Identify Singer W940XXX

[friquant]

Looking for help to identify this machine I've been fixing up. (Click on any image to enlarge)

Serial number: W940XXX

Thread take-up lever is nestled between two rails.

Enormous bobbin. Just today I finally used up the bonded TEX 200 that came on it.

 

Stitch length and reverse mechanism, my first time seeing this style. If anybody has pictures of what would attach to this to actuate the reverse, do chime in. So far it makes 6.9mm stitches all the time.

The hook safety mechanism, also visible in this shot, had been disabled by a glob of solder, but I scraped that out and it's working now.

Another view of the reverse

 

Needle that came with it, Nm 225 narrow cross point. I'm assuming this is system 7x4 (794)

Foot lift height.

Did these come with a standard presser foot lift? If so, it's missing on this one.

The cover plate on the left is mostly empty underneath, except for an oil hole.

The needle bar clamp screws are hard to get to. I might grind  some material from the needle bar block to allow better access for a screwdriver, and buy some new screws.

The knee lift or foot lift arm has been brazed. Odd kinks in it too. I'll leave it since it's functional, but I'd be curious to see what shape these started out as if someone has a photo.

Worm gears for the hook, the kind where both gears have a screw that goes into a slot for positioning. Then you slide the gear on the horizontal shaft left or right to effect hook timing.

I'd like to purchase a thread guide for the needle bar, you'll note it's missing in this video from the "My First VFD w 3-phase AC Gearmotor" post.

 

 

 

 

 

[Constabulary]

A Singer 144w as it seems. More or less the "fat brother" of the Siger 111w.

[friquant]

16 hours ago, Constabulary said:

A Singer 144w as it seems. More or less the "fat brother" of the Singer 111w.

Progress! 

Looking at manuals for the 144W102 and 144W103, most things seem to match up with the machine that I have. The one exception is the stitch length and reverse feed. Referring to the manuals for the 102 and 103 from @CowboyBobs comments in this thread: 
https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/110183-singer-145w-mystery/ 

, the 102 has a spindle at the center of the machine pulley for adjusting stitch length, and the 103 says to adjust the feed eccentric to get different stitch length.

 

Here's a photo of the large crescent-shaped stitch length adjuster / reverse on this machine. The spring pulls the arm toward the top, where it makes long forward stitches. Pull the lever down somewhat, and you get shorter stitches. Down all the way and you get reverse. Seems it would be well-suited to a foot lever, if all you wanted was full length forward and full length reverse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AlZilla]

Unfortunately, the "W" series serial numbers aren't well documented. All we can tell is that it was made in 1943 or 1944. Meaning that it might have seen military service since everyone was pretty well focused on war time production.

https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-w-series-serial-numbers.html

[friquant]

On 8/16/2025 at 10:09 AM, AlZilla said:

Unfortunately, the "W" series serial numbers aren't well documented. All we can tell is that it was made in 1943 or 1944. Meaning that it might have seen military service since everyone was pretty well focused on war time production.

That makes sense. I guess I'll call it the "Apparently Singer 144 Winger" or "Singer 144 Without-the-family-tree"

[friquant]

Have not found a perfect match between my this machine and one of the 144 submodels.

In most respects it appears to be a Singer 144w103. That is, it has ten inches to the right of the needle, single needle, 8-inch hand wheel, 7x3 needle system, with stitch length regulation done by turning a screw on the feed eccentric.

But this machine appears to have the reverse mechanism from the 144w305, which is "controlled by a treadle" see this manual: https://web.archive.org/web/20190820161643/http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/144W305.pdf

So I could call it "144w103 with the reverse mechanism from 144w305"
or "a 10-inch version of the 144W305".

[AlZilla]

If it's a 144 you may get a little insight here: 

https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/model-list/classes-100-199.html

[dikman]

Maybe it is an SV model, these are notorious for having little, if any, information available about them? 

[Constabulary]

I agree with dikmann - we have a topic her about Singer SV machines: