ent model,
March 30, 1858, bears the serial number 110, indicating that the machine
illustrated here--which bears the serial number 26--was manufactured
before the patent was obtained. (Smithsonian photo 48216-F.)]

[Illustration: Figure 111.--NETTLETON & RAYMOND SEWING MACHINE. One of
the most ornate of the early, small, hand-turned sewing machines was
patented and manufactured by Willford H. Nettleton and Charles Raymond
whose first patent was received on April 14, 1857. The patent model,
believed to be a commercial machine, is beautifully silver-plated.
Whether this was a special one-of-a-kind model, or whether the inventors
tried to make a commercial success of a silver-plated machine is not
known. The machine made a two-thread chainstitch, taking both threads
from commercial spools. By October 1857, the inventors had received
their second patent. This time the machine was brass and gilt--brighter,
but less expensive. At the same time, Nettleton & Raymond began
manufacturing sewing-shears machines under the patent of J. E.
Hendricks.

By the latter half of 1858, Nettleton & Raymond had moved from Bristol,
Connecticut, to Brattleboro, Vermont. The patented improvement of the
two-thread chainstitch machine received that year was in the name of
"Raymond, assignor to Nettleton," although the machines of this type
bear neither name nor patent date. No record of the price for which they
were sold has been found, but it would be fair to estimate that it was
probably about $25. This style of machine was discontinued when the
manufacture of the simpler, more profitable New England model began, a
machine that Raymond had initiated just before the partners left
Bristol. (Smithsonian photo 45505-E.)]

[Illustration: Figure 112.--RAYMOND PATENT MODEL, March 9, 1858.
(Smithsonian photo 32009-O.)]

[Illustration: Figure 113.--NEW ENGLAND sewing machine of about 1860,
manufactured by Nettleton & Raymond; it bears the Raymond patent date of
March 9, 1858. (Smithsonian photo 45505-G.)]

[Illustration: Figures 112 and 113.--NEW ENGLAND SEWING MACHINES. The
small, hand-turned, sewing machines some of which were called Common
Sense, were manufactured by at least three companies and possibly more.
The earliest ones were those made by Nettleton & Raymond based on
Charles Raymond's patent of March 9, 1858, which featured a hinged
presser foot acting as the top feed. On July 30, 1861, Raymond received
a patent for an improved looper;