Alex has spent a lifetime in the sewing industry and is considered one of the foremost experts of pioneering machines and their inventors. He has written extensively for trade magazines, radio, television, books and publications world wide.

Alex I Askaroff

William Taylor 1840-1917
 

The William Taylor Sewing Machine of 1873

Taylor sewing machine circa 1874, part of the Alex Askaroff, Sewalot collection. William Taylor's machines won no less than 12 gold and silver medals around the world for their superb engineering, style and smoothness.

I must start by saying a big thank you to all who have contributed to what is possibly the most complete history of William Taylor on the Internet so far.

Very little was known about the beautiful machines that William Taylor made during the Victorian period. Let me tell you what I have discovered through 20 years of collecting snippets of information on William Taylor the man.

Let's see what we do know William Taylor was from East Gate, Driffield, East Riding, East Yorkshire. He patented the remarkable cross-belt sewing machine around 1873/4. However we do know that he was selling sewing machines a long time before this date.

The beginnings

William Taylor was a banker's clerk but was also a superb designer with an inventive mind. He was granted patent No's 1156 & 37005 for sewing machine improvements in 1874/5. He must have been delighted to have patented a sewing machine with a unique shuttle movement as late as the 1870's.

His elliptical shuttle did not go back and forth in a vibrating way it moved smoothly in a never-ending elliptical circle. Imagine tracing the outline of a rugby ball with your finger. That is the movement of his shuttle.

To this date there are less than a dozen known examples of the William Cross-Belt sewing machines!

One of his machines is in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

A later 1875 patent application by William Taylor for improvements to his machine.

What a brilliant designer and engineer was doing hiding in a bank in the centre of this little East Riding town is an enigma and much has been lost in the mists of time. William Taylor was considered a genius of his time, no small feat! When he died he was still an actuary at his local savings bank.

William was born on April Fools day 1840 and died aged 77 in 1917. However being born on April Fools day did not stop him earning the reputation as the smartest man in Driffield.

Poor William suffered from infant paralysis. William lived with his parents at Middle Street and then moved to Bridge Street. His father, Richard Taylor, was manager of the Union Bank, and bought him a donkey to get around on as his paralysis left him with a permanent limp. He used to try and hide his limp with a heavy cork insert in his left sole.

William Taylor's father was deeply religious and was one of the 12 men who broke from the Wesleyan Church over the use of lay preachers in Driffield.

I W Taylor thread was made in Leicester but William Taylor did have relatives there and the thread manufacturing may have a family connection.

William may have had an unlucky start in life but with his God-fearing parents, Richard and Mary Taylor, he became an inspired genius of his time. William Taylor was not going to let his frail body get in the way of his stamp on the world.

Today, family from all over the world try and trace his early life and inventions. That's lucky for me as they keep giving me little snippets of information which I often add to his page.

William Taylor is remembered for his sewing machines but he invented many things such as the cot with a drop-side and an automatic pole for lamp-lighting and adjusting gas lamps. Washing machines, yes the future was here, printing machines and kilter's. Okay so I don't know what a kilter is but William Taylor produced them right up to his bankruptcy in 1879.

William also made early bicycles and was a well known sight bombing around Driffield on one of his early velocipede contraptions. William may  have been born with a disability but he made up with it with enormous amounts of energy and inspiration. He could never sit still when he was young.

Inspired at a young age by the new fangled gadgets that were the wonder of the modern world by the time William was a teenager he had his eye upon the humble sewing machine.

Now this may be gossip and needs conformation, but family rumour has it that he was already producing sewing machines as early as 1860-1 and one was exhibited at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace where he won a bronze medal! Wow how I wish that's true. Oh how I need my time machine... This model could only have been his Willcox & Gibbs chainstitch copy later know as the Taylor Twisted Loop. This would also give some credence to the tale that he actually took over a sewing machine business in Driffield run by Berriman Sawdon.

If this is true it means that William Taylor was really one of the pioneers of the British sewing machine industry.

When I started to research William I hit a brick wall but persistence pays off and a lucky encounter with Amy from the Patent Office proved beneficial.

