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Touched by Fire
What a man! When I first started, as a child, to hear stories about Isaac
Merritt
Singer I was enthralled. He had lived the American dream. A true rags to
riches story. Other books will blind you with facts, figures and endless dates. Let me
tell you about the man who became a household name
and his invention
that changed the world. Isaac Merritt Singer was the youngest of eight children. His father,
Adam, was possibly of German-Jewish origin as there was a Jewish family
in his hometown of Frankfurt, Isaac Singer’s father arrived in Who would believe that even today people sailing to Gustav Eiffel, of
Even as an old man, Isaac Singer's charm and wealth attracted beautiful
women and Isabella was his last conquest. As a young man, by all
accounts, he had the devil in him. He was a renowned womanizer and
father to at least 28 children by several wives and countless lovers.
However, I am jumping ahead. He has many miles to go and many hardships
to face before he makes his millions. Isaac Singer's father, Adam Singer, set up business as a wheelwright and barrel
maker, or cooper, married and started a family. History tells us that
lived until 1855. He was 102, an amazing fact for the hard frontier life
of those days. Isaac Singer’s mother, Ruth, left the family home when Isaac was a child to
become a Quaker. It is said that in later years Adam Singer at the age
of 99 went to find Ruth, possibly to tell her of the fortune their
youngest son was making. He tracked her down in I am not sure about the reliability of these dates as they do seem
extreme and mean that Ruth must have had Isaac Singer when she was in her 50s.
I suppose it is possible, there was little birth control. Maybe Isaac’s
birth was the last straw for Ruth? In the history books Isaac Singer seems to have been born in several
locations in the Some say Isaac Singer was born in the small frontier town of
Adam Singer remarried but Isaac Singer never connected with his stepmother.
Isaac Singer, now in Oswego
must have had a hard childhood for, by the age of 12 and still a young
boy, he slipped his running shoes on and ran as far away from home as he
could. There is little detail of his early years. It must have been hard on the
road at such a tender age. What would make a child run from home is
anybody’s guess. He probably stayed with some of his older brothers who
had left home earlier. There are tales that he worked part-time and paid
for rudimentary schooling between jobs as a mechanic and carpenter.
So how did the most famous name in the sewing world get into the sewing
business? Isaac Singer was smart, cunning and ruthless. He had to be to survive
on the streets of 19th century America. After a few years in the wilderness Isaac Singer reappears in history. He had
learned the trades of mechanic and cabinetmaker. Two trades that later
would combine to his benefit and make him one of the richest men in the
world. He was also a showman. He thought of himself as an accomplished actor
landing himself the role of Richard III with a group of travelling
actors when he was only 19. As a handsome young man, with an inventive mind, we find Isaac
Singer at the age
of 28 having invented a machine for drilling and excavating rock. He had
no use for his invention and sold it for a year’s wages. With his new wealth he quickly put it to use and followed his first
love—acting. Isaac Singer formed a group of actors called the Merritt
Players and off they went around America
treading the boards. Of course it was not long before his money
ran out and he was back to working for a living. His first attempt at
the American dream had failed but he was not finished, not by a long
way. Isaac Singer could charm the socks of anyone, as one hotel manager remembered.
Isaac Singer, his wife and children arrived at the hotel penniless. Isaac
Singer performed for the guests to pay for board. When Isaac
Singer packed to leave
the hotelier even gave him some money. He last saw the family heading
out of town, into the wilderness on a buckboard. In Fredericksburg, Isaac Singer was a practical man with vision but he had a poor academic
education. His writing, in later life, shows how much difficulty he had
spelling even the simplest words. This did not slow the master showman
down. His intellect was undeniable, even at a young age, by his being
able to quote great chunks of Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. Always
one for smooth-talking the handsome young actor and inventor wheeled
and dealed his way through life. By 1850 Isaac Singer had rented a basement at
He had rented his basement from a sewing-machine manufacturer called
Phelps. Phelps made not very good sewing machines under licence for Lerow & Blodgett. None of them saw the huge potential in sewing machines
that Isaac Singer did. Phelps asked Isaac Singer to repair many of the machines that kept coming back
faulty. In fact very few of the machines sewed well in those days. While
working on the machines it became clear to Singer’s inventive mind that
improvements were necessary. Once again he went to work. He raised $40 in capital from one of his associates, a Mr Zieber. The story goes that the money came about from a bet between the two men. Zieber was onto a good thing. If Isaac Singer did make a sewing machine that worked he would get his money back and much more if Isaac failed-Zieber would win his bet!
