Helen Blanchard facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Helen Augusta Blanchard
Helen Augusta Blanchard. Source: Willard and Livermore, American Women, Mast, Crowell & Kirkpatrick, 1897, 97
Born	(1840-10-25)October 25, 1840 Portland, Maine
Died	January 12, 1922(1922-01-12) (aged 81) Providence, Rhode Island

Helen Augusta Blanchard (born October 25, 1840 – died January 12, 1922) was an amazing American inventor. She received 28 patents between 1873 and 1915, mostly for her clever ideas about sewing machines and how to make sewing better.

Helen Blanchard's Early Life

Helen was born in Portland, Maine, on October 25, 1840. She came from a wealthy family. Her father, Nathaniel Blanchard, was a successful shipowner and businessman. Her mother was Phoebe Buxton Blanchard. Helen was one of six children in her family.

She spent most of her childhood in Portland. Her father's business did well until a big financial crisis in 1866. That same year, much of Portland was destroyed by a fire. After her father's business faced problems, Helen moved to Boston. She went there to start a career as an inventor.

Even when she was young, Helen showed a creative mind. She loved to invent things. However, there is no record that she had any special training in mechanics or engineering. This is surprising, as most of her inventions were about machines!

First Inventions and Moving to Boston

After the financial crisis of 1866, Helen's family lost their home. Her father passed away, leaving the family with money troubles.

Because of this, Helen and her family sold their old family home in Portland. Helen then moved to Boston, Massachusetts. In Boston, she started patenting her inventions. In 1873 and 1875, she received several patents for her sewing machine ideas.

One of her most important inventions was Patent No. 141987. This was a big improvement for sewing machines because it introduced the buttonhole stitch. This invention also included the Blanchard over-seaming machine. This machine could sew and trim knitted fabrics at the same time! Helen even had to borrow money to help pay for her first few patents.

Most of Helen's inventions were made for factories and businesses. It would be over 60 years before another inventor changed home sewing machines as much as Helen changed commercial sewing.

Success in Philadelphia and New York

After creating her zigzag stitch and over-seaming techniques, Helen moved to Philadelphia. In 1881, she started the Blanchard Overseaming Company of Philadelphia. This company helped her sell her inventions. She also founded the Blanchard Hosiery Machine Company in 1882.

Because of her success in Boston, Helen was able to pay back the money she borrowed for her first inventions. Later, she used the money she earned from her successful businesses in Philadelphia to buy back her family's property in Maine. This was the home they had sold after her father died.

In the early 1890s, she moved to New York. There, she continued to invent many different things. These included a pencil sharpener and a special machine for sewing hats.

Later Life and Lasting Impact

Helen moved back to her family's property in Portland in 1901. She kept inventing and getting patents until she had a stroke in 1916. She passed away in Providence, Rhode Island in 1922. Helen is buried in her family's plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

We don't know what happened to her property and money after she died. However, her legacy lives on! In 2006, she was honored by being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

One of her famous Zig-Zag sewing machines is now on display. You can see it at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. This machine was one of her most important inventions. It completely changed how commercial sewing was done for more than 50 years.

Helen Blanchard's Amazing Patents

Helen Blanchard received 28 patents over about 45 years. A total of 22 of these inventions were related to sewing and sewing machines. Many other inventors have used her ideas in their own designs.

1873: Improved Sewing Machines

This invention created a way to make a buttonhole stitch, also known as a zig-zag stitch. When used to close a seam, this stitch made the fabric much stronger. The stitch could be changed in different ways, like adjusting how deep the needle went. The original sewing machine with this special feature is now at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

1875: Better Elastic Seams for Clothes

This invention was a new way of stitching. It made a strong, stretchy stitch without changing the fabric much. It mainly involved adjusting how tight the fabric was held.

1875: Stronger Elastic for Shoes

This invention helped make shoes stronger. It reinforced the goring, which holds parts of the shoe together. It used rows of stitches made from regular thread and a rubber thread. This created a type of goring that could handle more movement than older methods.

1876: Flat Seams for Fabric

This invention was a method to make two edges of material lie flat after being sewn together. This could be done by adding a special strip called a welt or by sewing another strip over the seam.

1882: The Hollow Sewing Needle

This invention was a hollow sewing needle. It was designed to hold a lot of thread inside the needle itself, making it easier to use. Helen noted that some of the ideas, like coiling wire, were not new. But she was the first to apply them to sewing.
Her main invention here was a way to fill the hollow needle. It involved winding thread onto a flexible core to make a small spool. Then, this spool was put into the hollow needle, and the flexible core was pulled out. This left the coiled thread inside the needle.

1883: The Spool Case

This invention was a simple cover for spools of silk, cotton, or other threads. It protected the spool from getting dirty, damaged, or unwound.
Her patent also said that the cover stopped thread from accidentally unwinding. It also prevented threads from getting tangled when many spools were kept together in a basket. This was a big help for people who sewed a lot! It was a simple but very effective solution.

1893: Attaching Cords to Fabric Edges

This invention was a way to attach cords or reeds to the edges of materials. It was especially useful for attaching reeds to hat sweatbands. This was done by folding the edges of the material around the cord or reed before sewing it.

1893: Improved Sewing Needle

This invention was an improvement to the sewing needle. It made it possible to thread the needle with just one hand, which saved time. It had a latch that allowed the needle to open. This meant the user could place the thread in a slot instead of trying to push it through a tiny hole.
The patent also mentioned that this idea could be used for needles in the medical field, like those used for stitches.

1894: The Surgical Needle

This invention was an improvement to older surgical needles. This needle had a lancet point. This allowed it to pierce skin easily with very little resistance, causing less pain for the patient. A special notch on the back of the needle allowed the thread to disconnect easily when the needle was pulled out of the skin.

1898: Better Sewing Needles and Machines

This invention brought more improvements to existing needle and sewing machine technology. The sewing needle had a slot open on one side. The walls of this slot were shaped to hold the thread when the needle moved down. They would release the thread when the needle moved up. A spring attached to the needle's body covered the opening of the slot. In short, this invention made sewing more efficient by simplifying the machine's movement.

1900: Sewing Machine Needle

This invention was a type of needle for sewing machines that used one or more threads to make stitches. The needle could pierce the fabric. It also had a notch that supplied another thread to create the stitch.

1901: Seam for Sewed Items

This invention was a way to connect two edges of material, especially knitted fabrics, and for over-edging. This method used many loops made from a single thread going through the two edges of the material to create a strong seam.

1901: Hat Sewing Machine

This invention was a change to the sewing machine that allowed it to make a common chain stitch with one thread. This was used to sew sweatbands and linen strips onto the inside edge of hats. Before this machine, this work was done by hand. So, this machine made production much faster by making the work simpler.

1914: Selvage-Sewing Method

This invention was a method mainly for joining the edges of selvage knitted goods. However, it could also be used with other fabrics for decoration. This method helped to smooth out curls in fabric and create a flat seam, which was not possible before.