WILSON, Allen Benjamin, inventor, born in Willet, New York, 18 October, 1824; died in Woodmont, Connecticut, 29 April, 1888. He was a cabinet-maker, and in 1849. while in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, invented a sewing-machine without ever having seen one before. It used a double-pointed shuttle in combination with the needle, which made a stitch at each forward and backward movement of the shuttle, instead of one at each throw of the shuttle, as in Elias Howe's machine. His first patent beat's the date of 12 November, 1850, and is the fifteenth on the patent-office record for an improved sewing-machine. This included the double-pointed shuttle and the two-motion feed-bar. In 1851 he secured a patent for the rotating hook, which was designed to supersede the shuttle, and to make the lock-stitch with greater rapidity, neatness, and economy of power. A year later he devised the four-motion feed, which was subsequently adopted in all machines. In his device the hook seizes the loop of thread in the needle when it has descended to its lowest point, opens it out, and carries it around the bobbin, so that the thread is then passed through the loop of the stitch. This is then drawn up with the thread in the needle, so that the two are looped together about half way through the cloth, forming the strongest possible seam, showing the stitching exactly even upon both sides, with no threads above the surface to wear off and allow the seam to rip. On the completion of his machine, Mr. Wilson entered into partnership with Nathaniel Wheeler, a practical manufacturer, and they began to make their machines in a small shop in Watertown. Their first machine, completed early in 1851. was sold for $125, and for a time this output was limited to eight or ten machines a week, but the demand soon increased, and they removed to Bridgeport, where they established the largest factory of its kind in the world, making 600 machines a day. In 1852 the firm was organized as the Wheeler and Wilson sewing-machine company, and Mr. Wilson withdrew from the business and settled in Waterbury, where he engaged in other enterprises.