Elias Howe, American engineer, invented the sewing machine (born 1819)

Elias Howe Jr. was an American inventor best known for his creation of the modern lockstitch sewing machine.

A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the invention of the first sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790, the sewing machine has greatly improved the efficiency and productivity of the clothing industry.