In a way -- Elias Howe was already working on perfecting the sewing machine when he fell asleep one night and his mind continued working on the problem: he found his answer in a dream. Howe dreamed he was about to be speared by primitive tribesmen. In the dream, the spears all had holes through them at their pointed ends. When he woke up, Howe realized that the spears provided his answer: create the machine so that the needle would have a hole at its tip and not in the middle or at the base.