE JUST ONE MACHINE AND WITH THIS MACHINE
TRAVELED THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE, DISPLAYING IF FOR A MODEST CHARGE
TO GAPING CROWDS AT COUNTRY FAIRS.
AND HOW WAS THE AMERICAN ELIAS HOWE FARING IN 1845?
NOWADAYS HOWE IS GENERALLY REGARDED AS THE INVENTOR OF THE FIRST
REALLY USABLE LOCKSTITCH SEWING MACHINE WITH A SHUTTLE.
ALTHOUGH THE AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN QUICK TO ACCEPT LABOR-SAVING
MACHINES, WHICH IS NOT THE NORMAL EUROPEAN ATTITUDE, ELIAS HOWE WAS
FORCED TO SACRIFICE ALL HIS SAVINGS AND SUFFER GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT AT
THE START.  IT WAS NOT UNTIL OTHERS HAD SUCCEEDED IN MAKING THE MACHINE
KNOWN AND POPULAR WITH THE PUBLIC THROUGH EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING AND
HOWE HAD SECURED HIS PATENT RIGHTS IN A MAMMOTH TRIAL THAT HE WAS FINALLY
ABLE TO ENJOY FAME AND WEALTH.
HOWEVER HE WAS NOTABLE TO ENJOY THIS GOOD FORTUNE FOR LONG BECAUSE THE
MANY DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SACRIFICES HE HAD UNDERGONE IN HIS LIFE
UNDERMINED HIS HEALTH AND ENERGY.

A MACHINE WHICH COULD SEW FIVE TIMES FASTER THAN THE BEST SEAMSTRESS OF
THAT TIME HAD AT LAST BEEN INVENTED.  HOWEVER A CARTOON OF THAT PERIOD
REFLECTS THE RELUCTANCE OF THE PEOPLE TO ACCEPT THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEA
OF A MACHINE THAT SEWS.  IN SPITE OF THIS, INVENTORS AND MANUFACTURES PUSHED
FORWARD WITH THEIR RELENTLESS ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE THE SEWING MACHINE
BECAUSE ALL WHO WERE FAMILIAR WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE FIRST SEWING
MACHINE WERE CONVINCED THAT IT WOULD ONE DAY BE POSSIBLE TO SEW WITH EVEN
LESS EFFORT AND, ABOVE ALL, FASTER.
THUS, AFTER COUNTLESS EXPERIMENTS, VARIOUS TYPES OF SHUTTLE AND HOOK
SEWING MACHINES AND A LARGE VARIETY OF LOOPERS AND CHAINSTITCH SEWING
MACHINES WERE INVENTED.  AN INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT
AND PERFECTION OF THE LOCKSTITCH SEWING MACHINE WAS MADE IN 1852 BY A.B.
WILSON, AN AMERICAN, WHO INVENTED THE ROTARY SEWING HOOK WITH FLOATING
BOBBIN CASE.
TEN YEARS LATER, IN 1862, THE FIRST PFAFF SEWING MACHINE WAS MADE.  TODAY IT IS
ONE OF THE EXHIBITS AT THE "DEUTSCHES MUSEUM" IN MUNICH.
IN 1878 MAX GRITZNER INVENTED THE ROTARY HOOK WITH INTEGRATED BOBBIN CASE
AND ....... IN 1887 PHILIPP DIEHL, AN AMERICAN BORN AT WORMS IN GERMANY,
INVENTED THE OSCILLATING SHUTTLE, WHICH HAS BECOME VERY POPULAR ON
DOMESTIC SEWING MACHINES.

THESE TYPE OF SEWING HOOKS AND SHUTTLES BECAME GENERALLY ACCEPTED AND
ARE STILL PREFERRED TODAY.  MOE RECENTLY, THE ROTARY SEWING HOOK WITH
INTEGRATED BOBBIN CASE HAS BECOME THE FASTEST AND MOST DURABLE.
IN THE YEAR 1845 THE WORLD'S FIRST SHUTTLE SEWING MACHINE SEW 300 STITCHES
PER MINUTE.  THE LATEST PFAFF ZIGZAG SEWING MACHINE FOR HOME USE SEWS MORE
THAN 1000 STITCHES PER MINUTE.  A MODERN PFAFF HIGH SPEED SEAMER FOR THE
CLOTHING INDUSTRY CAN EVEN ATTAIN A SPEED OF UP TO 7,000 STITCHES PER MINUTE.
THE MODERN PFAFF HIGH-SPEED SEAMERS, MOSTLY FOR READY-MADE ARTICLES, REACH
SEWING SPEEDS OF UP TO 5,000 STITCHES PER MINUTE.

THE PFAFF TIPTRONIC 1071 IS ONE OF THE BEST PFAFF MACHINES.  IT SEWS PROFESSIONAL
OVERLOCK SITICHES WITH PROTECTIVE EDGE THREAD, AND INCORPORATES QUITE A FEW
NOTEWORTHY FEATURES SUCH AS BUILT-IN DUAL FEED, MICRO-ELECTRONICS, A WIDE
RANGE OF UTILITY AND EMBROIDERY STITCHES AS WELL AS AN AUTOMATIC THREADER.

WHAT IS THE USE OF DUAL FEED?
AS THE FABRIC PLIES ARE FED FROM BELOW AND ABOVE SIMULTANEOUSLY THEY DO NOT
SHIFT WHICH IS OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE WHEN SEWING SLIPPERY MATERIAL OR FOR
PATTERN-MATCHED SEWING.

PFAFF OF COURSE DO NOT ONLY SELL SEWING MACHINES BUT THE COMPLETE EQUIPMENT
NEEDED FOR WORK ROOMS, I. E. ANYTHING FROM WALL CUPBOARD AND WORK CHAIR
TO CUTTING TABLE AND SEWING MACHINE AS WELL AS MANY OTHER ARTICLES.

WITH THE PFAFF CREATIVE, THE LATEST AND MOST VERSATILE OF ALL PFAFF DOMESTIC
MACHINES, WE NOW COME TO THE END OF OUR SHORT EXPEDITION THROUGH THE HISTORY
OF SEWING MACHINE.  WITH THE TOP MACHINE MODEL OF PFAFF, THE CREATIVE, SEWING IS
A REAL JOY BECAUSE OPERATION IS SO EASY.  THE FACE PLATE OF THE MACHINE CONTAINS
A LIST OF ALL SEWING PROGRAMS.  YOU SELECT A PROGRAM, ENTER IT INTO THE
COMPUTER AND SEW IT.
EVEN THE FAMILIAR CROSS STITCH CAN BE SEWN AUTOMATICALLY ON THE PFAFF CREATIVE.
THESE ARE THE TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES OFFERED BY THIS SUPERB MACHINE:
*BUILT-IN DUAL FEED
*AUTOMATIC THREADER
*YOU CAN COMPILE YOUR OWN PROGRAM OF STITCHES
AS FAR AS THIS MACHINE IS CONCERNED THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO LIMITS TO YOUR IMAGINATION.