Isaac Singer had just enough spare money to now have a go at making a practical
machine. Something that, in the entire history of the world, had not yet
been done. Supposedly ignorant of many of the patents of the time Isaac Singer went to work building the machine that would revolutionise the world and set women free!. At last the first practical sewing machine was being built in a basement
by a 39-year-old who still had a passion to make a fortune and, of
course, win his bet.
Isaac Singer’s versions of events were naturally flamboyant. In later life he often told of how he worked tirelessly for eleven days and eleven nights building the machine. How he went without food and grabbed only a few snatches of sleep. That may be true. Whatever the story the result was the same, a sewing machine that actually sewed. After a few minor hiccups Isaac Singer packed up his sewing machine and headed
for the patent office in
To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Isaac Merritt Singer of the City, County and State of New York have invented certain new and useful improvements in the machine for sewing seams in cloth.
Elias Howe had successfully been charging all the other sewing machine manufacturers for the use of his patents and Isaac Singer, the poor upstart, was going to be no exception. Although Howe had a rocky start in the sewing machine business, he had made his money suing everyone who had used some of his patented ideas. It is well worth reading his history by my own fair hand. Elias Howe One day Howe spotted one of Isaac Singer's machines being demonstrated in a shop
window and immediately went in to complain. Isaac was there and an
argument ensued, Isaac nearly booted him out of the shop. Howe left
flustered and angry. By now he was used to manipulating others not being pushed
around. He vowed Isaac Singer would pay!
Isaac Merritt Singer's first machines were monsters to move but produced a reliable stitch. Years later Elias Howe tried to get Congress to allow him to extend, once again, his patent rights. Elias Howe stated that the huge sums that he had made out of his patents was still not enough. Needless to say popular opinion of him was not the same. He was slaughtered in the periodicals of the day and lost his patent extension. Later Elias Howe hired writers to boost his colourful version of the sewing machine saga. I have a soft spot for the genius so I won't say any more. Patent 12364 Isaac Singer 1855
Isaac Singer used all his talent and cunning to avoid Howe’s costs. Isaac
Singer sewing machines came onto the market at $125, a fantastic and impossible sum
for most normal families. Isaac Singer no longer needed his old partners, he needed a legal brain. Firstly
to fight his court case with Howe and secondly to figure out how people
could afford his machine. Into our story comes Edward Clark who
instantly sees a huge potential in the new venture. Isaac Singer bullied Phelps, one of his partners, out. Then, in a brilliant
move, he conned the other. Clarke watched while Isaac Singer sneakily removed both of his old partners. It appears that Clark was more than happy for them to be removed from what was to become such a huge financial boom, all he had to do was wait till Isaac Singer needed him most and then strike a deal. Clark had no money to invest but he had something more precious to Isaac Singer, legal talent! The Isaac Singer feed patent 13362 of July 1855
Zieber was in failing health, probably due to the pressure Isaac
Singer was
putting him under. The story goes that Isaac Singer went to his bedside and
promised he would look after Zieber’s family after his death. All he had
to do was sign over his shares. Isaac Singer would even give him $6000 to give
to his offspring! (a huge amount) It seemed too good to miss. If only he
could have seen the future! He was about to make the biggest mistake of
his life... No sooner had Zieber signed the shares over than Isaac
Singer hires the best
doctors of the period to spare no expense in curing him. Zieber
recovered! In a stroke of devious genius Isaac Singer had most of his business back and for
what would become a pittance of the companies wealth. Zieber ended up
working for Isaac as an employee, which he did, reluctantly, for many
years. It is extraordinary to think that Isaac Singer could have been so cold blooded.
Isaac Singer and Zieber had been through so much together. When the pair had
first met, according to Zieber, Isaac Singer hardly had a shirt on his back,
his jacket was torn at the elbows and he had not eaten. Zieber had
clothed and fed Isaac Singer and spent many hours with him talking of living
the dream. Between them, they had been through great hardships.
Zieber had also borrowed heavily to invest in Isaac
Singer and helped him in
endless ways. Isaac Singer’s deed showed his ruthless side where money was concerned. This was the side that many felt when crossing the man that had grown up fast and hard. Isaac Singer stitches
However, Isaac Singer did not have it all his own way for the brilliant legal mind of Edward Clark was a match for Isaac’s more forceful tactics.
