Posted 3 years ago
JanBerglund
(1 item)
Found this machine .. anyone know anything about it :-)
This guy Hilmer was a interesting guy ahead of his time.
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JanBerglund, Beautiful. :-)
It looks like a clone of a Singer model 13 with that 'crucifix' configuration of slide and needle plates that extends all the way to the front of the bed:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/13
Here's a manual for the Singer model 13 (although it's probably not a perfect fit for what you have):
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/industrial-manuals/13k-manual.pdf
Is that a Gritzner Durlach medallion badge I spy with my little eye?:
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/Gritzner.pdf
https://sewalot.com/gritzner_sewing_machines.htm
So, a machine made by Gritzner Durlach, and badged for "HILMER FAGERSTROM STRENGNAS JMPORT." (sorry about the lack of special characters).
Here is some help on dating Gritzner Durlach machines (I also seem to spy what might be a serial number starting with an "89" on the stitch regulator mechanism):
https://www.fiddlebase.com/german-machines/gritzner/dating-gritzner/
https://www.quiltingboard.com/6177317-post7.html
Would you care to share what information you've gleaned about Hilmer? So far, I have nothing. :-(
JanBerglund, I suppose I should have given you links for the Singer model 12, because while your Gritzner has a slide/needle plate configuration more like the Singer model 13, the length of the horizontal arm doesn't appear unusually elongated:
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/singer%2012%20%20singer%2013.htm
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/singer-12k-manual.pdf
As to HILMER FAGERSTRÖM STRENGNÄS JMPORT., still no joy, other than it's probably Swedish.
Well, with a slight spelling variation on "Strengnäs," (Strängnäs) there is this (translation by Google Translate):
*snip*
"Donated in 1876 by student Hilmer Fagerström" to Strängnäs educational institution.
This is probably Johan Reinhold Hilmer Fagerström born in 1860 in Strängnäs, later a manufactory trader in Strängnäs. died 1927.
The object was transferred to Strängnäs museum in 1929, later transferred to Sörmland's museum, 2017.
*snip*
https://sokisamlingar.sormlandsmuseum.se/items/show/448450
There's a picture of Johan Reinhold Hilmer Fagerström on page 286 of "Swedish Freemasons: The Great National Lodge":
https://books.google.com/books/about/Svenske_frimurare_Stora_landslogen.html?id=khs7AQAAMAAJ
Elsewhere in that museum listing, that place name is spelled as it is on the sewing machine treadle frame:
*snip*
Brass label stamp. Crescent-shaped and marked "Strengnäs Apotek". Motif with a grip holding a key and a sword, which symbolize the apostles Peter and Paul, Strängnäs city coat of arms.
*snip*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str%C3%A4ngn%C3%A4s
What fascinates me slightly is "JMPORT." Did the Swedish language use the "J" character as opposed to the "I" in the word "import" back then? Modern Swedish doesn't appear to do so.
Woow you are a real Sherlock Holmes…
Love when items have a history and story.
And yes it’s old swedish spelling with the J :-)
Also found this info now :-)
Hilmer later invested to make matches :-)
https://thoresmatches.se/tandsticksfabriker/strangnas_tandsticksfabrik.htm
JanBerglund, Thanks, but I'm actually more like Sherlock's brother Mycroft.
I'm nowhere near as smart, but I'm probably on a par with Mycroft in terms of his reluctance to leave his easychair at the Diogenes Club. };-)
For the benefit of those who don't speak Swedish (which includes me), here is the Google Translate rendering of the text at thoresmatches dot se:
Strängnäs Match Factory
The picture was taken from Kyrkberget over the rooftops towards Visholmen where the match factory was located. Visholmen was then a real islet. The picture is from the 1870s and the photographer was A. Anderzon.
Extensive exports but only active for three years! On 23 August 1873, an invitation to subscribe for a share in a match factory was announced in Strengnäs Tidning.
Here, the initiative is taken for a match factory in Strängnäs.
As a result, Strengnäs Match Factory AB was formed on October 15, 1873. The board consisted of merchant J.M. Fagerström, assistant professor Axel Uddén and pharmacist August Beckman. On December 15 of the same year, the company's application was granted to buy two acres of land along the road on Visholmen.
