1950s Morse Rainbow Discs

1950s Morse Rainbow Discs

I believe these are for a Morse Fotomatic Sewing Machine. It appears they are for different stitch patterns. I'm hoping Kera can tell us more?

***NEW INFORMATION ADDED***

This information was provided by a Morse sewing machine collector.

The Morse sewing machine Company of New York was set-up by a husband and wife team near the end of the Allied Occupation of Japan. Their business model was exceptional in that these two were the first to realize there was a potential for Japanese manufactured sewing machines. Although the earliest Japanese made machines were not up to standards, by 1950 there were signs of vast improvements.

In 1952 Morse began negotiations and by 1953 the first "Morse" labelled machines reached the U.S. market. Those were simple machines. Not sure who helped who... but somebody (either at Morse or in Japan) must have acquired a 1952 Elna Supermatic - the first cam drive machine - and by 1954 the first Morse labelled machine with cams was offered to the public. I say "labelled" because at that moment in time nearly anyone could have a machine made with the name of their company on it.Morse had dealt originally with Toyota and continued that relationship for years.

The "rainbow cams" as Morse called them would be available in three different machine models, and each set were different. The common denominator was the bright colors. The "Fotomatic" model would end up as the flagship model for Morse and many different versions were made, but the first one - didn't have any cams - and outsold the fancier "Duomatic" model. The Duomatic became a very short-lived marquee. The Morse Duomatic was available in the US as early as 1955 (perhaps 1954) and it just didn't sell well. The machines were crazy heavy at forty plus pounds.

*Not that you need to know any of this, but it's kind of interesting. That Elna Supermatic first introduced to the world in a trade show in Europe in 1952 might as well have been a spaceship. No one had ever imagined such a machine. Light weight cast aluminum, internal mounted motor, convertible free-arm, portable - with zigzag and decorative stitch cams. It came out of nowhere. All the "big" sewing machine companies were still working out zigzag machines (except for Necchi - who had been gaining huge market shares). The interchangeable decorative stitch discs were jaw-dropping. All the big name sewing machine companies were made to look antique - and they all ran back to their research and development teams with a Supermatic in hand to take apart and reverse engineer. The race was on.

Morse and Toyota edged out Necchi by months. The Duomatic would have the rainbow cams and the 1955 Necchi Supernova would have a way-over-the-top multi-cam system that surpassed the Elna. Singer dragged their feet and finally introduced the 401 model in 1957, and would never recover their market dominance.