On a search of the patents it turns out that William was into sewing machines at a much earlier date than was previously thought. Don't forget patents come after ideas and if William was already producing a small sewing machine which had no patent protection he would naturally want to produce something that no one else could copy. A unique lock stitch machine was his idea, a machine that would stamp his name on the march of time.

This period of Victorian expansion was the time where dreams were made and smashed. It was the golden age of invention.

One of William Taylors earlier patents

By the age of 26 William, living in Bridge Street, Driffield, had already filed for a  several sewing machine patents. One was a clever idea of tensioning the shuttle by wrapping the thread around a bar several times. It was similar principle to the top tension he later used on his large lock-stitch machines. The main underneath movement of the machine was the Elias Howe cam principle.

In 1868 he applied for another patent this time for a super idea of an attachable hand crank system to added to any sewing machine. It would mean you could convert a treadle machine to a table top  portable. His unique shuttle motion patent was used by several other manufacturers including the Leeds manufacturers Nussey & Pilling.

The William Taylor portable hand operated mechanism for clamping to treadle sewing machines to make them portable.

It is interesting to note that the 1868 patent was with Charles Edward Taylor of Bradfield and concerned tables and treadles for sewing machines some in stunning castings.

Then again in 1870 William was applying for more treadle tables and drive wheel assemblies for turning the humble sewing machine.

In 1874 he was at it again with another patent to improvements in his lockstitch machine shuttle and shuttle holder. William opened London premises at Holborn Viaduct and Cheapside, London.

Now that we have established what a busy boy our William was we can get onto some really interesting stuff. William offered part-payment on his machines just like Isaac Singer. This meant that people on low earnings could still afford to use on of William Taylor's machines.

One of the only known Taylor Twisted Loop sewing machines, part of my, Sewalot collection.
It is small and sweet, light and easy to use.

With this stunning machine William launched his bid on the sewing machine industry and the Taylor Sewing Machine Company was formed. Byy 1876 the company had become the Taylor Sewing Machine Company limited.

The company that made this superb machine had several shareholders and just a few rumours have survived of how it all collapsed.

It is believed that the company first started manufacturing the machines in his small engineering foundry in Driffield in the early part of the 1860's.

His first machine was almost definitely  the chain-stitch twisted loop model and by 1866 he was already working on his lockstitch we can guess that the Taylor Twisted Loop was well in production from 1861-66. William Taylor also produced what we call Friction Drives. Basically eliminating the belt and just having the hand wheel rub against the small lower pulley.

These friction drive machines were irregular in their movement and were quickly done away with. A few models still survive today. Lippman & Lind, who William knew, had patented the friction drive. Later Henry Lippmann and William Lind patented an almost identical machine to the William Taylor cross belt but with a friction drive. I would guess that a few still survive in Germany under their name.

William's first machine, above, was the much smaller and simpler chain stitch machine. This was sold as hand or treadle but they are very rare. I have only ever seen three and the one above is now in my collection. This machine was called Taylors Twisted Loop Sewing Machine with a sneaky drive belt adjustment by a sliding bolt on the rear of the machine.

William Taylor was perfectly situated in East Driffiled for manufacturing as the small Yorkshire town was bristling with engineering and foundry expertise including Peter Sibree, William's brother-in-law, who ran the River Head Foundry in Driffield.

William Taylor was well thought of even by his loyal staff. Only once did he fall out with his works manager, Bentley Brierley, who was a fiery character. Once dismissed from William's business Brierley started his own sewing machine business which failed immediately as apparently no one would leave William's business to work for him.

William Taylor often took the entire factory on day trips to the beach and parks. The New Road factory cricket team was renowned in the area. William's factory may have been the site that earlier had made sewing machines for Berriman Sawdon. Unfortunately I cannot confirm this anecdote.

Please note the picture below is the only one known to exist, do ask if you would like a copy.

The Taylor Twisted Loop Sewing Machine

There is little information that I can find on this loop-stitch model but he did give sewing lessons to some of his customers on this model and there are three different bases that I have seen. It made a simple chain stitch or twisted loop. Studying the mechanism there is no doubt that much of the mechanics owe their originality to the Willcox & Gibbs chainstitch.

