[Illustration: Figure 47.--THE SQUIRREL MACHINE was another interesting design patent. S. B. Ellithorp had received a mechanical patent for a two-thread, stationary-bobbin machine on August 26, 1857. That same month he published a picture of his machine, shown here as republished in the _Sewing Machine News_, vol. 7, no. 11, November 1885. The machine was designed in the shape of "the ordinary gray squirrel so common throughout this country--an animal that is selected as a type of provident care and forethought, for its habits of frugality and for making provision for seasons of scarcity and want in times of plenty--and the different parts of the animal are each put to a useful purpose; the moving power being placed within its body, the needle stock through its head, one of its fore feet serving to guide the thread, and the other to hold down the cloth while being sewed, and the tip of its tail forming a support to the spool from which the thread is supplied."
Although the design patent was not secured until June 7, 1859, the inventor was reported to have been perfecting his machine for manufacture in 1857. Ellithorp planned "to place them in market at a price that will permit families and individuals that have heretofore been deterred from purchasing a machine by the excessive and exorbitant price charged for those now in use, to possess one." Patent rights were sold under the name of Ellithorp & Fox, but the machine was never manufactured on a large scale, if at all. No squirrel machines are known to have survived. (Smithsonian photo 53112.)]
[Illustration: Figure 48.--HEYER'S POCKET SEWING MACHINE patent model, November 17, 1863. This patent model is one piece, and measures about two inches in height and two inches in length. It will stitch--but only coarse, loosely woven fabrics. As can be expected, a great deal of manual dexterity is required to compensate for the omission of mechanical parts. Heyer advertised patent rights for sale, but evidence of manufactured machines of this type has yet to be discovered. (Smithsonian photo 18115-D[a].)]
[Illustration: Figure 49.--HEYER'S MACHINE as illustrated in _Scientific American_, July 30, 1864. The smallest and most original of all the attempts to simplify machine sewing, Heyer's machine, which made a chainstitch, was constructed of a single strip of metal. The _Scientific American_ stated: "It is simply a steel spring ingeniously bent and arranged and it is said to sew small articles very well. The whole affair can easily be carried in the coat pocket."