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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Howe, Eltas 1819-1867 (search)
Howe, Eltas 1819-1867 Inventor; born in Spencer, Mass., July 9, 1819; engaged in manufacturing cotton-mill machinery at Lowell in 1835 and invented the sewingmachine, producing his first machine in May, 1845, and patenting it in September, 1846. Public indifference, violation of his rights, and extreme poverty tended to discourage him, but did not. In 1854 he was enabled to establish his legal claim to priority of invention. Then a floodtide of prosperity flowed in, and by the time his patent expired, in September, 1867, he had realized about $2,000,000. At the Paris exposition that year he received a gold medal and the cross of the Legion of Honor. He had contributed largely to support the government during the Civil War, and, until his health failed, did duty as a private soldier in a Connecticut regiment. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 3, 1867.