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This is the story of a born mechanical engineer. How he tried various ways for earning a livelihood. How he utilised his capabilities as a machinist. How he engaged himself in a theater. How he made his fortune etc. Please read and draw inspiration to build up a successful career.
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Story of a born MECHANICAL ENGINEER
SINGER’S STORY
Babu Appat
Isaac Merritt Singer
most famous now for his invention of the Singer sewing machine - yet many had patented sewing
machines before him.
Reason for Success
The reason his sewing machine achieved more fame than the others is that it was more practical, it could be adapted to home use and it could
be bought on hire-purchase.
EconomicsFor a down payment of just $5.00, a
purchaser could take the machine home and start sewing on it the same day. The Singer sewing machine became the first
home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American
multinationals.
LIFESTYLEEven so, during his lifetime, the
flamboyant Singer was as well known for his unconventional
lifestyle as for his sewing machines
BIRTHIsaac Merritt Singer was born in the hamlet of Johnsonville, in the
town of Pittstown, Rensselaer County, NY, on 27 October 1811.
He was the youngest son of Adam SINGER and his first wife.
FATHERAdam SINGER was a German immigrant whose birth name was Adam REISINGER. It is not known how many children Adam Singer and his two wives had, but there were at least two sons and a daughter;
the daughter's name was Elizabeth SINGER (see below).
CHANGING LIFEWhen Isaac Singer was 10 years old, his
parents divorced. After Adam Singer remarried, Isaac Singer did not get
along well with his stepmother, Ruth BENSON, so when he was 12, he
went to live with his elder brother in Oswego, NY
WORKIsaac Singer's elder brother had a machine shop, and Isaac went to
work there. It was there that Isaac grew to his full height of 6 feet 4
inches and where he first learned the machinist trade that would become
the basis of his fame and fortune
SUBSIDIARY INTERESTS
However, at this stage, Isaac did not realise this, and he would look for fame and fortune in another profession: acting.
MARRIAGEIn 1830, Isaac Singer married for
the first time. His bride was Catharine Maria HALEY. The
couple moved to New York City, possibly in 1831;
MARRIED LIFEThey are said to have lived with her
parents. However, by the summer of 1833, Isaac Singer was in Otsego County, NY, where
he was working at a machine shop owned by George POMEROY
GEOGRAPHY
This machine shop was located one mile south of the village of Fly Creek,
which is a few miles west of Cooperstown, Otsego County, NY.
Isaac Singer was also receiving mail at the post office in Cooperstown
BUSINESS
It is here that Isaac Singer perhaps first made the acquaintance of Edward
CLARK, his legal counsel and eventual business partner.*
CHILDREN
Isaac Singer and Catharine Maria Haley had two children: William SINGER, born in 1834, and Lillian
SINGER, born in 1837
DRAMA TROUPEBy 1836, Isaac Singer had been bitten
by the acting bug, and he joined a troupe of travelling players. When the
troupe performed in Baltimore, Singer, now 25, met 18-year-old Mary
Ann Sponsler. The following year, 1837, Singer fathered two children:
SON AND DAUGHTER
The daughter Lillian (mentioned above) by his wife Catharine and a son Isaac by Mary Ann Sponsler. The marriage
of Isaac and Catharine was effectively over after that, although the couple
did not divorce until 1860
FIRST PATENT
In 1839, Singer received his first patent. It was for a rock-drilling
machine, and it earned him $2,000.
MERRIT PLAYERS
Singer used this money to found his own acting troupe, the
"Merritt Players", with Mary Ann Sponsler.
SECOND MARRIAGE
Singer, not free to remarry legally, entered into a common-law marriage with Sponsler, who went on to bear
him 10 children.
ISSAC MERRIT AND Mrs. MERRIT
With the Merritt Players, Singer performed under the name Isaac Merritt, and Sponsler performed
under the name "Mrs Merritt"
COLLAPSE OF TROUPE
The Merritt Players toured the country until the money finally ran out. They happened
to be in Fredericksburg, Ohio, when the troupe disbanded, and Singer had to take
a job in a local print shop, where he conceived the idea of a machine to cut
wood blocks for printing images.
PROTOPYPE OF WOODCUTTER
After a short stint there, he also worked in Pittsburgh and then in New York City. In New York City, the prototype of Singer's
cutting machine was at the machine shop of A. B. Taylor & Co., but when the boiler
blew up at A. B. Taylor's, Singer's prototype was destroyed.
PROTOTYPE RECREATED
However, Orson C. Phelps, who had a machine shop in Boston, had heard about this cutting machine and invited Singer to
recreate it in his shop, where, coincidentally, Phelps also had some Lerow & Blodgett sewing machines.
