el.) Madersperger realized no financial gain from
either venture and died in a poorhouse in 1850.

The first efforts of the 1840s reflected the work of the earlier years.
In England, Edward Newton and Thomas Archbold invented and patented a
machine on May 4, 1841, for tambouring or ornamenting the backs of
gloves. Their machine used a hook on the upper surface to catch the loop
of thread, but an eye-pointed needle from underneath was used to carry
the thread up through the fabric. The machine was designed to use three
needles for three rows of chainstitching, if required. Although the
machine was capable of stitching two fabrics together, it was never
contemplated as a sewing machine in the present use of the term. Their
British patent 8,948 stated it was for "improvements in producing
ornamental or tambour work in the manufacture of gloves."

The earliest American patent specifically recorded as a sewing machine
was U.S. patent 2,466, issued to John J. Greenough on February 21, 1842.
His machine was a short-thread model that made both the running stitch
and the backstitch. It used the two-pointed needle, with eye at
mid-length, which was passed back and forth through the material by
means of a pair of pincers on each side of the seam. The pincers opened
and closed automatically. The material to be sewn was held in clamps
which moved it forward between the pincers to form a running stitch or
moved it alternately backward and forward to produce a backstitch. The
clamps were attached to a rack that automatically fed the material at a
predetermined rate according to the length of stitch required. Since the
machine was designed for leather or other hard material, the needle was
preceded by an awl, which pierced a hole. The machine had a weight to
draw out the thread and a stop-motion to stop the machinery when a
thread broke or became too short. The needle was threaded with a short
length of thread and required frequent refilling. Only straight seams
could be stitched. The feed was continuous to the length of the rack
bar; then it had to be reset. The motions were all obtained from the
revolution of a crank. It is not believed that any machines, other than
the patent model (fig. 11), were ever made. Little is known of Greenough
other than his name.

[Illustration: Figure 11.--GREENOUGH'S PATENT MODEL, 1842. (Smithsonian
photo 45525-G.)]

In the succeeding year, on March 4, 1843, Benjamin W. Bean received the
second Amer