This Singer sewing machine was purchased used for $10 by Flossie Haggard in 1931. James F. and Flossie Haggard left Oklahoma in 1935 after a fire destroyed their barn and its contents. The sewing machine was taken with them in their car and trailer trip to California via Route 66 in 1935. The Haggards and their children, Lillian and James Lowell, made their home near Bakersfield, and James found work with the Santa Fe Railway. Another son, Merle, was born in Bakersfield and began his singing career there.
In 1851 Isaac Merritt Singer formed the I.M. Singer & Company (later the Singer Sewing Machine Company) after inventing his own sewing machine to remedy a flaw he noticed with traditional models.
This Singer 24 chain stitch sewing machine was manufactured in 1910, and used in the Polan and Katz umbrella factory in Baltimore, MD.
This Singer industrial 31-15 straight stitch sewing machine head was made around 1910 and was a workhorse of the apparel industry. Most garment factories ran the machines off of floor mounted line shafting but the machines could also be operated by foot powered treadles. This machine was last used at the J. Schoeneman men’s suit factory in PA.
Charismatic inventor Isaac Merritt Singer did much to improve and popularize the sewing machine but it was company president Edward Clark that turned the company into a giant. The company excelled at clever marketing. It opened factories and sales offices around the world. By 1900 Singer was multinational. Singer Manufacturing pioneered many new business techniques. It instituted installment sales, sought to develop a home-user market, modernized manufacturing, and expanded into international sales.
