On December 7, 1844, the same year that Rodgers secured his American patent, John Fisher and James Gibbons were granted British patent 10,424 for "certain improvements in the manufacture of figured or ornamental lace, or net, or other fabrics." From this superficial description of its work, the device might seem to be just another tambouring machine. It was not. Designed specifically for ornamental stitching, the machine made a two-thread stitch using an eye-pointed needle and a shuttle.[31] Several sets of needles and shuttles worked simultaneously. The needles were secured to a needlebar placed beneath the fabric. The shuttles were pointed at both ends to pass through each succeeding new loop formed by the needles. Each shuttle was activated by two vibrating arms worked by cams. Each needle was curved in the form of a bow, and in addition to the eye at the point each also had a second eye at the bottom of the curve. The shape of the needle together with the position of the eyes permitted the pointed shuttle, carrying the second thread, to pass freely through the loop in the ascending needle thread. The fabric was carried by a pair of cloth rollers, capable of sliding in a horizontal plane in both a lateral and a lengthwise direction. These combined movements were sufficient to enable the operator to produce almost every embroidered design. The ornamenting, which might be a yarn, cord, or gimp, was carried by the shuttle thread. There was no tension on the shuttle thread, which was held in place by the thread from the needle. The stitch produced was a form of couching.[32] It was in no sense a lockstitch. Fisher, who was the inventor, readily admitted at a later date that he had not had the slightest idea of producing a sewing machine, in the utilitarian meaning of the term. Although it has not been established that this machine was ever put into practical operation, Fisher's invention was to have a far-reaching effect on the development of the sewing machine in England. FOOTNOTES: [1] CHARLES M. KARCH, _Needles: Historical and Descriptive_ (12 Census U.S., vol. X, 1902), pp. 429-432. [2] FLORENCE LEWIS MAY, _Hispanic Lace and Lace Making_ (New York, 1939), pp. 267-271. [3] Diderot's _L'Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ..._, vol. II (1763), Plates Brodeur, plate II. [4] The term "crochet," as used today, became the modern counterpart of the Spanish _punto de aguja_ about the second quarter of the 19th century. [5] _Sewing Machine News_ (1880), vol. 1, no. 7, p. 2. [6] This model of Saint's machine was bequeathed by Mr. Wilson to the South Kensington Museum, London, England. [7] _Sewing Machine News_ (1880), vol. 1, no. 8, p. 2. [8] Ibid.