Posted 4 months ago
Ahastain
(1 item)
I was gifted this treadle and would like to get it working and locate a manual and any other info on it. It won't pick up the bobbin thread. I'll be ordering a new belt this week.
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Hi, Ahastain. :-)
It looks to me like what you have is a badged Davis underfeed, probably a Davis model M.
The body casting of your sewing machine head is a bit rounder than other Davis model M sewing machine heads I see out there, but overall, it seems to have a lot of the other tell-tale characteristics.
The "Manhattan" name on the horizontal arm isn't the name of a sewing machine company, but rather that of a badge name chosen by a retailer that contracted with an actual sewing machine maker, in this case, the Davis Sewing Machine Company.
Per needlebar dot org, Manhattan was a known badge name used not only by Davis, but National and Standard:
http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/davis/index.html#m
"Underfeed" is what Davis called their vibrating shuttle sewing machine heads, so as to differentiate them from their famous vertical feed sewing machine heads.
About Davis:
https://ismacs.net/davis/history_repeats_itself_story_of_the_davis_sewing_machine_company.html
Davis also sold their model M sewing machines to Sears who badged them as Minnesota C.
Scribd has a copy of a Minnesota C manual. In order to download the PDF, you'd have to have a Scribd account, but failing that, you can download the pages individually, and then combine them into a PDF yourself.
The latter method is a bit of a headache, because the individual pages download as WEBP files, which some conversion utilities don't like, and then you might end up having to open each WEBP file to convert it to JPG or some other friendlier format.
If you don't want to do all that, I can give you a PDF via email (I can't link a PDF in a comment here). My email address is in my profile (click on "Read more):
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/keramikos
The bobbin thread pickup problem could be a lot of things, but the commonest problem is either the needle not being inserted correctly, or not being the right size needle.
Here is a PDF of needle sizes from the International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society (ISMAC) website:
https://ismacs.net/needle_and_shank/pdfs/ismacs-needle-list.pdf
It's a lot to plow through, but it looks to me like the Davis model M took the equivalent of a Singer 1 x 2, although it's possible it took a Singer 15 x 1, depending on the age:
https://ismacs.net/needle_and_shank/pdfs/ismacs-needle-list.pdf
You might want to consider joining the Victorian Sweatshop forum, as there is a wealth of vintage sewing machine information there, and quite a bit about Davis sewing machines. In fact, I believe they have a copy of the Minnesota C manual there:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/davis-underfeed-label-search-11801439?trail=150
Oops, here's a needle cross reference chart:
https://ismacs.net/needle_and_shank/needle-cross-reference-chart-flat-shank.html
Ugh. I'm screwing up all over the place. In reading back, I see I linked teh ISMACS needle list twice, but forgot to link the Scribd Minnesota C manual.
Here's a link to the Scribd manual:
https://www.scribd.com/document/698831275/Minnesota-Davis-Model-C-Sewing-Machine-Instruction-Manual
This is great, thank you for taking the time to respond and provide all of this info. I appreciate it. I dont have an account so any help would be great.
Ahastain, You're quite welcome. :-)
As I explained in the email, I downloaded all of those individual WEBP files, converted them to JPG files, and then converted those into a single PDF file.
The page that the Scribd contributor uploaded as the second image (the very dark one with the verbiage about guarantee) looked to me like it should be the back cover, so I lightened it to make it somewhat more readable, and put it at the end of the PDF, right or wrong.
Welp, I must like doing needlessly duplicative work, because it turns out that ISMACS has a copy of what looks like essentially the same Minnesota C manual at Scribd.
It not only has the Guaranty page, it has a blank back page (plus a mysteriously dark quilting/binding page):
https://ismacs.net/sears/manuals/davis-minnesota-model-c-sewing-machine-manual.pdf
FWIW, their copy preserves the Scribd order. Dunno, I suppose that Guaranty page could be the inside cover.
I also found the copy of a Minnesota C manual at the victoriansweatshop forum that I was remembering. You can't look at it without logging in, but it looks like a photostat copy of the same manual, except without the Guaranty page or a back cover.
Here are a couple more nice tidbits. Back in 2017, a victoriansweatshop member posted a picture of a VSM that to my eye closely resembles yours (hint: in addition to the other Davis underfeed characteristics, it has the rounded body):
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/old-sterling-treadle-sewing-machine-needs-needles-9501542
The other tidbit is that a compatible needle would be a Boye #10.
Last but not necessarily least, this topic describes (and has pictures of) the tell-tale characteristics of a Davis underfeed sewing machine head (a square-cornered needle plate, an 'outside' belt pulley, a three spoke handwheel, and a stitch length mechanism on the sewing machine bed in front of the post/pillar):
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1334119162&postcount=1&forum=501752
Ahastain, Thank you so much for adding pictures of your Manhattan-badged Davis model M! :-)
I'll add them to the post I created for it on the VSS forum:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1339635209&postcount=188&forum=501752
As to the age of your machine, it's difficult to pinpoint, because of the lack of comprehensive records for Davis sewing machines.
In fact, the serial number on yours (3102423) falls into a problematic range with regard to what's on Fiddlebase dot com:
https://www.fiddlebase.com/american-machines/davis-sewing-machine-co/dating-davis/
Enrico was still working on it, but he tragically died in 2021.
Jon Helig was a Davis expert, but he also tragically died in January 2024; however, he opined on a Honeymoon-badged Davis sewing machine head that to my eye looks very much like yours:
*snip*
Davis went bankrupt in 1924 and your Honeymoon has a 1910's look to it.
*snip*
https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage-antique-machine-enthusiasts-f22/honeymoon-treadle-anyone-know-anything-about-one-t228063.html
So unless and until somebody finds verifiably dated Davis with a serial number close to yours, I guess we need to stick with what Jon Helig wrote.