``.From A Machinist To Inventor of Sewing Machines``
Isaac Merritt Singer is most famous now for his invention of the Singer Sewing machines-yet many had patented sewing machines before him. 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. For 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. Even so, during his lifetime, the flamboyant Singer was well known for his unconventional lifestyle as for his sewing machines.
`At 12, he left home with minimal education and started working a string of odd jobs as an unskilled laborer. As a teen, Singer took on a promising apprenticeship as a mechanic, but his interest in acting soon spurred him to abandon the job and form a traveling theater troupe instead.
`After Singer's acting endeavor fell apart, he resumed work as apprentice mechanic. In 1839, he established himself as an inventor when, while working in Illinois, he patented a rock-drilling machine for the government. A decade later, he invented a wood-and-metal-carving machine and then opened his own factory in which to manufacture his product. Unfortunately, the factory was destroyed in an explosion.
By 1850, Singer was working at a machine shop as a sewing machine repairman. When his boss asked him to fix a Lerow and Blodgett sewing machine, Singer put his inventor's hat on and went so far as to design and construct a superior model`in a mere matter of days.
Singer established a sewing-machine factory in