Posted 2 years ago
JoleeynE21
(1 item)
This used to be my grand mothers and Lately I’ve Been teaching my daughter things here and there and this was something she wants to learn.
Can anyone help me find a manual? I have no clue how to use it and really don’t want to damage anything in the process
Hi, JoleeynE21. :-)
Wow, you are triply lucky. Not only do you have your grandmother's sewing machine, and your daughter is interested in using it, the machine in question is the iconic Singer model 66 with the Lotus decal set. The Singer 66 is a model well-loved by vintage sewing machine enthusiasts, as is the Lotus decal set.
Wait a minute, you're quadruply lucky, because Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine has you covered with a soft copy of a manual for a Singer model 66-1 (which is the specific submodel you have):
https://archive.org/details/Singer661Manual
Now that we have that out of the way, more about your grandmother's machine.
Serial number F8303030 was one of a block of 25,000 consecutive serial numbers ([F]8299800 through [F]8324799) that was allotted by the central office to Singer's Clydebank factory January/June 1918:
F- 8299800 8324799 66K 25000 January/June 1918 Clydebank, Scotland
F- 8570800 8620799 66K 50000 July/December 1918 Clydebank, Scotland
F- 8816345 8851344 66K 35000 January/June 1919 Clydebank, Scotland
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-f-series-serial-numbers.html
The reason I excerpted two more lines of information from the serial number table is because WWI was still ongoing until November 1918.
Singer, like many companies supported the war effort, so they fell behind on production of domestic consumer goods. It's possible that your grandmother's sewing machine didn't roll off of the line until 1919.
Sewing machine expert Alex Askaroff knows of a verifiable case involving a domestic Singer sewing machine head with a serial number allotted in 1939 that didn't get sold new to a customer until 1946!:
https://sewalot.com/dating_singer_sewing_machine_by_serial_number.htm
Anyway, the minute I laid eyes on your grandmother's sewing machine, I knew it was a Singer model 66, because while Singer had many different decal sets, there were two famous ones that were applied only to model 66 machines.
One was the famous Red Eye, which was only applied to model 66 machines in the USA. The the other was the famous Lotus, which was mostly applied to model 66 machines in the UK.
The Lotus:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/decals/decal09
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/decals/domestics/domesticpics/66lotusdscf0136.jpg
Your grandmother's sewing machine cabinet:
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/cabinet_table_no_1.html
About the model 66:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/66
In case you were wondering what separates the 66-1 from other submodels, it has a back-clamping presser foot:
https://oldsingersewingmachineblog.com/2012/11/04/the-back-clamp-singer-66-mystery/
About the Kilbowie/Clydebank Singer factory:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/kilbowie
A Google Satellite view of the area that once hosted the Kilbowie Singer plant (there is still a railway station called "Singer" on the northeast corner):
Singer
Kilbowie Rd, Clydebank G81 2JN, United Kingdom
https://goo.gl/maps/ckxa4RrU85UBHXHs9
August 1934 aerial photographs of Singer's Kilbowie (Clydebank, Scotland) factory:
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1257700
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1257701
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1257702
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1257703
https://canmore.org.uk/collection/1257704
A circa 1934 documentary made at Singer's Kilbowie (Clydebank, Glasgow, Scotland) factory:
https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1592
In case I'm forgetting anything, here is my collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-help-for-vintage-sewing-machines
However, it's a lot to sift through, so if you have any more questions, you can just ask them here in a comment on your post. If I don't know the answers, I'll go back out into the wilds of the Internet, and try to find them. :-)
You’re amazing thank you.!!
If you don’t Monte in a day or two when I get the chance to take pictures of mine that was converted to an electrical? I can’t wait to read all of this I’m so excited
JoleeynE21, You're quite welcome. :-)
I'm not actually amazing; I'm just an old Internet surfer. The people who are amazing are those behind the various websites I've linked.
A couple of things I neglected to mention or make clear earlier:
In the lines of the serial number tables I excepted, you'll see "66K." That's the model number. The "K" suffix just means that it was made at the Kilbowie factory.
I normally excerpt two lines from a pertinent serial number table to give people a rough idea of when their machine might have rolled off of the assembly line. It's usually safe to say that it's some time between the allotment date of the particular block to which the serial number on their machine belongs, and the allotment date of the next block destined for that same model.
In truth, nobody knows exactly when most Singer sewing machine heads rolled off of the assembly line, and WWI and WWII threw a wrench into many plans, to say the very least.
Singer made made many different models, but the model 66 was very popular. Of the over ninety-six million sewing machine heads for which Singer had surviving records, over 8.6 million were model 66 machines.
Here are some more Singer tidbits:
https://sites.google.com/a/housatonicits.com/home/research/singer-corporation
Please do post your converted machine. We love old things here at Collectors Weekly Show & Tell. Maybe that's because so many of us are old things ourselves. };-)
Hi again, JoleeynE21. :-)
It latterly occurred to me that you might need some more help resources.
Vintage sewing machines with cast iron heads are incredibly tough, and sometimes all they might need is a little lubrication now and again.
However, there is one part on a treadle sewing machine that typically does need replacing, and that's the leather belt.
Fortunately, replacements are readily available:
https://www.vintagesingerparts.com/products/treadle-sewing-machine-leather-belt-3-16-x-72-part-p60013
https://singer-featherweight.com/products/belt-treadle-leather-for-antique-singer-machines
Even Amazon has them, although I don't know about the quality:
https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Treadle-Household-Machines-Accessory/dp/B07145Y2PC
Also, there is advice on fitting a replacement belt:
https://www.quiltingroomwithmel.com/2017/03/replacing-treadle-sewing-machine-belts.html
https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/blog/how-to-replace-a-treadle-belt/
Here is an adjuster's manual should you need one:
https://archive.org/details/singer-66-service-manual-en
Here is a parts list for the Singer model 66-1:
https://www.universalsewing.com/images2/parts_lists/all/8hpl9dde.pdf
A good resource for parts:
https://oldsingershop.com/collections/singer-66-sewing-machine-parts
Last but not least, here is some advice from somebody who serviced and cleaned their vintage Singer model 66. Theirs is a Red Eye with a side-clamping presser foot, but it is otherwise very like yours:
https://mysewingmachineobsession.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-service-and-clean-singer-66-or.html