Rotary hook

Rotary hooks and oscillating shuttles are the two most common bobbin drivers in use today.

The excess thread, no longer needed, is then pulled back upward by the sewing machine's take-up arm.

Ever since developing the vibrating shuttle, Wilson had been ruminating on a plan for a machine that used a rotating hook combined with a traditional reciprocating bobbin.

He filed for patent, and the partners built their first production rotary hook machine the same year, selling it for US$35 (US$891 adjusted).

[2] Just two years later, in 1853, Scientific American took notice: * Mr. Howe is mentioned due to the patent thicket that threatened to put the smaller sewing machine companies out of business.