vintagemotif

Very NICE! I love the treadle irons and cabinet. That's a cool machine! The message says something about a needle and a wheel.

I put this into a translator: beim nadel einsetgen gefort die lange rine gegen das rad
And this was the message:When needle einsetgen gefort including the length against the wheel

It is difficult to read the writing. Nadel-Einscetgen could be a name of the needle. Germans love to dot their o and u sometimes; so, gefort has the dotted o. You are just going to have to find an elderly German to translate.

Sir Steve, Enjoy that treasure, Simple Gorgeous!

SteveH

thanks, I am working on the translation using Facebook (other peoples accounts, I avoid FB like the plague)

Sheluma

I asked a friend who is a native German-speaker and she couldn't decipher the handwriting. The google translation I got from "Beim nadel einsetzen gehört die lange eine gegen das rad"
was
"Insert the needle is a long one against the wheel"
Perhaps it means something like "insert the needle with the flat side towards the wheel". (Unless it's a round shank, in which case nevermind!) But I'll bet you already know how to do whatever it says.

Sheluma

I think I've got it. Rinne means groove. So perhaps the word that looks like Rine is actually Rinne, not eine. (Maybe an "n" with a bar over it indicates "nn".) If that's the case, then it says to insert the needle with the long groove facing the wheel.

Edit: The bar above the n may be a "macron".
From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macron):

"In the German Kurrent handwriting, a macron is used on some consonants, especially n and m, as a shortform for a double consonant (for example, n̄ instead of nn).'"

How I figured this out: I thought that the groove should face the right, so I looked up the German word for groove.

And I'm right that you already knew which way the groove should face!

SteveH

nice, thank you very much. Yes, I had figured out the correct direction, but thank you!!!

It is a round shank BTW.

Sheluma

I thought it might be a round shank since it's German, and so old. But writing that made me think about where the hook catches the loop, and I looked at your picture of the underside of the machine. I thought the loop would be on the left and the groove should face the wheel. A light bulb went off -- could the note be about the groove?

The macron hasn't been used that way in a very long time, so I can see why a native German speaker would have a hard time deciphering it unless she knew about the long groove in machine needles.

frudemoo

How beautiful Steve! Your Phoenix is far more deserving of the name .... and what a find! Amazing stuff. It couldn't be in better hands

Translating the German is very interesting. I was having a go at the manual for the Phoenix Kl. 250 that I'm unfortunately just selling, don't have room for it. But the words are hard to translate for sure! When I'm done, I want to make the manual available in English as well as German. Both the 250 and the 283F are 1950's, but one takes the round shank and the other takes a flat shank needle. I guess it took them a while to swap to flat shank.

Sheluma

Frudemoo, that's quite the undertaking. It took us a couple of days just to do that one sentence, although the fact that it was handwritten didn't help.

Could someone please explain the Faulkes reference? I googled it but couldn't figure it out. Does it have to do with the "F" on the irons? ::feeling stoopid::

SteveH

I probably spelled it wrong. it is the name of Dumbledore's Phoenix in Harry Potter.

I have only seen the movies not read the books so i do not know how it was supposed to be spelled

manicmike

It's Fawkes, probably named after Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the English parliament. The English celebrate "Guy Fawkes' Day" on 5th November. And they rhyme just popped into my head, here it is:
"Remember, remember
the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot"

Well that's how I learned it. He was a roman catholic and got caught when he warned the RC members of what he was going to do. Naturally they alerted authorities and he was caught.

All that without wikipedia. Wonder how much is correct. If all of it, I give full marks to my primary teacher

EDIT: The reference to fire. On 5th November the English have bonfires and burn "the Guy" atop. Fun for all, I'm sure. Where I'm from we did our bonfire months earlier, on 11th July.