Barthélemy Thimonnier was born on August 19, 1793, in L'Arbresle, Rhône, France. He died on July 5, 1857, in Amplepuis, France. Thimonnier was a French inventor who is credited with inventing the first sewing machine that mimicked the way people sew by hand.

Early life

In 1795, his family moved to Amplepuis. Thimonnier was the oldest of seven children. He studied for some time in Lyon before working as a tailor in Panissières. Barthelemy Thimonnier married a woman who sewed decorative patterns in January 1822. In 1823, he moved to an area outside the main part of Saint-Étienne and worked as a tailor there.

Invention of the sewing machine

In 1755, Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal received the first patent for a sewing machine needle. However, in 1829, Barthélemy Thimonnier created a new version of the sewing machine. In 1830, he worked with Auguste Ferrand, a mining engineer, who made drawings of the machine and applied for a patent. The patent was granted to both Thimonnier and Ferrand on July 17, 1830, with support from the French government. An early supporter of Thimonnier’s work was Louis-Antoine Beaunier, who was connected to a miners’ school in Saint-Étienne.

The first sewing machine was actually invented and protected by law in 1790 by Thomas Saint. However, Saint’s design was not widely known until 1874, when William Newton Wilson, a sewing machine maker, discovered Saint’s drawings in the London Patent Office. Wilson built a working model of Saint’s machine after making some adjustments to the looper. Saint’s machine had an overhanging arm, a feed mechanism (which worked well for short pieces of leather), a vertical needle bar, and a looper. A model of the machine built by Wilson from Saint’s drawings is now displayed at the London Science Museum.

Sewing machine riot

In the same year, he started a company with partners that was the first in the world to use machines to make clothing. The company was created to produce uniforms for the army. A workshop was built on the rue de Sèvres in Paris, and it had about 80 sewing machines.

However, in 1831, 150–200 tailors attacked the factory and broke many machines. They were worried about losing jobs and earning less money after the patent was issued.

According to Moniteur,
— Moniteur, 20 January 1831 (Translation; French)

It is not clear if "Gombert" refers to Barthélemy Thimonnier or one of his partners, funders, or employees.

A month later, Gazette des Tribunaux (The Court Gazette) called the company "Mr. Petit's house." This refers to Maison Germain Petit & Cie, the company started by Barthélemy Thimonnier and Auguste Ferrand.

The Gazette des Tribunaux said the National Guard stopped the destruction and strongly criticized the event. The Gazette des Tribunaux was a magazine about criminal justice and often used information from government records. Because of the strong political opposition at the time (see Canut revolts), it is unlikely that government sources would publicly admit any success of the destruction, as it might have encouraged more actions.

The report also mentioned:
— Gazette des Tribunaux, 23 February 1831 (Translation; French)

A later source said:
— Le Travail National, 1909 (Translation; French)

Thimonnier left the company the same year, shortly after the riot. The company was completely shut down a few years later, after the death of the main investor, Mr. Beaunier of The Saint-Étienne miners' school.

A model of the machine is displayed at the London Science Museum. The machine is made of wood and uses a barbed needle that moves through the fabric to pull thread upward, forming a loop that is locked by the next loop.

Later life

Thimonnier returned to Amplepuis and worked as a tailor again, while looking for ways to improve his machine. He received new patents in 1841, 1845, and 1847 for updated versions of the sewing machine. Even though he won prizes at World Fairs and received praise from newspapers, the machine was not widely used. Thimonnier faced financial difficulties, and he died in poverty at the age of 63. A company named after him was created after his death and continued until the 20th century.