— The Only Extant Antique Harrison Sewing Machine, Patented in 1859. Price $5,450.
Unbelievable find; the first sewing machine of James Harrison Jr. of New York, NY, ever to be found! Harrison patented this antique sewing machine on August 9, 1859, and August 30, 1859.The patents and the patent model in the Smithsonian Institution were the only items know before about James Harrison's invention. Harrison's machine utilizes a barbed or bearded needle which sewed from below the stitch-plate. Unlike the barbed needle on the Boynton sewing machine, the needle on Harrison's machine rotated while moving up and down.
The most ingenious idea Harrision claimed in his patent application for which patent no. 25,013 was issued is a lever operated by the power shaft which is powered by the hand-crank wheel in the back of the machine. This semicircular lever transferres the movement to the front of this unique antique sewing machine to direct the thread to the barbed needle. Harrison called this lever “switch-lever”. What ever the reason, his machine was a failure too as the Boynton. However, his machine seems to be further developed than the Boynton sewing machine.
Harrison claimed as his invention in his patent application: “The switching-lever n, constructed and operated, as herein set forth, for directing the thread to the beard or barb of the needle and preventing the escape of the thread therefrom,” read more>>
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