Cecilia S.

I do not know if it is true, but I heard that Singer's claim to fame was that he patented the needle "with the hole at the wrong end", thereby giving him a bit of a corner on the market for long enough to gain a virtual monopoly.

Does anyone know whether this is true?

Your chat/presentation sounds fascinating! What is the purpose of it, and what are you planning to do/cover?

-Cecilia, too busy lately to tinker or post... :-(

Cecilia S.

Hmm. I don't know much about cars. Does this mean that if dude on the road puts a zigzag cam in his car, you'd better look out?

Fancy cams, in tractors maybe? Is that how they make crop circles?

*wink*

Mitch's mom

My favorite and it surprises many people: Brother has made sewing machines since 1908 and they introduced the first industrial embroidery machine. They also have the largest single brand sewing machine factory in the world. They know thier stuff.

manicmike

Very amusing thought, Cecilia. Cams in cars control valve timing. They can be set to "hot" though, and I'd probably call that a zig-zag cam, although I've seen these also perform blind-stitch and circles, all with the same cam

vanginney

Singer documentary- You can show a short except (10%) for educational purposes - without permission - canadian fair dealing. And sometimes websites have in their 'Terms of Use' unrestricted use for non-commercial use.

Let us know how the day goes! Wish I could go.

frudemoo

Have you got an Italian machine like a Necchi? Or a Bernina? They are quite different and the styling quite different as well. Not so much a piece of trivia, but maybe an idea for some extra visuals: I enjoyed finding out about the use of trade cards (like the one in my avatar). Basically just post cards that advertised the machines and made people want them I guess!

ThayerRags

My favorite trivia about the history of the sewing machine, was when an early sewing machine was designed and manufactured by Barthélemy Thimonnier of France in 1841 that merely mechanized the hand-sewing operation to mass-produce uniforms for the French Army, but rioting Tailors attacked his factory and destroyed the machines. The men (Tailors) thought that the machines would surely put them all out of business.

CD in Oklahoma

lovelyl

ISMACS has a great article about the history of sewing machines. I used the article as a basis for a talk I gave at my quilting guild. Created a few vintage machine addicts! Unfortunately, they know my sources...
I used PowerPoint to show pics of some of the earliest attempts at sewing machines and everyone seemed to enjoy the pics. Was going to attach the PP here, but couldn't figure out how...
i could email it to you if you would like. It has some pics and my talking notes, but might give you some ideas.

lovelyl

One of my favorites, also! Used that in my guild talk. Saddest was Thomas Saint's story. In 1790 he filed for a patent on a sewing machine. The patent office didn't know which category to file it under, so they filed it under bookbinding. The patent was misfiled for 100 years. He could never prove that others were using his patented ideas!

tropit

If you can, I would take a singer cam machine with you, like the Rocketeer. They were revolutionary in their design and really reflected the times.