Production probably started January - March 1874 with 56 workers and the first year the production was 180,000 boxes to a value of 24,300. The machine equipment consisted of two veneer lathes, two frame set machines, a notch and a drying cabinet. Later loading machines were added. The production always consisted of safety matches.
Throughout the period the production lasted, they advertised for aspen wood.
During 1875, production increased considerably and it was noticed that sales for the production increased by 6,912,000 boxes to a value of SEK 86,400 carried out by 96 employees consisting of 16 men, 41 women and 34 children.
The match factory hopes for success
In 1877, production had almost doubled to 12,627.07 boxes to a value of SEK 126,270 with 86 employees, so it was possible to rationalize even at that time. The managing director in 1877 was H. Blomcreutz, foreman J.M. Möller, later C. Malmros. But something happens, despite extensive exports and high production, the board convenes an extraordinary general meeting in November 1877 for the reason that they write "printed business cycles". Immediately after the Annual General Meeting, operations cease.
Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting
Took orders
It appears from certain protocols that the factory has for some time taken over orders from Södertälje match factory through the agency company Alb. Alsing & Co. in London and Brisker & Co, Upton Park in London with the labels of these companies. The Strengnäs factory's own labels were about 15. The brand was a key
Some Strengnäs labels from Peter Pålsson's collection
The factory was sold
The factory was sold executive in 1880 to Terje Olsen for SEK 5,500. This one was sold on in 1881 to a company in Stockholm for 75,000!
What happened next!
The factory building was auctioned off by one of the board members of the match factory, August Widebäck, and the price was 5,850. The house was rebuilt and provided with roof decorations towards the city and the east side towards the water, the sides that were visible to seafarers. In 1885, the house was ready for occupancy for August and Augusta Widebäck and the five children. The family then owned the house for fifty years until 1935. In 1939, Lantmännens Centralförening bought the factory, which was then a disused ink factory. The house is today demolished.
© Thore Gustavsson, Åkersberga
Sources:
Collector's news no. 7-8 1963 (Einar Fagerström)
Strängnäs municipality
Various newspaper articles Strängnäs Tidning
They lit a fire Loewe-Jansson-Rosell
Swedish Match factories Arne Tejder
Labels from Peter Pålsson's collection
It was smart of them to build a match factory on what looks like an otherwise uninhabited island.
So, back to your badged Gritzner.
I could be wrong, but yours might be a High Arm Saxonia model H (high arm transverse shuttle machine with rectangular bed).
I can't make out all those numbers stamped into the metal surrounding the stitch regulator mechanism, but it's probably the serial number, and would be a guide in determining the age.
If i look at this the stand looks like
Family A Gritzer
https://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdocplayer.net%2Fdocs-images%2F44%2F21263897%2Fimages%2Fpage_2.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdocplayer.net%2F21263897-The-gritzner-machine-co-ltd.html&tbnid=PGijMixb-wRJBM&vet=12ahUKEwjNrvr4z6z0AhUBuSoKHWjXCkoQMygEegQIARAV..i&docid=Wsei_XQ4OgO3AM&w=960&h=1509&itg=1&q=helios%206n%20gritzner&hl=sv-se&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwjNrvr4z6z0AhUBuSoKHWjXCkoQMygEegQIARAV
More numbers appeared after a little cleaning :-)
8 9 8 6 1 2
Hmmm… looking on that dating gritzer page dont make me any wiser :-/
JanBerglund, You're right, I looked at that myself, and the treadle frame does seem quite similar.
Unfortunately, the drawing is too small to discern many details of the sewing machine head. :-(
Wikipedia has a color photograph of a portable Gritzner No. 1:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_No.1.JPG
Here are some wikimedia commons color photographs of a Gritzner mounted in a treadle cabinet like yours:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_n%C3%A4hmaschine_pic1.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_n%C3%A4hmaschine_pic2.JPG
Unfortunately, no model is given. Fabric is hiding the slide and needle plates for the most part, but I can just see a smidge of the plate that extends to the edge of the front of the bed, and the one that extends to the edge of the left side of the bed. No pin dish.
