McLean and Hooper sewing machine. Cast iron head, front side has a brass medallion: "McLEAN & HOOPER / PATENTED, / MAR. 30. 1869. / AUG. 2. 1870. / SEWING MACHINE", the opposite side has a cast head of a man. The machine sews a two-thread chainstitch. [The later machines would have a brass medallion with "Centennial Sewing Machine" and the same patent dates. The McLean & Hooper name changed to take advantage of the 1876 Centennial celebration.] The round throat plate is stamped 1876. A brass tag stamped 88 is attached to the machine - that number is tied into an old Singer (i.e., donor) numbering system (unknown details). Gold paint highlights the design. (Neg#s 85-14719, 85-14720) [See Centennial sewing machine T.12225 (Neg# 48216-T) serial number 3399 on same place as 1876.]
Hand-crank, chain stitch toy sewing machine featuring a two-dimensional, black-painted body with gilt and green floral design on a rounded rectangular base. Bed plate stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" in sans serif letters.
Shaw & Clark sewing machine (chain stitch, cast iron) [text on head end: MANUFACTURED BY / SHAW & CLARK / BIDDEFORD MAINE. / PATENTED / SEP.10.1846 DEC.19.1854 / MAY.8.1849 NOV.4.1856 / NOV.12.1850 MAY.9.1858 / AUG.12.1851 AUG.13.1861 / MAY.30.1854 FEB.15.1864 / LICENSED BY / HOWE, WHEELER & WILSON, / GROVER & BAKER, SINGER, / -- / BACHELDER]. Serial number on throat plate No 5331; also on plate "Shaw & Clark Biddeford Maine". Needle bar is stamped: 4471. Black enamel with worn gold design - flower in center. (Neg# 85-14721)
Experimental Sewing Machine; Malcolm Parks for Singer; 1946. Black molded plastic forms the casing of the sewing machine head, working parts are cast iron and steel. Designed by Malcolm Parks in 1946, the machine was never produced. It was an experimental machine, testing the possibility of using plastic instead of metal. Oscillating shuttle machine sews a lockstitch. Bobbin case is marked 505086 Singer and J-H3. The bobbin is a clear plastic. The metal shuttle is stamped 2515, The shuttle driver is plastic. The bottom of the arm is marked 30 and also has X-10644-A cast in it. (Neg# 85-14723)
Singer sewing machine, early, cast iron (heavy: est. 75 lbs), square machine. The head is unpainted, plain, metal finish. This machine was probably made in 1850 because it has a needle feed (i.e., a round wheel with short pins - many are broken off) and later machines used a roughened wheel instead of pins. Lockstitch machine, shuttle is missing, [Singer Co. identified this as an Isaac Singer experimental machine, ca. 1850.] No serial number on machine. (Neg#s 85-14716, 85-14717)
"SAMPLES OF SEWING / DONE ON THE / GROVER & BAKER SEWING MACHINE." stamped in gold letters on brown leather cover. Consists of 18 samples of machine-sewn fabric, each of which is tied with red ribbon to a page. Included among the samples are nine embroidery samples and two quilted examples.
This patent model, submitted by Elliott West, uses a Wheeler & Wilson production line sewing machine to house and show West's invention of a binding folder attachment, patent # 138,772. The machine itself, which has a serial number of 27,744, dates from 1859. The Wheeler and Wilson Company was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines from their first year of operation, 1852, through the 1860s. Wilson had invented the still-used stationary rotary bobbin and the four-motion feed. The style of the machine changed very little in its first two decades.
Milton Chase, of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Improvement in Sewing machines, Patent model. Patent # 113,498 Issued April 11, 1871. Model is complete with treadle stand.