Sewing Machines - A History of Marketing

In the 1850s, rival manufacturers showed more interest in suing each other for patent infringement than selling sewing machines. Singer patented his tweaks and started to sell his version of the machine. The first design that really worked - you can make a shirt in just an hour. Unfortunately, it also relied on various other innovations which had already been patented by other inventors such as the grooved eye-pointed needle to make a lock stitch.