The name and patent date were painted on the end of the machine. This was true of many other machines of this period, which is why so many go unidentified once the paint has become worn. Several thousand Taggart & Farr machines were manufactured, but the company is believed to have had a short life, for it was among those that had disappeared by 1881. [Illustration: Figure 125.--TAGGART & FARR sewing machine, end view. (Smithsonian photo 48216-M.)] [Illustration: Figure 126.--WATSON SEWING MACHINE, 1856, illustrated in Scientific American, December 13, 1856. The earliest Watson machines were two-thread lockstitch machines, as described in the _Scientific American_, August 10, 1850. Although the magazine reported that the inventor had applied for a patent, the earliest lockstitch patent issued to William C. Watson was on March 11, 1856. A few of his machines were made in 1850, the article continued, "several of these machines are nearly finished ... persons desirous of seeing them can be gratified by calling upon Messrs. Jones & Lee." A Watson machine was exhibited by Jones & Lee at the Sixth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association held in Boston in September 1850. In 1853 a Watson machine was exhibited at the New York Industry of All Nations Exhibition, but this was a single-looping machine; Watson received a patent for this single-thread machine on November 25, 1856. In the December 13, 1856, issue of _Scientific American_ a machine called Watson's "Family" sewing machine was illustrated and described. It was a small machine (only 8 by 5 inches) manufactured by Watson & Wooster and selling for $10. References to the Watson single-thread machine occur as late as 1860, but no examples are known to have survived. (Smithsonian photo 48221-B.)] [Illustration: Figure 127.--WEST & WILLSON SEWING MACHINE of about 1859. The West & Willson machine, manufactured under the patent of H. B. West and H. F. Willson, enjoyed a very brief span of popularity. The patent covered the peculiar method of operating a spring-looper in combination with an eye-pointed needle to form a single chainstitch, but whether machines of this single-thread variety were manufactured is unknown. The machine illustrated here is a two-thread machine of basically the same description. It stitches from left to right and bears serial number 1544 and the inscription "West & Willson Co. patented June 29, 1858." (Smithsonian photo 49456-A.)] [Illustration: Figure 128.--WHEELER & WILSON SEWING MACHINE of about 1872. Serial number 670974. (Smithsonian photo P63149-A.)] [Illustration: Figure 129.--WHEELER AND WILSON NO. 8 sewing machine of about 1876. (Smithsonian photo 17663-C.)] [Illustration: Figures 128 and 129.--Wheeler and Wilson sewing machines. The Wheeler and Wilson company was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1850s and the 1860s.