However the machine is much smaller and lighter with many individualities. You can see why he did not patent much from his Twisted Loop machine it was really just a copy of machines on the market at the time. At 30 shillings it was far cheaper than his later cross-belt lockstitch and cheaper than the W&G and other machines on the market at the time like the Raymond/Weir 55s sewing machine.

In 1875 he did apply for patents on his well established twisted loop model but these were for stamping out the parts from sheet metal, a cheap alternative to his cast model. I do not know if this was ever made.

Although the Patent Office have no record of patents for William's Twisted Loop machine his advertising clearly implied that he held some sort of patent on it?

William Taylor had a premises adjoining 13 New Road in Eastgate where he made adjustable desks but this was later bought by the local gasworks.

He moved to Retort Yard in Bridge Street. There he tuned grandfather clocks and made the bells for the chimes in a tiny fireplace.

William was a workaholic and one day even set fire to his beard while tempering some steel, but this was long after his dalliance with sewing machines. That must have been a funny sight old William jumping around his workshop with his beard alight!

A young William Taylor working his Twisted Loop machine circa 1861-3. He often held workshops for women to instruct on the use of his machines. William also gave lectures and talks to the town of Driffield. He advertised his early machine above as the loop stitch although it was a clear copy of the Wilcox & Gibbs design.

The William Taylor Cross Belt

Now onto his full-size lock stitch machine that proudly boasts his name, W. Taylor Patent, across the top arm and patents on the needleplate. It has the wonderful tensioning device for perfect stitching. In Denmark the patent was filed by Petersen in Jutland.

The stunning looks, engineering and unique features of the William Taylor Cross-stitch sewing machine stood out from the crowd and in 1877 at the first African International Exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa, it took the prestigious Exhibition Gold Medal for outstanding performance and design. There is also a possibility of another medal in 1879 the year the company collapsed. Amazingly there are still regular textile and machinery exhibitions near the same site today. The South African International Trade Exhibition or SAITEX is said to be the best trade exhibition in Africa.

Another piece of wonderful family trivia is that the Queen of Madagascar was said to have bought one of his machines! Why not, if you wanted the best and William's was, you would buy it.

The cross belt was one of William's ideas to allow the machine to turn in the correct direction. This, along with his elliptical shuttle movement, led to another unusual adaptation allowing the needle to be inserted the wrong way to normal and threading of the machine is right to left instead of the right to left.

In 1879 William Taylor Company collapsed. The machine was expensive to produce and heavy compared to some of its poorer counterparts like James Weir's 55 shilling machine. You have to remember that William Taylor's machines were nearly five guineas, ten times the price of some rivals. We have seen this many times before, cheaper machines undercut and destroy high quality models.

Just the fine mahogany box and range of silver plated attachments, hemmers, binders and folders that came as standard with the machine cost as much as a cheaper, complete, machine.

Unlike so many machines of the era, it made a superb smooth and high quality stitch with an elliptical moving shuttle. It was the Rolls Royce of its day.

The elliptical shuttle of the Taylor sewing machine.
Note the timing position of the needle and shuttle, this has to be exact for a perfect stitch!

In a last ditch attempt to save his invention William Taylor transferred some of his unique machinery, to Hamburg in Germany, no small feat in the 1870's. The German machines were possibly manufactured by Lippmann & Lind.

Remember that he had already used their friction drive and was also showing his machines at the Hamburg shows, winning yet another medal.

Let's go back a step. One of William's 1874 patents was in partnership with Johann Heinrich Rudolph Dreyer and Heinrich Schipmann both from Hamburg. They were possibly his German partners along with Lippmann & Lind. However Pollack & Schmidt also had their American Sewing Machine Factory in Hamburg.

