Posted 12 years ago
incurablec…
(4 items)
I picked up this Singer 66 which has the coolest motor and foot controller.
Serial number G6969572 dates it to 1919.
There is a wad of electrical tape at the junction where the wires from the wall socket, the foot controller and the motor all meet. Everything works when I plug it in but what should be at that junction? I am sure it is not a wad of tape!
Also does anyone have a source for vintage looking cloth covered electrical wire like what this machine is wired with? I hate to rewire old machines with new looking PVC coated wire :-P
Your machine started out as a treadle . Someone put it into the case and put this motor on it . I can not see the serial number . I have one just like it that was made in 1921 . It is a 66-1 with back clamping feet .
Thanks...I do see the groove in the hand wheel for the treadle belt. I posted new clearer pics of the motor. It is an early Singer motor. Could this machine have been 'electrified' at the factory or sometime before it was sold?
No your machine was not electrified at the factory . Singer sold these motors and foot controls to put onto treadle machines . Your machine started out in a treadle cabinet and someone bought the kit to put a motor on it . When I bought my Singer 66-1 it was also in a case and someone had tried to put a motor on it . However I put my machine back into a treadle base and use it that way .
That is a gem :) From a batch of 50,000 machines commissioned April 29 1919 at Elizabethport NJ. It's hard to say, but it looks like it could have been an original hand crank, as the base looks fairly original. Singer advertised their electric conversions and encouraged customers to have the new 'power and light' for their old manually operated machine, yours is one of the earlier conversions, with a friction drive motor. This conversion was probably done when the machine was less than 10 years old.
It's also what people refer to as a 'back-clamping' machine - not rare exactly but less common than the typical side-attaching. If you have the original accessories that's a bonus, if you are looking for accessories you will have to make sure you get the right type :)
In a lot of cases I would encourage someone to find a nice treadle base or a replacement handle, and get it back to how it may have been originally, but for this machine I wouldn't. I would try to keep it just like it is. :)
Sorry cant help with your electrical question - hope someone can, but yes you should be able to buy replacement 'vintage' cord from a period renovating/decorating supplier or similar.
You can see that the original electric fitting was one of the 'light bulb socket' type, and the power cord arrangement you have has been modified for socket power points :)
The motor connects to the power cord/foot controller with a 2 prong push in plug...is that what you mean by 'light bulb socket' type?
The connection on the short cord, that joins the longer cord, is the type that you can plug into the light socket in the ceiling, via an extension lead. I'll see if I can find a picture of one
http://nostalgiacafe.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=1910s&action=print&thread=169
Scroll down nearly to the bottom, to the heading 'Electricity and Lighting'- there's a picture on the right of the screen of a sewing machine plugged into the light socket, and an explanation on the left.
Thanks Bernadette. I never even noticed the back-clamping foot...I never knew they existed and I was too busy rhapsodising over the motor/foot controller and overall look of the machine to notice a difference there! Unfortunately it did not come with any attachments.
I have a few spare attachments for a back clamping sewing machine . Which ones do you want ? I am not sure just which ones I have without looking , but I know that I have some .