Sewing Together Patent Protection

National Sewing Machine Day is June 13, and to celebrate, the National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF) is telling the story of how the modern-day sewing machine came to be.

NIHF Inductee Elias Howe invented the first practical sewing machine. He applied for a patent on his invention and received U.S. Patent No. 4,750 in 1846.

Unsuccessful in selling his invention in the United States, Howe went to England and sold the British rights of the invention to William Thomas, a founder of the British sewing machine industry.  When he returned to the U.S., Howe found that several other manufacturers had begun to sell sewing machines like his. He sought legal action, and because his patent provided him with intellectual property protection, he was awarded a royalty for every machine that infringed on his patent.

The sewing machines currently used in both commercial and residential settings were kick-started by Howe’s invention. Since 1846, many iterations of the sewing machine have improved it, resulting in the machines we know today. NIHF Inductee Helen Blanchard is responsible for one of those iterations.

Helen Blanchard was born in Portland, Maine, and had always had an affinity for mechanical devices. She began patenting her inventions when her family ran into financial difficulties. She had to borrow money to pay for her first patent — but that would eventually turn into a profitable decision.

Blanchard invented the Zig-Zag Sewing Machine, which provided improvements to the original design and allowed for the industrial growth of sewing machines. The zig-zag stitch, unique to her patent, sealed the edges of a seam, making garments sturdier and longer-lasting.

Blanchard’s machine was largely used in factories, saving time and money in the commercial sewing industry. After the success of the Zig-Zag Sewing Machine, she established her own company — the Blanchard Over-Seam Company — and continued to make incremental improvements on the sewing machine. U.S. Patent No. 141,987 was granted to her in 1873 and was one of 28 patents she would receive.

Howe and Blanchard’s innovations would not have been as impactful if they had not been protected by patents.  

Filing for a patent allows the inventor to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing their invention for a period of time. In exchange for this protection, inventors must disclose their invention to the public. This disclosure allows others to improve upon inventions, creating new iterations to move the technology forward.  

To learn more about patent protection and the role of intellectual property in the progress of society, read our latest white paper, “Why Intellectual Property is Essential to STEM Education.”