After all of Isaac Singer’s cunning work, Clark got half his business without putting in a cent! Brilliant.
The partnership between Isaac Singer and Clark turned out to be one of the most successful in sewing
history and, although they obviously did not trust each other, they both
needed each other. They became uneasy bedfellows. Incidentally, Isaac Singer, with his persuasive manner also managed to get some
of Elias Howe’s sewing machine competitors to refuse to pay the huge
licence fees that Howe was demanding. This enraged the pompous Howe who
went around to see Isaac Singer. He told him the demand for his patent had
changed from $2000 to $25 000. Once again a heated argument ensued and
Howe was shown the door. The stage was set for years of legal wrangling
and court cases. This is where
Of course for hundreds of years before Clark there had been bartering and
exchange, money lending and part-payment, but it was Clarke who really
did the paperwork and made it part of our
everyday life. Who remembers the Tallyman or knocker? He
would turn up once a week or at the end of the month to get his payments
on borrowed money. He would lend money for Tommy’s new shoes or a
bicycle for the hubby, a little extra at Christmas. A million
Tallyman's kept their books of payments and travelled around
the poorer communities of the world before Clarke’s scheme. Eventually Howe beat Singer in court and Singer had to pay Howe huge sums. By then Singer had the money to pay, so it was painful but no real hardship. I keep jumping ahead, slow down boy. Elias Howe then gave up suing everyone and, on legal advice, joined the enemy. All the patent holders pooled their patents and joined The Sewing Machine Cartel. For the first time in history, in 1857, patent-pooling happened. This was really an illegal monopoly that ended up needing government legislation to bring to a halt. I can just imagine the table where they all met. They had been suing each other for years but money had made them uneasy bedfellows. The Isaac Singer chain-stitch of 1855, Patent 13,687
The all-powerful
Sewing Machine Cartel
had years of suing
all fledgling sewing machine companies. This allowed the few to
dominate sewing machine production for years and become rich, stifling
most American competition and industry.
Eventually, as all the patents ran out the Cartel was destroyed. Its
demise ushered in a new era of affordable machines for the masses,
that's you and me. Patent applications went from hundreds to thousands
to tens-of-thousands in a few years and the pioneers became history. Once again we are jumping ahead. Let's get back to
Isaac Singer. Isaac Singer is not quite out of the
woods, he still cannot afford a new suit. In addition he makes mistakes.
He failed to notice that the treadle cabinet, that he made to stow his
machine in, and on which it
was used, was unique. He was beaten to the
patent office and missed out on patenting the treadle base of his
machine. Isaac Singer was on the verge of untold wealth but if was not an easy ride. Why buy a sewing machine? None of them had ever worked properly before!
Why buy a Singer? Who was Isaac Singer? Certainly not the household name he is
today. This is where Isaac Singer’s superb salesmanship comes into action. Much like
before, in his acting career, he packed up his machine and he and his
entourage hit the road. He goes to shows, to theatres, to factories and
displays—"Gather round ladies and gentlemen, come see the future!" He tirelessly demonstrates his amazing invention that not only stitches
but is also guaranteed to stitch for 12 months without failure! All of his acting skills, used to promote his machine, start to pay off.
The master showman has a great publicity stunt up his sleeve. He goes to
one of the largest sewing factories in He unpacks his sewing machine and off they go. By the end of the race not
only has he beaten all three girls but the machine has worked flawlessly
and with the much stronger lockstitch. The press were impressed,
the factory was too—placing an immediate order for the machines. Incidentally, rumour has it that some of the women in the early pictures,
that Singer used to promote his sewing machine, were also his
mistresses!
Was this one of Isaac Singer's mistresses? Unlike
Walter Hunt, an earlier inventor of a sewing machine, Isaac knew
he was on to a winner and would not let Hell or high water get in
his way. They say Hunt’s daughter had actually put Hunt off his
invention. She feared that thousands of women would find themselves out
of work if he went ahead with making a sewing
machine.
Walter Hunt and his part in the invention of the sewing machine.
