al embroidery stitches.

68. Saddler's stitch.]

* * * * *

In the _Sewing Machine News_, vol. 3, no. 5, p. 12 (1881), there were
listed a number of then "defunct" machines and companies. Among these
are many well-known names and little-known names for which at least one
additional reference can be found. There are some, however, for which
this is the only reference to date. These are: Blanchard, Babcock,
Banner, Brown Rotary, Cottage, Cole, Duplex, Economist, Erie, Gutman,
Hill, Hancock & Bennett, Jenks, Lockmar, La Favorite, Learned, Leggett,
McCoy, McCardy, Medallion, McArthur & Co., Monopoly, Moreau, Mack,
Niagra, New Cannaan, Orphean, Pride-of-the-West, Seamen & Guiness,
Surprise, Stackpole, Shanks, Stanford, Troy, Utica, United States
Family, Weaver, Wagner, and Williams. Some of these names may have been
a "special" name given to machines manufactured by one of the known
companies, but at least a few are names of machines manufactured for a
very short time prior to 1881 about which we would like to know more.

III. Chronological List of U.S. Sewing-Machine Patent Models in the
Smithsonian Collections

There are more than seven hundred sewing-machine patent models and a
similar number of attachment models in the Smithsonian collections. Most
of these machines were received in 1926 when the Patent Office disposed
of its collection of hundreds of thousands of models. Prior to 1880,
models had been required with the patent application; although the
requirement was discontinued that year, patentees continued to furnish
models for another decade or so. All models prior to 1836 were lost in a
Patent Office fire of that year, but since the sewing-machine patent
history dates from the 1840s, most of the historically important ones of
this subject have been preserved.

These models form a valuable part of the record of the invention,
supplementing the drawings and the text of the written specifications.
The early sewing-machine models were made to order, either by the
inventor or a commissioned model maker. As soon as sewing machines were
produced commercially, it was less expensive for the patentee to use a
commercial machine of the period, to which he added his change or
improvement, than to have a complete model constructed to order. Some of
the commercial machines used in this way are the only examples known to
be in existence, and as such, are of more interest in estab