Shoppers at the Grover & Banker Sewing Machine Company store in New York City. Patented in the 1840s, sewing machines were mass produced in the 1850s. Grover and Baker belonged to the Sewing Machine Combination, formed in 1856, consisting of Singer, Howe, Wheeler & Wilson, who combined their patents and licensed them to other manufacturers for $15 per sewing machine.
Credit: Everett Collection
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