American Inventor Elias Howe

Elias Howe worked tirelessly on a design for the modern sewing machine. Although he was not the first to conceive of the idea that sewing could and should be done by machine, he was the first in the US to obtain a patent for a machine performing a lockstitch which uses two threads and one needle...the beginning of sewing machines as we know them today.
These three factors were unique to his design:

• a needle with the eye at the point,
• a shuttle operating beneath the cloth to form the lock stitch, and
• an automatic feed.

So here's to Elias Howe, a real American Treasure from Massachusetts who invented a world-changing device. 

Funny Friday

Here are some automobile related Friday funnies:

comic courtesy of funfluster.com

Today's Treasure: The Concertina

Today's treasure is a hand-held instrument. Similar in function to the accordion, the concertina is a free-reed instrument with bellows to produce sound. the horns on this German style concertina amplify the sound.

Young American Hero: Mary Jane Dilworth

Mary Jane Dilworth was among a group of pioneers travelling west through the un-searched United States in the early 1800's There were many children in the caravan of wagons headed west, and they proved difficult to wrangle. Mary Jane decided to organize a school like atmosphere for the youngsters. She was so successful at keeping their attention that she was asked by Joseph Smith to open a schoolhouse when the group arrived at their destination. At the age of 16, Mary Jane Dilworth opened the first school in Utah. The year was 1847.

Fist Pump Friday

Today's Treasure: Airplanes in the Rafters

Americna Treasure: Frederick Douglass

Great American Orator Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot county Maryland circa 1818. After a handful of unsuccessful attempts to escape from slavery, Douglass succeeded on Sept. 3, 1838. He had met and fallen in love with a free African American woman in Baltimore who helped him get identification and a sailor's uniform. He boarded a train for Havre De Grace, MD. as a free sailor, and continued on to a safe house in New York run by David Ruggles

Douglass married the woman who aided his escape, and they participated in the abolitionist movement together. Douglass spoke at meeting halls across the Eastern and Mid-west states. His speeches were powerful, and he was frequently accosted by those who were opposed to his passion for freedom.

The achievements of this man are too many to number, he joined the fight for women's suffrage as well. He wrote autobiographies about his life in slavery and subsequent escape. He became the most famous black man in America before the civil war and conferred with Presidents Lincoln and Johnson on the topic of African American suffrage.

Later in life, Douglass was appointed United States Marshall. At the 1888 Republican National Convention, Douglass became the first African American to receive a vote for President of the United States in a major party's roll call vote

What an amazing American!