Patent no. 1433. Filing year 1872. "Improvements in Sewing
Machines," C. Raymond. For most of our history, the close
relationship between Canada and the United States has been
conducive to the flow of people and ideas across the border.
Scottish immigrant Alexander Graham Bell, for example, divided
his working life between Canada and the U.S., while inventors
such as Thomas Leopold Willson and John J. Wright developed
their ideas south of the border before applying them here.
Charles Raymond of Guelph, Ontario, could be considered an
example of what the Canadian media has recently termed the
"reverse brain drain." Born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts,
Raymond had already invented two types of sewing machines before
legal patent disputes with the Singer Company inspired him to
relocate in 1860 to Montréal, the hub of Canada's textile
industry. He soon lost money on a sewing-machine business and,
in 1862, he and 15 tradesmen relocated to Guelph where he
established the Raymond Sewing Machine Company. Here he final