a great deal of
manual dexterity is required to compensate for the omission of
mechanical parts. Heyer advertised patent rights for sale, but evidence
of manufactured machines of this type has yet to be discovered.
(Smithsonian photo 18115-D[a].)]

[Illustration: Figure 49.--HEYER'S MACHINE as illustrated in _Scientific
American_, July 30, 1864. The smallest and most original of all the
attempts to simplify machine sewing, Heyer's machine, which made a
chainstitch, was constructed of a single strip of metal. The _Scientific
American_ stated: "It is simply a steel spring ingeniously bent and
arranged and it is said to sew small articles very well. The whole
affair can easily be carried in the coat pocket."

One method of operation, vibrating with the finger, was illustrated. The
machine could be operated also by holding it in the hand and pressuring
it between two fingers. Cloth was inserted at _c_, and the prongs of the
spring feed _f_ carried it along after each stitch. It was stated that
the needle could be cut from the same strip of metal, but it was advised
also that the needle could be made as a separate piece and attached.
(Smithsonian photo 48221.)]

[Illustration: Figure 50.--ALTHOUGH BEAN'S AND RODGERS' running-stitch
machines, the second and fourth U.S. sewing-machine patents, experienced
little commercial success, small manufactured machines based on Aaron
Palmer's patent of May 13, 1862, were popular in the 1860s. The patent
model above is a small brass implement with crimping gears that forced
the fabric onto an ordinary sewing needle. The full needle was then
removed from its position, and the thread was pulled through the fabric
by hand. (Smithsonian photo 45524.)]

[Illustration: THE FAIRY SEWING-MACHINE. A HOLIDAY GIFT FOR THE
WORK-TABLE

Figure 51.--ONE OF THE EARLY COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURERS of the Palmer
patent was Madame Demorest, a New York dressmaker. She advertised her
Fairy sewing machine in _Godey's Lady's Book_, vol. 66, 1863, and
stated: "In the first place it will attract attention from its
diminutive, fairy-like size, and with the same ease with which it can be
carried, an important matter to a seamstress or dressmaker employed from
house to house ... What no other sewing machine attempts to do, it runs,
and does not stitch, it sews the more delicate materials an ordinary
sewing machine cuts or draws...." (Smithsonian photo 43690.)]

[Illustration: Figure 52.--THE FAIRY SEWING MACHINE