What caused me to propose that your sewing machine was a High Arm Saxonia H was the color photograph on page 4 of that document at docplayer dot net (it seems to be the same one at sewmuse dot co dot uk). Like yours, it has what I suspect is an attached pin dish, but with a cover.
The biggest difference seems to be that the head in the photograph is mounted in a portable base.
The author of that document might also offer you an opinion on what exactly you have:
lindave "at" sewmuse.co.uk
Will try that :-)
Really look much like this machine but mine in super condition.
Cant see the part that i dont know what it is. A needle box maybe. Otherwise very similar
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_nähmaschine_pic2.JPG
Have eritten the german museum where this pic was taken.
Worth a try :-D
Absolutely worth a try. :-)
One more tidbit: I found a catawiki listing for treadle-mounted Gritzer that has beaucoup pictures.
It's a different sewing machine head model (a Palma, which is a central bobbin machine), and the treadle cabinet is also a bit different in that the tabletop has some curves, and there are two drawers instead of one, but the marquetry is the same:
https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/13995431-antique-gritzner-sewing-machine-model-palma
JanBerglund, Sorry, I've been multi-tasking, and missed a couple of important tidbits:
One is the revealed-upon-cleaning serial number on yours: 898612.
If that's the whole number, and assuming (yeah, I know about assume) that all Gritzners were numbered sequentially regardless of model, then yours would fit into this range, and probably closer to the lower serial number/year (I've edited the period marks out of the serial numbers found at fiddlebase dot, because I think they tend to confuse people):
*snip*
# 814000 ************************************* 1900
# 1010000 ************************************* 1902
*snip*
https://www.fiddlebase.com/german-machines/gritzner/dating-gritzner/
The other tidbit is that the wikimedia commons link in one of your previous comments didn't work. However, when I pasted it into Notepad, and then repasted it into a browser window, it worked, and looks like one of the ones I linked earlier. I'll try it again here:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_nähmaschine_pic2.JPG
Yes, the woodwork in that treadle cabinet is remarkably like yours, however, that little circular thing on what looks like a pivot point near the front right hand corner of the sewing machine bed is indeed missing. I call it a pin dish, perhaps just because I have a pin dish fetish. };-)
Then again, whoever is/was the owner of the VS2 serial number 871522 (at fiddlebase dot com) seems to have used it as a pin dish, regardless of its original purpose (cross your fingers that this ugly URL works):
https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=508x1024:format=jpg/path/s51e998845fd4a378/image/i4dd7acf087256963/version/1604061473/image.jpg
Whatever it is, you don't see it on the travese shuttle machine serial number 742067, but you do on the vibrating shuttle machines serial numbers 854880, and 871522 (at fiddlebase dot com).
Perhaps it was an optional accessory, and that's why its appearance is a bit spotty.
I hope the museum responds, and sheds some light on all of this.
See, that really ugly link worked; however, that one of yours that I tried to resubmit worked before I submitted the comment, but not afterwards.
We'll have to stick with the one I provided earlier:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gritzner_n%C3%A4hmaschine_pic2.JPG
Yes, the same woodwork.
A few more links, and then I'll try to stop tormenting you about that little mystery accessory. These are etsy dot com links, and as such, they aren't necessarily persistent links, so if they interest you, you should perhaps save offline copies:
Here is a Gritzner R vibrating shuttle (serial number 1704238) with that mystery accessory stuffed with some unknown substance and upholstered with red material:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/999816131/gritzner-durlach-antique-sewing-machine
Here another Gritzner vibrating shuttle (it looks like maybe serial number 5155551) with the mystery accessory upholstered in brown:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/787996461/antique-1924s-sewing
Here's a Gritzner transverse shuttle (serial number 277172) with the accessory upholstered in red, and studded with needles and pins:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1094376046/vintage-gritzner-sewing
My bad. I kept calling it a pin dish, when what I should have called it was a pin cushion. };-)
Seems to be a No.1 Gritzner from 2 independent sources :-)
this long-shuttle sewing machine seems to be a Gritzner Nr 1, it can be placed in the production period from about 1898. Long-ship sewing machines were produced at Gritzner as early as 1872, initially according to the Singer model with a violin-shaped base (flat bed), which was replaced at Gritzner by the rectangular shape around 1900.
