This unofficial Google Doodle commemorates Elias Howe (1819-1867) an American Inventor and the first to patent the lockstitch sewing machine in the US. In 1851, he patent a “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure” or the zipper, but never pursued the idea further. Howe won a court case that lasted from 1849 to 1854 with Isaac Singer of Singer Sewing Machines over patent infringement.