(1811-1875) US inventor of domestic and industrial sewing machines. Within a few years of opening his first factory 1851, he became the world's largest sewing-machine manufacturer (despite infringing the patent of Elias Howe), and by the late 1860s more than 100,000 Singer sewing machines were in use in the US alone.
To make his machines available to the widest market, Singer became the first manufacturer to offer attractive installment credit terms.
Singer was born in Pittstown, New York, and became a machinist. During his early working life he patented a rock-drilling machine and later a metal- and wood-carving one. One day he was asked to carry out some repairs to a Lerow and Blodgett sewing machine. Singer decided he could add many improvements to the design. Eleven days later he produced a new model, which he patented.
Singer used the best of Howe's design and altered some of the other features. The basic mechanism was the same: as the handle turned, the needle paused at a certain point in its stroke so that the shuttle could pass through the loop formed in the cotton. When the needle continued, the threads were tightened, forming a secure stitch.

(1904-1991) Polish-born US novelist and short-story writer. He lived in the US from 1935. His works, written in Yiddish, often portray traditional Jewish life in Poland and the US, and the loneliness of old age. They include The Family Moskat 1950 and Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories 1957. Nobel Prize 1978.
Written in an often magical storytelling style, his works combine a deep psychological insight with dramatic and visual impact. Many of his novels were written for serialization in New York Yiddish newspapers. Among his works are The Slave 1960, Shosha 1978, Old Love 1979, Lost in America 1981, The Image and Other Stories 1985, and The Death of Methuselah 1988. He also wrote plays and books for children.
He fled Nazi-dominated Europe and became a US citizen 1942.

A person who sings; SYN. vocalist.