I am not sure if there was a connection with P&S. They made Wheeler & Wilson clones including one that fetched £23,500 at Christies in London in 1997. My old mate Ray Rushton bought the machine for his super London Sewing Machine Museum. I remember drooling over it when he showed it to me. Nothing that a wet rag wouldn't clean off. It was the highest price ever paid for a sewing machine to date. It was made for the daughter of Queen Victoria, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, Vicky.

William Taylor best lockstitch machines available on fortnightly payments. One shilling down-payment allows you to acquire the award winning machine from the Taylor's Patent Sewing Machine Company of Great Driffield.

Back to the story...

The idea was probably to continue manufacture abroad with cheaper overheads and running costs, much like today when British firms have their goods made abroad. There were possibly two factories in Hamburg manufacturing parts for his machines. William was already familiar with both the Hamburg factories from early connections. He had won a silver medal many years earlier at the Hamburg Industrial Exhibition of 1869.

The factories started to produce the machines but once more the heavy cost of setting up the new plant and machinery proved just too much. Although the machines were a success in the domestic market, with their near perfect stitching, through almost any material, they could not make enough machines to cover the huge expenses incurred and pay the shareholders. Profits dropped and this sounded the final death knoll of the company.

William only found out he was in real trouble after supplies and communications dried up from Hamburg. He made a hasty trip to Hamburg to see what was happening only to find the factory closed! The owners had apparently sold all his stock and scarpered!

This was a disaster, no machines to fill the orders. No machines, meant no money and no money and debts meant only one thing... bankruptcy.

In 1879 the company finally collapsed and one of the most sought after machines of the 19th century disappeared.

William returned to Britain a broken man with huge debts. He slowly paid of all his debts (many to friends who had invested in his dream) and after inventing a mild-steel riveted belts, made some of his money back.

Back in England a huge clearance sale was announced to clear the Driffiled plant and stock.

Enough of the plant, stock and tools were bought up lock-stock-and-barrel by James Elvidge. The business stumbled on selling cheap stock and machines under the name of Taylor's Patent Sewing Machine Co. It finally ceased all sewing machine trading in 1891.

The end of a dream

They say William wept for joy the day he finally paid of all his debts. In later life William slowed down a little teaching Sunday School and tinkering in his workshop.

An inventor to the very last, he made a lathe that would mass produced screw threads in his workshop on the corner of Bridlington Road and Eastergate, not far from his original workshop was slightly further down Eastergate.

There are only a handful of the W. Taylor Cross-belt machines still around in the odd museum and private collection and they rarely surface for sale.

The Victorian sewing machine pioneer and inventor William Newton-Wilson of London said that in his opinion the Taylor Cross-belt hand machine was of clumsy appearance! Hey what did he know... Style is a matter of taste. Also he may not have seen the slightly later Hamburg model which had the better base and beautiful ornate top casting, different hand wheel, winder and tensioner.

The early Taylor sewing machines had a clumsy harsh base not like the later models

In my opinion I would class the William Taylor sewing machines as one of the most impressive machines of the era and the superb prices the machines realise when they do occasionally come up for sale reflect this.

The Taylor Cross-belt sewing machine

The fabulous and rare W. Taylor cross-belt sewing machine of 1873 now in my Sewalot collection.

William died a comfortable but not wealthy man. His main income in later life came mainly from copper and mild steel riveted belting and school desks. He was 77 which was a good age for someone with a weak heart from an early age. He died peacefully in November 1917 after sitting down to write a small piece for his Sunday sermon.

His funeral was held at the church where he preached and attended of over 60 years, the Bridge Street United Methodist Church. There was a large attendance as he was very well respected in his community.

William had three surviving children, two girls, Ethel & Hilda and a son Gilbert.

The End

Now this is a fantastic addition...

Rod Wise contacted me from Australia in 2008 to add this wonderful piece:

William Taylor treadle casting patent of 1874

The End, finally.

Thank you for posting your wonderfully appreciative essay on my great-grandfather's inventive life. Much appreciated.
Regards,
Eric Taylor

Fancy a good read: Ena Wilf  & The One-Armed Machinist

A brilliant slice of 1940's life: Spies & Spitfires

Alex's stories are now available to keep. Click on the picture for more information.

 Home            Index                Books