The Sewing Bird: A Spring-Beaked Clamp as a Third Hand

Hand-sewing a long hem needs the cloth held taut, and two hands are not enough to hold it and sew. Charles Waterman of Meriden, Connecticut, received design patent D546, dated 15 February 1853, for "the instrument known as the 'Sewing bird'": a table clamp topped by "a bird on the wing bearing a burden upon its back". The burden is "in fact the emery ball" for cleaning needles. A spring in the tail holds the beak shut on the cloth. This rung works out how hard a spring beak must grip to hold cloth under a sewing pull, then makes a spring-jaw sewing clamp and measures its hold.