Singer Corporation, now known as Bicoastal Corporation, is the company that brought the world the sewing machine. There are Singer sewing machines in almost every country in the world and Singer instructions in more than 50 languages. Mahatma Gandhi learned to sew a Singer and called it “one of the few useful things ever invented”. I will try to explain how Singer became one of the great American companies. Isaac Merritt Singer was born in Pittstown, New York in 1811, and ran away from his immigrant parents at age 12 to join a traveling acting troupe. He remained an actor until 1835, inventing parallel things. The first patent for a sewing machine was granted in 1790 in England, but no one had been able to find a reliable model that did not require frequent repairs. For this reason, sewing machines had never been commercially successful. In 1850 Singer invented a design and patented it. In 1851 Singer and Company was born and the Singer sewing machine was an immediate success. The machine was, however, very similar in design to that of Elias Howe who was on the verge of solving the problem of the unreliable sewing machine. He sued for patent infringement. Singer hired a young lawyer to defend him. In exchange for his services Clark became an equal partner in the firm. Singer handled the manufacturing side and Clark handled the finance side. Clark settled the lawsuit and combined the two patents creating the Singer Machine Combination. This was the first patent pool in America. Until the late 1850s, due to the price of sewing machines, the company focused on the commercial market, such as professional tailors and clothing manufacturers. But around this time Clark introduced the first customer installment payment plan. Combined with an intensive marketing campaign, this meant that the product could reach a wider market than ever before and even those with relatively low incomes could afford sewing machines. By 1855 Singer was the largest sewing company in the world. It began its expansion abroad starting from Paris, making Singer the first international company in the world. The first plant outside the United States opened in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1961, followed by distribution centers in London, England, and a plant in Brighton, England, which was the largest in the United Kingdom at the time . In 1867 international sales exceeded domestic sales for the first time.