Singer wins a patent for a sewing machine that actually works

Sewing machines in 1851 jammed easily and were hard to operate for long stretches. On August 12, 1851, Isaac Merritt Singer received U.S. Patent No. 8,294 for a redesigned machine he'd built in a Boston shop, after concluding that a straight needle moving vertically and a shuttle running in a straight line, rather than a curve, would hold up under sustained use. The fix worked. Within weeks Singer had partners and a company. Within decades that company was one of the largest manufacturing operations in the country…