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Barthelemy Thimonnier
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A French tailor and inventor credited with the first sewing machine that could replicate hand sewing, patented in 1830 with mining engineer Auguste Ferrand. In 1831 a crowd of tailors, fearing for their livelihoods, attacked his Paris workshop and destroyed his machines; Thimonnier returned to ordinary tailoring, took out further patents in the 1840s, and never achieved commercial success despite winning prizes at World Fairs.
Facts
Defining ContributionPatented the first sewing machine to replicate hand sewing on July 17, 1830, with Auguste Ferrand; his Paris workshop was destroyed by a crowd of tailors the following year. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Held Differently
Why this is disputed. Thimonnier patented and factory-built a working sewing machine in France in 1830, sixteen years before Howe's US patent; whose claim to invention weighs more depends on whether a patent, a working factory, or an undisputed US market outcome is the test. See the recorded open question.
Credited with the earliest patent, 1830, for a machine that replicated hand sewing, sixteen years before Howe's lockstitch design; his own commercial attempt was destroyed by rioting tailors in 1831.
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