SEWING MACHINESSewing machines were far from new. The
British inventor Thomas SAINT had received the world's first patent for a
sewing machine in 1790, before Singer was even born. French tailor Barthelemy THIMONNIER invented a more practical
sewing machine in 1829
WALTER HUNT’S MACHINE
It is generally recognised that US inventor Walter HUNT invented the first American
sewing machine in about 1833, but because he failed to patent it at the time,
he had trouble staking his claim
ELIAS HOWE
US inventor Elias HOWE (1819-1867) patented his sewing machine on 10
September 1846.
LEROW & BLODGET MACHINE
Isaac Singer's cutting machine was not a success, but while he was at Phelps's
shop in Boston, Singer conceived a way to improve the Lerow & Blodgett sewing machines and make them much more
practical
PATENTED
Isaac Singer received his sewing-machine patent, number 8294, on 12
August 1851
Jenny Lind Sewing Machine Company
With financing from George B. Zieber, Singer went into partnership with Zieber
and Phelps to found the "Jenny Lind Sewing Machine Company", named after
Stockholm-born soprano Jennie Lind (1820-1887), known as the "Swedish
Nightingale", who had a highly successful tour of the US in 1850-1852
COMPANY RENAMED
The company was soon renamed I. M. Singer & Co. The venture was a huge financial success, and it made Isaac
Singer a wealthy man.
Singer lived in a Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City with his "wife" Mary Ann Sponsler and their children in the 1850s
and the early 1860s.
DIVORCE FROM CATHARINE
He had finally been divorced from his first wife Catharine in 1860, having accused HER of adultery with one Stephen KENT
THIRD FAMILY
But all was not as it seemed, for Isaac Singer was again leading a double - in fact, triple - life. Singer had a "third"
family with Mary EASTWOOD WALTERS, who bore him a daughter, Alice
EASTWOOD
FOURTH FAMILY
And Singer also had a "fourth" family with Mary MCGONIGAL, an employee at his company's
factory
CLASH
She had already borne Singer five children and had set up a household with him as the MATTHEWS family, when one day Mary Ann Sponsler
saw her husband driving in a carriage with Mary openly
ARRESTED FOR BIGAMY
This embarrassment was too much for her, and Sponsler had Singer arrested for
bigamy.
RELEASED ON BAIL
He was released on bail, but his reputation was ruined, and in 1862,
Singer and Mary McGonigal sailed for Europe, where Singer would remain
for the rest of his life
SPONSLER-FOSTER
Meanwhile, Mary Ann Sponsler lost no time in marrying John E.
FOSTER in Boston in 1862
LAST MARRIAGESinger and Mary McGonigal lived first
in London, but soon Singer went to Paris, where he met Isobelle Eugenie
BOYCE SUMMERVILLE. He married her on 13 June 1865, and this
marriage endured for the rest of his life
English Riviera
The couple settled in Paignton, Devon, England, near Torquay, in the West
Country, in an area known as the "English Riviera".
OLDWAY MANSION
They bought an estate there and began to build a 115-room house known as
Oldway Mansion, seen in the photograph.
LIVING TOGETHER
Several of Singer's children by earlier liaisons came to live with him there. They
moved into this mansion as soon as it was habitable, and Singer's daughter
Alice was married there in 1875
A FACTORY
Singer established a sewing-machine factory in Scotland in 1867. It was located
at Clydebank, near Glasgow.
First American Multinationals
He also set up factories in France, near Paris, and in Brazil, at Rio de Janeiro, making the Singer company one of the first American multinationals
SINGER DIED
Singer died in Paignton on 23 July 1875, age 63 years. He was buried in Torquay.
After his death, his many children fought over his estate.
24 CHILDREN
By his five "wives", Singer fathered 24 children, of whom two had died
young. In his will, Singer acknowledged 22 children
PARIS SINGER
Isaac Singer's son Paris Singer redesigned Oldway Mansion in Versailles-like
splendour.
ISADORA DUNCAN
Paris Singer fathered a son by US modern dancer Isadora DUNCAN (1877-1927), but this son was killed in a car crash in 1913
while still a child
Elizabeth SINGER COLBY (1801-1872)
Isaac Singer had an elder sister named Elizabeth SINGER, who was born 16
July 1801 in Germany and died on 18 August 1872 in Oswego, NY
TO THE USA
When she was a toddler, she emigrated to the USA in 1803 with her parents.
THE SINGERS
On 4 December 1819 in Granby, Oswego County, NY, she married
Daniel D. COLBY. They had 13 children. She is buried in Union
Rural Cemetery in Oswego
The Song