e discouraging years in
both the United States and in England trying to interest manufacturers
in building his sewing machine, under license. Finally, for L250
sterling, he sold the British patent rights to William Thomas and
further agreed to adapt the machine to Thomas' manufacture of umbrellas
and corsets.[35] This did not prove to be a financial success for Howe
and by 1849 he was back in the United States, once again without funds.

[Illustration: Figure 16.--AN ENLARGEMENT of the stitching area.
(Smithsonian photo 45525-B.)]

On his return, Howe was surprised to find that other inventors were
engaged in the sewing-machine problem and that sewing machines were
being manufactured for sale. The sixth United States sewing-machine
patent (No. 5,942) had been issued to John A. Bradshaw on November 28,
1848, for a machine specifically stated as correcting the defects in the
E. Howe patent. Bradshaw did not purport that his machine was a new
invention. His specifications read:

The curved needle used in Howe's machine will not by itself form
the loop in the thread, which is necessary for the flying bobbin,
with its case, to pass through, and has, therefore, to be aided in
that operation by a lifting-pin, with the necessary mechanism to
operate it. This is a very bungling device, and is a great
incumbrance to the action of the machine, being an impediment in
the way of introducing the cloth to be sewed, difficult to keep
properly adjusted, and very frequently gets entangled between the
thread and the needle, by which the latter is frequently broken.
This accident happens very often, not withstanding all the
precaution which it is possible for the most careful operator to
exercise; and inasmuch as the delay occasioned thereby is very
considerable, and the needles costly and difficult to replace, it
is therefore very important that their breaking in this manner be
prevented, which in my machine is done in the most effectual manner
by dispensing with the lifting-pin altogether, the loop for the
flying bobbin to pass through being made with certainty and of the
proper form by means of my angular needle moved in a particular
manner just before the flying-bobbin case is thrown. The shuttle
and its bobbin for giving off the thread in Howe's machine are very
defective ... my neat and simple bobbin-case ... gives off its