Chapter 59: Designing Jeans

The main source of old canvas was tents, and this was during the westward movement, and although the Midwest was still empty, people were migrating from the East every day.

The West was vast, railways were not yet popular, and cars had not yet been invented. During the migration process, tents were naturally indispensable in order to avoid sleeping in the open air.

Most families in the town have an old tent, which Mary bought at a low price. There are about seventy or eighty of them, which are neatly stacked in the utility room in front of her.

And it seems that these old tents have been cleaned and are very clean.

"Well done." Ma Shao nodded.

"So, now what are you going to do with them to make trousers?" Mary asked.

"Call the tailor over here and I'll show you what to do."

After a while, several white women were called over, bringing with them some simple sewing and scissor tools.

Ma Shao suddenly fell silent.

Looking at the simple production tools in the hands of these tailors, he thought of an invention.

Sewing machine.

Strictly speaking, sewing machines did exist in this era, and they had existed for decades. However, due to their immature design, they had not yet been widely popularized, and only a small number of people had used them.

Could he perhaps improve the sewing machine as Watt had improved the steam engine?

This seemed entirely feasible. After all, mature sewing machines were not far away from the present era, and he did not need to make many improvements. Moreover, he had lived in the countryside in his previous life, so he had close contact with sewing machines and had a little experience in using them.

"Do you have a sewing machine?" Ma Shao asked.

A slightly plump white woman said: "I have one at home, but it doesn't work very well. I feel it's almost the same as hand sewing."

"When did you buy your sewing machine?"

"half year ago."

"how much did you spend?"

"About fifty dollars—my husband bought it. He must have been drunk."

Ma Shao thought for a moment and said, "If it's not damaged, I'd like to buy it for thirty dollars. How about that?"

The white woman was stunned for a moment: "Really?"

"Of course. But there's no rush now. Let's discuss the design of the canvas pants first." Ma Shao took out a drawing on which he drew the most common styles of jeans in later generations.

"You need to use old canvas to make a pair of pants like this." He pointed to the drawing and explained to the tailors.

Strictly speaking, there are some differences between the jeans in the drawing and the common styles in later generations, mainly the zipper.

——There were no zippers in this era.

Moreover, Ma Shao had no intention of inventing this thing, because he knew that with the current technological conditions, it was not difficult to invent a zipper, but it was almost impossible, or even impossible, to invent a good, durable and cheap zipper.

Zippers may look inconspicuous, but they actually have a lot of tricks.

In the original history, this technology really matured in the 20th century. Even in the 21st century, zipper technology is still developing.

For today's jeans, it's better to just use canvas and rivets, which is a mature design that has been tested by the market for a long time.

Ma Shao believed that the jeans he designed would be more popular than the first pair of jeans in history. People in the West would fall in love with it faster, and it would even become popular in the East and around the world faster.

Soon, under his guidance, the first pair of jeans was sewn.

Excluding the zipper, its style looks almost the same as that of later generations, except that the color is not the most popular blue in later generations, but brown.

"That's it, very good!" Ma Shao praised, "All the old canvas can be made into trousers according to this style."

Mary asked, "Are you going to apply for a patent?"

Ma Shao nodded: "We must apply for a patent. Believe me, this thing will definitely sell well."

"But… you're Indian." Mary spread her hands. "I'm not even sure you can walk into the patent office."

She was right. After all, Indian scalps were still being sold for a bounty. To the white man, the Indians were walking dollars.

When Indians go to white cities to apply for patents, they are simply walking into a tiger's mouth.

Even black people were not allowed to go. Although free black people would not be directly captured and scalped, it was still extremely difficult for them to apply for a patent.

The only way to do this is to find a white person to apply.

"I know." Ma Shao thought for a moment, "I plan to let Thomas apply for a patent, and then send Floyd to be his bodyguard."

As a white man of pure descent, it was naturally much easier for Thomas to apply for a patent. Even if he encountered some trouble, he could just spend a few dozen dollars to sort it out.

Floyd's move was naturally to restrain him. Although Thomas was in the hands of the whistle, he should not dare to cause trouble, but to be on the safe side, it would be safer to find two black people to accompany him.

Mary nodded: "It's the only way."

"By the way, since you're going to apply for a patent, what do you plan to name these pants?"

Ma Shao thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it 'Clark Overalls'."

He initially wanted to call it Apache Overalls, but then he thought that using this Indian name might cause trouble when applying for a patent, so he gave up.

Ma Shao then went to find Floyd Freeman, who was patrolling the town with several black policemen.

Although Floyd had strong emotions towards white people, he remained restrained and did not take the initiative to retaliate against white people under the repeated emphasis of Horse Whistle and Sheriff Tom, at least so far.

"Chief." Seeing Ma Shao, the blacks greeted him one after another. They naturally respected the man who gave them freedom and work.

Ma Shao walked up to Floyd and asked, "How is it, how does it feel to be a deputy sheriff?"

"It's good that these white people are finally learning to be humble," Floyd said.

Ma Shao smiled, then changed the subject: "I have a task for you. In a few days I plan to send Mayor Thomas to the city to apply for a patent...but you know, I don't trust white people."

"So, I need you to bring a black man with you to monitor and protect Thomas until you return to Clark Town with the patent letter. Can you do it?"

"Of course," Floyd replied.

The two men then talked for a while, and Floyd said: "Chief, to be honest, I don't really understand why you are so kind to white people. Logically, you should hate them more than we do."

"Indeed." Ma Shao nodded, "But this is my way of revenge. I believe you will see its effect. For anyone, it is far more meaningful than massacre and looting."

"You must remember what Tom and I said." He finally reminded him, "You are a policeman now. Punish criminals and protect law-abiding people."

It was evening when we left Floyd.

Ma Shao went to the white woman's house and bought the second-hand sewing machine for thirty dollars.

Then he stayed in the room alone, studying this antique sewing machine.