Although its’ history is complex, it is believed that the race began when German immigrant, Charles Wiesenthal took a patent for a barbed needle to be used in a machine. The patent however, did not include mention of the machine, sparking many to strive to be the first to create such a machine.
Some 34 years later, an Englishman, Thomas Saint received a patent for the first mechanical machine. Controversy followed though, leading some to believe Saint had not actually built the machine, merely receiving the patent based only on his drawing. In 1880 this doubt led to the building of the machine according to Saint’s drawings. The machine did not work.

Many inventor tried and failed over the years. Some had small success while others did not. Still, the race continued.

In 1830, Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier built a machine almost entirely of wood. Initially he meant the machine to do embroidery, however he saw the potential of creating the a machine to speed up hand sewing. Upon completion, Thimonnier earned a contract with the French army to make uniforms and within 10 years had a factory complete with 80 machines. Fearing job loss for the hand seamstresses, a group destroyed the factory including the machines.

Most historians believe the first usable machine that led to modern day advances came from American, Elias Howe. Creating his first prototype in 1844, Howe had a hard time marketing the machine to America, and eventually partnered with William Thomas in England. The duo found some success, however, they did not get along, forcing Howe to return to America. Upon his return, Howe discovered his sewing machine invention had taken off, and there were several dozen American manufacturers including Singer selling the machine. Court battles followed advancing the controversy of the mechanical sewing machine.