The facts turned out to be quite the opposite, creating a whole new
industry and cheaper clothes for the masses. Once Isaac set up a
demonstration just along the road from the famous P T Barnum. More
people flocked to Singer's demonstration than Barnum’s museum on
Broadway! Isaac Singer, after struggling for most of his life, had finally come of age and so had the sewing machine. Almost single-handed, with bloody determination and against all the odds Isaac Singer had ushered in the dawn of the sewing machine industry. Mass Production Machines started to sell at an amazing rate. For the first time in
history, in The money started rolling in. As word spread about the reliability of
Singers machines that had previously sold slowly were moving faster and
faster. Isaac soon moved out of his workshops and looked for bigger
premises as 10 machines turned into a 100 then a 1000. Edward Clark’s clever hire purchase plan also helped tremendously and was
copied by all the other sewing-machine makers of the day and then by
just about every company in the world. Clarke also drew up a plan to
trade-in old machines for new ones at a ridiculously high rate of $40
per trade. All old machines were quickly destroyed to stop them being
resold. This policy continued right up to the 1960s and many Singer
shops had presses in their storerooms to crush old machines. I know for
sure that the Singer shop in At last, Isaac Singer's machine, that he had invented-copied-made was to
revolutionise the world and provide him untold wealth until his death.
He had become the first Bill Gates. His bank balance, along with is waistline, expanded rapidly. Isaac
Singer was a
flamboyant and good-looking man at his peak—and now had money rolling in
beyond his wildest dreams. He let By 1860 Singer’s factory had produced over 13,000 machines at $125 a
piece. At a time when the average wage was a few dollars a week it was
already a fortune! He could not spend the money as fast as he was
earning it. Within a few years the company was making over a million
machines a year. Isaac Singer went on to embrace the good life. He had a string of mistresses and wives. He managed his affairs with little privacy and gave the papers of the day wonderful print material. As his wealth grew so did his excesses, especially where women were concerned. His offspring rose in number, almost by the month. Many say that he had
at least 28 children by a dozen or more wives and mistresses. He was
even married to two women, and keeping a mistress, all at the same time!
In the same city— How he managed to keep his intriguing life going is anybody’s guess! He
was burning the candle at both ends and loving it! It is all too possible that he was over-compensating for his very hard
start in life. Now, not only could he afford a new suit, he could buy
the shop! Isaac Singer did everything in style. He had the grandest and most expensive parties, loved dancing and telling tales of his days of struggle and hardship. It is said that he even travelled to work in a specially commissioned coach. Bright yellow, 30 feet long and pulled by twelve black horses.
He would ride up Central Park
to his magnificent office. Everyone would know who was coming and
children would often run along beside his carriage shouting to him in
the hope of a few coins.
The Singer building, the world's first skyscraper over 600ft high
finally finished in 1908. Within a few short years Isaac Singer was the figurehead of a multi-national
company that was expanding to every country. Singer machines were being
carted across African deserts and up the Amazon with new agents
appearing in every town. In the larger towns there would be several
agents and shops all selling Singer machines.
Incidentally, Singer never made any sewing machines for anyone except Singer. This was unlike most of the other companies who were only to happy to put any name you wanted on the front of a machine if you bought enough of them. Isaac Singer was busily improving his machines all the time and right up until 1859 he was submitting a constant stream of patents to the Patent Office. Isaac was at his peak and buzzing around 24 hours a day not only with work but enjoying all the benefits of massive wealth that just kept on growing. Eventually it all caught up with him. His constant womanising, touring and a series of scandals turned many Americans against him. Their favourite son became ostracised from society and scandalised in the papers. Pperiodicals
say that
Isaac Singer became rude-mouthed, hot-tempered
and arrogant. Some women obviously loved it though in reality he had a
dark and dangerous side! Clark, constantly embarrassed by Isaac, came to him with a deal that
allowed Isaac to retire and spend his wealth on one condition—that he
departed
Before Isaac Singer left he was once again courting (surprise, surprise)
however, the woman had a daughter and the daughter was even prettier.
Isaac Singer turned all his charm and wealth on her. She was Isabella a
half-French half-English beauty. Described in the
periodicals of the day as the most beautiful woman
in Isaac Singer wasted no time in enticing her or maybe it was the other way
around—who knows for sure! There is no doubt that the divorced beauty
was a spectacular catch for him and, with his wealth, charm and looks
how could she resist? Before long Isabella was installed in Isaac’s Fifth Avenue home and fell pregnant. Isaac Singer had trouble with one of his divorces but, finally, married a very heavily-pregnant Isabella. Because they had to leave America the obvious place was Paris, France, where he had first met Isabella and the city their son was later named after. The Last Isaac Singer Patent for twin needle and free arm feed.
