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The Sewing Machine 359 * Howe maintained to be one of the greatest features of his machine. This, it was pointed out, had been known and used in Great Britain for five years before the granting of the patent to Howe. In fact, this needle really proved the crux of the sewing machine invention. In the early machines which were fitted with a needle, the eye was placed in the shank, or the opposite end of the needle. Con- sequently, considerable difficulty was experienced in forming a suitable loop in the fabric being sewn. This peculiar problem was solved by Howe’s closely ob- servant wife, who, noticing the difficulty, expressed wonder as to why an attempt was not made to place the eye near the point. In this way, she suggested, the thread could be carried well below, or above, the material according as to whether the loop were formed upon the upper- or underside of the material. The suggestion was subjected to te$t, and to the intense surprise of the investigator the supreme obstacle to success vanished. Howe’s patent was vigorously assailed for eight years, and the unceasing wrangling not only preyed upon his mind, but played such havoc with his slender financial resources that he was reduced to poverty. Then, just as everything appeared to be dead against him, and when it seemed as if the invention must be declared invalid for lack of novelty and owing to anticipation, the final courts in the United States gave a verdict in his favour. This was in 1846, by which time, owing to the ill-success which had at- tended his legal operations, a host of imitators had sprung up, and sewing machines were being sold here, there, and everywhere. The final verdict proved