All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

372 All About Inventions compete with the wealthy manufacturer. He out- lined his plan, which was to sell on the instalment system, or, as it is more generally known now, by hire-purchase. As a matter of fact, Singer was one of the first pioneers, if not the actual pioneer, of this method of transacting business. From the very beginning the idea caught the popular fancy. It appealed to the humbler seamstress because with a machine she was able to increase her meagre earnings, while the instalment for the machine was so small as to be negligible. The machine paid for itself easily. The housewife regarded the issue in a similar light, while the small manufacturer, whose bank balance was not adequate to enable him to lay out a large sum of money for the equipment of his factory, also received the proposal with open arms. Branch offices were established; first, in all the fore- most cities of the United States ; then the outlying towns carried their representatives ; and finally, even the small villages were brought into the organisation. It was quite a new way of conducting business, and the customers appreciated the system of direct sell- ing, because they were relieved of the anxiety and delay when accessories or new parts were required, these being readily obtainable through the agencies. Moreover, the machine was being perfected from day to day, and when a decisive improvement needed a new model, the advantageous terms which were offered to existing customers to acquire the latest word in sewing machines met with an instantaneous response. The system proved so remarkably successful that by 1863, seven years after the inauguration of the