Incidentally, Isaac Singers last residence in the United States was in a home nicknamed the "Castle" that Singer had built in Yonkers , New York . Not to be confused with the "Castle" that Singer Company president Frederick Bourne built on Dark Island. Isaac Singer and family, Isabella and children, lived in Yonkers for about two years before finally leaving for Paris in 1867. It must have been a sad day when Isaac Singer and his new family set sail for Europe. He left behind his American dream and looked to the future in a foreign land. I wonder, as he saw the coastline of his homeland slowly fading away, if he ever thought he would be leaving forever? Isaac Singer never saw America again. He had been to At 53, Isaac Singer, and his entourage, toured Europe before settling down in After another stay in
Oldway Manor Paignton, England The doors were large enough to allow a coach and horses straight in to
unload, out of the rain, so as not to spoil the ladies’ evening gowns.
The Wigwam is still there, as is his house, now council offices. Well
worth a visit if you are ever in the vicinity of Paignton down the West
Country. While he may have been shunned by
Isaac Merritt Singer in his prime He was deeply mourned and his funeral was almost like a state funeral
with nearly 80 black carriages pulled by horses, some specially shipped
in from Isaac never lived to see his precious Wigwam completed.
Isaac Singer's final resting place And so, the most famous of all entrepreneurs was dead.
Isaac Singer had blazed a
trail that would never be followed, had lived life to the full and had
enjoyed every moment. I say never to be followed, let me tell you why. While Isaac Singer's early life was spent in obscurity his final years were spent in a blaze of wealth and publicity. On most graves there are dates, birth and death. It is the little space
between those dates that mean everything, the simple space that is the
entire life of a person. He really did start from nothing with little more than the clothes on his back. Isaac Singer really was what the American Dream was all about. The son of an immigrant, he made the first good sewing machine in history—whatever other makers tell you. Isaac Singer pioneered proper mass production, pioneered hire purchase, oversaw the first patent pooling and had one of the first truly multi-national companies employing nearly 100,000 people. Singer machines were the first mass-marketed domestic appliance in the world. Singer’s machine may just go down in history as the most useful
invention of the 19th century. Singer was the first company to spend over one million dollars on advertising in one year. This, along with superb machines like the singer 12k, New Family machine of 1865 made Singer machines world leaders.
The company later built one of the first skyscrapers that really did seem
to touch the sky and, in his spare time, Isaac Singer fathered at least
two-dozen children. In his lifetime his name was known by more people
across the globe than any other person in history. What a simply amazing
fact. Moreover, when he died as a grey haired old man, he was married to
the most beautiful woman in
Later, Clark sent his cousin and Ross Mc Kenzie over to The factory had its own docks, shipyard, railways and even forests for
wood. At its peak the factory employed around 14,000 workmen. One of the
problems of getting men to work on time in the 19th century
was solved when Singers built the largest clock in the world, larger
than Big Ben. Everyone in the valley could look out their windows and
see the time. There was no reason to be late again.
The massive Singer factory at Kilbowie, Clydebank with the huge clock
tower bigger than Big Ben In his will, Isaac Singer generously split his enormous wealth among his many
children, wives and mistresses. There were several claims by other
children for money. They ended up in protracted court cases. Had DNA
testing been around we may have found out just to what extent Isaac
Singer was
a ladies’ man!
They say Isabella modelled for Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty before marrying a poor but very handsome Italian Count. Several of his wealthy children went on to marry into high society, some into the European royal families. Some took up important positions around the world. A few even carried on in their father’s ways. Paris Singer had an affair and a child with the famous dancer and
actress, Isadora Duncan, before losing much of his wealth in the 1929
stock market crash. All in all, the Singer name became synonymous with wealth and power. Not
bad for a little runaway. Now you see why I started this story by saying what a man! Now who’s got the film rights!
The End
The full story of Isaac Merritt Singer is in my latest book Tales from the Coast. Isaac Merritt Singer © Touched by Fire
Hi Alex
Isaac Singer was my great grandfathers brother. I Enjoyed reading your story about I. M. Singer. I Have read others, but yours is much more in depth.
Thanks,
Gary Singer
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Fancy a good read: Ena Wilf & The One-Armed Machinist A brilliant slice of 1940's life: Spies & Spitfires
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A short history of Isaac Merritt Singer, a legend in his own time. |
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Isaac Merritt Singer |
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