Vintage Trivia
 

Still poking around in Google books, (there's some GREAT stuff in there!) I found some of the following trivia:

As seen in LIFE magazine from May 25, 1953, page 9:

"Necchi astonished America with the first zig zag sewing machine - the first machine to sew on buttons, make buttonholes, and monograms without attachments.

As seen in [h=1]The men's factory-made clothing industry: Report on the cost of production ...[/h] By United States. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce page 29:

The history of sewing machines starts with the patent granted to Thomas Saint, in England, July 17, 1790, and the first sewing machine known to be put into operation was one patented by Barthelemy Thimmonnier in France in 1830. These machines, until destroyed by mobs, were successfully used in making some clothing for the French Army. Thimmonnier patented his machine in America in 1850.

Lots of fun info in Google Books! :)

I didn't bookmark it, but one of the more interesting ones I've found was on how to teach high school physics to girls using home sewing machines. It had several experiments and projects listed. Must have been 1920s vintage, maybe 1930s. I thought it was interesting because of the sewing machines, the social/gender education, and the science involved. I think I stumbled across it looking for how many stitches were formed when using a handcrank 1 turn.

I saw one article that referred to the sewing machine as contributing to the downfall of the American household, as all it was doing was making lazy housewives out of women! :D

I never knew about Google Books, thanks. You're a wealth of information. Guess how I'll be spending Saturday night? Funny how industrial advances that benefitted men were viewed like the 8th wonder of the world, but for women they become lazy housewives?? LOL!

i have solved lots of my family history mysteries by using google books.

Paulette, I have too! It's great fun if you're into genealogy to find a book there that lists your family! :)

Weren’t those “Mobs”, a group of local tailors that feared his machines would put them all out of business, so they destroyed his machines?

CD in Oklahoma

CD, this particular article didn't say so, but I've read in other places that the tailors were the culprits!