) into which the
connecting rod (F) engaged to communicate motion to the vibrating arm
(G) pivoted to the frame at (H) and carrying at the end (g) the curved
needle (I). The take-up (J) served to tighten the thread after each
stitch; it was connected to the vibrating arm by a rod (K). The cloth
(L) was held in a vertical position between the fingers or nippers (M),
which were attached to the frame. The bar (N) was toothed on one side
(n) to mesh with the geared wheel (o). The lever (P) was operated by a
cam (m) upon the periphery of the wheel (C), and carried the vertical
pawl (S) which meshed with the ratchet (T) and moved the cloth as each
stitch was made. The shuttle (U) worked in its race (V); it was operated
by the vibrating lever (W), the upper end of which engaged into a groove
on the face of the wheel (C)." (Smithsonian photo 42554.)]

The first man known to have put a mechanical sewing device into
commercial operation was Barthelemy Thimonnier,[18] a French tailor.
After several years of fruitless effort he invented a machine for which
he received a French patent in 1830.[19] The machine (fig. 8) made a
chainstitch by means of a barbed or hooked needle. The vertically held
needle worked from an overhanging arm. The needle thrust through the
fabric laid on the horizontal table, caught a thread from the thread
carrier and looper beneath the table, and brought a loop to the surface
of the fabric. When the process was repeated the second loop became
enchained in the first. The needle was moved downward by the depression
of a cord-connected foot treadle and was raised by the action of a
spring. The fabric was fed through the stitching mechanism manually, and
a regular rate of speed had to be maintained by the operator in order to
produce stitches of equal length. A type of retractable thimble or
presser foot was used to hold the fabric down as required.

The needle, and the entire machine, was basically an attempt to
mechanize tambour embroidery, with which the inventor was quite
familiar. Although this work, which served as the machine's inspiration,
was always used for decorative embroidery, Thimonnier saw the
possibilities of using the stitch for utilitarian purposes. By 1841 he
had 80 machines stitching army clothing in a Paris shop. But a mob of
tailors, fearing that the invention would rob them of a livelihood,
broke into the shop and destroyed the machines. Thimonnier fled Paris,
penniless. Four years later