Prominent among these are the Electric Telegraph, the Reaper and Mower, and the Sewing-Machine. What the telegraph is to the commercial world, the reaper to the agricultural, the sewing-machine is ...

It sparked the Sewing Machine War. “People were suing each ... the development of the United States from a small dependent agricultural nation to one of the world's largest economies.

But sewing machines were all the rage ... Howe mortgaged his father's farm to raise the funds to sue Singer and others for patent infringement. It took years, but Howe prevailed in 1854, winning ...

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly wage for a manicurist in 2014 was $9.43 and an agricultural sorter earned $9.57. Sewing machine operators earned $10.54 an hour.

It had to last. “Back 100 years ago you needed a sewing machine, in the village or in the household or on the farm, to make and mend clothing," he said. “Today it’s a hobby. Back then it was ...

The Singer sewing machine was so revolutionary that even Mahatma Gandhi, who eschewed all other machines, made an exception for it. After learning to sew on a Singer in a British jail, Gandhi ...