Posted 15 days ago
Glenbourgh
(1 item)
Looks like a New Home. Has anyone any information? Feb 1892 patent date....I've looked every where but my background is more tools and such. Could it have been made by New Home and be just a model name? I also saw there might be forgeries. The base is total the same as New Home and so is the tension adjustment, bobbins winders and all.Any guidance appreciated!
Hi, Glenbourgh. :-)
Cool vintage sewing machine.
It sounds like you've already done some research on this.
When you wrote this:
"Could it have been made by New Home and be just a model name?"
I'm 'assuming' (yeah, I know) that you're making reference to the stenciled information on the horizontal arm.
I can't quite read it, not only because the stencil is rather worn, but because of the angle of your picture.
It could be a badged New Home. If you're not familiar with the term "badged":
Simply put, a badged sewing machine is one that has a name prominently displayed on it that isn't necessarily the name of any actual manufacturer of sewing machines, but rather something chosen by a retail end seller who contracted with a manufacturer. A badge name doesn't necessarily reflect the name of the end seller, either. Sometimes the end seller would simply coin a name that they thought would appeal to consumers.
Probably the badge name known to most people is Kenmore. Over the years, Sears sold a huge number of appliances badged as "Kenmore," which were manufactured by a wide variety of makers.
Here is an archive copy of the needlebar dot org page of New Home badge names:
https://web.archive.org/web/20231113132229/http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/newhome/index.html
Here is also an archive copy of the needlebar dot com page of New Home models (unfortunately, there was some corruption at needlebar, and pictures were lost, but the descriptions on some models are fairly detailed):
https://web.archive.org/web/20151210170132/http://www.needlebar.org/nbwiki/index.php/New_Home_Sewing_Machine_Company
Here are a few New Home models at ISMACS:
https://ismacs.net/newhome/new-home-sewing-machine-models.html
Here is some New Home dating help at fiddlebase dot com:
https://www.fiddlebase.com/american-machines/new-home-sewing-machine-company/dating-new-home/
Hi again, Glenbourgh. :-)
I ran out of time earlier, but later I did some more noodling around the Net.
What you might have is not a New Home, but rather a National Seamstress (scroll down):
https://web.archive.org/web/20240308010935/http://www.needlebar.org/main/national/index1.html
Pictures of the Texas Advocate (a badge name) National Seamstress (the actual maker and model names):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170212005147/http://www.needlebar.org/main/national/vs/vs23/index.html
Some more supporting information from a Victorian Sweatshop topic about a member's mystery VSM which many originally thought was a New Home, but finally ID'd as a National Seamstress:
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/cannot-locate-this-model-online-12775488
What kind of clinches it for me is that patent date (Feb 18, 1892) engraved on the front slide plate.
I suspect that if you look underneath the front slide plate you'll see a serial number (see the fourth picture on this Help post):
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/301606-vintage-sewing-machine-serial-number-loc
Oops, I forgot to give you a link for an archive copy of the needlebar dot org page for National badge names:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220830042604/http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/national/index.html
Again! :-)
Just thought I'd give you a link to a soft copy for the National Regal Paveway instruction manual, mainly for the threading information, because it also has top leaf tension:
https://ismacs.net/national/manuals/national-regal-paveway-electric-sewing-machine-manual.pdf
Hat tip to user alwen of the victoriansweatshop forum for these archive dot org copies of old T. Eaton Co. catalogs that show the Seamstress:
The first is described as a 1884 publication; however, if you scrutinize the cover page, it looks to me like 1894:
https://archive.org/details/eatonscatalogue41teat/page/n242/mode/1up
The second is from 1904:
https://archive.org/details/eatons190400eatouoft/page/n215/mode/1up
So, given the patent date on the front slide plate, the National Seamstress was probably available at least from 1892 through 1904.
As to the name stenciled on the horizontal arm, you have the advantage of me there, because you can examine it in person. I've used a photo editor on the picture you've posted, but I'm afraid I can't get "Practical Farmer" out of what I see.
You could try examining the worn stencil with a black light (they're widely available at harware stores, and aren't expensive).
D'oh!
I linked this post over on the Victorian Sweatshop National badge name topic, and kndpakes noticed the perfectly legible "Practical Farmer" stencil on the cabinet cover, so I'd say that clinches it without struggling to read the worn stencil on the arm of the sewing machine head.
Further, alwen found a probable National sewing machine head in a 1903 publication of the "Practical Farmer" out of Philadelphia, and that fits quite comfortably in the previously established time fram of 1892 (the patent on the front slide plate and 1904 (the date of the newer T. Eaton catalog found by alwen):
https://www.victoriansweatshop.com/post/name-that-machine-for-a-dollar-national-labels-12582353?&trail=150
VSS user OldSewingStuff13 opined that the sewing machine head seen in the advertisement was indeed a National, because of the circular inspection plate at the shoulder.
Indeed, that is a well-known feature of vintage National sewing machine heads.
Not all of them have it. Your's doesn't. The one in the ad is probably one of Nationals VB-TT models.
Here's a non-badged sibling of yours:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/35557704@N04/14572749491
So to recapitulate: the sewing machine head in this post is a National Seamstress vibrating shuttle badged eponymously by the Philadelphia publication "Practical Farmer." Its vintage is roughly 1892-1904.
About the National Sewing Machine Company:
https://ismacs.net/national/from_eldredge_to_national_to_janome.html