From
http://www.naehmaschinenverzeichnis.de
And
Technik Museum Sinsheim
So this one :-)
https://www.fiddlebase.com/german-machines/gritzner/725-928/
Thank you Mycroft :-D for the aid in this mystery
JanBerglund, Cool. :-)
Yes, that naehmaschinenverzeichnis dot de website is an excellent resource, although I'm a bit disappointed to see no examples of the Gritzner Saxonia machines there:
https://www.naehmaschinenverzeichnis.de/verzeichnis-der-naehmaschinen/gritzner/
That Gritzner Nr 1 certainly looks like yours.
The F. H. BRINKMAN KINDERDIJK badged Gritzner at fiddlebase dot com also looks very similar, although the site owner/operator characterized it as a TS (transverse shuttle) 48, which is a Frister Rossman model. Of course, Gritzner took over Frister Rossman in 1925, but this machine's serial number, if it's a Gritzner serial number, would predate that:
https://www.fiddlebase.com/german-machines/gritzner/725-928/
Here's another F. H. Brinkman Kinderdijk characterized as being of circa 1900 vintage (I can't make out the serial number on it):
https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/10810113-beautiful-antique-brinkman-sewing-machine-netherlands-around-1900
I'm afraid I'm still a bit stuck on those two Gritzner/suspected Gritzner machines at sewmuse dot co dot uk (here's an HTM version):
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/german%20sewing%20machines%202.htm
The one that's definitely a Gritzner is the hand-crank Gritzner Saxonia No. 6 H II Serial No. 1819892:
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/gritzner%20saxonia%20tag.jpg
The one that's a suspected Gritzner is the badged Collier No. 3: Serial No. 2164481:
http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/collier%20no3%20tag.jpg
Of the two, I tend to lean towards the badged Collier, because of the three bars protruding from the top of the machine head on the left hand side, specifically because the center one is so much taller than its companions.
Then again, here is a Gritzner characterized as a:
*snip*
Gritzner Durlach Sewing Machine Model Saxion [sic] No. 6 H II Serial No. 474235
*snip*
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-gritzner-sewing-machine-model-487872788
The center bar is much taller than its companions.
Before my crazed cat brain goes chasing any other ping pong balls, here is the Singer transverse shuttle 48:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/48
http://needlebar.org/nbwiki/index.php/Singer_48K_Instruction_Manual
Well, I have to get going on real world chores again (no rest for the wicked), but you might want to ask the owner/operator of sewmuse dot co dot uk whether they ever digitized that whole cirac 1903 hard copy Gritzner catalog that they have, and if they'd give you a copy.
JanBerglund, I may have found the answer to the perplexing question (OK, perhaps it was just a perplexing question for me) of whether your machine is a Gritzner Nr 1 or a Gritzner Saxonia H:
http://needlebar.org/main/saxonia/gritzner/index.html
*snip*
The 'Saxonia'- type handcrank machine has several defining characteristics. It is very small (i.e. 1/2 or Featherweight-sized), it has a crank handle fixed to a large, direct-drive balance wheel, the lower part of which is below the level of the bed of the machine.
The wooden bases of these machines have a cut-out to accommodate this large wheel. This kind of machine was made by many makers over a very long period of time, and there are both fiddle- and rectangular-based versions.
*snip*
http://needlebar.org/main/saxonia/index.html
It makes perfect sense to me that a portable, hand-crank machine might not be a traditional, full-size one, because cast iron sewing machine heads are not light.
David Best of sewmuse dot co dot uk might be able to confirm, because he actually has one, and could measure it.
I know I told you that I was going to try to stop tormenting you about that previously mysterious accessory, but here is one more link. Some of the vintage sewing machine enthusiasts/experts at the victoriansweatshop forum have restored their Gritzner pin cushions:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/gritzner-attachments-11622167
JanBerglund, A couple of last thoughts on this Gritzner puzzle.
I've probably become too accustomed to vintage Singer sewing machines, most of which can be customized for use as either treadle or hand-crank operation.
The same isn't necessarily true of vintage Gritzners. Perhaps the hand-crank mechanisms on the Saxonias are an integral part of them, and I was slow to recognize that possibility.
Oh well.
Happy Thanksgiving from a Yankee. :-)