Battle of the Bobbins

[Hank Trent]

Re: Battle of the Bobbins

The Sewing Machine trust does not show any sewing machine makers in the south but they allowed shops to assemble and place their own names on machines provided the parts were purchased from trust members.

Hmmm...

Sloat's Elliptic machine, which I mentioned above as being manufactured in Richmond, is a special issue in itself, when it comes to the Sewing Machine Combination.

When the Big Three and Howe formed the trust, the Albany agreement included nine patents, but not A.B. Wilson's stationary bobbin, used by Sloat's Elliptic machine.

I wonder if Sloat, being too small of a manufacturer to be worth sueing, and not depending entirely on the trust's patents, managed to fly under the radar and avoid paying the trust? Carter Bays also speculates: "It is possible that a private arrangement was made between Sloat and the Wheeler & Wilson company; however, it is also possible that patents were added to those of the original Albany agreement as new licensees joined the combination." (from Encyclopedia of Early American Sewing Machines)

Or, is the list of trust manufacturers from the earlier period when Sloat still had his operations in Philadelphia?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Battle of the Bobbins

Were the patents of Wilcox and Gibbs included in the Sewing Machine Trust? Gibbs initially developed his machine in Raphine, Virginia before travelling North and incorporating with Wilcox.

Paul B. Boulden Jr.

RAH VA MIL '04
23rd VA Regt.