The Singer sewing machine and lessons in disruption
The history of labour-saving inventions shows it is hard to predict the impact of the AI revolution.
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The device that bears Isaac Merritt Singer’s name was initially derided by him as devilish.
PHOTO : ST FILE
Tim Harford
Isaac Merritt Singer was an unlikely feminist. While married to Catherine for 30 years, he had 10 children with another partner (Mary Ann) and seven with a third (also called Mary). When Mary Ann found out about Mary, and confronted Isaac, he beat her senseless – whereupon she had him arrested. Another of Singer’s families was later discovered: yet another Mary, and another child, too. Eventually, he married Isabella Boyer and had six more children with her.
No surprise, then, to hear Singer’s reaction when he first encountered a prototype sewing machine: “What a devilish machine. You want to do away with the only thing that keeps women quiet: their sewing.” No surprise, that is – except that thanks to some technical improvements and smart business decisions, Singer’s name became synonymous with the devilish machine itself.