With the loss of his health his hopes revived, and he determined to seek in England the victory which he had failed to win here.  Unable to go himself, he sent his machine by his brother Amasa, in October, 1846.  Upon reaching London, Amasa sought out Mr. William Thomas, of Cheapside, and explained to him his brother’s invention.  He found Mr. Thomas willing to use the machine in his business, but upon terms more favorable to himself than to the inventor.  He offered the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars for the machine which Amasa Howe had brought with him, and agreed to pay Elias fifteen dollars per week if he would enter his service, and adapt the machine to his business of umbrella and corset making.  As this was his only hope of earning a livelihood, Elias accepted the offer, and, upon his brother’s return to the United States, sailed for England.  He remained in Mr. Thomas’s employ for about eight months, and at the end of that time left him, having found him hard, exacting, and unreasonable.

Meanwhile his sick wife and three children had joined him in London, and he had found it hard to provide for them on the wages given him by Mr. Thomas; but after being thrown out of employment his condition was desperate indeed.  He was in a strange country, without friends or money, and often he and his little family went whole days without food.  Their sufferings were very great, but at length Howe was able (probably by assistance from home) to send his family back to his father’s house.  He himself remained in London, still hoping to bring his machine into use.  It was in vain, however, and so, collecting what few household goods he had acquired in England, he shipped them to America, and followed them thither himself in another vessel, pawning his model and patent papers to pay his passage.  When he landed in New York he had half a crown in his pocket, and there came to him on the same day a letter telling him that his wife was dying with consumption in Cambridge.  He could not go to her at once, as he had no money, and was too feeble to undertake the distance on foot.  He was compelled to wait several days until he could obtain the money for his fare to Cambridge, but at length succeeded in reaching that place just in time to see his wife die.  In the midst of his grief he received the announcement that the vessel containing the few household goods which he had shipped from England had been lost at sea.  It seemed to him that Fate was bent upon destroying him, so rapid and stunning were the blows she dealt him.

But a great success was now in store for him, and he was to rise out of his troubles to the realization of his brightest hopes.  Soon after his return home he obtained profitable employment, and, better still, discovered that his machine had become famous during his absence.  Facsimiles of it had been constructed by unscrupulous mechanics, who paid no attention to the patents of the^inventor, and these copies had been exhibited in many places as “wonders,”